El-Tom, Abdullahi (1987) Berti Qur’anic Amulets. Journal of Religion in africa, 17. pp. 224-244. ISSN 0022-4200

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Abstract

The Berti live in the Province of North Darfur in the Sudan. They are sedentary people whose main livelihood is based on rain cultivation and animal husbandry (for more details on the Berti see Holy 1974). For several centuries the Berti have spoken their own dialect of the Arabic language. They are Muslim, following the Maliki school of Islamic Law. Among the Berti, Islam is disseminated and taught by their religious men, locally referred to fugara, a term translated as jurisconsults, clergymen, Sufi mendicants or religious officiants (see Trimingham 1949:140, 1968:61 and 130; Yusuf 1976:116; among others). As professionals, Berti religious men render a variety of services to their clients. They teach the Qur’an, preside over rituals, and treat the sick. In this article I shall restrict myself to the provision of ‘amulets’ which are believed to help their owners to achieve certain objectives.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Berti; North Darfur; Qur’anic Amulets; Maliki school; Religion; Africa; Muslim;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Anthropology
Item ID:	8361
Depositing User:	Dr Abdullahi El-Tom
Date Deposited:	22 Jun 2017 09:06
Journal or Publication Title:	Journal of Religion in africa
Publisher:	Brill Academic Publishers
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://www.brill.com
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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