o:id 5317 url https://islam.zmo.de/s/westafrica/item/5317 o:resource_template Journal article o:resource_class bibo:AcademicArticle dcterms:title Qur'anic Exegesis in Niger: A Songhay-Zarma Oral Commentary on Sūrat al-Baqara dcterms:subject Qur’an Songhai people exegesis Zarma people Say dcterms:publisher https://islam.zmo.de/s/westafrica/item/25088 dcterms:date 2013 dcterms:type https://islam.zmo.de/s/westafrica/item/8475 dcterms:identifier https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q117312304 Q117312304 iwac-reference-0000158 dcterms:language https://islam.zmo.de/s/westafrica/item/8322 dcterms:abstract The city of Saayi (Say), Niger has played an important role in the regional development of Islam from the early nineteenth century onwards. This paper traces its history and the biography of the founder, using the available written and oral sources, while also describing its role as a contemporary religious centre. The Qur'an is commented on in local languages both in the context of traditional advanced religious education and in Ramaḍān. The intellectual sources, language and ritual dimensions of enunciation of these oral commentaries are analysed, as are the ceremonies specific to Ramaḍān. Although Say was founded by Fulfulde-speaking scholars, reflecting the general cultural and social evolution of the city and its area, for the past 50 years, the Qur'an commentary in the Friday mosque has been given in Songhay-Zarma. While these commentaries are essentially based on recognised Arabic ones, their language makes some reference to the images and concepts of local Songhay-Zarma culture. The linguistic features and substantive content of Songhay-Zarma oral tafsīr are illustrated by two excerpts, each presenting several verses of Sūrat al-Baqara: one is drawn from a full tafsīr collected in Say in 1968, at the initiative of the well-known statesman and man of letters Boubou Hama; the other was collected in the Zarma country in 1905–6. dcterms:spatial https://islam.zmo.de/s/westafrica/item/540 bibo:authorList https://islam.zmo.de/s/westafrica/item/1700 bibo:doi https://doi.org/10.3366/JQS.2013.0117 10.3366/JQS.2013.0117 bibo:issue 3 bibo:pageEnd 205 bibo:pageStart 184 bibo:volume 15 --