Devotional Poetry and Religious Authority: Muḥammad al-Yadālī and the Ṣalāt Rabbī maʿa al-salāmi in Praise of the Prophet Muḥammad

Abstract

The present paper provides an analysis of the Arabic poem Ṣalāt Rabbī maʿa al-salāmi, composed by the Mauritanian Sufi Muḥammad al-Yadālī, stressing the metrical novelty of the poem. Looking at this composition in the framework of classical Mauritanian notions about literary dexterity and religious authority, the paper argues that the religious authority that al-Yadālī enjoyed during his life as well as in the following generations was mainly built around the literary skills he displayed in his writings and in particular, in this poem. The study of literary texts, in a context such as that of Mauritanian Islam, can provide new insights into the sociology of religious authority.