Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
PART ONE: The Form and Function of West African Sufi Madih
   What is Sufi Madih?
      The Form and Function of Sufi Madih
      The Impossibility of Praise
   Madih as Du'a'
   Madih as Hilya
   Madih as Dhikr/Salawat
   Madih as Being
   The Perfect Human (al-Insan al-Kamil) and the Praiseworthy Station (al-Maqam al-Mahmud)
PART TWO: The Living History of Intertextuality: Sources of the West African Tradition
   Qur'an and Hadith
   Sira, Shama'il, and Salawat Literature
   Pre-Islamic and Early Islamic Arabic poetry
   Classics of Praise Poetry
      Al-'Ishriniyyat
   Non-Arabic Influences
   Formal Features of the Tradition
      Hyper-intertextuality and intersubjectivity
      'Big Arabic'
Conclusion
Appendix: Peaks of the West African Madih Tradition
Bibliography

About the Author

Dr Oludamini Ogunnaike holds a PhD in African Studies and the Study of Religion from Harvard University and is Assistant Professor of African Religious Thought at the University of Virginia.