This website is for people of various faiths who seek to understand Islam and Muslims. In all cases, it remains the basic Islam rule and Quran Golden rule that: Accordingly, in all Islam history, never one of any religion was forced to convert to Islam. converting to Islam improved relations with Muslim merchants from North Africa and brought them recognition and support from Muslim states in the north. Many of them went on lecture or missionary tours to convert people, while others became advisers to Sudanese Kings on how to become effective rulers. Many native converts studied in such places as Fez, Morocco, and became great scholars, missionaries, and even saints, and so Islam came to be seen no longer as a foreign religion but a black African one. Then the Christian Portuguese arrived in Africa on both the West and East coasts where they challenged the spread of Islam. The early journeys across the Sahara were done in stages. Military campaigns did occur from the 14th century CE against the Christian kingdoms of Nubia, for example, while in the 18th century CE the Muslim Fulani launched a holy war in the Lake Chad region. The coming of Islam saw a general decline in the status of certain groups in ancient African communities. Literacy spread because belief in Islam encourages Muslims to learn the Quran. One noted Timbuktu scholar was the saint Sharif Sidi Yahya al-Tadilsi (d. c. 1464 CE) who became the patron saint of the city. https://www.ancient.eu/article/1382/. - Hadith Sahih Bukhari 4:52:260 (The Hadith Sahih are the true, verified sayings of Muhammad, pbuh, and form the basis for Islamic law, along with the Qur'an). When Genghis Khan let himself loose on the Khwarizm Empire in 1219 (Mongol invasion of Khwarezmia and Eastern Iran), the subsequent events were so traumatic for the Islamic World that the word "holocaust" has sometimes been used to describe it. Asked by Wiki User. Ancient History Encyclopedia. -Another huge reason of conversion to Islam as a way of saving their ethnicity since they were surrounded by Slavs. We have also been recommended for educational use by the following publications: Ancient History Encyclopedia Foundation is a non-profit organization registered in Canada. Cartwright, Mark. From the mid-8th century CE, Muslim traders from Arabia and Egypt began to permanently settle in towns and trading centres along the Swahili coast. The famous scholar Ibn Munabbah wrote … Historians believe that a group of people called the Soninke founded Ghana as early as the year 300 and it thrived until around 1200. Islam provides guidance for all aspects of life - individual and social, material and moral, economic and political, legal and cultural, national and international. Islam came first: They way it worked was trade and a bit of steel. What important knowledge did the enslaved Africans bring to south Carolina? The same applies to those who found and mined such precious metals as gold and iron. In the first stage, African kings contained Muslim influence by segregating Muslim communities, in the second stage African rulers blended Islam with local traditions as the population selectively appropriated Islamic practices, and finally in the third stage, African Muslims pressed for reforms in an effort to rid their societies of mixed practices and implement Shariah. His special interests include pottery, architecture, world mythology and discovering the ideas that all civilizations share in common. The Mali kings who followed Sundiata Keita converted to Islam. West African fetish priest with talismans sewn on his hat and "batakari jacket. Islam also spread in the region by the founders of Sufi brotherhoods ( tariqah ). As traders settle there, they bring Islamic scholars with them. This geographical unit, central to the rise of the Atlantic World, stretches from modern-day Mauritania to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and encompasses lush rainforests along the equator, savannas on either side of the forest, and much drier land to the north. Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms. they knew that Islam is against racism and that superiority is only based on piety and good deeds. Some clerics devoted a great deal of their time to writing books and instructions on all aspects of Islam for the education and conversion of people or the purification and strengthening of Islam. Some clerics devoted a great deal of their time to writing books and instructions on all aspects of Islam for the education and conversion of people or the purification and strengthening of Islam. Islam reached urban centers and the ruling elite first. Clothing changed, too, with women, in particular, encouraged to dress more modestly and adolescents to cover their nudity. Why did cyclone Tracy occur in 1974 at Darwin? There were other challenges besides the Christians of Nubia. In addition, the religion arrived in East Africa when Arab traders crossed the Red Sea and, in a second wave, settled along the Swahili Coast. The local Bantu peoples and Arabs mixed, as did their languages, with intermarrying being common, and there was a blending of cultural practices which led to the evolution of a unique Swahili culture. However, 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. So Islam became the religion of the elites in West Africa, which meant that the Muslim kings were trying to extend their power over largely non-Muslim populations which worshipped traditional African gods … What are wildlife sanctuaries national parks biosphere reserves? The 1985 Constitutional Charter identifies Islam as the state religion and Sharia as the law of the land. The Ancient History Encyclopedia logo is a registered EU trademark. While this was a short-lived encounter, Muslims eventually left a The Berbers were early converts to Islam and Islam spread along those pre-existing trade routes between North and West Africa. Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa has known a thousand years of cohabitation with traditional religion and adaptation to it, even to the extent of intermixture. During this time, he captured Timbuktu, an important trade center, and Gao, the capital city of Songhai, spreading Islam to them both. As the historian P. Curtin puts it: "The Muslim religion ultimately became one of the central elements of Swahili identity. Why Do So Many African-Americans Convert to Islam? Our latest articles delivered to your inbox, once a week: Numerous educational institutions recommend us, including Oxford University and Michigan State University and University of Missouri. The explanation of this phenomenon is to be found in social and economic factors. How Islam spread into sub-Saharan region of West Africa, and the great civilizations it established there, taking its inhabitants out of paganism to the worship of One God. For many decades, we have witnessed a phenomena of African-Americans converting to Islam. The king of Ghana did not convert to Islam. Christianity was the religion of the Westerners. Once the religion had reached the savannah region which spreads across Africa below the Sahara Desert, it was adopted by ruling African elites, although very often indigenous beliefs and rituals continued to be practised or were even blended with the new religion. Islam first came to West Africa as a slow and peaceful process, spread by Muslim traders and scholars. Some of … Embracing an area more than half a million square miles, the kingdom of Mali was undoubtedly one of the richest and most prosperous on earth in the 14 th century. Islam's presence in African history Islam’s presence in African history dates back to the first phase of the Prophet Muhammad’s mission, when in 615 A.D. he instructed a group of Muslims to seek refuge in Abyssinia (present-day Ethiopia). Men and women’s roles sometimes changed, some African communities having previously given women a more equal status with men than was the case under Muslim laws. Islam made an entrance in Africa from Asia in the 7th century. As more people were converted, so more Muslim clerics were attracted from abroad and the religion was spread further across West Africa. tween many Christians of southwestern Asia and the Muslims. Embracing an area more than half a million square miles, the kingdom of Mali was undoubtedly one of the richest and most prosperous on earth in the 14 th century. From there, it spread via Islamized Berbers (who had been variously coerced or enticed to convert) in the 8th century CE along the trade routes which crisscrossed West Africa, moving from the east coast into the interior of central Africa, finally reaching Lake Chad. Last modified May 10, 2019. License. Submitted by Mark Cartwright, published on 10 May 2019 under the following license: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. Long traded with West Africans, like Native Americans and the ruling elite first a phenomena of converting. 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