They were, however, completely conquered by Abu Bakr Ibn Umar, and were forced to convert to orthodox Islam. Chiefly, they professed the peaceful path to Islam. ( Log Out / Much of the subsequent styles, and techniques associated with the peaceful spread of Islam in Senegambia is their creation. Following a brief British military campaign, the Sokoto Caliphate was incorporated into the protectorate of northern Nigeria in 1903. When the animist ruler of Bambuku became hostile, Suwareh did as the prophet of Islam did when Meccans started to throw stones at him: flee into exile. We shall also find out the activities of the Almoravids. Other jihads had already taken place in West Africa before that of dan Fodio (Bundu, late seventeenth century, Futa Jallon, 1725, Futa Toro, 1776). Also, they had a tactic of withdrawing into enclaves far from the maddening crowds, so to speak. Islam enjoys a dominant presence in States situated in West Africa, North Africa, the Swahili Coast, and the Horn of Africa. Born free or in slavery, these men formed part of a functioning bureaucracy. Samuel Adu-Gyamfi, Benjamin Kye Ampadu and Vincent Hiribarren, Categories: Accepting Islam, Africa, Ahmadiyyat: True Islam, Arab World, Islam, The Muslim Times, Source: https://wasscehistorytextbook.com/3-islam-in-west-africa-introduction-spread-and-effects/. Eminent Arab historians have written about the glories of these lands, notable among whom are Al-Bakri, Al-Masudi, Ibn Batutah and Ibn Khaldun. “African Islam.” (1983). The following are the reasons for the spread Islam in West Africa. Most of the pilgrims from Makkah would go to Katsina. The Lamtuna leaders, however, kept Ibn Yasin on a careful leash, forging a more productive partnership between them. Why do they deserve attention in our study of the spread of Islam in West Africa? In Ibn Yasin’s ideology, anything and everything outside to Islamic law could be characterized as “opposition”. The third and the best known of these early jihads was the one declared by the Almoravid movement of ancient Ghana between 1048 and 1054 by the scholar, Abdallah Ibn Yasin. The need for educated men encouraged the emergence of schools in urban centres, even though the first years of the Caliphate were marked by a shortage of qualified personnel. But this success was apparent even in his early year. For example, they believed in numbers and therefore were keen to multiply their talibes or disciples. The phrase ‘caliphate of Sokoto’ was not used by the inhabitants of the state created by the jihad in the nineteenth century. So the remainder of the chapter looks at some key moments: the Almoravids and Ghana, the role of the Jakhanke the rise of Sokoto in Nigeria, and the importance of Omar Tal in the 19th century. Within a short period of six years between 1848-1854, he conquered and forcibly converted the Malinke of Bandjogou, Bougary and Farabana all in present day Republic of Guinea Conakry. ‘Clerics and educators’ indicate their profession as literate and therefore able to proselytize and do missionary work. As Islam continued to spread in West Africa, schools and educational centres were established in large towns and cities in Western Sudan. It was during his reign that diplomatic relations were established with Tunis and Egypt, and thus Mali began to appear on the map of the world. “The Wahhabiyya: Islamic Reform and Politics in French West Africa.” (1974). In 1080, he conquered the kingdom of Tlemcen (in modern-day Algeria) and founded the present city of that name, his rule extending as far east as Oran. Hill, Margari. West African Senior School Certificate Examination. His son Amadou Seku replaced him but struggled to wield together the vast Imamate his father had wrought. From the year 1053, the Almoravids began to spread their religious way to the Berber areas of the Sahara, and to the regions south of the desert. The trade enriched the West African and the Muslim traders. Indeed, a defining feature of the Caliphate of Sokoto was the literate staff working in the administration of each emirate. The same applied to the iron, cotton, indigo, or leather industries of the central regions of the caliphate. The early Muslim missionaries opened Islamic schools and colleges. The religion developed and widened the trans-Saharan Caravan trade. Islam was first introduced into Hausaland from either Kanem or Air in the twelfth or thirteenth centuries, but it did not really take root there until during the second half of the fourteenth Century. Apparently, the Jakhanke who are found in the Senegambia region today in large numbers do not put much premium on their ethnic origins but rather on their work as propagators of Islam in the past 800 years. Mansa Musa was, on the other hand, a devout Muslim and is considered to be the real architect of the Mali Empire. The famous traveller and scholar Ibn Batutah came to Mali during Mansa Sulaiman's reign (1341-1360), and gives an excellent account of Mali's government and its economic prosperity - in fact, a legacy of Mansa Musa's policy. Spread of Islam in West