Work · African & Africana Philosophy
Revival of the Sunna and Destruction of Innovation
A handbook written before the jihad on the correct practice of ritual and everyday life according to the Sunna and on the innovations that are to be rejected.
Introduction
Usman dan Fodio wrote this handbook in Arabic in the years before the jihad, around 1793. Its title echoes al-Ghazali’s Revival of the Religious Sciences. It sets out correct practice according to the Sunna in matters of ritual purity, prayer, fasting and everyday life and identifies innovations (bida) that should be abandoned, distinguishing between innovations that are forbidden and those that are permissible. The work was used as a teaching text in the Sokoto community and shows the reformist character of his preaching.
Connections
Taken up in
- Explanation of the Obligation of Emigration upon the Servants of God1806 · Usman dan Fodio
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