Sultan, caliph and the renewer of the faith : Ahmad Lobbo, the Tarikh al-fattash and the making of an Islamic state in West Africa / Mauro Nobili.

Sultan, caliph and the renewer of the faith : Ahmad Lobbo, the Tarikh al-fattash and the making of an Islamic state in West Africa / Mauro Nobili.

9781108804295 (electronic book)
1108804292 (electronic book)
9781108858854 (electronic book)
1108858856 (electronic book)
9781108479509
9781108789820
1108479502
110878982X

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2020.

English

1 online resource (xix, 262 pages : illustrations).

DT551.65 .N63 2020eb

966.201

The T?r?kh al-fatt?sh is one of the most important and celebrated sources for the history of pre-colonial West Africa, yet it has confounded scholars for decades with its inconsistences and questions surrounding its authorship. In this study, Mauro Nobili examines and challenges existing theories on the chronicle, arguing that much of what we have presumed about the work is deeply flawed. Making extensive use of previously unpublished Arabic sources, Nobili demonstrates that the T?r?kh al-fatt?sh was in fact written in the nineteenth century by a Fulani scholar, N?? b. al-??hir, who modified pre-existing historiographical material as a political project in legitimation of the West African Islamic state known as the Caliphate of ?amdall?hi and its founding leader A?mad Lobbo. Contextualizing its production within the broader development of the religious and political landscape of West Africa, this study represents a significant moment in the study of West African history and of the evolution of Arabic historical literature in Timbuktu and its surrounding regions.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Access limited to authorized users.

Description based on print version record.

African studies series ; 148.

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