Tradition, Spiritual Revival and the Horizon of Universality in the Teachings of Two African Sages: Ahmad al-‘Alawi (1869-1934) and Cerno Bokar (1875-1939).

Abstract

The Algerian Ahmad al-‘Alawi and the West African Cerno Bokar were contemporaries, and both met the challenges of French colonial presence and Islamic reformism. Cerno Bokar and Ahmad al-‘Alawi were known as eminent representatives of Islamic tasawwuf. Cerno Bokar was a muqqadam and teacher of the Tarīqah Tijaniyyah who swore allegiance to the Tijani qutb or spiritual pole Shaykh Hamallah in 1937, while Ahmad al-‘Alawī was the founder of the Tarīqah ‘Alawiyyah, a branch of the Shādhili order that spread throughout the Islamic world and beyond in the early years of the twentieth century. While the Shaykh al-‘Alawi had thousands of disciples throughout the world, Cerno Bokar lived an influential but unassuming life in Bandiagara, in Mali, the later years of which were marked by ostracization and relative isolation. As is widely known today Sufism is a spiritual and intellectual current within Islam which, from the dawn of the religion, has placed the emphasis on inner understanding, spiritual realization and ethical transformation. Accordingly, two of its most constant features have been the cultivation of inner poverty, humility, and self effacement on the one hand, and on the other hand an emphasis on invocatory prayer such as is known in Islam as dhikrullāh.