Les remarques sur le Niger 'forteresse musulmane' doivent être nuancées. Il existe bien un 'modèle nigérien' dont les caractéristiques essentielles sont les suivantes: la lente émergence de l'Islam comme facteur dominant de la politique extérieure et de l'identité nationale; l'importance des fac- teurs internationaux dans la revalorisation du fait musulman à l'intérieur du pays; la prise en charge du fait islamique par l'Etat post-colonial lui-même; l'évolution de l'idéologie officielle, d'une position laîque à l'occidentale à une recon- naissance 'a l'africaine' (c'est-à-dire sur le mode oral et par la voix du chef de la communauté nationale) de l'Islam comme religion du peuple nigérien; et la création par l'Etat d'une Association Islamique, garante des options principales, destinée à s'opposer à toute immixtion étrangère comme à l'essor éventuel de tout contre-pouvoir maraboutique et de tout mouvement populiste islamique.
Les remarques sur le Niger 'forteresse musulmane' doivent être nuancées. Il existe bien un 'modèle nigérien' dont les caractéristiques essentielles sont les suivantes: la lente émergence de l'Islam comme facteur dominant de la politique extérieure et de l'identité nationale; l'importance des fac- teurs internationaux dans la revalorisation du fait musulman à l'intérieur du pays; la prise en charge du fait islamique par l'Etat post-colonial lui-même; l'évolution de l'idéologie officielle, d'une position laîque à l'occidentale à une recon- naissance 'a l'africaine' (c'est-à-dire sur le mode oral et par la voix du chef de la communauté nationale) de l'Islam comme religion du peuple nigérien; et la création par l'Etat d'une Association Islamique, garante des options principales, destinée à s'opposer à toute immixtion étrangère comme à l'essor éventuel de tout contre-pouvoir maraboutique et de tout mouvement populiste islamique.
Au lendemain de l'indépendance du Niger, l'organisation judiciaire y a été fixée par une loi le 16 mars 1962. Cette loi a défini les domaines de la loi et de la coutume et fait une large place au statut personnel des citoyens. Le pays étant islamisé a plus de 90%, la loi coranique jouera un grand rôle dans la distribution de la justice. La philosophie du droit nigérien et son originalité résident en une symbiose des droits moderne, coutumier et religieux, dans un Etat proclamé laïc. L'auteur examine les aspects des juridictions et l'application du droit.
In Niger, the marabout wields much of the power of the European Christian clergy of the Middle Ages, his outlook and many of his actions having not changed since. He has wide ranging powers emanating from his multi-faceted positions. In addition to being a religious man, he is a legal expert, teacher, doctor and magician, excluding other strictly secular jobs unconnected with his title which he can hold. This paper scrutinizes the diverse capacities of the marabout.
Les 78% de 'oui' donnés en réponse au référendum par le Niger ont une signification toute particulière dans ce pays, le plus islamisé d'A.O.F. après la Mauritanie et dont le chef: M.Djibo Bakary avait officiellement recommandé à ses électeurs de voter 'non'. Le peu d'empressement des Nigériens à suivre ses ordres nontre la forte influence qu'ont gardé dans le pays les autorités musulsmanes traditiornelless. Elles ont pu tenir en échec un des plus brilliant leaders politiques de formation syndicaliste d'Afrique Noire, maître au surplus de l'appareil administratif et finan- cier du Territoire. Qu'est donc cet Islam nigérien Seul pays d'Afrique à avoir été islamisé à la fos par sa marche orientale et par sa marche occidentale, le Niger est donc le lieu de rencontre de deux Islams assez différents. D'avoir reçu le Coran de facteurs aussi différents a influé sur le comportement religieux, social et politique de ses habitants, opposant le Niger de l'Ouest (ayant subi l'influence traditionnelle) au Niger de l'Est (ayant subi le joug de l'Islam oriental). L'auteur étudie ici la situation du Coran au Niger au lendemain du référendum.