Africa Islam reached the Savannah region in the 8th Century C.E., the date the written history of West Africa begins The Muslim-Arab historians began to write about West Africa in the early 8th century. These examples grew the process of Islamisation or conversion to Islam, as it gathered momentum. viii. Parrinder, Edward G. “Islam and West African indigenous religion.” Numen 6, no. The caliphate was organised as a decentralised state seeking to establish Islamic law over its large territory. Fasc. Gaskiya Corp., 1984. ii. But we must not attribute his quick success to the sword of the Jihad alone; Umar’s version of Tijaniya was also pro poor, and socially uplifting. Such towns include Jenne, Timbuctu, Gao Kano and Katsina, and were as much creations of the Islamisation of the Western Sudan as they were of the trans-Saharan trade. In the 1970s, some historians stressed an ethnic dimension in the jihad of Sokoto. He also discusses the influence of Islam in Mali in the 13th century and describes the rule of Mansa Musa, whose fame spread to Sudan, North Africa and up to Europe.Spread of Islam in West AfricaIslam reached the Savannah region in the 8th Century C.E., the date the written history of West Africa begins The Muslim-Arab historians began to write about West Africa in the early 8th century. It was because of his patronage that eminent Muslim scholars were attracted to Timbuktu, which became a great seat of learning in the 16th century. Activities of Muslim Clerics. Hiskett, M, The Sword of Truth; the Life and Times of the Shehu Usuman Dan Fodio (New York: Oxford University Press, 1973), Kanya-Forstner, Alexander, and Paul E. Lovejoy, ‘The Sokoto Caliphate and the European Powers, 1890-1907’, Paideuma, 40 (1994), 7–14, Kumo, Suleimanu, ‘Colonial Transformation of the Caliphate: The Administration of Justice and the Fate of the Shari’a under Colonial Administration in Northern Nigeria’, in The Sokoto Caliphate: History and Legacies, 1804-2004, ed. During the reign of Dunama II (1221-1259), a Kanem embassy was established in Tunisia around 1257, as mentioned by the famous Andalusian historian Ibn Khaldun (d. 1406 C.E.). Without bearing the sword, the Jakhanke were able to fasten the spread and reform of Islam in contrast to the jihadist like Drammeh, Umar Taal, or Maba Jahou Bah. He died around 1500 and reputedly made seven pilgrimages to Mecca where he had relatives and lived before relocating to Black Africa to spread Islam, settling in the Jaka region of Masina, in present day Mali. The Almoravid dynasty was an imperial Berber Muslim dynasty centered in Morocco. Ibn Yasin, however, found a more favourable reception among the neighbouring Lamtuna people. Between 1056 and 1070s, the Almoravid conquered the whole area between ancient Ghana and Sijilmasa. A KEY PHASE IN ISLAMIZATION: THE ALMORAVID DYNASTY. Indeed, it is because of the acquisition of this power that the hajj was and is still so popular among Muslims, especially, Muslim rulers. It is said of Sunni 'Ali that he tried to compromise between paganism and Islam although he prayed and fasted. They then came in contact with the Berghouata, a Berber tribal confederation, who followed an Islamic “heresy” preached by Salih Ibn Tarif three centuries earlier. It enabled rulers to build larger Kingdoms and empires embracing different peoples and Linguistic groups. These Muslim scholars and traders contributed to the cultural and economic development of Mali. 2003, Levtzion, N. and J.F.P. By the middle of the 13th century, Kanem established diplomatic relations with Tuat (in the Algerian Sahara) and with the Hafsid state of Tunis at embassy level. Both of them settled in Mali where they taught Islam. 'Ali revived Islam. What are the differences between Hanafi, Shafi, Hanbali and Maliki in Islam? The legitimacy of his struggle stemmed from his belief that, until this point, Muslim leaders had only practiced an impure form of Islam. Scholars from the Sankore University of Timbuktu also visited the city and brought with them books on divinity and etymology. For instance, Idris Alooma of Borno brought back from his pilgrimage musketeers and Turkish military instructors, and created musketeers corps in his army which enabled him to extend the frontiers of his state relatively with ease. Companions of the caliph, Fulani scholars who had become jihadists, were thus placed as emirs at the head of each territorial subdivision who answered directly to the caliph. The first West Africans to be converted were the inhabitants of the Sahara, the Berbers, and it is generally agreed that by the second half of the tenth century, the Sahara had become Dar al-Islam that is the country of Islam. 1981, Messier, R. A. Almoravids and the Meanings of Jihad, Santa Barbara, Calif.: praeger. EXCLUSIVE: Saudi crown prince was reluctant to back US attack on Iran, 17 Rules of Islamic Dream Interpretations, What Does it mean to Dream of a Snake in Islam - Islamic Dream Interpretation, Islamic Dream Interpretations: Seeing a Snake in a dream. 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