Sorcery or Science? by Ariela Marcus-Sells - 9780271092300

Sorcery or Science?Contesting Knowledge and Practice in West African Sufi Texts\nAuthor(s): Ariela Marcus-Sells\nFormat: Paperback\nPublisher: Pennsylvania State University Press, United States\nImprint: Pennsylvania State University Press\nISBN-13: 9780271092300, 978-0271092300\nSynopsis\nSorcery or Science? examines how two Sufi Muslim theologians who rose to prominence in the western Sahara Desert in the late eighteenth century, S?di al-Mukht?r al-Kunt? (d. 1811) and his son and successor, S?di Mu?ammad al-Kunt? (d. 1826), decisively influenced the development of Sufi Muslim thought in West Africa.\n\nKnown as the Kunta scholars, Mukht?r al-Kunt? and Mu?ammad al-Kunt? were influential teachers who developed a pedagogical network of students across the Sahara. In exploring their understanding of the realm of the unseena vast, invisible world that is both surrounded and interpenetrated by the visible worldAriela Marcus-Sells reveals how these theologians developed a set of practices.