Islam in Africa

Masjid as-Sahabah, Massawa, Eritrea

The presence of Islam in Africa can be traced to the 7th century CE, when in Rajab 8 BH, or May 614 CE, Muhammad advised a number of his early disciples, who were facing persecution by the polytheistic inhabitants of the Mecca, to seek refuge across the Red Sea in Axum. In the Muslim tradition, this event is known as the first hijrah, or migration. Twenty-three Muslims migrated to Abyssinia where they were protected by its king, Armah An-Najāshī, who later accepted Islam. They were followed by 101 Muslims later in the same year. Most of those Muslims returned to Medina in 7 AH / 628 CE but some settled in the neighboring Zeila (current day Somalia ) which was at that time part of Bilād al-Barbar ("Land of the Berber(s)"). Once in Zeila, they built the Masjid al-Qiblatayn ("Mosque of the two Qiblahs") in 627 CE. This mosque has two Qiblas because it was built before the Prophet switched the Qiblah from Jerusalem to Mecca. They also reportedly built Africa's oldest mosque, that is the Mosque of the Companions in the Eritrean city of Massawa.[5] This qibla of this mosque in Massawa points towards Jerusalem as well, though now defunct, occasional prayers are still held in this mosque with qibla correction towards Mecca.[6]

The Great Mosque of Kairouan (also known as the Mosque of Uqba), founded in 670 by the Arab general and conqueror Uqba Ibn Nafi, is the oldest mosque in Northwest Africa,[7] located in the city of Kairouan, Tunisia

In 20 H / 641 CE, during the reign of Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab, Muslim troops took over current Egypt and conquered current Libya the following year. Muslims then expanded to current Tunisia in 27 H / 647 CE, during the reign of the third Muslim Caliph Uthman Ibn Affan. The conquest of North Africa continued under the Umayyad dynasty, which annexed parts of Algeria around 61 H/680 CE and Morocco the following year. From the latter Muslim troops crossed the Strait of Gibraltar to Europe in 92 H/711 CE. Islam gained momentum during the 10th century in West Africa with the start of the Almoravid dynasty movement on the Senegal River and as rulers and kings embraced Islam. Islam then spread slowly in much of the continent through trade and preaching.[8] During this period these Muslims from North and West Africa came to be known by Europeans at large as Moors .[9] By the 9th century, Muslim Sultanates started being established in the Horn of Africa, and by the 12th century, the Kilwa Sultanate had spread as far south as Mozambique. Islam only crossed deeper into Malawi and Congo in the second half of the 19th century under the Zanzibar Sultanate. Then the British brought their labor force from India, including some Muslim-Indian nationals, to their colonies in Africa towards the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century.

The Mosque of Islamic Solidarity in Mogadishu, Somalia is the largest mosque in the Horn of Africa

Islam was introduced to the northern Somali coast early on from the Arabian peninsula, shortly after the hijra. Zeila's two-mihrab Masjid al-Qiblatayn dates to the 7th century, and is the oldest mosque in the city.[10] In the late 9th century, Al-Yaqubi wrote that Muslims were living along the northern Somali seaboard.[11] He also mentioned that the Adal kingdom had its capital in the city,[11][12] suggesting that the Adal Sultanate with Zeila as its headquarters dates back to at least the 9th or 10th century. According to I.M. Lewis, the polity was governed by local dynasties, who also ruled over the similarly-established Sultanate of Mogadishu in the littoral Benadir region to the south. Adal's history from this founding period forth would be characterized by a succession of battles with neighboring Abyssinia.[12][13]

In the following centuries, the consolidation of Muslim trading networks, connected by lineage, trade, and Sufi brotherhoods, had reached a peak in West Africa, enabling Muslims to wield tremendous political influence and power. During the reign of Umar II, the then governor of Africa, Ismail ibn Abdullah, was said to have won the Berbers to Islam by his just administration. Other early notable missionaries include Abdallah ibn Yasin, who started a movement which caused thousands of Berbers to accept Islam.[14]

