Mobile Sunna: Islam,small media and community in Niger

Abstract

In Niger, Izala is a well established Islamic reform movement that is known for its strategic use of small media. The author investigates how these media are produced and circulated during the Wa’zin kasa, a three-day international preaching rally, and how they play an active role in popularizing Izala’s discourses and practices and in shaping a moral community. The author illustrates that the mobility of these small media has instigated a media dynamic that has transformed the mediascape in Niger and produced new actors and new religious discourses. These ‘Sunna media’ have played an important role in the spread of the reformist movement, and in the establishment of new forms of authority. In the case of the Izala movement, they have also generated a specific religiosity.

Izala is a well established West African Islamic reform movement that has actively promoted practices in line with the tradition of the prophet Muhammad (Sunna). It is known for its strategic use of mass media, in particular radio. In Niger, the movement gained prominence partly through a systematic and savvy use of what I call the Sunna small media such as cassettes and, later, CDs and DVDs, granting these media a major role in the promotion of its religious agenda. ¹ Yet, very little has been written on the actual modes of circulation of these small media.

This article (based on fieldwork conducted in March 2010 in Gaya, a town at the border of Niger, Nigeria and Benin) analyses the modes of circulation of these media during the Wa’zin kasa, a three-day international preaching rally attended by thousands. On this occasion, Sunna small media help Izala to popularize its discourses and practices, and to form and consolidate the moral community it has become. In this context, the mobility of small media has created a media-driven dynamic that has reshaped the media landscape and contributed to the making of religious actors and discourses. Hence, this article asks how religion is produced and shows that, when invested in a particular moral economy, small media become part of the community: they not only form the infrastructural basis that sustains its architecture, but have also become the channels of religious reform.

A quick background

Since the beginning of the 1990s, Islam has become a major player in cultural, sociopolitical and even economic interactions in Niger (Zakari, 2009; Masquelier, 1999, 2009; Sounaye, 2009a; Alidou, 2005). At the same time, the publicity the Izala discourse has gained and the rise of numerous associations have put an end to the monolithic configuration of Islam. Part of the reason for the increased visibility of Islam resides in the fragmentation of the religious arena and the importance the display of religiosity has acquired in the public arena (Idrissa, 2009; Sounaye, 2007).

With Izala seeking to gain public visibility and social support, campaigns for the dissemination and popularization of the Sunna were held across the country to promote religious and social reform strictly in line with the norms set by the Qur’an and the hadith (accounts of the life and deeds of the Prophet Muhammad), two sources that, Izala claims, are being contradicted and misused by Muslim clerics. An instance of this popularization, the Wa’zi kasa became a privileged space and an occasion for the cultivation of reformed religiosities. Taking the Sunna to the public and ‘opening the minds’ (budewan kay, in Hausa) of the faithful necessitated an infrastructural basis on which social and media practices were to be built. The process also needed savvy and imaginative entrepreneurs who would engage in the business of popularizing the Sunna.

Thanks to the deregulation of the media and the rise of non-state-sponsored media houses (médias privés, in French) in the 1990s, media are everywhere for Islamic organizations to use, and over the last decade major religious organizations have split and restructured following theological and strategy disagreements or simply because of the desire among younger actors to lead their own groups and therefore capitalize on their personal cultural and religious capital. This development has made audiovisual media even more important in shaping the religious field. In fact, many Muslim actors have seized the opportunities both mass and small media provide to promote anti-Sufi views, promote puritan Islam and build and consolidate their authority (Sounaye, 2013).

Arguably, Izala sermons and activities have become the most mediated in Niger, even though other Islamic voices, notably many with a Sufi affiliation or leaning, have now engaged in strategies that gradually integrate audiovisual media in response to Izala criticism. In short, small media have gained popularity in Niger through the conjunction of three factors: the Izala desire to conquer social spaces and convert souls; the spread of CD and DVD technologies, which contributed a great deal to the mediation of Islamic reform discourses and practices; and the emergence of media producers and charismatic preachers, who now play a central role in the Izala moral economy (Sounaye, 2011, 2013). Consequently, a media consumption culture developed as these processes expanded beyond urban contexts, social categories and even religious convictions, thus altering the conditions of religious life in Niger.

