“Path(s) of Remembrance: Memory, Pilgrimage, and Transmission in a Transatlantic Sufi Community” By Jaison Carter A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Mariane Ferme, Chair Professor Charles Hirschkind Professor Stefania Pandolfo Professor Ula Y. Taylor Spring 2018 Abstract “Path(s) of Remembrance: Memory, Pilgrimage, and Transmission in a Transatlantic Sufi Community” by Jaison Carter Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology University of California, Berkeley Professor Mariane Ferme, Chair The Mustafawiyya Tariqa is a regional spiritual network that exists for the purpose of assisting Muslim practitioners in heightening their level of devotion and knowledges through Sufism. Though it was founded in 1966 in Senegal, it has since expanded to other locations in West and North Africa, Europe, and North America. In 1994, protegé of the Tariqa’s founder and its most charismatic figure, Shaykh Arona Rashid Faye al-Faqir, relocated from West Africa to the United States to found a satellite community in Moncks Corner, South Carolina. This location, named Masjidul Muhajjirun wal Ansar, serves as a refuge for traveling learners and place of worship in which a community of mostly African-descended Muslims engage in a tradition of remembrance through which techniques of spiritual care and healing are activated. This dissertation analyzes the physical and spiritual trajectories of African-descended Muslims through an ethnographic study of their healing practices, migrations, and exchanges in South Carolina and in Senegal. By attending to manner in which the Mustafawiyya engage in various kinds of embodied religious devotions, forms of indebtedness, and networks within which diasporic solidarities emerge, this project explores the dispensations and transmissions of knowledge to Sufi practitioners across the Atlantic that play a part in shared notions of Black Muslimness. !1 Table of Contents Introduction 1—28 Purpose Defining Diaspora Black Muslimness Ethnography in the Zawiyah Methodology Summary of Chapters 1. South Carolina to Senegal (and Back Again) 29—51 Between SC and Senegal Black Atlantic Religion Theorizing Sufi Muslim Mobility Rasheed visits Cheikh Mustafa Traveling Ode of the Faqir Sulaiman & Halima’s Daydream 2. From Slave to Abdullahi 52—75 On Collective Memory The Zawiyah as Hospital Learning the Qur’an 3. Alchemy of the Fuqara 76—96 Mikhail goes to Moncks Corner Yasin’s Unveiling Black Muslim Cultural Production Expanding the Ocean Protection is in the Performance West African Sufism & the Black Body 4. The Prayer Economy in a South Carolina Town 97—113 Redefining Prayer Economy For the Sake of God Labor and Making Muslims 5. Muhajjirun wal Ansar 114—133 Reversion and Black Muslim Identity Pilgrimage as Black Muslim Diaspora Inheriting the Salaatul Samawiyyah Conclusion 134–137 Bibliography 138–155 !i Acknowledgements There are countless people who have contributed to my journey and the task of trying to name everyone who has had a positive impact on my development is a daunting one. But it is necessary to try. I begin this impossible task by thanking my professors at the University of California-Berkeley. Mariane Ferme has tirelessly provided guidance and has shown extreme patience as it took time for me to find my way and voice as an anthropologist. She, along with Charles Hirschkind and Stefania Pandolfo, have written many letters of recommendation, many for which I provided little notice for such busy people. They have all deeply influenced my writing as I have improved tremendously. I also thank Ula Taylor, now my adopted Auntie, for unending moral and intellectual support. Hatem Bazian, Griff Rollefson, and Kenneth Worthy have shown me models for teaching with grace and distinction. I thank Paap Sow for helping me learn all that Wolof that is all too quickly evaporating. I thank Joseph Jordan (“Uncle Joe”) and Joshua Nadel for many helpful conversations about the academy. Mbaye Lo has been a newfound mentor with whom I look forward to working with in the future. Ned Garrett has been my “Wizard of Oz” as he has pulled strings, sent emails to administrative departments on my behalf, and assisted me in navigating numerous institutional hurdles along the way. Although we’ve met only recently, “Auntie” Aminah McCloud has been deeply supportive and encouraging to this budding scholar. This dissertation marks the beginning of a journey of self-discovery. I thank Shaykh Faye for all he has given me—more than I could name. I thank the Moncks Corner fuqara, not only for their willingness to discuss their feelings and viewpoints, but for their guidance and the lessons I’ve gained as a result of being welcomed into the ranks of the zawiyah. Umm Aisha, Umm Zubaidah, Imam Rasheed, Abdur-Rasheed, Sulaiman and Halima, Yasin, Yusuf, Uncle Jamal, Rabia, Dawud