Islam in Africa (African Studies)

Introduction
The study of Islam in Africa provides some useful insights into the history of Islam as a global and localized religious tradition. Its history and spread in Africa are closely connected with the history of Islam from its very beginning. Overland from North Africa, or by sea route along the East African coast, religious trends like Sufism and reform, or political movements like Islamism (modern reformism) and radicalism are rooted in African religious experiences. Africa was not merely a recipient of these various movements. The long and varied history gave rise to deep cultural interactions that produced syntheses, syncretisms, and also tensions and conflicts between Islamic normative ideas and local cultural traditions. The study of Islam and local cultures in general can hardly be appreciated without an understanding of Islam in Africa. This entry presents a guide to the history of Islam in Africa, with a particular focus on sub-Saharan Africa. It addresses the major historical periods when Muslims played influential roles in African kingdoms through postcolonial developments. Moreover, it guides researchers to thematic issues on the interaction between Islam and local traditions.
General Overviews
Some studies cover the history and diversity of Islam in Africa. Levtzion and Pouwels 2000 is a detailed historical overview of the four different regions. North Africa represents one region closely connected with the Middle East and its Arab and Berber-speaking peoples. Islam in West Africa emerged out of the Saharan trade routes and in East Africa out of the Indian Ocean trade routes. Insoll 2003 provides another perspective from the material, archeological record. Robinson 2004 connects historical origins with more modern developments. The rise of European imperialism and colonialism gave rise to new developments. In some cases, Islam emerged in completely new areas, as in southern Africa, or toward greater penetration into previously uncharted territories in East and West Africa. After the departure of the Europeans, the modern state provided another context for the history of Islam in Africa. Lewis 1986 presents a good introduction to the cultural interaction between Islam and African cultures.
Insoll, Timothy. The Archaeology of Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
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A detailed history of Islam through archaeology and material culture, bringing together political history and its cultural impact on and relation with Islam in Africa. Pays close attention to geography, including towns, mosques, and markets.
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Levtzion, Nehemia, and Randall L. Pouwels, eds. The History of Islam in Africa. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2000.
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The most recent anthology of Islam in Africa, it covers the history of all the regions. In addition, thematic chapters provide in-depth analyses on law, women, education, Sufism, healing, art, literature, and music. A textbook for graduate use.
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Lewis, I. M. Religion in Context: Cults and Charisma. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1986.
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Provides a functional approach to Islam in Africa, focusing also on the role of Islam as religion and culture in Africa. Presents a good framework for the impact of African culture on widespread practices of Muslims.
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Robinson, David. Muslim Societies in African History (New Approaches to African History). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
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Excellent introduction to the diversity of Islamic experiences, focusing on the impact of Islam on Africa and Africa on Islam. Case studies on Uganda, the Sudan, Senegal, Nigeria, Ghana, Morocco, and Ethiopia, presenting developments within national boundaries and also on the historical roots extending much earlier.
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Bibliographies
A number of bibliographies have been compiled on a national or regional basis, but the online catalogueue of the African Studies Centre of Leiden University is probably the best place to begin. The Centre also publishes a regular PDF version of new books and articles on Africa and has published an online bibliography (Islam in Contemporary Sub-Saharan Africa) on Islam compiled by Paul Schrijver. Recently, great interest has been raised in the literary corpus of Muslim production across Africa. Hunwick and O’Fahey 1994 (eventually six volumes) is an invaluable source for African scholarly production in Arabic.
African Studies Abstracts (ASA).
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Available online and updated on a regular basis.
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African Studies Centre catalogue.
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A very useful resource, including annotations to published journal articles as well.
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Hunwick, John O., and R. S. O’Fahey, eds. Arabic Literature of Africa. Vol. 1, The Writings of Eastern Sudanic Africa to c. 1900. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1994.
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Eventually six volumes, a series of catalogues documenting Arabic scholarly output of sub-Saharan Africa from the West to the East. Includes lists of books, works, and biographical notices where available.
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Schrijver, Paul. Islam in Contemporary Sub-Saharan Africa. Leiden, The Netherlands: African Studies Centre Library, Leiden University.
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A comprehensive guide to literature on contemporary Islam in Africa. Last updated February 22, 2006.
