For the Saudi’s Kingdom or for the Umma? Global ʿulamāʾ in the Dār al-Ḥadīth in Medina

Abstract

In this article, I illustrate how ʿulamāʾ from south Asia, west Africa and Egypt had come together in the Dār al-Ḥadīth College in Medina and its branch in Mecca in order to support Ibn Saʿūd’s regime in teaching the Salafī doctrine. The article argues that the support of these ʿulamāʾ for Ibn Saʿūd’s regime was not politically but religiously motivated. The fact that the Dār al-Ḥadīth, originally created in South Asia, came to be directed in Medina by ʿulamāʾ from West Africa illustrates the role played by the West African ʿulamāʾ in Islamic Reform. The article challenges the tradition of distinguishing an Islam of the Middle East, an Islam of Africa south of Sahara, an Islam of South Asian and an Islam of South-West Asia. This way of compartmentalizing Islam and Muslims, dominant in the studies of Islam, produces an understanding of Islam that is also compartmentalized and incomplete.