The majority of 19th century North African resistance movements against foreign occupations were led by Sufi figures, or occasionally by Mahdist (Millenarian) figures who later sought the support of one or more Sufi fraternity (Clancy-Smith, 1994). While Clancy-Smith’s brilliant historical study of this phenomenon narrates the varied responses of different Algerian and Tunisian Sufi leaders to colonization, no study has yet elaborated on how Maghrebi Sufi literature registered the 19th century threat of invasion. This study examines how inner and outer travel show up as responses to occupation in the works of two prominent Sufi resistance figures from the period: Emir Abd-el-Kader in Algeria and al-Sheikh Ma’ al-Aynain in what is now Morocco and Mauritania. Although Sufi texts often focus on the soul traveling through various stages (maqamat) or states (ahwal), physical travel is also a strong element of the Sufi narrative, as one makes pilgrimage to Sufi tombs and graves (ziyara) in addition to the hajj to Mecca. The legendary Emir Abd-el-Kader wrote a epistle on hijra in which he emphasized the duty of each Muslim to emigrate to Dar al-Islam from Dar al-Harb, and the Saharan resistance figure al-Sheikh Ma’ al-Aynain left behind both a description of his journey to Mecca and a guide to dealing with foreign occupiers. How does Ma’ al-Aynain’s "Hida?yat man h?a?ra? fi? amr al-Nas?a?ra" and Emir Abd el-Kader’s "H?isa?m al-di?n li-qat?? shibh al-murtaddi?n" treat actual travel and the alternative of inkimash, or turning within? How does this compare with their most famous works dealing with general Sufi practice? Do they depict Dar al-Islam and Dar al-Harb in concrete or abstract terms? Does the actual historical event of colonization make their arguments or references differ from Sufi texts written in different historical contexts, or does the basic Sufi parlance remain the same in the face of massive social upheaval? This paper aims to answer these questions by analyzing referents to place and travel and contextualizing them within the larger Sufi tradition.

Abstract Devotional practices and Sufi rituals share a common textual basis, that is rooted not only in Quran and ??d??, but also in a large corpus of poetry produced since before the appearance of Islam in ?i??z. The expansion of Islam in Sub Saharan Africa has seen the flourishing of devotional literature, that constitutes, in many cases, the largest part of manuscripts and texts collections. The relations of the latter with the Arabic tradition is a wide topic that requires a multi-faceted inquiry. In this paper I would like to analyze one of these facets, starting from a few poems produced in the 19th and 20th in Ethiopia, that have been found in manuscript collections digitized by the Islam in the Horn of Africa Project. Being mainly anonymous and used in a variety of contexts (maw?l?d, ?ar?qa related gatherings, family meetings), it is difficult to put these texts in a defined frame of local use and practice. On the other hand, it is possible to relate them the to the previous tradition, on the basis of the other texts found in the area (in manuscript and printed form). To reach this aim I will present the Fat? al-ra?m?n? of the Ethiopian Sufi H?šim b. ?Abd al-?Az?z (d. 1765) and other locally produced collections of prayers on the Prophet and compare them with previous works diffused in Ethiopia, like the Tanb?h al-an?m of Ibn ?A???m al-Qayraw?n? (d.1565) and back to the ?a??’i? and dal?’il al-nubuwwa literature that flourished in Maml?k period. The adoption of foreign literary topoi and their transposition in a different context will help tracing a geography of quotations and a literary landscape where the Arabic literary production in a peripheric context will appear as one of many knots in a dense web of relations. The way in which this imagery has been re-used, with or without a re-adaptation will allow us to define the dynamics shaping those relations, from simple plagiarism to active re-elaboration. In this sense, the reference to historical or spiritual spaces (Mecca, Medina, the spiritual ascension) can function as a thread to follow in order to narrow the scope of the inquiry and to provide a clear and defined mean of comparison.

In the 19th century, the Ottoman Empire sought to align itself with Europe, with the understanding that this was where modernity was geographically located. This imaginary locus was formulated by the “Young Ottomans” as part of the Tanzimat. Until then, the Empire lacked a strong notion of nationalism, or the belief that the interests of the State were of primary importance. As “Ottomanism” took hold, the foundation was laid for a modern nation-state. In the 20th Century, the largest, most economically dominant ethnic group within the Empire following World War One began to consolidate their nationalist ideology in conjunction with the emergence of a new bourgeoisie class, comprised primarily of ethnic Turks. Leading the way was Mustapha Kemal, a westernist who envisioned the narrative of “the sick man of Europe” as a secular resuscitation which would reshape the politico-ideological geography of Europe to include Anatolia. At the forefront of these secular reforms was the dismemberment of Islam as a political authority. Mustapha Kemal argued that Islam was an Arab faith and a vehicle for Arab domination. He imagined a republic with borders drawn using the political boundaries of nationalism, not religion. The caliphate was abolished, Turkish khutbas and Qur’ans appeared, and the ezan was recited in Turkish; these among many reforms aimed at a Turkified vision of a modern nation-state. For a moment, it appeared that Turkey had severed ties with the ummah. In 1949, two Tijani Sufis were arrested for reciting the ezan in Arabic during a parliamentary session. In 1950, the Arabic ezan was reinstated. In 1951, statues of Atatürk were decapitated. Later that year, Kemal Pilavo?lu, along with several Tijani Sufis were arrested for “sacrilege against Atatürk.” The Turkish Tijaniyya’s activism against secular reforms is an example of an Islamist response to secular reforms in early republican Turkey. In this context, “Islamism” is a political category, whereas Sufism is a theological one. This case-study represents an example of when imagined geographies overlap to create a real geographical narrative of Turkish nationalism.