Professor of arabic, university of london, university college. Archipelago and had never surpassed the eastern longitude 110 f. In north africa, a series of islamic movements, the almoravids and the almohads have conquered large areas, at one point even stretching into west africa. On the other hand, in east africa, where islam came from the arabian peninsula, muslims followed the shafli school of law that prevailed in arabia. Islam enjoys a dominant presence in states situated in west africa, north africa, the swahili coast, and the horn of africa. Each module consists of a pdf file with corresponding video and audio files. For centuries, there were many schools and libraries across north africa and many advances in learning. Pdf trade and geography in the origins and spread of islam.
Islam, islamic history, islamic civilization, islam in africa, islam in south africa. Egypt, for example, is approximately 15% christian, though the presence of christians in the remainder of north africa is infinitesimal. The north african muslim campaigns were led by the umayyad caliphate and manythough not all of north africans christians, were forcibly converted to islam. Spread of islam in west africa islam reached the savannah region in the 8th century c. Chapter nineteen muhammad and the beginnings of islam. Abuabdullah adelabu has written in his movements of islam in face of the empires and kingdoms in yorubaland claims about the early arrival of islam in. The weakening of modernist nationalism in north africa was a major factor in the eclipse of islamic modernism and the rise of conservative and antiwestern islamic activism. Spread of islam in sub saharan africa influence of sufism. Islam had a significant impact on the culture of northern africa.
Chapter nineteen muhammad and the beginnings of islam between the third century and the sixth god replaced the gods throughout much but not all of western eurasia and north africa. Oct 09, 2016 islam has been in africa for so long since its beginning on the arabian peninsula that some scholars have argued that it is a traditional african religion. Since the religion was introduced to the continent in the 7th century, it has spread extensively and the continent today is home to nearly onethird of the muslim population in the world. Islam in the middle east and north africa islamicus. As a result of arab rule, many northern africans were converted to islam. Islam has been in africa for so long since its beginning on the arabian peninsula that some scholars have argued that it is a traditional african religion. For the recent recovery of modernist ideas within islamic political movements to bear fruit requires a broader recovery of the national idea in north african political life. The spread of islam in africa began in the 7th and 8th cent. Seven years after the death of muhammad in 639 ad, an arab army invaded egypt, and within two generations, islam ha d expanded across north africa and all of the. The history of islam in africa and accounts of how the religion spread, especially in north and the horn of africa, has always been contentious. The spread of islam in ancient africa ancient history.
Islam unified the tribes of northern africa leading to civilizations, society, power, science, and technology. More generally, the debate over democratic reform in north africa can and must now get over the stumbling block of political islam and focus instead on the structural obstacles to democratic development within north african political systems, such as the absence of checks on executive power, the role of the military, the weakness of. Islam has a large presence in north africa, the horn of africa, the swahili coast, and much of west. Muslim north, the territories above 25 degrees north latitude, you find north africa, egypt, the. In 702 the berbers submitted to the armies of islam and adopted islam.
Islam with its first major triumph, and africa became the first safe haven for muslims and the first place islam would be practiced outside of the arabian peninsula. Sep 21, 2017 islam enjoys a dominant presence in states situated in west africa, north africa, the swahili coast, and the horn of africa. Along the coast of africa islam spread among the berbers, who joined the muslim community and almost immediately drove north across the mediterranean into europe. Spread of islam to north africa essay 582 words bartleby. Introduction islams presence in african history islams presence in african history dates back to the first phase of the prophet muhammads mission, when in 615 a. If you then look at the muslim north, the territories above 25 degrees north latitude, you find north africa, egypt, the middle east except for southern arabia, northern india, afghanistan, central asia, and turkey. It quickly spread west from alexandria in north africa the maghreb, reducing the christians to pockets in egypt, nubia and ethiopia. Following the conquest of north africa by muslim arabs in the 7th 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. It was estimated in 2002 that muslims constitute 45% of the population of africa. A summary of this can also be downloaded in pdf format. The years 665 to 689 saw a new arab invasion of north africa it began, according to will durant, to protect egypt from flank attack by byzantine cyrene. Islam is one of them and, like judaism and christianity, it is constitutive of an entire civilization.
Although the majority of muslims in africa are sunni or sufi, the complexity of islam in africa is revealed in the various schools of thought, traditions, and voices that constantly contend for dominance in many african countries. Subsaharan africa these movements have given the islamic religion a huge boost in the west african kingdoms, and by this date their ruling classes are mostly muslim, at least nominally. Islam and christianity in the chad basin, democracy in west africa, islam and. Islam in north africa the term north africa usually denotes the region that includes the countries of libya, tunisia, algeria, morocco, and mauritania. A read is counted each time someone views a publication summary such as the title, abstract, and list of authors, clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the fulltext. Nazeer ahmed, phd africa, alone among the continents, has a majority muslim population. The histom1 ofls1am il1 africa ohio university press. There exists such a disparity because of the modes of. The student should first read and watch or listen to the study material of module 1.
It affected the way people lived including their government, trade, and education. The religion of islam began in the middle east during the early 600s ce. Islam reached the savannah region in the 8th century c. Each subsequent paper examines with respect to one of these three countries the outlook and strategies of the main islamist fn in the usage. The conventional historical view is that the conquest of north africa by the islamic umayyad caliphate between ce 647709 effectively ended catholicism in africa for several centuries. Islam in subsaharan african contexts the web site cannot be found. Not long after the death of the prophet muhammad in 632 ce, the arabs began to expand their empire. Islam arrived in subsaharan west africa as early as the 8th century, travelling with arab traders from north africa.
