The Formation of the Sudanese Mahdist State
Author | : Kim Searcy |
Publisher | : BRILL |
Total Pages | : 174 |
Release | : 2010-12-17 |
ISBN-10 | : 9789004191075 |
ISBN-13 | : 9004191070 |
Rating | : 4/5 (75 Downloads) |
Download or read book The Formation of the Sudanese Mahdist State written by Kim Searcy and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2010-12-17 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is the first analysis of the Sudanese Mahdiyya from a socio-political perspective that treats how relationships of authority were enunciated through symbol and ceremony. The book focuses on how the Mahdi and his second-in-command and ultimate successor, the Khalifa Abdallahi, used symbols, ceremony and ritual to articulate their power, authority and legitimacy first within the context of resistance to the imperial Turco-Egyptian forces that had been occupying the Nilotic Sudan since 1821, and then within the context of establishing an Islamic state. This study examines five key elements from a historical perspective: the importance of Islamic mysticism as manifested in Sufi brotherhoods in the articulation of power in the Sudan; ceremony as handmaids of power and legitimacy; charismatic leadership; the routinization of charisma and the formation of a religious state purportedly based upon the first Islamic community in the seventh century C.E.