Islam in Africa

Prior to Islam

Lack of political unity

Secret societies handle disputes

No need to tax because don’t have to support a bureaucracy

Social System—organized by lineage and age

Unifying force– Religion—animism and ancestors

– Language—Bantu

Prior to the Arrival of Islam

North of the Sahara had been part of classical civilizations

(Phoenician, Greek outpost, Carthage, Roman province)

Arrival of Islam 640-700 CEAttraction

Provided some political stability

Equality within a community of believers made it easier to accept new conquerors and rulersegalitarian

Unite state & religion under 1 leader helped reinforce the authority of African kings—caliph

BUT locally divided by social, ethnic and gender

Divisions within Islam

Berbers—North Africa into Spain stopped from taking over France by Charles Martel in 711 CE

Almoravids—puritanical reformers launched jihads (purify, spread or protect faith) into the South and West

Almahadis—also puritanical reformist

Christian: Nubia & Ethiopia

Reached Africa before Rome’s conversion

Coptic (Egypt & Nubia) translated the gospels into their language & were tolerated

Ethiopia—Remained isolated and independent

King Lalibela—11 churches carved from stone

Later Dynasty—traced lineage back to Solomon & Sheba

Bet Giorgis, a 12th century

Rock-Hewn church in Ethiopia

Matrilineal & patrilineal

Arab slave trade—women and children

New Islamic Empires: Mali in the Western Sudan

Islam spread to sub-Saharan Africa by a gradual process of peaceful conversion.

Conversion was facilitated by commercial contacts

In 1240 Sundiata (the Muslim leader of the Malinke people) established the kingdom of Mali

Sundiata, Lion Prince of Malias told by griots

Mali Empire

Mali

Relation to Ghana

– Controlled trans-Saharan trade

• Much larger

• Niger gold fields

– Muslim leadership

• Fostered spread of Islam

• N. African trade network

Mosque of Jennea “port” city on the Niger River

Mali’s economy rested on agriculture

Mali was supplemented by control of regional and trans-Saharan trading routes and by control of the gold mines of the Niger headwaters.

The Mali ruler Mansa Kankan Musa (r. 1312–1337) demonstrated his fabulous wealth during a pilgrimage to Mecca

When he returned to Mali, Mansa Musa established new mosques and Quranicschools.The kingdom of Mali declined and collapsed in the mid to late fifteenth century because of rebellions from within and attacks from without Intellectual life and trade moved to other African states, including the Hausa states and Kanem-Bornu

Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Battuta

Ibn Battuta

– 1304-1369

– young Muslim scholar

– 29 years

– 75,000 miles

• merchant ships

• camel caravans

Kingdom of Grasslands

Camel caravans couldn’t survive in the forests so the Sahel became a point of exchange

Sudanic State—MaliMansa Musa 1312-1337*pilgrimage*brought back scholars*trade protection*cosmopolitan court life*tolerant*gold, salt, dates—

The hoe and the bow—symbols of the common