May God Repay You: The Tenet of Baraji in Southern Mali, West Africa
Muslims in the West African state of Mali use baraji, which translates from Bambara as ‘divine reward’ or ‘recompense’, as a criterion for understanding proper religious practice. The concept also drives Muslims’ lifelong aim to acquire the unspecified amount of merit that God requires for a person...
| Published in: | Journal of religion in Africa |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
2015
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| In: |
Journal of religion in Africa
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| Further subjects: | B
Mali
West Africa
merit
Islam
baraji
Bambara
ancestral relations
kinship
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| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | Muslims in the West African state of Mali use baraji, which translates from Bambara as ‘divine reward’ or ‘recompense’, as a criterion for understanding proper religious practice. The concept also drives Muslims’ lifelong aim to acquire the unspecified amount of merit that God requires for a person to enter paradise. Drawing from life history and ethnographic research, this piece deepens understanding of West African Islam by exploring the Qur’anic basis of baraji and situates the concept as a form of value through which Muslims discern the complementary places of different ritual practices and daily choices in their lives. In order to understand the ways that Malian Muslims seek measurable units of baraji to benefit both the living and the dead, this study also shows how kin earn baraji on one another’s behalf, especially through posthumous sacrifices. By doing so, the article highlights death as a process in which the acquisition of baraji continues through kin and sacrifices, revealing West African Islam as embedded in daily social life and relations with one’s ancestors. |
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| ISSN: | 1570-0666 |
| Contains: | In: Journal of religion in Africa
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15700666-12340038 |