Fulani women woodabe ethnic group west,central,north africa slideshow. Islamic civilization evolved according to its own dynamics, covering the periods of sacred foundation 634750, scriptural formation 7501050, classicism. Islam in africa is not static and is constantly being reshaped by prevalent social, economic and political conditions. Both insightful and intrepid, eliza griswold journeyed through africa and asia along the tenth parallel, the line of latitude 700 miles north of the equator where nearly 25% of the worlds muslims and christians compete for resources, converts and political power. So an army of more than 40,000 muslims advanced through the desert to barca, took it, and marched to the neighborhood of carthage, defeating a defending byzantine army of 20,000 in the process. While this was a shortlived encounter, muslims eventually left a lasting influence in north africa which. The origin and growth of islam on the african continent. Subsaharan africa now is home to about oneinfive of all the christians in the world 21% and more than oneinseven of the worlds muslims 15%. Following asia, including the middle east, africa has the largest number of muslims in the world.
The main difference in the process of arrival of islam in north africa and subsaharan african is displayed by the rapidity of expansion. Whereas by 720, north africa was controlled by the muslims, the adoption of islam below the sahara appeared to be more slowly paced and gradual. The history of the islamic faith on the continent of africa spans fourteen centuries. Today north africa is composed of muslim countries where islam is considered as the state religion. A map of religions in africa shows that while christianity dominates the southern part of the continent, islam has majority control of the north and center. Still pagan were the people living in regions that were not readily accessible from the great centers of civilization in the mediterranean and the near. It was home to its greatest historian, ibn khaldun and the birthplace of its bestknown traveler, ibn batuta. The first moroccan states formed during these years, but many were still ruled by outsiders, some of whom were part of the umayyad caliphate that controlled most of northern africa c.
Indonesia, the philippines, west africa, east africa, sudan, and ethiopia. Sep 21, 2017 however, christianity in most of the areas of north africa was wiped out with the advent of islam. Middle eastnorth africa report n37 2 march 2005 understanding islamism i. Islam, islamism and islamic activism islamism is defined here, and will be in future crisis group reports, as synonymous with islamic activism, the active assertion and promotion of beliefs, prescriptions, laws, or policies that are held to be islamic in character.
Pdf this research examines the economic origins and spread of islam in. In this way, islam spread across and around the sahara desert. Geopolitics of the islam world and world leadership in the postcold. For the first time in a single volume, the history of islam in africa presents a detailed historic mapping of the cultural, political, geographic, and religious past of this significant presence on a continentwide scale. Islam was introduced into east africa as early as the 7 th century by successive waves of refugees from arabia.
Muslim population is more than the combined muslim populations of libya and jordan. Moor was a minority from northern africa in the middle ages, moro is an appellation for the. Islamic countries, in political, economic and cultural terms, as well as their. Islam diffused through north africa to the berber people of the maghreb and. Because this region corresponds to what arab writers call the maghreb the west, this article shall use both terms here with no distinction of meaning. The introduction of islam into east africa followed a somewhat different path from that in west africa. Africa gave the islamic world its first muezzin, bilal ibn rabah.
Islam had a great impact on the culture of north africa. How africa progressed away from the dominate christianity to islam. The first group arrived in the year 698 fleeing the persecution of the omayyad governor of iraq, hajjaj ibn yusuf. A brief history of the country of morocco thoughtco.
Overview this general backgrounder is the first of a series of icg briefings addressing the range and diversity of islamic activism in the north african states where this phenomenon has been able to develop most fully egypt, algeria and morocco. List of books and articles about islam in africa online. However, new scholarship has appeared that provides more nuance and details of the conversion of the christian inhabitants to islam. Spread of islam to north africa essay 582 words 3 pages there are about 1.
Africa, spain, sri lanka and the philippines and of muslims in general. The great mosque of djenne is an islamic landmark in mali. The european contribution to the spread of christianity in subsaharan africa the portuguese attempted to introduce a catholicinfluenced form of christianity between the 16th and 18th centuries in the kongo kingdom, but it did not last for long. Of the 100 million people who live in that region today, approximately 40% are muslim. Traditional religion traditional african religion is based on oral traditions, which means that the basic values and way of life are passed from elders to younger generation. The longterm effects of africas slave trades munich personal. North africa before islam most of northern africa was disorganized and underdeveloped before islam came. East africa includes a broad swath of territory embracing the modern nations of somalia, kenya, uganda, rwanda, burundi, tanzania, malawi and mozambique. Although some local traditions and values were often incorporated into the religion, islam had a unifying influence in the government, the culture, the architecture, and the economy. Middle east except for southern arabia, northern india. Generally islam in africa often adapted to african cultural contexts and belief systems forming africas own orthodoxies. Why did christianity disappear in northwestern africa. Islam has a large presence in north africa, the horn of africa, the swahili coast, and much of west africa, with minority but significant immigrant populations in south africa. The famous scholar ibn munabbah wrote as early as 738 c.
Because islam spread to west africa from north africa, muslims there fol lowed the maliki school of law dominant in north africa. Islam is one of the most popular religions in africa. Trade and geography in the economic origins and spread of islam. Churches are found in these countries and in greater number in the last 20 years with the rise of conversions to christianity. Operational information on the north africa subregion is presented below. Shortly thereafter, a second group arrived, led by the kharijites sulayman and saeed, whose revolt against the caliph.