The History of Islam in Africa

605 Pages·2012·11.31 MB·English

The Historl1 ofls1am
il1 Africa
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1
1. SENEGAL
2. The GAMBIA
3. GUINEA BISSAU
4. SIERRA LEONE
5. LIBERIA
6. TOGO
7. BENIN
8. EQUATORIAL GUINEA
9. ERITREA
10. DJIBOUTI
11. RWANDA
12. BURUNDI
13. MALAWI
14. SWAZILAND
15. LESOTHO
MILES
o 800
Political Map of Africa
The HistoM1 ofls1am
il1 Africa
edited by Nehemia Levtzion & Randall L. Pouwels
Ohio University Press
Athens
James Currey
Oxford
David Philip
Cape Town
First published 2000 in the United States of America by
Ohio University Press, Athens, Ohio 45701
Published 2000 in the United Kingdom by
James Currey Ltd, 73 Bodey Road, Oxford OX2 OBS
Published 2000 in Southern Africa by
David Philip Publishers (Pty) Ltd,
208 Werdmuller Centre, Newry Street, Claremont 7708, South Africa
© 2000 by Nehemia Levtzion and Randall L. Pouwels
Printed in the United States of America
All rights reserved
Ohio University Press books are printed on acid-free paper ƒ tm
20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 9 8 7 6
Jacket/cover photographs:
Front: Mosque at San, Mali.
Photograph by Eliot Elisofon, 1971
EEPA EECL 16303
Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives
National Museum of African Art
Smithsonian Institution
Back: Worshippers attending prayers at Mosque, Sokoto, Nigeria.
Photograph by Eliot Elisofon, 1959
EEPA EECL 6353
Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives
National Museum of African Art
Smithsonian Institution
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The History of Islam in Africa / edited by Nehemia Levtzion and Randall L. Pouwels.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8214-1296-5 (cloth: alk. paper). - ISBN 0-8214-1297-3 (paper:alk. paper)
1. Islam-Africa-History. I. Levtzion, Nehemia. II. Pouwels, Randall Lee, 1944-
BP64.A.1H62 1999
297'·096–dc21
99-27729
CIP
A CIP record of this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 0-85255-782-5 (James Currey cloth)
ISBN 0-85255-781-7 (James Currey paper)
ISBN 0-86486-454-X (David Philip paper)
List ofM aps Vll
Prefoce
IX
Introduction: Patterns of Islamization and Varieties of Religious
Experience among Muslims of Mrica
Nehemia Levtzion and Randtzll L. Pouwels
Africa.
([ Part I: GatewaYj to
I. Egypt and North Mrica
Peter von Sivers 21
2. The Indian Ocean and the Red Sea
M. N Pearson 37
([ Part II: Wejt Africa. a,w the S uoan
3. Islam in the Bilad al-Sudan to 1800
Nehemia Levtzion 63
4. The Juula and the Expansion of Islam into the Forest
Ivor Wilks 93
5. Precolonial Islam in the Eastern Sudan
Jay Spaulding 117
6. Revolutions in the Western Sudan
David Robinson 131
7. The Eastern Sudan, 1822 to the Present
John 0. Voll 153
8. Islam in Mrica under French Colonial Rule
Jean-Louis Triaud 169
9. Islam in West Mrica: Radicalism and the New Ethic of
Disagreement, 1960-1990
Lansine Kaba 189
10. Religious Pluralisms in Northern Nigeria
William F S. Miles 209
({ Part III: EC{ftern ,m~ Southern Africa.
II. Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa
Lidwien Kapteijns 227
12. The East African Coast, c. 780 to 1900 C.E.
Randall L. Pouwels 251
13. The Coastal Hinterland and Interior of East Africa
David C. Sperling, with additional material by Jose H. Kagabo 273
14. East Central Africa
Edward A. Alpers 303
IS. Islam in Southern Africa, 1652-1998
&~C~~~ 3~
16. Radicalism and Reform in East Africa
Abdin Chande 349
({ Part IV: Genera! Themej
17. Islamic Law in Africa
Allan Christelow 373
18. Muslim Women in African History
Roberta Ann Dunbar 397
19. Islamic Education and Scholarship in Sub-Saharan Africa
Stefan Reichmuth 419
20. Sufi Brotherhoods in Africa
Knut S. Vik@r 441
21. Prayer, Amulets, and Healing
David Owusu-Ansah 477
22. Islamic Art and Material Culture in Africa
Rene A. Bravmamz
23. Islamic Literature in Africa
Kenneth W Harrow 519
24. Music and Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa
Eric Charry 545
Glossary 575
Contributors 579
Index 583
Maps
({ Political Map ofA frica
11
({ North Africa: Regions and Ethnonyms 20
({ West Africa and the Bilad ai-Sudan
({ East and Northeast Africa
({ Central and Southern Africa
372

Preface
This volume is intended to pioneer an approach to the history of Islam in
Africa on a continent-wide scale. The editors are gratified that the balance has been
redressed between East and West Africa. Although the study of Islam in West Africa
is by far more advanced than the study of Islam in East Africa, the two regional sec
tions of this volume, Part II on West Africa and Part III on Eastern and Southern
Africa, have been given roughly equal weight. The editors do not know any other
work on Islam in Africa in which Islam in East Africa achieves such prominence in
a continental context.
We have been particularly concerned with the dynamics of religious interaction
between the "essentials" of Islam-those elements that fostered unity and continu
ity within a discernible community of discourse-and the particular historical, cul
tural, and environmental factors that produced diversity and local forms of Islam.
Our aim was to provide comprehensive studies of the experience of Muslim com
munities all over Africa.
In Africa, diversity has produced rich traditions of widely varied religious
meanings, beliefs, and practices. Islam energized, enlivened, and animated life in
African communities, and at the same time Islam has been molded by its African
settings. As a result of the interaction between Muslim and African civilizations, the
advance ofIslam has profoundly influenced religious beliefs and practices of African
societies, while local traditions have "Africanized" Islam. The ways Islam has thrived
in the rich panoply of continent-wide historical circumstances have fostered discord
at least as often as these ways of Islam have helped realize unity and agreement.
The main challenge for all of us who participated in this project has been to
limn specific ways in which Islam and Muslims have played creative roles in the story
of Africa's development. Muslims were important in the process of state-building, in
the creation of commercial networks that brought together large parts of the conti
nent. Muslims introduced literacy that, in addition to its religious significance, also
made Muslims scribes to African rulers in charge of state records, as well as exchanges
of inter-state diplomacy, inside Africa and beyond.