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Islamization, Politics, and Trade
The history of Islam in Africa is closely related to three prominent aspects: the spread of Islam, different political models, and trade. Each region or locality manifests a unique history of the spread and adoption of Islam, but the gradual adoption of Islam is almost a norm. Horton 2001 presents a systematic view, while Fisher 1994 presents a more historical view. Secondly, the spread of Islam is closely related to politics, which has a long and varying history. In the absence of conquest, and this was generally true of most regions of Africa south of the Sahara, African kingdoms or tribes and clans entered into relationships with traders and scholars and promoted the spread of Islam. Only much later, in some cases centuries later, were Islamic states formed (Robinson 1991, Spaulding 1991). A third related aspect of Islamization was trade, through which the ideas and symbols of Islam reached different parts of Africa. Trade, in commodities and in humans, was the lifeblood of the spread of Islam in Africa (Lovejoy 2005).
Fisher, Humphrey J. “Many Deep Baptisms: Reflections on Religious, Chiefly Muslim, Conversion in Black Africa.” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 57.1 (1994): 68–81.
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Examines the spread of Islam and its particular history in relation to general conversion theories. Argues that the African religious context allowed for a variety of forms of Islamic adherence.
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Horton, Mark. “The Islamic Conversion of the Swahili Coast, 750–1500: Some Archaeological and Historical Evidence.” In Islam in East Africa: New Sources (Archives, Manuscripts, and Written Historical Sources, Oral History, Archaeology). International Colloquium, Rome, 2–4 December 1999. Edited by Biancamaria Scarcia Amoretti, 449–469. Rome: Herder Editrice le Libreria, 2001.
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A comprehensive and very accessible overview of the exchange between East Africa and various centers in the Middle East. Islamic conversion was promoted through the interaction of coastal Islamic city-states and new arrivals.
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Lovejoy, Paul E. Ecology and Ethnography of Muslim Trade in West Africa. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2005.
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Covering the 15th to 19th centuries, these collected essays of a leading authority closely examine trade in the Muslim areas of West Africa. The commodities are extensive, including slaves and kola, and the trade is connected to both the North and the South.
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Robinson, David. “An Approach to Islam in West African History.” In Faces of Islam in African Literature. Edited by Kenneth W. Harrow, 107–129. Oxford: James Currey, 1991.
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A clear overview of the spread of Islam and its political contexts in West Africa up to the modern period. Presents a useful division of the major historical periods.
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Spaulding, Jay. “An Historical Context for the Study of Islam in Eastern Africa.” In Faces of Islam in African Literature. Edited by Kenneth Harrow, 23–36. Oxford, James Currey, 1991.
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An overview of Islam in East Africa from Egypt to Mozambique. A framework of the encounter between Islam and the East African coastline continued from pre-Islamic times (a coastal culture and African kingdoms and clans in the interior).
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Islam in African Courts
The earliest conversions to Islam in Africa occurred among political leaders, who often adopted aspects of literacy, healing, and even rituals to bolster their power and authority. This early phase has sometimes been called Islam at the court or quarantined because it was either limited to the court or to small groups of traders and scholars. The great empires of Ghana and Mali have been studied in West Africa before the 16th century (Hunwick 1999, Levtzion 1968), and in northeast Africa between the 16th to 19th centuries (O’Fahey 1980). A similar context for Islam, within the different historical context of 19th-century Uganda, can be seen among the Buganda kings of present-day Uganda (Oded 1974).
Hunwick, John O., ed. Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire: Translation of Al-Sʿdi’s Tʾrīkh Al-Sūdān down to 1613 and Other Contemporary Documents. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1999.
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A translation of an important text for the early history of Islam in the major West African kingdoms. Contains a useful introduction providing an overview of the Songhay Empire and also other documents and texts from which this history is written.
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Levtzion, Nehemia. Muslims and Chiefs in West Africa: A Study of Islam in the Middle Volta Basin in the Pre-Colonial Period. Oxford: Clarendon, 1968.
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A examination of the spread of Islam in the region, and its acceptance and interaction with local chiefs.
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Oded, Arye. Islam in Uganda: Islamization through a Centralized State in Pre-Colonial Africa. New York: Wiley, 1974.
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The early history of Islam in Uganda, particularly around the time of the influential King Muteesa I.
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O’Fahey, R. S. State and Society in Dār Fūr. New York: St. Martin’s, 1980.
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A history of a sultanate in the east between 1650 and 1915. An examination of the state, but also of the emergence of religious leaders (fakir) in this context.
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Interaction between Islam and African Kingdoms
In this particular history, studies have examined the relation between African political culture and Islamic scholarship. Hunwick 1996 presents the tradition in its well-known form. Blum and Fisher 1993 examine a period of change, highlighting the most significant options available to rulers at the end of the 15th century.
