what happened to religion in west africa when islam was first introduced
Following the conquest of Due north Africa by Muslim Arabs in the seventh century CE, Islam spread throughout West Africa via merchants, traders, scholars, and missionaries, that is largely through peaceful means whereby African rulers either tolerated the religion or converted to it themselves. In this fashion, Islam spread beyond and around the Sahara Desert. In add-on, the organized religion arrived in Due east Africa when Arab traders crossed the Red Ocean and, in a second moving ridge, settled forth the Swahili Coast. War machine campaigns did occur from the 14th century CE against the Christian kingdoms of Nubia, for instance, while in the 18th century CE the Muslim Fulani launched a holy war in the Lake Republic of chad region. In that location were as well sometimes violent resistance by supporters of traditional African beliefs such as animism and fetish, spirit and antecedent worship.
The Spread of Islam in Africa
Nevertheless, for at least six centuries Islam spread largely peacefully and gradually wherever there were trade connections with the wider Muslim earth of the southern Mediterranean, the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea. The faith was not adopted uniformly, and neither did it maintain its purity of origin, very often existing alongside traditional practices and rituals. With the organized religion came other ideas, too, especially those concerning administration, constabulary, architecture, and many other aspects of daily life.
A Annotation on Islam
It is perchance worth noting at the outset that the spread of Islam in Africa was much more than the passing on and adoption of religious ideas. As the UNESCO Full general History of Africa summarises, unlike many other faiths:
Islam is not only a religion: information technology is a comprehensive way of life, catering for all the fields of human existence. Islam provides guidance for all aspects of life - private and social, material and moral, economic and political, legal and cultural, national and international. (Vol Iii, 20)
It is thus perhaps more comprehensible, given the above, why and so many African rulers and elites were set to adopt a strange religion when information technology too brought with it definite advantages of governance and wealth.
Geographical Spread
Islam spread from the Centre East to take concord across North Africa during the 2nd one-half of the 7th century CE when the Umayyad Caliphate (661-750 CE) of Damascus conquered that surface area by military force. From there, it spread via Islamized Berbers (who had been variously coerced or enticed to convert) in the 8th century CE forth the trade routes which crisscrossed West Africa, moving from the east coast into the interior of key Africa, finally reaching Lake Chad. Meanwhile, the faith also spread downwardly through Egypt and swung westwards through the Sudan region below the Sahara Desert. A 3rd moving ridge brought the faith to Africa'southward eastern shores, the Horn of Africa and the Swahili Coast, directly from Arabia and the Persian Gulf.
Trans-Saharan Trade Routes
Once the religion had reached the savannah region which spreads across Africa below the Sahara Desert, information technology was adopted past ruling African elites, although very often indigenous beliefs and rituals continued to exist practised or were even composite with the new religion. Every bit Muslim traders penetrated deeper into Africa then the organized religion spread from one empire to some other, taking hold first at Gao in 985 CE so within the Ghana Empire (6th-13th century CE) from the late tenth century CE. From in that location, the religion spread eastwards to the Republic of mali Empire (1240-1645 CE) and the Songhai Empire (c. 1460 - c. 1591 CE). With the adoption of Islam by the rulers of the Kingdom of Kanem (c. 900 - c. 1390 CE) betwixt the 11th and 13th century CE and Hausaland from the tardily 14th century CE, the religion'due south encirclement of Africa below the Sahara Desert was complete.
In Eastward Africa, Islam faced stiff contest from Christianity which was firmly entrenched in Nubia and states such equally the Kingdoms of Faras (aka Nobatia), Dongola, and Alodia, and in the Kingdom of Axum (1st - 8th century CE) in what is today Federal democratic republic of ethiopia. It was not until the 14th century CE and military intervention from the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt (1250-1517 CE) that these Christian kingdoms became Muslim, the exception beingness the Kingdom of Abyssinia (13th-20th century CE). In addition, two of import Muslim states in the Horn of Africa were the Sultanates of Adal (1415-1577 CE) and Ajuran (13-17th century CE).
Aside from genuine spiritual conviction, African leaders may have recognised that adopting Islam (or seeming to) would be beneficial to trade.
