Blackwell Reference Online

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Saints and moral exemplars are an important subject in religious traditions, for they define and demonstrate the hopes, desires, practices, and moral ideals of their community. The lives of these persons provide inspiration and guidance, typically providing devotees with help on complex moral demands and personal struggles. This chapter expounds the subject of saints and exemplars with detailed attention to the Muslim tradition and its encounter with indigenous African ideas. Every tradition, it is true, has its own saints and moral exemplars, but it is hoped that attention here to the particular examples in one tradition may provide more general insight into the importance of saints and moral exemplars in religious ethics broadly conceived. The cases discussed in this chapter may be viewed as exemplary of the larger theme. A substantive distinction is drawn in the Muslim tradition between “saintship” ( wilāya ) and “sainthood” ( walāya ). Saintship concerns the organization and expression of saintly power, while sainthood relates to the personality of the saint and the dynamics of personal saintly power. Saintship is bequeathed and perpetuated in an organized fashion, whereas sainthood is acquired by individuals. Sainthood is personal charisma, while saintship is institutional charisma. Both concepts are related to the idea of baraka (“favor,” “grace,” “virtue”). The common Arabic ... log in or subscribe to read full text