Shi'i Cosmopolitanisms in Africa

Download or read book Shi'i Cosmopolitanisms in Africa written by Mara A. Leichtman and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2015-08-27 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mara A. Leichtman offers an in-depth study of Shi'i Islam in two very different communities in Senegal: the well-established Lebanese diaspora and Senegalese "converts" from Sunni to Shi'i Islam of recent decades. Sharing a minority religious status in a predominantly Sunni Muslim country, each group is cosmopolitan in its own way. Leichtman provides new insights into the everyday lives of Shi'i Muslims in Africa and the dynamics of local and global Islam. She explores the influence of Hizbullah and Islamic reformist movements, and offers a corrective to prevailing views of Sunni-Shi'i hostility, demonstrating that religious coexistence is possible in a context such as Senegal.