Africana Religions

Ways of Knowing in Sufism and Ifa, Two West African Intellectual Traditions

Oludamini Ogunnaike

• Publisher: Penn State University Press
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9780271087634
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Islamic Theology

This book is an in-depth, comparative study of two of the most popular and influential intellectual and spiritual traditions of West Africa: Tijani Sufism and Ifa. Employing a unique methodological approach that thinks with and from—rather than merely about—these traditions, Oludamini Ogunnaike argues that they contain sophisticated epistemologies that provide practitioners with a comprehensive worldview and a way of crafting a meaningful life.

Using theories belonging to the traditions themselves as well as contemporary oral and textual sources, Ogunnaike examines how both Sufism and Ifa answer the questions of what knowledge is, how it is acquired, and how it is verified. Or, more simply: What do you know? How did you come to know it? How do you know that you know? After analyzing Ifa and Sufism separately and on their own terms, the book compares them to each other and to certain features of academic theories of knowledge. By analyzing Sufism from the perspective of Ifa, Ifa from the perspective of Sufism, and the contemporary academy from the perspective of both, this book invites scholars to inhabit these seemingly "foreign" intellectual traditions as valid and viable perspectives on knowledge, metaphysics, psychology, and ritual practice.

Unprecedented and innovative, Deep Knowledge makes a significant contribution to cross-cultural philosophy, African philosophy, religious studies, and Islamic studies. Its singular approach advances our understanding of the philosophical bases underlying these two African traditions and lays the groundwork for future study.

Table of contents

• COVER Front
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: African Philosophy?
• Notes to Introduction
• Part 1: Ways of Knowing in Tijani Sufism
• Chapter 1: What Is Tijani Sufism?
• Notes to Chapter 1
• Chapter 2: What Is Maʿrifa?
• Notes to Chapter 2
• Chapter 3: How Is Maʿrifa Acquired?
• Notes to Chapter 3
• Chapter 4: How Does Tarbiya Work?
• Notes to Chapter 4
• Part 2: Ways of Knowing in Ifa
• Chapter 5: What Is Ifa?
• Notes to Chapter 5
• Chapter 6: Knowledge in Ifa
• Notes to Chapter 6
• Chapter 7: How Is Knowledge Acquired in Ifa?
• Notes to Chapter 7
• Chapter 8: How Is Knowledge Verified in Ifa?
• Notes to Chapter 8
• Part 3: Comparing Ifa and Tijani Sufism
• Chapter 9: Comparing Ifa and Tijani Sufism
• Notes to Chapter 9
• Chapter 10: Comparative Conclusions
• Notes to Chapter 10
• Notes
• Index