On January 22, 2021, the Center for African Studies held its first Baraza of the year titled, “Northern Nigerian Intellectuals, Sudan, and the “Eclectic Style” in Contemporary Islamic Thought.” The presentation, given by Dr. Alex Thurston, functioned as the keynote of the “Remapping the Study of Islam and Muslim Cultures in Nigeria” online workshop. This full-day event was organized by post-doctoral researcher Musa Ibrahim and UF Professor Dr. Benjamin Soares. The workshop was sponsored by the Henry Luce Foundation, the UF Center for Global Islamic Studies, the Center for African Studies, and the Department of Religion.
Dr. Thurston began by discussing his previous publications. His books have focused on Boko Haram, Nigeria’s place within the wider Muslim world, and Nigeria’s relationship with Senegal, Egypt, and Morocco in the context of Islam. Dr. Thurston has since become more interested in transnational Islamic connections that may not be based on Sufism or Salafism, as seen in Nigeria’s relationship to Malaysia.
Dr. Thurston then went on to talk about Islamic modernists, progressives, and Islamists. According to him, although Islamic modernism piqued by the 1940s, it had a significant influence in Nigeria through 1970s. This can be seen in the exchange of ideas, imagery, and questions of the intellectual elite of the North. Another notable constituency are progressives, who’s main concern is not theology or debates over worship (which has been the focus of the Sufi and Selafi divide). Rather, progressives believe Islam can be a vehicle for social progress and change. Finally, Islamists make up another category that is difficult to map onto Nigeria. Islamists create organized political blocks in favor of turning Islamic law into an object and making that into a political program. Dr. Thurston argues that the Islamist label fits poorly in the context of Nigeria, however interesting and noteworthy.
Lastly, there are certain eclectic figures that draw from different sources within the Islamic and Sunni tradition. These figures also draw from non-Muslim thinkers, like European philosophers. Many of these eclectic thinkers break traditional binaries related to Islam. Dr. Thurston ends his presentation by comparing two eclectic Islamic figures questioning how much of an influence their formal education had on their own eclecticism and thinking.
Recap written by: Elisabeth Rios-Brooks
Notes:
who are not well known – one well known and the other not so much – but they share many experience (traditional families, brown in the 1860s)
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In his first book he focused on Nigeria’s place within the wider Muslim world by exporting religious influences (for example, through preaching tours that Nigerian scholars) and importation of religious influences from the Arab world and more broadly. His next publication touched on Nigeria’s relationship between Nigeria and the wider Islamic world (for example, Senegal, Egypt, and Morocco)
This paper a few intellectuals in Sudan. What is the influence of individual Muslim thinkers of Nigeria like Ibrahim Yas. There is still a major question, why does he have such a resonance in Nigeria and Muslim constituencies.
These charges aimed to (I am in tune with global trends and they are parochial geographically or intellectually).
Islamic modernists – influence of islamic modernists in Nigeria – drawing on islamic modernist ideas.
Progressives – people whos main concern is not necessarily the type – vehicle for social pprogress and change
Islamists – tricky category to map onto Nigeria – Egptian Muslim brotherhood –
Organized political blocks in favor of turning islamic law into an object and agitating for that in Islamic countries. Islamist label fits poorly – Islamism is a category worth thinking about
Eclectic label doesnt give a full oritnetaion of these intellectuals