The Cult of the Saints: Sufism and the Transformation of Islam in Morocco

Record summary

Vincent J. Cornell’s study of Moroccan saint veneration and Sufi authority is a specific scholarly lead for investigating baraka, shrine practice, spiritual genealogy, and narratives of transformation in the Maghreb. It is useful because it treats miraculous or charismatic claims within social, legal, and institutional histories rather than as free-standing occult incidents. The subject includes medieval and modern continuities, so researchers should identify the shrine, saint lineage, and historical layer under discussion. Modern reformist criticism and local devotional practice may describe the same site very differently.