Description:
In 1909, when the sultanate of Wadai, the last independent Muslim state in Africa, succumbed to French authority, the scholar ʿAbd al-Ḥaqq al-Sanūsī al-Tarjumī wrote a treatise explaining why Muslims could remain in the country and live in reconciliation (ṣulḥ) with their Christian conquerors. More than a hundred years later, the author and his treatise, Tabṣirat al-ḥayrān min hawl fitan al-zamān (Instructions for the Perplexed on the Horror of the Trials of our Time) have both acquired new reputations, with al-Tarjumī now a central figure in the sphere of oral wisdom narratives. This article explores why interest in al-Tarjumī has revived, and the relation between his work and his reputation. It argues that his scholarly plea for reconciliation with the non-Muslim colonial occupants of Wadai is re-invoked today to strengthen the position of traditional Muslims in Chad compared to that of fundamentalists.