Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T00:50:38.945Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Towards an ‘Islamic Policy’ in French West Africa, 1854–1914

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

Donal Cruise O'brien
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The French government, in the early part of this period, from 1854 to the turn of the century, did not have a consistent or systematic ‘Islamic policy’ for ts colonial possessions. There were, however, certain patterns of administration which, quite unintentionally, gave a new impetus to the spread of Islam in Vest Africa. The first section of the article deals with this period, when the basis for later policy was laid but when policy was not yet systematically articulated.

The creation of the Service des Affaires Musulmanes et Sahariennes in Paris in 1900, and of the Service des Affaires Musulmanes in Dakar in 1906, together with the works of scholar-administrators such as Le Chatelier, Arnaud and Marty, marks the definition of a general policy towards Islam in colonial territories. This policy was aimed, in particular, to secure the loyalty of the Muslim notables, and to use them as intermediaries and tools of administration.

In a final section, the article deals with the renewed fear of Islam which affected France, with the intensification of pan-Islamic propaganda from Turkey immediately before the First World War, and with the change in policy which resulted. The outbreak of war, which enabled the Muslim élite to demonstrate its real loyalty to France, provided, however, a final reassurance.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 8 , Issue 2 , July 1967 , pp. 303 - 316
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1967

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Gouilly, A., L'Islam en Afrique occidentale (Paris, Larose, 1952), 248.Google Scholar

2 Klein, M., ‘Sine-Saloum 1847–1914: the traditional states and the French conquest’, D.Phil. dissertation, University of Chicago (1964), 114.Google Scholar

3 Report of Directeur des Affaires Politiques, Senegal, 8 July 1879, Archives Nationales, Section Outre-Mer (A.N.S.O.M.), Senegal VIII, 23 bis.Google Scholar

4 Thomas, L. V., Les Diola, I (Dakar, I.F.A.N., 1959), 323–4.Google Scholar

5 Delafosse, M., ‘De l'animisme nègre et sa résistance à l'Islamisation en Afrique occidentale’, Revue du Monde Musulman, XLIX (03 1922), 140–2.Google Scholar

6 Gouilly, A., Op. Cit. 257.Google Scholar

7 Marty, P., Etudes sur l'Islarn au Senégal, 11 (Paris, Leroux, 1917), 287–8.Google Scholar

8 Brévié, J., Islamisme contre ‘Naturisme’ au Soudanfrancais (Paris, Leroux, 1923), 232.Google Scholar

9 Quellien, A., La politique Musulmane dans l'Afrique occidentalefrançaise (Paris, Larose, 1910), 100.Google Scholar

10 In 1929 Roume, who had been a governor-general of French West Africa, remarked that ‘it was he [Faidherbe] who established ne varietur the essential principles of our African policy and practice’: Delavignette, R. and Julien, C. A., Les constructeurs de la France d'outre-mer (Paris, Corréa, 1946), 29.Google Scholar

11 Faidherbe adds in a postscript: ‘I have added to the dossier the number of the Moniteur Algérien which contains the decree which organized Muslim law in Algeria.’ Governor of Senegal to Minister of the Navy, 13 September 1856, A.N.S.O.M., Sénégal VIII, 14 bis.Google Scholar

12 Cultru, P., Histoire du Senégal (Paris, Larose, 1910), 365.Google Scholar

13 Many of the early soldier-administrators had a background in the Algerian Bureaux Arabes. The Bureaux Arabes were of military composition, relying in particular on officers detached from the infantry. The officers of the Bureaux Arabes had complete authority over all matters touching on Islam in their area of jurisdiction. See Julien, C. A., Histoire de l'Algérie contemporaine, I (Paris, Presses Universitaires de France, 1964), 330–6.Google Scholar

14 Le Chatelier, A., ‘Politique Musulmane’, Revue du Monde Musulman, XII (09 1910), 80.Google Scholar

15 Doutté, E., Les Marabouts (Paris, Leroux, 1900), 118.Google Scholar

16 I could find no reference to any eventual implementation of this proposal, made by the governor of Senegal in a letter to the Under-Secretary for the Colonies, dated 2 December 1893, A.N.S.O.M., Sénégal IV, 127.Google Scholar

17 Delafosse, M., ‘Etat actuel de l'Islam dans l'Afrique occidentale francaise’, Revue du Monde Musulman, XI (05 1910), 53.Google Scholar