A theoretical port of entry: The religion–media complex

Key contributions to media and religious studies have suggested that contemporary social theory needs to reexamine the intricate connections between religion and media – what I call the religion–media complex (Eisenlohr, 2009; de Vries, 2001; Meyer, 2009; Stolow, 2005; Rajagopal, 2001; Morgan, 2005; Hoover, 2006). Both media and religion create audiences and build publics (Hirschkind and Larkin, 2008; Hirschkind, 2006; Warner, 2002; Soares, 2005); mediation shapes religiosity (Ginsburg et al., 2002; Larkin, 2008a; Hirschkind, 2006; Schulz, 2012), and is constitutive of religion itself (de Vries, 2001; Grimes, 2002; Morgan, 2008). Critical to these contributions is the fact that media do not just cover, represent or mediate religion. As Hoover (2006) reminds us, they interact with religion and offer a privileged platform for interaction. Especially with regard to the study of Muslim societies, scholars have stressed the intricate connection between contemporary media practices and new forms of religiosity (Hunter, 2009; Larkin, 2009; Meyer, 2009; Shavit, 2009; Hirschkind, 2006; Eickelman and Anderson, 2003).

More recently, as Hirschkind and Larkin (2008: 2) have argued, ‘[r]eligions are constituted through an architecture of circulation and representation that in turn creates the pragmatic contexts for modes of practice and worship.’ Indeed, contemporary modes and avenues of mediation of Islamic discourses illustrate how the circulation of small media and their popularization have transformed religious practice while opening up channels of authority to particular actors (Brigaglia, 2007; Campbell, 2012; Larkin, 2008b). Regularly invested in a reform project that promotes and seeks to transmit norms and values, they stress the importance of self-representation and the role mediation plays in the maintenance of the community. For example, videocassettes produced during Sufi festivals (re)connect members of the same religious community despite the distance that separates them (Soares, 2005; Diouf, 2013; Buggenhagen, 2013). In fact, for many Sufi brotherhoods in West Africa, audio-visual small media become religious ‘things’ (Houtman and Meyer, 2012) through which they reiterate a sense of belonging, construct memories and keep the community together.

The intricate connection between religion and media is not a new phenomenon. In recent decades, however, it has taken sophisticated forms and has permeated new spaces, a process that has greatly affected not only the flow of ideas but also the modes of interaction within and among religious communities. In Muslim contexts, the possibilities provided by this complex are often translated into authoritative constructions of religious discourse and action, to the point that the power of the religious comes to rely on its mediation (Buggenhagen, 2013; Shavit, 2009; Larkin, 2008b).

Media and Wa’zin kasa

The Hausa term Wa’zin kasa refers to a three-day preaching rally. The practice developed in the 1990s, following the rise of the Izala movement in Northern Nigeria and its expansion into Niger and West Africa (Sounaye, 2009b). It was strategically aiming for the masses, who were regarded as ignorant of the Sunna and as the victims of the intellectual obscurantism and the exploitative practices of Muslim clerics, the marabouts (Meunier, 1997; Zakari, 2007). Wa’zin kasa was thus part of the early reform agenda – to reinstate proper Islamic practices by popularizing the Sunna and soon became a major space for Izala promoters to rally crowds, disseminate their revivalist discourse and teach (darasi, in Hausa) Muslims the essence of the Sunna. From the start, the Wa’zin kasa was highly mobile and was performed in the main urban areas of Niger, such as Niamey, Maradi, Agadez, Tahoua and Zinder. Now, in a second phase of its development, the Wa’zin kasa has spread into numerous secondary towns; it has become a space of particular media practices involving the production and distribution of recorded sermons.

