“This richly researched and highly original study convincingly demonstrates how, in the early 20th century, Umarian Tijani clerics harnessed ethnic connections, Sufi networks, and mobility to expand the reach of Islam among the Fulani-speaking people that straddle the borders of Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, and The Gambia. This book is an extremely valuable addition to the historical literature on the Islamization of Senegambia.”—Cheikh Anta Babou is the author of Fighting the Greater Jihad (Ohio University Press, 2007) and the Muridiyya on the Move: Islam, Migration and Place Making (Ohio University Press, 2021).
“Drawing on rich oral traditions and deep archival research, Assan Sarr crafts a compelling narrative that traces the movement of Fulɓe clerics who spread the Umarian Tijāniyya across Senegambia. He shows how rural scholars transformed isolated frontiers into enduring centers of Islamic learning, challenging long-held assumptions about Islam’s urban and northern roots in West Africa.”—Walter Hawthorne, Professor of African History, Michigan State University
"Assan Sarr has written a beautiful work. This book takes a leading place in debates around the consolidation of Islam in Senegambia, showcasing the importance of migration, kinship ties, and trans-border movements in the early 20th century. Sarr shows how this key historical change must be understood through the religious and autonomous idioms of Senegambians".—Toby Green, Professor Precolonial and Lusophone African History and Culture at King's College London, author of The Heretic of Cacheu: Crispina Peres and the Struggle over Life in 17th-Century West Africa
“Through this new book, Assan Sarr has made a meaningful contribution to the historiography of Islam in Senegambia. The book offers new and important insights into the spread of the Umarian Tijāniyya Sufi tradition in southern Senegal.”—Fallou Ngom, Professor of Anthropology (Boston University), author of Muslims beyond the Arab World: The Odyssey of ʿAjamī and the Murīdiyya (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2026)
