Acknowledgements
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This book was made possible with the support of many individuals and organizations and is based on research I conducted while undertaking my doctoral studies at Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies (BGSMCS), Freie Universitaet Berlin, Germany. Working under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Beatrice Gründler has been an immeasurable privilege. Her painstaking guidance, impeccable comments, and endless patience have been invaluable. I am grateful for her inspiration and assistance throughout all stages of this book. I likewise thank Prof. Dr. Islam Dayeh for his encouragement, critical engagement, and belief in me. His support has gone a long way.
The doctoral fellowship I received from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) between 2017 and 2020 gave me the opportunity to work on this project at the BGSMCS. I am grateful to the following members of the graduate school for their support: Gudrun Krämer, Betina Gräf, Jutta Schmidtbauer, Lars Ostermeier, Christoph Rother, Maryam Laut, Benedikt Reier, Yousry Elseadawy, Sumrin Kalia, Müge Akpınar, Clemens Holzgruber, Konrad Hirschler, Olly Akkerman, Markus Fiebig, Nadja Danilenko, Rahina Muazzu, and Binyamin Lawal.
Many thanks to my traditional Arabic teachers in Nigeria who taught me the maqÄma at the College of Arabic and Islamic Studies, Ibadan, Nigeria (now Bari College of Arabic and Islamic Studies Ibadan): Shaykh Dr. Barihi Adetunji, Ust. Nasirudeen Tijani Arowojede. I also give thanks to my colleagues with whom I engaged the MaqÄmÄt al-ḤarÄ«rÄ«, and my students at the Academy of Arabic and Islamic Studies, Ibadan, Nigeria with whom I applied my knowledge of the maqÄma and developed my foundational thoughts on the classical Arabic maqÄma. Their inspiration was fundamental to my work on the classical Arabic maqÄma.
My interlocutors, especially the maqÄma authors in Nigeriaâs Yorubaland, were generous and eager to assist. I will never forget the hospitality shown to me by the late Imam Masâud Abdul-Ganiyy Adebayo raḥimahu-LlÄh (the Chief Imam of á»yá» Kingdom from 2004 until his death in January 2023), Shaykhs Muḥammad al-Awwal á¹¢Äḥib al-QurʾÄn, Ahmad Yusuf Ajegunle, and Dr. Barihi Adetunji. They always made themselves available whenever I needed to discuss various aspects of the maqÄma with them. While conducting fieldwork in Nigeria between 2018 and 2019, Razaq Adeoye Ajibade served as my research assistant, despite my inability to pay him. I owe a great debt to him for his immense dedication to this work. The Ajibade family, Sharafadeen Ajibade, Adebowale Ajibade, and Najmudeen Ajibade, were wonderful hosts who provided invaluable logistical assistance when I conducted fieldwork while at á»yá» town and Lagos. Abdul-Rauf Akatawy and Abdullah Gata Obansola hosted me in Ilá»rin from March to October 2018 and in September 2019 respectively. Luqman Sulaiman Abdul-Wahab facilitated my meeting with the oldest living maqÄma teacher in Markaz in October 2019. In September 2018, Professor M.M.M. Jimba, then director of the Center for Ilá»rin Manuscripts and Culture of Kwara State University Malete Nigeria, facilitated my research in this valuable repository.
I extend my gratitude to those who read through various chapters of this book. I benefitted greatly from the scholarly engagement of Professors Amidu Sanni, Stefan Reichmuth, M. Oloyede Abdulrahmon and Afis Oladosu. Razaq Ajibade, Yusuf Adebiyi, and Rosella de Luca also read sections of my first draft. Sara Nur Yildiz undertook the English editing of an early manuscript of this book. I am also thankful to the two anonymous reviewers and to members of my doctoral examination committee for their comments, suggestions, and questions which were beneficial in improving and refining the text. Matthew Keegan not only read and made useful comment on the drafts of this book, he also penned a thoughtful and insightful foreword. Some parts of this study have been presented in conferences and academic fora. Chapter Four, âEmotional Dimensions,â is based on a paper titled âOn emotions in the Nigerian MaqÄmÄt,â which was presented at the AGYA International Bilingual Summer School. The event, âEmotions that matter: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Feeling, Affect, and Body in Arabic Literature, Arts, and Culture,â was held at Mohammed V University in Rabat from November 1â3, 2018.
I am grateful to the panel members who provided valuable comments when I presented the paper. Special thanks to Bilal Orfali, Christian Junge, and Barbara Winckler. The initial paper has been significantly revised, and I take full responsibility for the thoughts presented here.
Friends and family were also wonderfully supportive over the years while I was far from home, including Shaykhs Abbas Adekola, Yusuf Adebayo Alagunfon, Abdul-Jeleel Owoola, and Adam Kolawole Alagunfon. Likewise, I am grateful to Stephen Ogundipe, Emmanuel Adeniyi, Sulaiman Olaosebikan Adegbola, Abdul Jelili Tijani, and Sarah Hebbouch, who transported an important book from Rabat to Berlin in 2019 when it was direly needed. Thanks likewise go to Abiodun Emmanuel Olaore, Ahmad Yehya al-Kurdī, John Conteh, Mummy Junior, Uzair Khan, Hajj Mansur, Aissatou Mairi, and all members of Ridwanullah Akbar Asalatu Group of Berlin.
Lastly, I thank my siblings and my parents: Alh. Muhammad al-Awwal Babatunde Alagunfon and Alhaja Afusat Monilola Mosobalaje-Alagunfon for their unflinching support, perseverance, and love. Thanks also to my wife, Nafisat Omolola Are, whom I always had to leave behind in Nigeria with our children while embarking on research journeys. I love you, Abẹni.