Islam had more immediate success further due south on the Swahili Coast. From the mid-8th century CE, Muslim traders from Arabia and Egypt began to permanently settle in towns and trading centres forth the Swahili coast. The local Bantu peoples and Arabs mixed, as did their languages, with intermarrying existence common, and there was a blending of cultural practices which led to the evolution of a unique Swahili culture. Islam was more firmly established from the 12th century CE when Shirazi merchants arrived from the Persian Gulf. Every bit the historian P. Curtin puts it: "The Muslim faith ultimately became one of the central elements of Swahili identity. To be a Swahili, in later centuries, meant to be a Muslim" (125). Islam was a success on the coast but information technology fabricated no affect at all on peoples living in the interior of East Africa until the 19th century CE.
There were other challenges too the Christians of Nubia. There were many who vehemently held on to their traditional beliefs in the face of this new religion. Another grouping which fought against the tide of Islam were the Mossi people, who controlled the lands due south of the Niger River and who attacked such cities as Timbuktu in the first one-half of the 15th century CE. Then the Christian Portuguese arrived in Africa on both the West and East coasts where they challenged the spread of Islam. Where the Europeans traded extensively such equally on the western declension of Africa states similar the Kingdom of Kongo (14-19th century CE) became Christian, and from the 16th century CE, Islamic domination of the Swahili coast was challenged.
Neat Mosque, Kilwa
Reasons For Adoption
Bated from 18-carat spiritual conviction, African leaders may accept recognised that adopting Islam (or seeming to) or at the least tolerating information technology would be benign to trade. The ii spheres of Islam and trade are closely intertwined, equally here explained in the UNESCO General History of Africa:
The association of Islam and trade in sub-Saharan Africa is a well-known fact. The commercially most agile peoples, the Dyula, Hausa and Dyakhanke, were amongst the first to exist converted when their respective countries came into contact with Muslims. The caption of this miracle is to be found in social and economic factors. Islam is a religion born in the commercial society of Mecca and preached by a Prophet who himself had for a long time been a merchant, provides a set of ethical and practical prescripts closely related to business activities. This moral lawmaking helped to sanction and command commercial relationships and offered a unifying ideology among the members of different indigenous groups, thus providing for security and credit, two of the master requirements of long-altitude merchandise. (Vol. III, 39)
All the same, in the Ghana Empire, for example, there is no evidence that kings themselves converted to Islam, rather, they tolerated Muslim merchants and those from Ghana who wished to convert. Republic of ghana'due south capital at Koumbi Saleh was, significantly, divided into two distinct towns from the mid-11th century CE. One town was Muslim and boasted 12 mosques while the other, just x km away and joined by many intermediate buildings, was the royal residence with many traditional cult shrines and one mosque for visiting merchants. This division reflected the continuance of indigenous animist beliefs aslope Islam, the former beingness practised by rural communities.
Mansa Musa Analogy
In dissimilarity, in the Mali Empire, the kings did convert to Islam, the first certain case being Mansa Uli (aka Mansa Wali or Yerelenku), who went on a pilgrimage to Mecca in the 1260s or 1270s CE. Many subsequent rulers followed adjust, near famously Mansa Musa I (r. 1312-1337 CE) who visited Cairo and Mecca and brought back to Mali Muslim scholars, architects, and books. Mosques were built such equally Timbuktu's Great Mosque (aka Djinguereber or Jingereber), and Koranic schools and universities were established which quickly gained an international reputation. I noted Timbuktu scholar was the saint Sharif Sidi Yahya al-Tadilsi (d. c. 1464 CE) who became the patron saint of the urban center. A clerical class developed, many of whose members were of Sudanese origin, and many ofttimes acted as missionaries, spreading Islam into the southern parts of W Africa.
Many native converts studied & became scholars, missionaries, & even saints, & so Islam came to be seen no longer as a foreign religion but a blackness African one.
Every bit more people were converted, so more Muslim clerics were attracted from away and the faith was spread further beyond Due west Africa. Many native converts studied in such places as Fez, Morocco, and became not bad scholars, missionaries, and even saints, and and so Islam came to exist seen no longer as a foreign religion but a black African ane. Finally, Muslim clerics ofttimes fabricated themselves very useful to the community in practical daily life (and then they increased the entreatment of Islam) by offer prayers on request, performing administrative tasks, offering medical advice, divining - such equally the interpretation of dreams, and making charms and amulets.
