Zawāyā
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| Southern Sahara, especially Mauritania | |
| Religions | |
| Islam | |
| Scriptures | |
| Quran | |
| Languages | |
| Berber, Arabic |
The Zawāyā are tribes in the southern Sahara who have traditionally followed a deeply religious way of life. They accepted a subordinate position to the warrior tribes, whether Arab or Berber, who had little interest in Islam. The Zawāyā introduced Sufi brotherhoods to the black populations south of the Sahara. The jihad movements of the Fula people in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries have their origins with the Zawāyā. Today the Zawāyā are one of the two noble castes of Mauritania.
The Zawāyā were nomadic tribes from the arid lands to the north and east of the Senegal River in West Africa. Their religious beliefs may possibly be traced back to the eleventh century Almoravid movement, although their generally more passive attitude is in contrast to that of the militant Almoravids. They gave great importance to teaching the Islamic religious sciences and to reciting the Quran. The Zawāyā attempted to avoid conflict with the stronger warrior groups by renouncing arms and paying tribute.
In the west, the Zawāyā were of Berber origin, while after the fifteenth century the warrior tribes were Arab. In the center, the reverse applied. The Zawāyā were Arab, while Berber or Tuareg tribes held military and political power. The Zawāyā, with their passive lifestyle of herding, prayer and study, were treated with some contempt by the stronger groups, but this was mingled with respect. A story was told by the sixteenth century Timbuktu jurist al-Muṣallī, so-called because he worshiped in the mosque so often. He was a Zawāyā from the west and a regular attendant at the teaching circle of the jurist Maḥmūd, grandson of Anda Ag-Muhammad in the female line. Al-Muṣallī resolved to ask for the hand of Maḥmūd's daughter in marriage. Before he could make his proposal Maḥmūd politely deflected it, saying that "birds of a feather flock together".
The separation of the tribes of this region into warrior and Zawāyā tribes had probably occurred before the fifteenth century. By then some of the Zawāyā were moving south to avoid the depredations of the warrior tribes, risking conflict with the sedentary populations of Chemama, Gorgol and Tagant. During the fifteenth century the Beni Ḥassān Arab nomads began to enter the region. Hassāni rulers imposed heavy tributes on the Zawāyā, but did not give them effective protection against their enemies. Although subordinate to the Banū Ḥassan warriors, the Zawāyā ranked above other Berbers. These in turn ranked above blacksmiths, who were said to be Jewish in origin, and mixed-race people.
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Wikipedia