The Maliki madhhab (school, plural madhahib) is one of the four main extant schools of Sunni Islamic law. Historically, the Maliki school exercised near-hegemony in both legal thought and practice over wide swaths of northwest…
Muhammadu Sanusi II, also known as Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, is one of the most famous hereditary Muslim rulers in the world today. He is also one of the most embattled. As politicians seek to decimate…
In January 2018, I sat down for an interview with Mahmoud Dicko, president of the High Islamic Council of Mali (HCIM). As I asked Dicko what I thought were relatively innocuous questions about his positions…
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, is home to what may be the continent’s largest Shi‘i community. Estimates for its size range as high as three million people, or somewhere between two to five percent of…
In January 2013, France launched Operation Serval, a military intervention designed to restore the territorial integrity of Mali. The operation was meant to dislodge a coalition of jihadist groups that had ruled northern Mali for…