Another motivation for rulers to adopt Islam also greater riches with which to impress their people and hold on to ability was that a new dynasty may have been bolstered in its claims of legitimacy by as well adopting a new religion. This could well be the virtually important cistron in the Kingdom of Kanem's adoption in the late 11th century CE. Adopting Islam permitted, too, the exchange of diplomatic embassies with N African states, as well as the possibility to send scholars for training, both of which brought the sub-Saharan states, in particular, into contact with the wider Mediterranean globe and increased the prestige of rulers. All the same some other appeal of Islam was that it brought literacy, a tremendously useful tool for empires who built their wealth on trade.
Great Mosque, Djenne, Republic of mali
Rulers were non always and then keen to prefer Islam, King Sunni Ali of the Songhai Empire (r. 1464-1492 CE), for example, was vehemently anti-Muslim, but Male monarch Mohammad I (r. 1494-1528 CE) did catechumen, and he imposed Islamic law on his people and appointed qadis (Islamic magistrates or judges) as heads of justice at Timbuktu, Djenne, and other towns. Every bit in Ghana and Mali, though, the rural populace of Songhai remained stubbornly loyal to their traditional beliefs.
Accommodating Ancient African Beliefs
As noted, aboriginal indigenous beliefs continued to be practised, especially in rural communities, equally recorded by travellers like Ibn Battuta who visited Republic of mali c. 1352 CE. In addition, Islamic studies were, at least initially, conducted in Arabic, not native languages, and this farther impeded its popularity outside the educated clerical class of towns and cities. Even the Islam that did take hold was a particular variation of that practised in the Arab world, possibly considering African rulers could not afford to completely dismiss the indigenous religious practices and behavior that the majority of their people notwithstanding clung onto and which very often elevated rulers to divine or semi-divine status.
Even on the Swahili Coast, which adopted Islam with possibly more success than anywhere else, many converts connected the practice of appeasing spirits who brought illness and other misfortunes. Ancestors connected to be worshipped, in some cities women enjoyed amend rights than they did nether strictly sharia law, and, in a very un-Islamic exercise, cemeteries were filled with tombs where precious goods were buried with the expressionless.
Sankore Mosque, Timbuktu
Cultural Bear on
Islam had profound effects on all aspects of daily life and lodge but these did vary over time and identify. The coming of Islam saw a full general decline in the status of certain groups in ancient African communities. I of the principal losers were the metalworkers who had always enjoyed a mystical reverence from ordinary people because of their skills in forging metal. The same applies to those who found and mined such precious metals as gold and iron. In dissimilarity, an association with Islam sometimes brought a sure prestige, a point seen virtually clearly in the re-recording of community histories and foundation myths to include the inflow of a founder from the Eastward. Information technology is also truthful that in some cases oral traditions maintained their cultural integrity, and thus we are presented with a parallel history such every bit seen in the biographies of Sundiata Keita (r. 1230-1255 CE), the founder of the Mali Empire, who in written history converted to Islam but in oral tradition was a great magician of the ethnic faith.
Men and women'south roles sometimes inverse, some African communities having previously given women a more equal status with men than was the case under Muslim laws. Some African societies were matrilineal, and these changed to a patrilineal system. More superficial changes included the changing of names to those favoured by Muslims. Oftentimes such names were adapted to conform African languages, for example, Muhammad became Mamadu and Ali was Africanized to Aliyu. Clothing changed, besides, with women, in particular, encouraged to dress more modestly and adolescents to embrace their nudity.
Islamic compages spread with the religion with mosques being built wherever in that location were worshippers. All the same, merely like the faith itself, there were minor local differences. Mosques on the Swahili Coast, for example, had neither the minarets or inner courtyard typical of mosques elsewhere in the Islamic globe.
There were several technical innovations that came with Islam such as writing, numbers, mathematics, measurements and weights. Not only did Muslim scholars and missionaries visit and stay in African communities but also Muslim travellers and chroniclers like Ibn Battuta and Ibn Khaldin (1332-1406 CE) who fabricated invaluable observations and records of African life in the medieval period. These writers, along with archeology, have helped enormously in the reconstruction of ancient Africa following the European colonial period where every attempt was fabricated to obliterate the history of the continent lest it disharmonize with the racist belief that Africa had long been waiting to be civilised.
This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to bookish standards prior to publication.
Source: https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1382/the-spread-of-islam-in-ancient-africa/
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