El-Tabia Mosque in Aswan, Egypt

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. Head of Awqaf Africa London, Sheikh Dr. Abu-Abdullah 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 southwestern Nigeria. He seconded the Arab anthropologist Abduhu Badawi on the argument that the early Muslim missionaries had benefited their works from the fall of Kush in northern Sudan and the prosperity of the politically multicultural Abbasid period in the continent which, according to him, had created several streams of migration, moving west in the mid-9th century into Sub-Saharan Africa.[15] Adelabu pointed at the popularity and influences of the Abbasid Dynasty (750–1258), the second great dynasty with the rulers carrying the title of 'Caliph' as fostering peaceful and prosperous migration of the intercultural Muslims from the Nile Valley to Niger as well as of the Arab traders from the desert to Benue. Adelabu's claim seems to be in line with the conventional historical view that the conquest of North Africa by the Umayyad Caliphate between AD 647–709 effectively ended Christianity in Africa for several centuries.[16] Some argue that adoption of Islam was motivated by the desire to enhance trade, as Islam provided a moral code of conduct to regulate commercial activities, especially with respect to credit and security.[17]

Minaret of the Malindi Mosque in Stone Town, Zanzibar

Similarly, in the Swahili coast, Islam made its way inland – spreading at the expense of traditional African religions.[18] This expansion of Islam in Africa not only led to the formation of new communities in Africa, but it also reconfigured existing African communities and empires to be based on Islamic models.[19] Indeed, in the middle of the 11th century, the Kanem Empire, whose influence extended into Sudan, converted to Islam. At the same time but more toward West Africa, the reigning ruler of the Bornu Empire embraced Islam.[14] As these kingdoms adopted Islam, their subjects thereafter followed suit. In praising the Africans' zealousness to Islam, the 14th-century explorer Ibn Battuta stated that mosques were so crowded on Fridays, that unless one went very early, it was impossible to find a place to sit.[14]

In the 16th century, the Ouaddai Empire and the Kingdom of Kano embraced Islam, and later toward the 18th century, the Nigeria based Sokoto Caliphate led by Usman dan Fodio exerted considerable effort in spreading Islam.[14]

Today, Islam is the predominant religion of the northern half of Africa, mainly concentrated in North Africa, the Horn of Africa and the Sahel, as well as West Africa.

The 10th-century Sankore Madrasa, Timbuktu, Mali. One of the earliest universities in the world. The three mosques of Sankoré, Djinguereber Mosque and Sidi Yahya compose the famous University of Timbuktu. Madrasah means 'school' or 'university' in Arabic, and in other languages associated with Muslim people.

Islam has been in Africa for so long, since its emergence on the Arabian peninsula, that some scholars have argued that it is a traditional African religion.[20]

Although the majority of Muslims in Africa are non-denominational Muslims, Sunni[2] 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. Islam in Africa is not static and is constantly being reshaped by prevalent social, economic and political conditions.[19]

Islam in Africa is often adapted to local cultural contexts and belief systems, thereby forming the continent's own orthodoxies. Different societies in Africa have generally appropriated Islam in both more inclusive ways, or in the more radical ways, as with the Almoravid movement in the Maghreb and Sahara.[3]

Additionally, Islam in Africa has both local and global dimensions. On the local level, experts assert that Muslims (including African Muslims) operate with considerable autonomy and do not have an international organization that regulates their religious practices. This fact accounts for the differences and varieties in Islamic practices throughout the African continent. On the global level, Muslims in Africa are also part of the Ummah (Islamic community worldwide), and follow global issues and current events that affect the Muslim world with keen interest. With globalization and new initiatives in information technology, Muslims in Africa have developed and maintained close connections with the wider Muslim world.[19]

Analysts argue that Muslims in Africa, like other Muslims in Asia, the Middle East and the rest of the world, seem to be locked into an intense struggle regarding the future direction of Islam. At core of the struggle are questions about the way in which Muslims should practice their faith. The scholars assert that the majority seems to prefer to remain on the moderate, tolerant course that Islam has historically followed. However, a relatively small, but growing group would like to establish a stricter form of the religion, one that informs and controls all aspects of society.[19]

The 13th-century Larabanga Mosque of Ghana, one of the oldest surviving mosques in West Africa

The Sharīʿah of Islam broadly influences the legal code in most Islamic countries, but the extent of which its impact varies widely. In Africa, most states limit the use of Sharia to "personal-status law" for issues such as marriage, divorce, inheritance and child custody. With the exception of northern Nigeria in West Africa, secularism does not seem to face any serious threat in Africa, even though the new Islamic revival is having a great impact upon segments of Muslim populations. Cohabitation or coexistence between Muslims and non-Muslims remains, for the most part, peaceful.[19]

