These essays attest to the vitality of African traditions that also belong to the world of Islam. The Islamic text is presented here as an essential component of an African cultural and social environment with which it enters into full dialogue.
This collection focuses on particular regions, like the Maghreb, Somalia, and Northern Nigeria; on African language literatures; on notable authors like Nuruddin Farah and Assia Djebar; and on crucial issues, like the involvement of women authors in Islamic literature and the entrance of Islamic orthodoxy into indigenous African texts. Many of the authors demonstrate the tension between the path of purity and that of mixing which continues to inform the development of Islamic literature in Africa.
