The formation of the Sudanese Mahdist state : ceremony and symbols of authority 1882-1898 / by Kim Searcy.

• Superior document: Islam in Africa, v. 11
• Author: Searcy, Kim.
• Year of Publication: 2011
• Language: English
• Series: Islam in Africa ; v. 11.
• Physical Description: 1 Online-Resource
• Notes: This book is the first analysis of the Sudanese Mahdiyya from a socio-political perspective that treats how relationships of authority were enunciated through symbol and ceremony. The book focuses on how the Mahdi and his second-in-command and ultimate successor, the Khalifa Abdallahi, used symbols, ceremony and ritual to articulate their power, authority and legitimacy first within the context of resistance to the imperial Turco-Egyptian forces that had been occupying the Nilotic Sudan since 1821, and then within the context of establishing an Islamic state. This study examines five key elements from a historical perspective: the importance of Islamic mysticism as manifested in Sufi brotherhoods in the articulation of power in the Sudan; ceremony as handmaids of power and legitimacy; charismatic leadership; the routinization of charisma and the formation of a religious state purportedly based upon the first Islamic community in the seventh century C.E.
• Bibliography: Includes bibliographical references (p. [153]-155) and index.
• ISBN: 9789004185999 (hardback : alk. paper); 9789004191075 (electronic bk.)
• ISSN: 1570-3754
• Hierarchical level: Monograph
• Statement of Responsibility: by Kim Searcy.