Dr Zachary Wright:Talking With Teachers Season 6 Episode 3: Interview by Dr. Abdullah bin Hamid Ali: Lamppost Education Initiative: Dec 15, 2025
YouTube Video:
https://youtu.be/dPzlbCFLQkQ?si=n-P5VpK0vATVj0mz
In this powerful episode of Talking With Teachers, Dr. Abdullah bin Hamid Ali sits down with Dr. Zachary Wright, an esteemed scholar of Islam and African Muslim intellectual history, for a rich and illuminating conversation on spirituality, scholarship, and tradition. Dr. Wright reflects on his early influences in Islam, the scholars and teachers who shaped his spiritual and intellectual journey, and his path within the Tijani Tariqah. The discussion explores the importance of maintaining the wird, its role in spiritual discipline, and how structured remembrance of Allah cultivates consistency, humility, and presence of heart. This episode also highlights the often-overlooked legacy of African Islamic scholarship, emphasizing Africa’s central role in preserving, transmitting, and enriching Islamic knowledge across generations. Dr. Wright sheds light on the depth of West African scholarly traditions, Sufi lineages, and the enduring relevance of African Muslim contributions to global Islam. Listeners will gain valuable insights into: The spiritual foundations of the Tijani Sufi path The significance of regular dhikr and wird The continuity of African Muslim scholarship The relationship between spiritual practice and intellectual rigor Lessons for contemporary Muslims seeking rooted, authentic tradition This conversation is essential listening for anyone interested in Islamic spirituality, Sufism, African Islamic history, and living scholarly traditions.
YouTube Video: Dr Zachary Wright Speaks About Sheikh Ahmed Tijani RTA Liverpool -faydatv -May 21, 2024- Abdullah Quilliam Society
https://www.youtube.com/live/OqgMDeENfUg?si=5JOBiU5U87-8fx-E
Mecca Books: On The Path Of The Prophet: Shaykh Ahmad Tijani and the Tariqa Muhammadiyya - Dr Zachary Wright- Fayda https://www.meccabooks.com/
About The Book
He was one of the central figures of eighteenth-century Islamic reform and Sufism (Islamic mysticism). The Sufi order that bears his name, the Tijaniyya, today claims millions of adherents all over the Muslim world, especially in West Africa.
Known by his followers as the Qutb al-Maktum (the Hidden Pole), Shaykh Ahmad Tijani has remained for many an enigmatic and sometimes controversial figure. Here for the first time in the English language is an exposition of his life and doctrine based on primary sources and interviews with prominent Tijani leaders in Senegal, Morocco and Egypt.
About The Author
Zachary Wright, PhD, is assistant professor in residence at Northwestern University in Qatar, with joint appointments in history and religion from Northwestern's Evanston campus. Wright received his PhD (history) from Northwestern University, with a dissertation focusing on Sufism and the history of Islamic knowledge transmission in West Africa. He also has an MA in Arabic studies, Middle East history, from the American University in Cairo, and a BA in history from Stanford University.
He teaches classes on Islam in Africa, modern Middle East history, African history, Islamic intellectual history and Islam in America. He has authored and translated several books, among which are: On the Path of the Prophet: Shaykh Ahmad Tijani and the Tariqa Muhammadiyya (2005), The Removal of Confusion (2010), the latter a translation of a West African Arabic text, Kashif al-ilbas, by the Senegalese Muslim leader Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse, another is What the knowers of Allah have said about the Knowledge of Allah (2015), which he translated for Imam Cheikh Tidiane Cisse,who is the Imam and spiritual heir of Shaykh Ibrahim Niass.
A richly annotated survey of writings by four of West Africa's most renowned Sufi scholars
Outsiders have long observed the contours of the flourishing scholarly traditions of African Muslim societies, but the most renowned voices of West African Sufism have rarely been heard outside of their respective constituencies. This volume brings together writings by Uthman b. Fudi (d. 1817, Nigeria), Umar Tal (d. 1864, Mali), Ahmad Bamba (d. 1927, Senegal), and Ibrahim Niasse (d. 1975, Senegal), who, between them, founded the largest Muslim communities in African history.
Jihad of the Pen offers translations of Arabic source material that proved formative to the constitution of a veritable Islamic revival sweeping West Africa in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Recurring themes shared by these scholars—etiquette on the spiritual path, love for the Prophet Muhammad, and divine knowledge—demonstrate a shared, vibrant scholarly heritage in West Africa that drew on the classics of global Islamic learning, but also made its own contributions to Islamic intellectual history. The authors have selected enduringly relevant primary sources and richly contextualized them within broader currents of Islamic scholarship on the African continent.
Students of Islam or Africa, especially those interested in learning more of the profound contributions of African Muslim scholars, will find this work an essential reference for the university classroom or personal library.
posted by NFIE @ 5:53 PM
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