As Makkah is sweet and beloved, so is Madina: Islam, devotional genres, and electronic mediation in Mauritius

Mauritian Muslims profoundly disagree over the legitimacy of the devotional genre na't, as audition of audiocassette and audio-CD recordings of the genre has become more popular. In this article, I suggest a close articulation between critiques of textual and spiritual mediation in South Asian Islamic traditions practiced in Mauritius and certain uses of electronic voice mediation, such as the circulation of audiocassette and audio-CD na't. The significance of electronically mediated devotional discourse emerges in the ways in which media practices become part of genealogical forms of Islamic authority centered on ensuring authentic textual and performative transmission through long chains of reliable interlocutors.