Note 51 — Chapter XI · THE SPREAD OF ISLAM IN AFRICA.

In the West of Africa two orders have been especially instrumental in the spread of Islam, the Qādiriyyah and the Tijāniyyah. The former, the most widespread of the religious orders of Islam, was founded in the twelfth century by ʻAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī, said to be the most popular and most universally revered of all the saints of Islam,51—and was introduced into Western Africa in the fifteenth century, by emigrants from Tuat, one of the oases in the western half of the Sahara; they made Walata the first centre of their organisation, but later on their descendants were driven away from this town, and took refuge in Timbuktu, further to the east. In the beginning of the nineteenth century the great spiritual revival that was so profoundly influencing the Muhammadan world, stirred up the Qādiriyyah of the Sahara and the Western Sudan to renewed life and energy, and before long, learned theologians or small colonies of persons affiliated to the order were to be found scattered throughout the Western Sudan from the Senegal to the mouth of the Niger. The chief centres of their missionary organisation are in Kanka, Timbo (Futah-Jallon) and Musardu (in the Mandingo country).52 These initiates formed centres of Islamic influence in the midst of a pagan population, among whom they received a welcome as public scribes, legists, writers of amulets, and schoolmasters: gradually they would acquire influence over their new surroundings, and isolated cases of conversion would soon grow into a little band of converts, the most promising of whom would often be sent to complete their studies at the chief centres of the order, or even to the schools of Kairwan or Tripoli, or to the universities of Fez and al-Azhar in Cairo.53 Here they might remain for several years, until they had perfected their theological studies, and would then return to their native place, fully equipped for the work of spreading the faith among their fellow-countrymen. In this way a leaven has been introduced into the midst of fetish-worshippers and idolaters, which has gradually spread the faith of Islam surely and steadily, though by almost imperceptible degrees. Up to the middle of the nineteenth century most of the schools in the Sudan were founded and conducted by teachers trained under the auspices of the Qādiriyyah and their organisation provided for a regular and continuous system of propaganda among the heathen tribes. The missionary work of this order has been entirely of a peaceful character, and has relied wholly on personal example and precept, on the influence of the teacher over his pupils, and on the spread of education.54 In this way the Qādiriyyah missionaries of the Sudan have shown themselves true to the principles of their founder and the universal tradition of their order. For the guiding principles that governed the life of ʻAbd al-Qādir were love of his neighbour and toleration: though kings and men of wealth showered their gifts upon him, his boundless charity kept him always poor, and in none of his books or precepts are to be found any expressions of ill-will or enmity towards the Christians; whenever he spoke of the people of the Book, it was only to express his sorrow for their religious errors, and to pray that God might enlighten them. This tolerant attitude he bequeathed as a legacy to his disciples, and it has been a striking characteristic of his followers in all ages.55