This book examines the authority of saints in Islam and their ability to build communities among Muslims in North Africa. It analyzes the power generated in religious communities through their allegiance to saints, a power usually identified with the term "Sufism." In the late 15th and 16th centuries, a community of Sufis in Fes (Fez), Morocco, and other urban centers in North Africa advocated this paradigm of sainthood during a time of intense political and religious crisis. Juridical sainthood, a concept that fuses Islamic legal rectitude and devotional piety, was the center of their...