Nigeria is home to Africa's largest Muslim population. In 1999, Nigeria's northern states adopted the Sharia penal code, but punishments have been rare. In fact, dozens of women convicted of adultery and sentenced to stoning to death have later been freed. Egypt, one of the largest Muslim states in Africa, claims Sharia as the main source of its legislation, yet its penal and civil codes are based largely on French law.[19] Although recent research has found that in establishing the French penal and civic codes, Napoleon actually based them largely upon Maliki Fiqh rulings he was exposed to while in Egypt.[21]

The Abuja National Mosque in Abuja, Nigeria

Muslims in Africa mostly adhere to the Sunni Islam, with sizable Ibadi adherents.[22] In addition, Sufism, the mystical dimension of Islam, has a very big presence. The Maliki madh'hab is the dominant school of jurisprudence amongst most of the continent's Sunni communities, while the Shafi'i madh'hab is prevalent in the Horn of Africa, eastern Egypt, and the Swahili Coast. The Hanafi fiqh is also followed in western Egypt.

Sufism

The Khartoum-Karima Mosque in Sudan, Nile Valley

Sufism, which focuses on the mystical elements of Islam, has many orders as well as followers in West Africa and Sudan, and, like other orders, strives to know God through meditation and emotion. Sufis may be nondenominational Muslim, Sunni or Shi’ite, and their ceremonies may involve chanting, music, dancing, and meditation.[19]

Many Sufis in Africa are syncretic where they practise Sufism with traditional folklore beliefs. Salafis criticize the folklorists Sufis, who they claim have incorporated "un-Islamic" beliefs into their practices, such as celebrating the several events, visiting the shrines of "Islamic saints", dancing during prayer (the whirling dervishes).[24] West Africa and Sudan have various Sufi orders regarded skeptically by the more doctrinally strict branches of Islam in the Middle East. Most orders in West Africa emphasize the role of a spiritual guide, marabout or possessing supernatural power, regarded as an Africanization of Islam. In Senegal and Gambia, Mouridism Sufis claim to have several million adherents and have drawn criticism for their veneration of Mouridism's founder Amadou Bamba. The Tijani is the most popular Sufi order in West Africa, with a large following in Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Gambia.[19]

• Harla Kingdom (500 - 1500)
• Wadai Sultanate (1501-1911)
• Kanem Empire (700 - 1376)
• Idrisid dynasty (789 - 974)
• Sultanate of Mogadishu (c. 900 - 16th century)
• Maghrawa dynasty (987 - 1070)
• Kingdom of Kano (1000 - 1805)
• Almoravid dynasty (1073 – 1147)
• Kilwa Sultanate (12th century – 1505)
• Almohad dynasty (1147 – 1269)
• Mali Empire (1230s – 1600s)
• Marinid dynasty (1258 – 1420)
• Ajuran Sultanate (13th century - 17th century)
• Ifat Sultanate (1285 - 1415)
• Songhai Empire (1340 - 1591)
• Bornu Empire (1369 - 1893)
• Adal Sultanate (1415 - 1555)
• Hiraab Imamate (17th century - 1874)
• Isaaq Sultanate (17th century - 1884)
• Wattasid dynasty (1420 – 1554)
• Sennar Sultanate (1502 - 1821)
• Saadi dynasty (1554 – 1659)
• Dendi Kingdom (1591 - 1901)
• Sultanate of Darfur (1603 - 1874)
• Alaouite dynasty (1666 - current)
• Kong Empire (1710 - 1894)
• Majeerteen Sultanate (mid-18th century – early 20th century)
• Imamate of Futa Jallon (1727 - 1896)
• Almamyate of Futa Toro (1776 - 1861)
• Sokoto Caliphate (1804 - 1903)
• Kingdom of Gomma (early 19th century – 1886)
• Kingdom of Jimma (1830 – 1932)
• Kingdom of Gumma (1840 – 1902)
• Wassoulou Empire (1878 - 1898)
• Sultanate of Hobyo (1880s - 1920s)
• Dervish State (1896 - 1920)
• Emirate of Harar (967-1887)
• Makhzumi dynasty (896-1286)

Distribution of Sunni, Shia, Quranist, Mahdavia/Ahmadiyya, Ibadi, and Nondenominational Muslim branches in Africa

