The article by the assistant professor of religious studies examines an Arabic text written by a Sufi Muslim scholar named S墨di Mu岣mmad al-Kunt墨, who lived in the Sahara Desert in the 19th century. The article argues that this scholar based his family's claim to social authority on their control over powerful practices that they called "the sciences of the unseen."
Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, Ariela Marcus-Sells published an article entitled "Science, Sorcery, and Secrets in the Faw膩示id N奴r膩niyya of S墨di Mu岣mmad Al-Kunt墨" in the journal History of Religions (University of Chicago Press):
Her article examines a set of practices described by a Sufi Muslim scholar named S墨di Mu岣mmad al-Kunt墨 in an Arabic manuscript text entitled the Faw膩示id N奴r膩niyya. S墨di Mu岣mmad was the leader of a family network called "the Kunta," which controlled extensive trade routes, and asserted social and religious authority within the Sahara Desert in the late 18th and early 19th century.
The Faw膩示id N奴r膩niyya provides instructions on how to use the letters of the Arabic alphabet, the names of God, and in particular the greatest name of God, to perform a variety of practices intended to produce material results in the world—from healing the sick, to protecting a house, to exerting total control over the universe. Marcus-Sells then turns to another text by the same author to show that S墨di Mu岣mmad acknowledged that other Muslim scholars might consider these practices to be acts of sorcery (si岣); however, he argues against this classification, and instead positions the sciences of secrets as a form of legitimate Muslim devotional practice and refers to them as "the sciences of the unseen."
Ultimately, Marcus-Sells argues that Si虅di Muh蹋ammad atttempts to limit access to the sciences of the unseen even as he presents explicit instructions for their use. His arguments for the legitimacy of the sciences establishe them as not only Muslim, but specifically Sufi, devotional practices, and thus place them under the control of Sufi leaders, including the leaders of his own family. In this fashion, by limiting and directing access to “the sciences of the unseen,” S墨di Mu岣mmad attempted to shape the Saharan society in which he lived by establishing his authority over the devotional lives of other Muslims.
This study thus adds to scholarship on sorcery and other contested practices in Islamic history while also highlighting the role of African Muslims in contributing to these debates.