sion disputes that threatened to divide the order.
This fact, coupled with their economic prosperity,
emphasis upon the disciplines of character and
hard work, resistance to radicalizing influences
(such as Wahhabism), and ability to adjust to
changing circumstances (such as the Senegalese
ground-nut crisis), have made the Muridiyya a
dynamic and important influence in Senegalese
society and beyond.
Further reading: Lucy E. Creevey, “Ahmad Bamba
1850–1927.” In Studies in West African Islamic History,
Vol. 1, edited by John Ralph Willis (London: Frank Cass,
1979); Christopher Harrison, France and Islam in West
Africa, 1860–1960 (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1988); Donald B. Cruise O’Brien, The Mourides
of Senegal: The Political and Economic Organization of an
Islamic Brotherhood (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1971); David Robinson, Paths of Accommodation: Mus-
lim Societies and French Colonial Authorities in Senegal
and Mauritania, 1880–1920 (Athens: Ohio University
Press, 2000).
Murjia
Murjia is a movement that began during early
Islam that emphasizes faith and confession of
Faith, significantly more than acts. The Arabic
root of murjia means “to defer judgment” and in
the case of the Murjia it refers to the obligation
that Muslims should have to defer judgment of a
person’s ultimate fate, regarding whether they will
live eternally in heaven or hell, to God. In sharp
contrast, traditionalist Sunni Muslims believe
that Muslims must have faith in God and act in
accordance with God’s commandments in order
to be granted eternal life in heaven. The Murjia
worldview, however, was based on Quran 9:106
and similar verses, “There are some... whose
ultimate destinies are deferred to God’s judg-
ment. He may punish or pardon them, for God
is all-knowing and all-wise.” The Murjia main-
tained that Muslims should not lose their status
as believers because of any actions—this status
was affirmed by their very faith. Yet, the Murjia
condemned people who violated God’s dictates
as aberrant believers who may ultimately be for-
given or punished by God. Thus, according to the
Murjia, decisions regarding the final moral status
of these and other acts were deferred to divine
judgment.
Murjia espoused the belief that faith is made
up of knowledge and public confession of God,
God’s prophets, and their messages to human-
ity. That is, they described beliefs and the public
affirmation of them as a complete and indivisible
whole. They had a broad understanding of who
is Muslim; they considered all Muslims—except
those whom Muslim consensus excludes—to be
true believers. Beginning in the eighth century,
one political dimension of the Murjia movement
was manifested as they vigorously advocated the
equality of non-Arab converts to Islam. Through
its ties with the hanaFi legal school, aspects of
Murjia doctrine have lingered, despite the opposi-
tion of traditionalist Sunnis.
See also mUtazili school; theology.
Jon ArmajaniFurther reading: Michael A. Cook, Early Muslim
Dogma: A Source-Critical Study (Cambridge: Cam-
bridge University Press, 2003); Henry Corbin, History
of Islamic Philosophy (New York: Kegan Paul Inter-
national, 1993); Tilman Nagel, The History of Islamic
Theology from Muhammad to the Present (Princeton,
N.J.: Markus Weiner Publishers, 2000); W. Mont-
gomery Watt, The Formative Period of Islamic Thought
(Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1973); A. J.
Wensinck, The Muslim Creed: Its Genesis and Histori-
cal Development (New Delhi: Oriental Books Reprint
Corporation, 1979).murshid
This is a Sufi guide, also known as shaykh (Ara-
bic), or pir (Persian), who serves as the spiritual
master of a Sufi. The murshid traced his spiritual
aUthority through a silsila, or chain of spiritualmurshid 503 J