According to the Pew Research Center, three of the ten countries with the largest Muslim populations in 2015 were in Africa: Nigeria (where there were an estimated 90.02 million Muslims, accounting for 50% of the total population), Egypt (83.87 million; 95.1%) and Algeria (37.21 million; 97.9%).[26]

Estimated Muslim population by country, 2010[27]

	Muslim population	Total population	Percentage Muslim
Algeria	34,730,000	35,470,000	97.9
Angola	40,000	19,080,000	<1.0
Benin	2,110,000	8,850,000	23.8
Botswana	<10,000	2,010,000	<1.0
Burkina Faso	10,150,000	16,470,000	61.6
Burundi	230,000	8,380,000	2.8
Cameroon	3,590,000	19,600,000	18.3
Cape Verde	<10,000	500,000	<1.0
Central African Republic	370,000	4,400,000	8.5
Chad	6,210,000	11,230,000	55.3
Comoros	720,000	730,000	98.3
Congo	50,000	4,040,000	1.2
Democratic Republic of the Congo	970,000	65,970,000	1.5
Djibouti	860,000	890,000	96.9
Egypt	76,990,000	81,120,000	94.9
Equatorial Guinea	30,000	700,000	4.0
Eritrea	1,920,000	5,250,000	36.6
Ethiopia	28,680,000	82,950,000	34.6
Gabon	170,000	1,510,000	11.2
Gambia	1,640,000	1,730,000	95.1
Ghana	3,860,000	24,390,000	15.8
Guinea	8,430,000	9,980,000	84.4
Guinea-Bissau	680,000	1,520,000	45.1
Ivory Coast	7,390,000	19,740,000	42.5
Kenya	3,920,000	40,510,000	9.7
Kingdom of Morocco	32,460,000	32,460,000	99.0
Lesotho	<10,000	2,170,000	<1.0
Liberia	480,000	3,990,000	12.0
Libya	6,140,000	6,360,000	96.6
Madagascar	620,000	20,710,000	3.0
Malawi	1,930,000	14,900,000	13.0
Mali	14,510,000	15,370,000	94.4
Mauritania	3,430,000	3,460,000	99.0
Mauritius	220,000	1,300,000	17.3
Mayotte	200,000	200,000	98.6
Mozambique	4,200,000	23,390,000	18.0
Namibia	<10,000	2,280,000	<1.0
Niger	15,270,000	15,510,000	98.4
Nigeria	80,300,000	158,420,000	50.8
Reunion	40,000	850,000	4.2
Rwanda	190,000	10,620,000	1.8
St. Helena	<10,000	<10,000	<1.0
Sao Tome and Principe	<10,000	170,000	<1.0
Senegal	11,980,000	12,430,000	96.4
Seychelles	<10,000	90,000	1.1
Sierra Leone	4,580,000	5,870,000	78.0
Somalia	9,310,000	9,330,000	98.0
South Africa	860,000	50,130,000	1.7
South Sudan	2,316,000	11,580,000	20
Sudan	45,480,000	46,880,000	97
Swaziland	<10,000	1,190,000	<1.0
Tanzania	15,770,000	44,840,000	35.2
Togo	840,000	6,030,000	14.0
Tunisia	10,430,000	10,480,000	99.0
Uganda	3,840,000	33,420,000	11.5
Zambia	70,000	13,090,000	<1.0
Zimbabwe	110,000	12,570,000	<1.0

• List of mosques in Africa
• Trade & Pilgrimage Routes of Ghana
• Islam in South Asia

• J. Spencer Trimingham, History of Islam in West Africa. Oxford University Press, 1962.
• Nehemia Levtzion and Randall L. Pouwels (eds). The History of Islam in Africa. Ohio University Press, 2000.
• David Robinson. Muslim Societies in African History. Cambridge University Press, 2004.
• Bruce S. Hall, A History of Race in Muslim West Africa, 1600-1960. Cambridge University Press, 2011, ISBN 9781107002876.
• Paul Schrijver (2006), Bibliography on Islam in contemporary Sub-Saharan Africa, Research Report, Leiden: African Studies Centre, ISBN 9789054480679 . Updated online version
• Chopra, R.M., "SUFISM" (Origin,Growth,Eclipse,Resurgence), 2016, Anuradha Prakashan, New Delhi. ISBN 978-93-85083-52-5.

• Online bibliography Islam in Africa (AfricaBib, African Studies Centre, Leiden)
• The Story of Africa: Islam, from the BBC World Service.