The presence of cameras, Grimes (2002) notes, enhances the importance of an event, since media exposure extends both the audience and the impact of a ritual. Across Niger, the popularization of the Sunna has also prompted a systematic mediation of Izala events and gatherings. For example, at every Wa’zin kasa, recording stations are set up to record the sermons, and then duplicate and distribute them. Participants purchase recordings to take back home, thus opening up additional pathways and arenas of circulation. In fact, on the bus I rode to the Wa’zin kasa, a group of young men who came from Arlit, a town more than a thousand kilometres away, insisted that the driver put on their CD – a collection of sermons performed mostly in Hausa during a Wa’zin kasa they had hosted a few months earlier, some of whose preachers I had met in Niamey on other occasions. In these milieus, recorded sermons are usually referred to by the name of their authors and the occasion on which they were performed. Among the most popular sermon CDs I came across in Niger were ‘Falalu at the Wa’zin Kasa of Maradi’, ‘Alpha Khalid at Talladje’ and ‘Alarama Abdul Aziz at Harobanda’.

One of the Wa’zin kasa’s most striking features is its involvement of media both before and afterwards. What often caught my attention was the recording stations that surround the stage on which the sermons are performed and the many DVD and CD stalls that remind attendees that the Wa’zin kasa is not merely an event for them to listen to: it is a media forum that brings together producers, media consumers, religious entrepreneurs and preachers. Most participants convene to celebrate the Sunna. Many, however, attend the Wa’zin kasa for business reasons.

It is important to reflect on how these processes affect both the modes of dissemination of religious discourse and the construction of a moral community. Religious and moral reform agendas are usually put forward as justification for the increased role media play nowadays in Muslim initiatives. Until the mid-1990s, most recorded sermons in Niger originated from northern Nigeria, where an industry of audio-visual small media was already well established. By the end of the 1990s, however, the search for public visibility among emerging preachers had prompted popular media cultures in Niger. Certainly, the material and technological conditions of social life explain this development. Yet, at the same time, the Wa’zin kasa developed modes of media appropriation within the Izala community, to the extent that media presence and culture have now become one of Izala’s distinctive signs (see Sounaye, 2009b for a similar case).

Production and circulation: A community continuously mediated

Media cannot be defined other than in terms of mediation: the types of relationship, interactions, spaces and practices they make possible. This is particularly important if we are to understand Izala’s media culture, in which the production and circulation of the Sunna media have greatly helped to promote revivalist attitudes and behaviour, but also to establish a dynamic community.

In the 1990s, electronic media in Africa played an important role in spreading religious discourse (Launay, 1997; Hackett, 1998). In more recent years, they have gained even more significance as reform discourses have acquired currency and visibility (Schulz, 2007; Sounaye, 2011; Loimeier, 1997), and Muslim public actors rely on small media to advance their agendas (Hirschkind, 2001, 2006; Schulz, 2007, 2012). In Niger, as electronic technology spread and small media producers multiplied, the cost of these media dropped, increasing their affordability and likeliness to disseminate beyond traditional spaces and channels of distribution. In many urban areas, and in line with the movement’s strategy, media producers became a major part of Izala’s activities.

One example is that of Hama, a man I met in Niamey. He uses his electronic media production network to advance the Izala religious agenda. Hama owns a stall next to the Mayor’s office, where he displays CDs and DVDs, but also cassettes he records at various Izala events. Over the years, his role within the Izala movement has grown significantly due to what he calls the ‘need to popularize the Sunna’, and thanks to his distribution network. Not surprisingly, his position as media and religious entrepreneur convinced Ihyau Sunna and Kitab wa Sunna, the main Izala organizations in Niger, to entrust him with the recording, production and distribution of their sermons across Niger and the region. He now regularly attends their Wa’zin kasa – he has participated in more than 15 – and systematically tapes their activities. As his business has expanded, many young small media producers have followed his example by setting up networks of production and circulation of Sunna media (Sounaye, 2011).

Production, circulation and consumption are key dimensions of the media culture discussed here. Yet, it is important not to reduce this culture to its economic dimension. For, if we consider the way Izala has emerged and expanded across the region, it is evident that the dissemination of these small media has contributed significantly to building a moral community, as evidenced by the many references to Wa’zin kasa sermons I overheard in daily conversations.

