Takrūr The History of a Name

Datos Bibliográficos

ID8977583
AutoresʿUmar al-Naqar (autor de correspondencia), Umar Al-Naqar
Año1969
Volumen10
Número3
Páginas365-374
Fecha de publicación1969-07-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaThe Journal of African History (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0021-8537 • E-ISSN: 1469-5138
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s002185370003632x
OpenAlexW1964504356
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas23
Referencias citadas1

The generic term Takarīr (also Takarna) is a popular Middle Eastern concept applied to all West African Muslims. The progenitor of the name, to which the attribution Takarīr is made, is the ancient state of Takrūr, which existed briefly on the Senegal basin from ca . a.d. 1OOO and which was the first West African chieftaincy to accept Islam. This paper suggests that probably the earliest West African Muslims to be seen in the Middle East in recognizable numbers may have come from that state. Because the milieu of the Hijaz and the diversity of races frequenting the annual pilgrimage ceremonies encouraged generalizations, the name Takarīr was conveniently applied to West Africans. The ambiguity of the term may thus be seen to have progressively increased with the expansion of Islam in West Africa, while the name itself became sufficiently entrenched in popular usage for it to survive the fame of great West African empires like Mali and Songhay. The term ‘Bilad al-Takrūr’ is essentially the extension of the Middle Eastern concept of Takrūr and has therefore received various territorial definitions

Ambiguity · Ancient history · Archaeology · Diversity (politics · Ethnology · Genealogy · Geography · History of Africa · Islam · Linguistics · Pilgrimage · Sociology · State (computer science · African history and culture analysis · African Studies and Geopolitics · Anthropology · History · Language, Linguistics, Cultural Analysis · Philosophy