Blum, Charlotte, and Humphrey J. Fisher. “Love for Three Oranges, or, the Askiya’s Dilemma: The Askiya, Al-Maghili and Timbuktu, c. 1500 A.D.” The Journal of African History 34.1 (1993): 65–91.
DOI: 10.1017/S0021853700033004Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The assassination of Sunni Ali in 1493 by his general Askia al-hajj Muhammad marked a change in the relation between Islam and the state. The authors argue that the general himself tried to apply different models in his own political career.
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Hunwick, John. “Secular Power and Religious Authority in Muslim Society: The Case of Songhay.” The Journal of African History 37.2 (1996): 175–194.
DOI: 10.1017/S0021853700035180Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Encapsulates the place of Islam in the symbols of power of the Songhay kings. The scholars were highly prized for their literacy, their power, their magic, etc. The baraka (blessing) that they were presumed to carry was considered potent.
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Scholarly Networks
A major turning point came at the end of the 15th century in West Africa, and later elsewhere. A new group of scholars emerged at the time who began to move from the centers of power, asserting their independence and autonomy (Willis 1979). They began to make greater demands on the kings in terms of religious observance. In turn, some of the kings also used these Islamic ideas to introduce new norms and laws in their dominions. Islam was no longer confined to the court or to small circles. The scholars were connected and supported by a revival of Islamic thought along the southern fringe of the Sahara, particularly the spread of the Qadiriyya Sufi order (Norris 1990). McHugh 1994 traces the emergence of the scholars in northeast Africa in the context of Egyptian invasions.
McHugh, Neil. Holymen of the Blue Nile: The Making of an Arab-Islamic Community in the Nilotic Sudan, 1500–1850. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1994.
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An examination of the rise of scholar-mystics (fakirs) who emerged in the center of Sudanese society, in the context of the political breakdown caused by invasions and political unrest. Magic and healing were their main means of addressing the needs of the people thus dislocated and dispossessed.
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Norris, H. T. Ṣūfī Mystics of the Niger Desert: Sīdī Maḥmūd and the Hermits of Aïr. Oxford: Clarendon, 1990.
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A translation of a book studied by Sufi mystics in the 16th century and an analysis thereof that points to the impact of the Saharan scholars on West Africa.
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Willis, John Ralph, ed. Studies in West African Islamic History. Vol. 1, The Cultivators of Islam. London: Frank Cass, 1979.
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An edited collection of articles on the emergence of scholars in different caste groups who differed from each other, but who all contributed to the popularization of Sharia and scholarship.
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Sharia Networks
Scholars devoted to the study of fiqh and Sharia emerged within clans and castes that spread out from the western and the northern fringes of the Sahara into the rest of the region. They were in contact with their counterparts in northern Africa, particularly in Morocco and Egypt, through whom they extended the Maliki school in their region (Stewart and Stewart 1973). In each of these circles, books were taught, copied, printed, and transmitted. African circles were not only transmitting these traditions. Sanneh and Wilks, among others, have also documented a unique development of a Maliki tradition in West Africa, traced to al-Haj Salim Suwari (Sanneh 1989; Wilks 2000). Some scholars were also autonomous in city states (Saad 1983). Bang’s study of the Hadhrami and Ibadi scholars from the 19th century has documented similar patterns that were more directly under the patronage of rulers (Bang 2003). Many of these scholarly networks have continued into the modern period, spreading out both geographically and ethnically (Reese 2004).
Bang, Anne K. Sufis and Scholars of the Sea: Family Networks in East Africa, 1860–1925. Edited by David Parkin and Ruth Barnes. Indian Ocean Series. London: Routledge Curzon, 2003.
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The history and mutual impact of literary families between East Africa and Yemen at the end of the 19th century.
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Reese, Scott Steven, ed. Islam in Africa. Vol. 2, The Transmission of Learning in Islamic Africa. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2004.
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A collection of articles on the scholarly traditions in Africa, from Morocco to Senegal in the west, to Zanzibar in the south. Presents accounts of individual scholars and their place in larger networks. Dispels the notion of the peripheral nature of literary scholarship in Africa.
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Saad, Elias N. Social History of Timbuktu: The Role of Muslim Scholars and Notables, 1400–1900. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1983.
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A fascinating study of one of many cities in Africa where the authority of the scholars held sway, sometimes in the midst of powerful political regimes. Timbuktu was a scholarly town, extensively connected with cities in North Africa and with Muslim scholars further south.