In other words, mediation has established Izala as a community. At the end of the 1980s, Izala was still a newcomer to the religious field. Fearing a crackdown by the then military regime, its activists used recorded sermons (on cassette) to circulate their views on Islam and their criticisms of Sufi brotherhoods (Meunier, 1997; Zakari, 2007, 2009). In this rather hostile environment – of repression by the regime and criticism by the established Muslim authorities – a sense of belonging and shared identity emerged, giving Izala a presence and a social materiality as supporters shared their sermons in the same way they now watch sermons on DVD, attend similar gatherings and listen to the same preachers. Small media have thus delineated Izala identity and inspired a sense of belonging through the circulation of claims and images. When in the form of an Islamic documentary ² , some of these media present models of Sunna life and practice, by either narrating the early development of Islam and the lives of prophets such as Yusuf and Musa or ‘teaching’ fellow believers in detail how to perform rituals such as prayers or ablution. As for the typical Wa’zin kasa DVD, it amounts to a reportage that documents the rally and celebrates its occurrence. It shows the event’s important moments (such as the opening speech) or the notables, state officials and guests from neighbouring countries, or the leaders of the organization who have attended – a crucial asset in the competition between Islamic organizations. More importantly, it shows the packed crowd sitting on mats and answering the preacher’s sermon with a powerful Allahu Akbar! Through their selection of sequences (see De Witte, this volume), these DVDs tell the story Izala wants them to tell: they are the threads that link the numerous Wa’zin kasa it has organized across Niger, and reflect the memory and itinerary of the Izala moral community.

Thus, when participants fight their way to the on-site duplication stations to purchase a freshly minted CD or cassette, they acquire a piece of this memory and narrative that, once taken to another part of Niger or West Africa, circulates to expand the horizon of the Sunna discourse while maintaining the actual Izala community. These travelling memories of the community, then, inscribe dynamism, and therefore historicity, to the Izala Sunna media. Similar processes are described for Islamic organizations in Nigeria, but also for the Sufi brotherhoods in Mali and Senegal. As Soares (2005) and Buggenhagen (2013) show, the maintenance of the community of the faithful relies heavily on small media distributed at both the local and the global level.

As a religious movement, Izala relies heavily on this mobility, which is expected to keep the community together by transporting, transmitting and sharing images. A kind of ritual process, the production, circulation and promotion of the Sunna small media then transcends their visible and material dimension to provide the followers with a ritual of watching, listening and buying. That is why acquiring and circulating the Wa’zin kasa CDs, DVDs or cassettes has for many become a ritual as highly valued as actually attending it.

Concluding remarks

To provide an antidote to the misuses and abuses of the Islamic tradition, Izala produced a particular media culture that has successfully used small media to redefine the moral economy of the society, popularize its reform ideology and become an influential discourse that shapes the religion–media complex in Niger. The focus on small media and Izala’s media savvy has given the movement a significant advantage over its competitors in the religious arena (Sounaye, 2011).

In the context of Izala, production and circulation are intricately linked. While the production of these media gives materiality to the religious community, circulation ends up creating things that shape soundscapes, reconfigure discursive formations, provide a social and political critique, and establish communities. In fact, the production and circulation of Sunna small media have played a major role in spreading the moral reform discourse and in establishing religious modes of authority. Thus, the notion of production goes beyond the mere materiality of the CDs, DVDs and cassettes; it also encompasses a distinctive religiosity that characterizes Izala.

In the religious media culture that has developed in Niger in the last two decades, socio-religious actors have played a major role in the production and circulation of the Sunna small media. In seeking alternative venues and platforms to go public and construct their authority, they have shaped the religious field and how actors interact within this field. Taking into consideration the specific socio-economic context in which Izala came into being, small media will certainly continue to play a major role in the restructuring of the religion–media complex in Niger. The way these media have saturated the mediascape is already an indication that changing, and perhaps more challenging, times are ahead.