ABSTRACT
A description and analysis of religion have now come to be regarded as essential components in any satisfactory study of society. In no case, probably, is this more necessary than in that of an Islamic people where the study of Islam tends to throw as much light on the social structure as the study of the social structure does upon religion. This close interdependence has always been particularly clear in Muslim societies with a state-like structure where the Sharhttps://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315889146/31b45174-8920-4e09-b0ff-2f7505e9af68/content/i_B.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>'a (the religious law in the widest sense) has had a wide field of application, although, of course, with the progressive Westernization of the Islamic world the gap between the spiritual and temporal realms is again widening (cf. Gibb, 1947; Milliot, 1949; Fakhry, 1954). But the conformity of social and religious structure is equally far-reaching in a tribal Muslim society although it may not at first sight appear so. ( 2 ) Somali society is a case in point. This essay sets out to examine the role of Sufism in the social structure of the Somali and is designed to elucidate the nature and function of Somali genealogies.