18 Bouchaud, R. P., L'Eglise en Afrique noire (Paris, La Palatine, 1958), 106–7.Google Scholar

19 Report of Community of St Louis, Bulletin de la Congregation du St-Esprit et du St Caeur de Marie (1857), 77.Google Scholar

20 President of the Council (Combes) to Minister for the Colonies, 1 August 1902, A.N.S.O.M., Missions 115 F.Google Scholar

21 Bulletin de la Congrégation du St-Esprit, XXII (1903–1904), 654–6.Google Scholar

22 Binger, L. G., Le péril de l'Islam (Paris, Comité de l'Afrique Française, 1906), 96.Google Scholar

23 An instance of this latter kind of mistake is known in the case of a Muslim teacher who was arrested near Dakar in 1877 for preaching ‘hatred of French authority’ and for the possession of arms and ammunition with a view to launching an insurrection. When the case was investigated, it was discovered that the information supplied to the authorities had been motivated by a local quarrel, and that the man arrested was entirely innocent (‘Note sur l'affaire Limamou Thiam’, M. Gilbert-Desvallons, magistrate (1888), A.N.S.O.M., Sénégal IV, 127).Google Scholar

24 Ambassador at Constantinople to Minister of Foreign Affairs, 15 July 1876, A.N.S.O.M., Sénégal IV, 60. The Governor of Senegal was later instructed to take measures to forestall any movement inspired by Turkish propagandists.Google Scholar

25 Governor-General to Minister for the Colonies, 30 January 1907, A.N.S.O.M., A.O.F. III, 3.Google Scholar

26 Ibid.

27 Governor-General(Ponty) to Minister for the Colonies, 32 October 1907, A.N.S.O.M., Sénégal I, ter.Google Scholar

28 Governor of Senegal to Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, 25 March 1893, A.N.S.O.M., Sénégal IV, 127.Google Scholar

29 Governor of Senegal to Minister for the Colonies, 4 January 1895 (italics in original), A.N.S.O.M., Sénégal I, 95a.Google Scholar

30 Vallon to Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, 5 December 1890, A.N.S.O.M., Sénégal IV, 127.Google Scholar

31 Instructions to the Governor of Senegal, 19 July 1876, A.N.S.O.M., Sénégal I, 61 a.Google Scholar

32 W. Ponty, ‘Rapport au sujet de la politique indigène en Afrique occidentale française’, January 1913, A.N.S.O.M., A.O.F. I, 19.Google Scholar

33 Ibid.

34 Depont, O. and Coppolani, X., Les confréries religieuses Musulmanes (Algiers, Jourdan, 1897), 264.Google Scholar

35 Ibid. 282–7.

36 Arnaud, R., Précis de politique Musulmane, I, Pays Maures de la Rive Droite du Sénégal (Algiers, Jourdan, 1906), 119–23.Google Scholar

37 Governor-General to Minister for the Colonies, 27 February 1908, A.N.S.O.M., Sénégal I, 97 ter.Google Scholar

38 J. C. Froelich, ‘Essai sur les causes et méthodes de l'Islamisation de l'Afrique de l'Ouest du xie Siècle au xxe siècle’, mimeographed paper, International African Institute, Fifth Internal African Seminar, Zaria 1963, 7.Google Scholar

39 Governor-General to Minister for the Colonies, 10 May 1904, A.N.S.O.M., A.O.F. I, 18.Google Scholar

40 Cited in Marty, P., ‘La politique indigène du Gouverneur-Général Ponty en Afrique occidentale française’, 1915, A.N.S.O.M., A.O.F. XVIII, 8.Google Scholar

41 Ponty, W., ‘Rapport au sujet de la politique indigène en A.O.F.’, A.N.S.O.M., A.O.F. I, 19.Google Scholar

42 Brévié, J., op. cit. 257–62. Brévié was an influential adviser to Clozel, and himself was later governor-general. His book had much influence on subsequent French policy towards Islam.Google Scholar

43 Governor-General to Minister for the Colonies, 24 August 1915, A.N.S.O.M., Affaires Politiques 597, 1.Google Scholar

44 Marty, P., Etudes sur l'Islam au Sénégal II, 122.Google Scholar

45 Governor-General to Minister for the Colonies, 10 March 1915, A.N.S.O.M., Affaires Politiques 597, 1.Google Scholar