THE DECLINE OF S{U<FISM IN WEST AFRICA: SOME FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THE POLITICAL AND SOCIAL ASCENDANCY OF WAHHA<BIST ISLAM IN NORTHERN GHANA by MOHAMMAD SAANI IBRAHIM A dissertation submitted to faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Institute of Islamic Studies McGill University Montreal Submitted: October, 2011 c. Mohammad Saani Ibrahim, 2011 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I have had the unique honor of benefitting from the advice of three directors of the Institute of Islamic Studies as my supervisors, each of whom provided expert guidance in spite of their weighty responsibilities. They were Professor Uner Turgay, Professor Eric Ormsby and Professor Robert Wisnovsky. Each made an indelible mark on my scholarly achievements, to the extent that their contributions cannot be recounted in this small space. To each of them I express my immeasurable gratitude. As is often said to scholars and educationists -- ‚your reward is in the heavens.‛ To my current supervisor, Professor Mustafa Khalid Medani, who is another ‚heaven- sent‛ individual delegated to lead me along this scholarly path and who was always ready to assist me in diverse ways, I offer my deepest thanks. He has patiently and painstakingly guided me through the progress of my work with advice and materials, extending from the preparations for my comprehensive examination through to the writing of my research proposal and its defense up to this momentous stage of submitting the thesis itself. To the rest of the academic staff of the Institute, all of whom provided precious advice, whether personally or in the classroom, such as Professor Issa J. Boullata, Professor Alvi, Professor Hallaq, Professor Gacek and Professor Kuspinar, and not to forget Professors Malik and Rula Abisaab, Professor Laila Parsons, Professor Ragep and his wife Sally, Professor Hartman, Professor Manoukian and Professor Gowhar, I offer my salutations and appreciation. Special gratitude goes to Professor Myron Echenberg of the History Department for his guidance at the time of my comprehensive exams. I will always remember his saying that the academic venture is like a relay race where the baton keeps on changing hands. So it was now our turn to take over the baton and the day will come when we shall also hand it over to others. ii In the same History Department is Professor Gwen Campbell, to whom I give thanks for giving me the opportunity to be a teaching assistant, for almost four years, in his Introduction to African History course. This has given me an invaluable experience in handling challenges from the sharp students of McGill. To the current director of the Institute, Professor Jamil Ragep, I offer my deepest gratitude and appreciation for the financial support that enabled me to undertake my field research in Ghana. Furthermore, he gave indefatigable support to me (in particular) and my other colleagues (in general) when it came to giving us the necessary backing against the rigorous policies of the ‚GPS.‛ To the former custodian of what I may term the – ‚academic armory‛ - the Islamic Studies Library, Salwa Ferahian, I do give my thanks for her assistance in getting me the needed books and especially, her words of encouragement that kept me going on with this work. To my dear friend, Stephen Millier, who has long been engaged in building the wonderful collection for our dear library and who patiently edited my writings and those of my colleagues, I do say thank you. Steve is that name which every student who has passed through the Institute has heard of, or known, to the extent that even the squirrels around the Institute are familiar with his name. To the administrative staff of the department from the good old days of Grandma Dawn Richard, Ann Yaxley and Kirsty McKinnon, to the current administrative staff under the auspices of Sharon St. Thomas and Ms Adina Sigartu, I also offer heartfelt thanks. The staffs of the stacks department and other departments in the McLennan Library, both permanent and casual, are also owed my thanks, especially Dolly R. and Emeel R. A very special appreciation goes to Mr Abukari Kobana (One man) and Mr. Lonnie Wheatherby for iii always giving their assistance when I needed it. I really enjoyed every moment of working in the library from September 1999 to October 2011. Special thanks also go to Pauline L’Ecuyer, the manager of the International Student’s Aid Office for her assistance and advice, Ms. Judy Stymest, director of bursaries and awards, for considering me for the award of a bursary, and Gwendolyn Owens for the award of the Arts GST. My appreciation also goes to all those who assisted me in one way or the other during my field research in Ghana. In Tamale, I must say a big thank you to Alhaji Abdul