Ce texte s’intéresse à la transmission des savoirs islamiques par le beïtu. Au cœur de l’enseignement dans les écoles coraniques traditionnelles, cette approche pédagogique tente de réactiver ce type de foyer de formation que des générations des diplômés de médersas – incluant ceux en provenance des pays arabo-musulmans – et la politique de réforme éducative étatique avaient réussi à influencer. Dans un contexte de fort taux de pénétration d’Internet et d’essor des réseaux sociaux, notamment Facebook, en Côte d’Ivoire, des prédicateurs proches de ces écoles précurseurs de la diffusion de l’islam ont trouvé en ces plateformes l’opportunité de donner de la visibilité à leur savoir-faire en matière de transmission du savoir religieux et d’éducation des masses à travers le beïtu. Ce travail repose essentiellement sur des études de terrain menées en Côte d’Ivoire et une ethnographie digitale conduite à partir de la plateforme Facebook.
In this article, I propose to look at how class belonging, and shared notions of good religiosity are intertwined in the context of current ways to assert oneself as a “good Muslim.” Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted between 2016 and 2019 in the city of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, this article presents a series of portraits of women and their families. These portraits emphasize how the growing popularity of tourist travels towards so-called “Muslim societies” in the Arab world, and more recently in Morocco, plays a role in the construction of “good religiosity” as it is enmeshed in social class relations. The ethnographic data discussed in this article shows that travel consumption asserts class belonging as well as shared notions of “good religiosity.” To draw out this argument, I propose to revisit in a critical way Pierre Bourdieu’s notion of conspicuous consumption as processes of social distinction.
The growth of marabouts’ divinatory practices in urban centres in Côte d’Ivoire from the 1980s onwards was due to the generational crisis among marabouts and the unemployment of many graduates from universities in the Arab Maghreb. Forced to earn money linked to the difficulties of urban city life, some marabouts replaced the traditional community support with a mandatory fee, so that we witnessed the professionalisation of maraboutage. Professional marabouts mingled with other practitioners of the occult, causing repeated scandals. In response, the Ivorian state took measures to control the activities of “fake” marabouts. This study focuses on the political, economic and religious consequences for the image and the position of marabouts in the postcolony. It is based on the use of press clippings, bibliographic data and oral sources.
Like the most African states, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Gabon and Senegal have a system of religious pluralism. However, if the latter is inadequately regulated, it can lead to interreligious or even socio-political conflicts. However, we note the absence of such religious excesses in these states. This absence could be explained by the existence of a legal regime of secularism that guarantees religious pluralism due to its relatively liberal character. This character stems from the limited consolidation of norms favouring religious freedom, and the moderate affirmation of those fostering the diversity of faith-based organizations.
The article analyzes the evolution of Islam in Côte d’Ivoire in the light of the profound changes that have taken place in the country since independence in 1960 and up to the present day. The author explores the reasons for the rapid increase in the number of Islamized residents compared to other West African countries, especially during the first 30 years of independent development. This was a period of awakening of the collective consciousness and organizational cohesion of Ivorian Muslims. The second stage, since the first multiparty elections in the early 1990s, is associated with the politicization of religion, with a new form of Islamic religious culture, especially in cities - proselytism. The tariqas, due to their lack of organization, play a secondary role in the modern history of the Muslim societies of Côte d’Ivoire. In addition, the modernization processes have further weakened their influence. Spiritual brotherhoods did not become a barrier to the spread of reformist teachings that were associated with Sunni Islam, a departure from Sufi spirituality. The reformist elite of the Ivorian Muslim community made extensive use of the Quranic concept of da'wa in their religious propaganda, with its ideology borrowed from the Arab-Islamic world. Its main goal was the re-islamization of Muslim society, the introduction of political Islam. The paper examines the problems of relations between Ivorian Muslims and Christians, which have not always been peaceful, especially during periods of military and political crises, when they were intertwined with ethnic ones. The coming to power in 2011 of A.Ouattara, the first Muslim president, contributed to the preservation of a stable balance between faiths thanks to his clerical policy.