New York, Uncle Muqtar, Marjonah, Omar Bayo, Mohammed Njaay, Rasheed Philson, and so on—Moncks Corner is truly a best kept secret. I also thank the many friends and family gained in Senegal: Shaykh Mikhail and Ndey Faye, Ndey Marie, Mustafa, Omar, Mara, and Hassan Faye; also Khalifa Saada, Uncle Libasse, Musa Gueye, Medoune “alXuran” Cisse, Abdoul Ahad Thiam and Family, and Eli Gueye. I would like to also thank the Graduate Division, the Center for African Studies, the Institute for European Studies, the Berkeley Center for the Study of Religion, and the Department of Anthropology at the University of California-Berkeley for providing material support. In addition, the International Institute of Islamic Thought has welcomed me into a rich community of scholarship as well as contributed funds for recent travels and networking. Lee Baker at Duke University and Rudolph Colloredo-Mansfeld at University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill have graciously assisted me in gaining valuable library access at their respective institutions—both have encouraged me to take advantage of their collegiality. I conclude this note of appreciation by acknowledging my family which has been a solid foundation for me. Rashida James, my partner-in-life, has shown me more patience and forgiveness than I deserve. She has sacrificed her time and sleep so that I do this work. She has bended herself and loved me and nurtured me so that I could continue to grow. I thank my parents—Leon and Andrea Carter—for holding me up and giving me their quiet wisdom. I thank Kevin James for helping us raise our children. I thank my children—Musa, Maasai, and Nur— for blessing me with laughs and being patient with my many shortcomings. I thank God for you. !ii Introduction Hearken to the reed-flute, how it complains Lamenting its banishment from its home; “Ever since they tore me from my osier bed, My plaintive notes have moved men and women to tears. I burst my breast, striving to give vent to sighs, And to express the pangs of my yearning for my home. He who abides far away from home Is ever longing for the day [he] shall return. My wailing is heard in every throng, In concert with them that rejoice and them that weep. Each interprets my notes in harmony with his own feelings, But not one fathoms the secrets of my heart. My secrets are not alien from my plaintive notes, Yet they are not manifest to the sensual eye and ear. Body is not veiled from soul, neither soul from body, Yet no man hath ever seen a soul.”1 The opening lines of Rumi’s Masnavi tell us of the yearning for home that occurs as an instrument, designed for melodious song, actually emits somber notes due to the memory of its being snatched away from its point of origin and unwillingly fashioned into a thing whose mere purpose is for the enjoyment of another. Here, we are reminded of the manner in which longing and performance collide in the breast of a displaced thing, and of the way that certain utterances can be misheard by the ears of the listener. All the while, the instrument itself intends something else entirely. Such an ironic tale, as imagined and recounted by one of the world’s most famous poetic voices, is quite similar to the story of rupture and subsequent reconnection as seen amongst Muslims of African descent in the American South and in West Africa who are connected by a singular Sufi tradition. 1 Rumi, Jalaluddin. “Masnavi Manavi.” !1 The Mustafawiyya Tariqa is a transnational Sufi Order that was initiated in 1966 by the late Cheikh Mustafa Gueye Haydara (d. 1989) in Thiès, Senegal.2 Yet, only since 1994 has this specific Sufi network reached westward across the water, bringing American Muslims - many of whom are converts - into the larger network. Currently, the Mustafawiyya Tariqa maintains small and moderately-sized collections of students (ranging from 20-150) in a number of spaces that include major American cities such as Philadelphia, Washington, D.C, and Atlanta, as well as members in Senegal, Gambia, Morocco, Mauritania, and in Spain. In the United States, the majority of students who have entered the Tariqa and have declared allegiance (bayah) to Shaykh Arona Rashid Faye Al-Faqir3 are African-Americans—Shaykh refers to himself, them, and all members of the Mustafawiyya as ‘fuqara’—who have inserted themselves religiously, culturally, and pedagogically into a West African Sufi tradition which emphasizes religious study 2 A bound pamphlet entitled “Zawiya of Moncks Corner” provides a brief biographical account of the Tariqa’s founder. Its fourth and fifth page contain a letter composed by Shaykh Arona Faye on May 10, 2000: “Sheikh Moustapha Gueye Haidar(RA) 1926-1989 is the elder son of the scholar, sheikh and wali of ALLAH, Sheikh Saib, well known as Serigne Samba Gueye(RA) of Theis, Senegal (West Africa).