Rahman S{alih (Mallam Fari), Shaykh Abdulai Baba Dua, Shaykh T{amimu, Shaykh Sai>d Abubakr, Shaykh Abdul Hana>n Yussif Ajura, Shaykh Ilyas ‘Umar, Shaykh Amin Bamba, Shaykh Abdul Mumin Salifu, Shaykh al-Hussein Zakariyya1 and Alhaji Abubakari Iddi. Let me say to those I do not mention here due to the paucity of space: you are equally deserving of my gratitude. At Prang, my regards go to the Khalifa Abul Fayd and his brother Qalam Fayd, and the entire Tija>ni community of Prang. At Accra, my thanks go to Shaykh Abd al-Razak T{a>hir, who although he was unwell at the time of my visit, made the time to discuss my topic with me for more than two hours. Let me mention here also the warm receptions from Shaykh Mutawakil of Medina (old road), Shaykh Mohammad Awal Shu’aibu (the current Ima>m of Takoradi central mosque) and, most of all Shaykh Nuhu Sharubutu2 for his spiritual support. To my research assistants, Hamza Mohammed and Mahi Mohammed, I also say a deep thank you. 1 Congratulations for your attainment of a doctorate degree from the University of Ghana. 2 He is the current Ghana national chief Ima>m iv To those who helped me in compiling the data, formatting and typing, as well as in reading and editing my field notes, like Dr. Georges Doods, Martha Ilbudu Abukari, Mensur Bellaina and Purnendu Kishan Mishra Prithipaul, I would like to extend my thank you. To my sibling Afa Baba Ibrahim, domiciled in the UK, I have no words to quantify his role in this my academic venture; all that I can simply say is ‚expect your recompense from Allah.‛ To my senior brother Mohammed Awal, Mohammed Rabiyyu, Abdul Rahman, Ahmad Badawi, Abdul Rahim, Abubakari, Abdallah, Isma>il and my other brothers and sisters out there, I say thank you for your understanding and cooperation during my field work. To the members of both the Turzong and Gyangbargabiyilli families, I owe a very great debt Special mention needs to be made of Aunt Aisha Osman-Banner and Hajia Asmawu Andani for their encouragement and assistance. Thanks also to my uncles, Dr. Suleimana Abdulai and Dr. Mohamed Zangina Abdulai, for their constant encouragement and counseling. The mother of all thanks goes to my loving, adorable and impeccable wife Ummul- Kulsoom and my three lovely and angelic daughters, Saratu Tipagya, Khadijatu Dimalya and Raja>a’ Katary. They bore the direct brunt of my erratic behavior during the ups and downs of this project. In fact, they have been the secret of my success. Their sterling resilience and sacrifices, coupled with patience and prayers, have kept my spirit in unison with my body in the journey to this eventful moment. My prayer for them is ‚Rabbana> hablana> min azwajina> wa zuriya>tuna> kurat al-‘Aynin waj‘alna> lil Muttaqi>na Ima>man.‛ A<min! Finally, this work is dedicated to the souls of my deceased parents – my father Shaykh Alha>ji Ibrahim Hassan Turzung and my mother Sayidda al-Ha>jia Saratu Osman, neither of whom lived to see this great day. Sayidda Saratu passed away a year before I started elementary school, and Shaykh Ibrahim lived to give me the moral, spiritual, intellectual and financial v guidance and support that took me to the final stages of acquiring this degree, until Allah called him back home on 6th May 2006 to take his well deserved rest. I can remember him saying to me, ‚Saani, take up Islamic studies, and it you will take you to the highest rank of scholarship.‛ Today, his intuition has become a reality. May Allah make paradise their abode in the company of the Prophet, the S{aha>ba, the faithful ones and both our matrilineal and patrilineal grandparents and great grandparents – A<MIN! vi ABSTRACT While most studies of Islam in West Africa have focused on the spread and nature of Sufi Islam, there has been a recent dramatic transformation in the political and social influence of S{ufi Islam long-believed to characterize ‚African Islam.‛ The forces of globalization and social and economic changes in West Africa and beyond have resulted in parallel transformations across the Islamic world. In northern Ghana, where Sufi Islam has long been the dominant form of religious practice and politics, the advent of a new, more orthodox, form of Islamicization has taken place that has not yet been adequately studied. One reason for this discrepancy is the fact that the study of Islam in Africa has been dominated by Orientalist and reductive notions of a static form of ‚Islam‛ in Africa shorn of any history and decontextualized from the important social and economic changes that have impacted West Africa. Moreover, the bias towards the study of political Islam in the Middle East and South Asia has meant that few scholars have focused on the important transformations in West African Islam that are locally rooted, but clearly linked to the global world of Islam.