In the town of Odienné (Ivory Coast), Madou forges his faith in God by performing long sessions of solo zikr (recollection of God) after midnight. This article ethnographically explores the theme of light in this Sufi practice of concentration as an experiential form of being. It first describes how the light and darkness of the penumbra of the night co-initiate what I call “the devotional place” of zikr. Following a phenomenological writing, it then describes how, as hours go by, Madou’s concentration navigates towards “yeelen” (spiritual light) through the silence of the deep night. In doing so, this article elaborates the “corporeal mind” as synesthetic instants in this journey when the body becomes the mind and the mind faith, as the penumbra becomes silence and silence light. In other words, it explores the sensuous unboundedness of the self that happens in regular and long practice of nocturnal solo zikr. This article therefore offers a corporeal understanding of the light of God among practitioners of prolonged nocturnal solo zikr in West Africa.
When it is question of Moussa Bakayoko from Koro in Côte d’Ivoire, especially in the northwest, history and legend come together, as the character is known for his works of islamization. Paradoxically to this reputation that inscribes Koro, locality founded by Moussa Bakayoko, among the most visited areas of Mahou, considering the grave of the ‘’man of God’’, which is the subject of regular zyara (visit), any scientific study, among the 85 works enumerated on ivorian islam in 2018 by the African Studies Center, really shows the impact that karamôgô Moussa had in the consolidation of islam in the second half of the eighteenth century. Only a few works marginally describe the life of the character, and specially the traditionalists whom we met between march and september 2019 in several localities of this region, and from whom we got some manuscripts, have disclosed one part of the life of Koro’s wise man. Accordingly, this study shows Moussa Bakayoko’s itinerary and participation in the dynamic of islam in the northwest of Côte d’Ivoire, through the collected sources.
As a counterpoint to the research on Muslims in Côte d'Ivoire, this article takes a spatial approach by focusing on the building that best symbolizes the followers of the Islamic faith, namely the mosque. In this place of worship, it focuses on an aspect of the life of Muslim communities that is rarely mentioned in the scientific literature: palavers inside the mosque. Indeed, due to its centrality in the life of the Muslim community, the mosque is not immune to conflicts of interest. This situation makes the mosque a space where society is at stake. Far from being exhaustive, this article focuses on it by drawing up a typology. Following a long-term approach, it traces the plural context of the emergence of these community frictions and presents the protagonists. It evokes the role of public authorities (State, traditional authorities, bodies in charge of Muslim community life) in the occurrence and/or management of these crises as well as that of the followers. It also analyses the religious, political, socio-cultural and, above all, economic logics underlying these conflicts.
During his travel to Timbuktu in 1827–1828, René Caillié was interested in the lifestyle of the Muslims traders, his fellow travellers, and of the animist villagers along the caravans’ path. This was an exceptional experience in many ways, although this testimony must be approached critically. In particular, René Caillé described the eating practices of the traders and the animists, and of the former with the latter, according to their religious affiliations. These behaviours provide a contrasting picture of the relations between animists and Muslims, which can consist of prohibitions, tolerances, or compromises on the part of the ‘Mandingo’ traders. These practices also show different ways of being a Muslim in Sudano-Sahelian Africa at the beginning of the 19th century, depending on the pacific or expansionist tendencies of Islam, on the needs of long-distance trade, and on the prevalence of some local habits.
During the 1950s, Sheikh Yacouba Sylla opened seven cinemas in the west of the Ivory Coast. The gesture by this spiritual leader, founder of a Sufi community but also a successful entrepreneur, is totally atypical in the colonial cinematic landscape. How are we to understand this extraordinary act? What memories does it evoke for the founder’s descendants, who have preserved these now disused buildings? Through an exchange between achievements in the past and recollections at the present time, this article analyses the way in which the establishment of cinemas is incorporated into a religious, economic and social project. It also looks at the link between the functioning of the Yacoubiste community and that of the cinemas, which were open until the end of the 2000s. Interviews with representatives of the Yacoubiste community bear witness to this multifaceted activity, whilst colonial archives and historical studies complete the documentation.
