موقف الاستعمار الفرنسي من المدارس القرآنية و شيوخ الصوفية في غرب إفريقيا

Abstract EN

By the end of the 19th century, France controlled most of West Africa militarily, but that control was not complete and its political and economic interests remained threatened in that region.

If France faced severe armed resistance and managed to eradicate it by force, it found great difficulties in controlling the peoples and tribes of West Africa, of which Islam was the religion of the majority.

Among these difficulties is France's ignorance of Islam, which had its own distinctiveness from Islam in the other areas that France had dominated, such as North Africa.

Thus, its policy toward the Muslims in general and the Sufi sheikhs in particular was much ambiguous.

In order to get out of this impasse, the interest in studying Islam in West Africa has begun to better understand the mentality and thinking of Muslims and their clerics, and thus establish a clear Islamic policy enabling the French to attract Muslims and establish the necessary security to take full advantage of the vast economic opportunities and wealth in West Africa.