Homo scolasticus dans le désert. Autour d’une controverse juridique sur le statut de la gomme arabique dans le Sahara maure (XIXe–XXe s.)
This article explores a 19th–20th century controversy in the Moorish Sahara (present-day Mauritania) regarding the Islamic legal classification of gum arabic. This resin, derived from the Acacia senegalensis tree and occasionally consumed by the Moors themselves for food and medicinal purposes, beca...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | French |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2024
|
| In: |
Die Welt des Islams
Year: 2024, Volume: 64, Issue: 2/3, Pages: 197-226 |
| Further subjects: | B
Trade
B ribā B gum arabic B Fatwā B Fiqh B Moorish society |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | This article explores a 19th–20th century controversy in the Moorish Sahara (present-day Mauritania) regarding the Islamic legal classification of gum arabic. This resin, derived from the Acacia senegalensis tree and occasionally consumed by the Moors themselves for food and medicinal purposes, became the primary item of exchange between the Moorish tribes on the northern bank of the Senegal River and the French traders based in Saint-Louis du Sénégal from the 18th century onwards. In these transactions, gum arabic functioned as a form of currency. The central debate, directly related to the issue of usury (al-ribā), revolved around whether gum arabic should be considered a foodstuff or a medium of exchange. The author posits that the fatwas issued on this matter were part of a classification struggle among fuqahāʾ, while representing, in Bourdieu’s terms, the payment of “entry fees” into a “field” of fiqh that they sought to monopolize. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1570-0607 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Die Welt des Islams
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15700607-20230026 |