West African ‘ulama’ and Salafism in Mecca and Medina: Jawab al-Ifr q - The Response of the African

Chanfi Ahmed shows how West African ‘ulama’, who fled the European colonization of their region to settle in Mecca and Medina, helped the regime of King Ibn Sa'ud at its beginnings in the field of teaching and spreading the Salaf -Wahhab ‘s Islam both inside and outside Saudi Arabia. This is against the widespread idea of considering the spread of the Salaf -Wahhab doctrine as being the work of 'ulama’ from Najd (Central Arabia) only. We learn here that the diffusion of this doctrine after 1926 was much more the work of ‘ulama’ from other parts of the Muslim World who had already acquired this doctrine and spread it in their countries by teaching and publishing books related to it. In addition Chanfi Ahmed demonstrates that concerning Islamic reform and mission (da'wa), Africans are not just consumers, but also thinkers and designers.