ABSTRACT
The main purpose of this investigation has been to analyze observations made on the ~ufi furuq in North and Northwest Africa by French writers of the second half of the nineteenth century. Having begun such a study, it soon became clear that although early French observers were somewhat in agreement as to what constituted "Le peril de l'Islam", they had no recognised criteria upon which a study of the furuq could be based. "ConjnJrie" became a vague term for the assorted religious groupings which appeared to exist, or to have existed, in North and Northwest Africa. These included such widely differing groupings as the M unlbitin (Almoravids), the Shiidhiliyya, the so-called "Bakkii 'iyya", and the Sanusiyya. One sensed, however, an uneasiness in the use of "confrerie" when qualifications such as "isolated zdwiyas", "ecole philosophique", or "corporation maraboutique" were used. Not only was there a marked inconsistency in the use of terminology,2 there was also little agreement as to what constituted a "confrerie" or "brotherhood".) In what sense, it must be asked, was the Shiidhiliyya both "ecole philosophique" and "confrerie"? In what sense were the "Bakkii'iyya" and the Shaykhiyya (or Awliid Sidi al-Shaykh) "isolated zdwiyas" and "corporations maraboutiques" ? Were they branches or independent branches of the Qiidiriyya and Shiidhiliyya respectively, or new brotherhoods?