Cette chronique dresse un état des lieux des relations politico-religieuses en Côte d’Ivoire avant et après les élections présidentielles d’octobre 2020, en forme de bilan, après une décennie de régime Ouattara. Elle documente en premier lieu la relative perte d’influence des chefs religieux dans l’espace public, dominé plus manifestement que par le passé par les chefs politiques. Elle questionne en particulier le lien entre un mimétisme grandissant des autorités religieuses vis-à-vis du modus operandi des autorités politiques et l’érosion de leur crédibilité. L’article chronique ensuite la reprise d’initiative œcuménique de nombreux guides religieux qui ont formé, dans la dernière ligne droite des semaines précédant le scrutin, une « Alliance des religions en faveur de la paix » pour contribuer à l’apaisement d’un climat sociopolitique devenu houleux et violent. La conclusion interroge la critique latente du public des fidèles envers ses élites et son cheminement vers des initiatives possiblement émancipatrices mais très incertaines.
During the French colonial administration of Cote d’Ivoire, two educational systems coexisted: the western type of education and the Quranic schools. Based and organized around the Koran, the later was devoted to the promotion Islam and the spread of Islamic civilization. Introduced in Cote d’Ivoire from the northern region before the fifteenth (XVth) century, Islam spreads all over the colony through trade carried out by the Mande and Dioula networks (formed of traders, marabouts, etc.) under French colonial administration control. This study takes into consideration the Islamic education in a context of close religious control by French colonial administration in Cote d’Ivoire. Through a diachronic analysis, this paper intends to dynamically study the relationship between Islamic education and the French colonial administration in Cote d’Ivoire by highlighting the the French Muslim policy in its implementation in a broad context of social religious order in western Africa.
The landscape of Education in Côte d'Ivoire is strongly marked by the existence of two types of training, one formal and one informal. Islamic education, one of the last mentioned, is also one of the forerunners of educational institutions in the country. Under the authority of an individual, or a community, not of the State, Koranic training institutions have eventually finished over time by spreading all over the Ivorian territorial space. Different from each other by the organization of the administration and the curricula, these institutions offer training programs out of step with the national education system. This raises the issue of the credibility of this training and of the future of graduates who are not recognized by the State. Arrangements were made by the State and the National Islamic Council (CNI) at the end of 1993 to allow these institutions to enjoy the same status as the Catholic and Protestant denominational schools. This initiative, bound as it was to get the Koranic educational system out of a rut, still meets difficulties on the ground. Through a historical study of Koranic education in Côte d'Ivoire, this study will analyse the dynamics of evolution of this educational system over the past two decades.
This paper analyzes the trajectories of West African students in Turkey over the last two decades. These study mobilities were initiated by the Turkish government's policy of internationalization, which allowed thousands of young people to leave for Ankara, Istanbul or Konya, making Turkey a new player on the global scene of educational exchanges. The students experienced in Turkey a society that was little open to the outside world, but also created cultural and economic exchanges with Africa. The analysis of their mobility thus helps to counterbalance the idea of the negative impact of the brain drain on their countries of origin.
The Islam Burkina Faso Collection presents itself as "an open access digital database containing over 2,900 archival documents, newspaper articles, Islamic publications of various forms, and photographs on Islam and Muslims in Burkina Faso since the 1960s. The site also indexes more than 250 bibliographical references of books, book chapters, book reviews, journal articles, dissertations, theses, and reports on the topic." Obviously, this is an impressive achievement, and the project launched in 2021 by Frédérick Madore will become an increasingly useful repository since travel in and to Burkina Faso has become more difficult. Specialists of Islam or print culture from Burkina Faso, West Africa, and beyond will now have access to this extremely valuable resource, provided that they have an Internet connection.
Les difficultés des États sahéliens et des acteurs internationaux à enrayer les activités des groupes armés djihadistes expliquent que des nuages sombres s’amoncellent autour de certains pays côtiers ouest-africains. Comment y faire face ?