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Sanneh, Lamin. The Jakhanke Muslim Clerics: A Religious and Historical Study of Islam in Senegambia. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1989.
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The history of the one of the clerical castes of scholars (Serukhulle) who emerged in West Africa and who, among other things, promoted a pacifist approach to Islam.
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Stewart, Charles Cameron, and Elizabeth Kirk Stewart. Islam and Social Order in Mauritania: A Case Study from the Nineteenth Century. Oxford: Clarendon, 1973.
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A study of Shaykh Sidiyya al-Kabir (1775–1868), a disciple of the Kunta scholars who played such an important role as teacher and transmitter of education and spiritual lineage to West African teachers.
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Wilks, Ivor. “The Juula and the Expansion of Islam into the Forest.” In The History of Islam in Africa. Edited by Nehemia Levtzion and Randall L. Pouwels, 93–115. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2000.
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Presents the emergence of al-Haj Salim Suwari in the 16th century and examines his link with North African Maliki scholars, the formation of a syllabus, a distinctive approach to non-Muslims, and the establishment of a scholarly identity.
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Islamic States
Historians have examined the attempts of some of these scholars to found Islamic states. Levtzion 1987 provides an overview of the social, economic, and political contexts of these revolutions, which began in the 18th century. The leading representative, and also the most successful of such scholars, was Uthman dan Fodio (b.1754–d.1817) who launched a jihad against the Hausa rulers of the time and established the Sokoto Caliphate (Last 1977). Not all of the attempts to found such Islamic states were as successful, even though they all left intellectual and scholarly legacies (Robinson 1985). Without exception, moreover, they were all defeated by the French and the British in the 19th century. In West Africa, the British defeated the Sokoto army by 1903, and the French eventually defeated the Tijani leader al-Haj Umar al-Tal (b.1794–d.1864). Apart from this West African focus, one can look at the general account of the Sufi orders of the 19th century and their various attempts to establish states in the face of colonial encroachment and occupation (Martin 1976).
Last, Murray. The Sokoto Caliphate. London: Longmans, 1977.
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An excellent history of the caliphate established by dan Fodio, based on an alliance between Fulani scholars and Hausa peasants. Follows through the caliphate after the death of dan Fodio to its consolidation by local rulers.
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Levtzion, Nehemia. “The Eighteenth Century Background to the Islamic Revolutions in West Africa.” In Eighteenth-Century Renewal and Reform in Islam. Edited by Nehemia Levtzion and John O. Voll, 21–38. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1987.
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One of the best and most succinct analyses of the conditions that gave rise to the spread of Islam out of the scholarly enclaves, the impact of Saharan scholars, and then the economic impact of the transatlantic slave trade on Muslim West Africa.
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Martin, Bradford G. Muslim Brotherhoods in Nineteenth-Century Africa. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1976.
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Martin details political histories of the Sufi orders in the area stretching from Mauritania on the Atlantic to Somalia on the Indian Ocean and to the Comores further south. The Sufi orders became well known for facing the might of colonial powers, but they had begun much earlier as revival movements in the 18th century.
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Robinson, David. The Holy War of Umar Tal: The Western Sudan in the Mid-Nineteenth Century. Oxford: Clarendon, 1985.
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A detailed political history of the the Tijani leader, his emergence as a scholar, and then later as a leader of a jihad movement combining all the strands of the West African tradition.
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Sufism
Sufism has been an influential religious force in Africa. In fact, one can rarely separate the legal scholars from their Sufi affiliations. In Africa, these orders have been connected to global developments, belying the oft-mistaken assumption that Sufism represents an African expression of Islam. Like the Sharia networks, the Sufi orders were linked, for example, to Yemen (ʿAlawiyya) and to North Africa (Tijaniyya) (O’Fahey 1990, Samatar 1994). Sufi orders are known for their fissiparous nature. Charismatic teachers often started new orders from old, adding new emphases and ideas. There has been a general distinction made, however, between Sufi leaders who have led military and political campaigns and those who have focused on teaching. Brenner 1988 discusses the distinction among the Qadiris, while O’Fahey 1990 traces the history of an illustrious Sufi line. There is a dearth of scholarship on the content of Sufi teachings, but this has been rapidly changing (Brenner 1972, Brenner 1984, Babou 2003).
Babou, Cheikh Anta. “Educating the Murid: Theory and Practices of Education in Amadu Bamba’s Thought.” Journal of Religion in Africa 33.3 (2003): 310–327.
DOI: 10.1163/157006603322663523Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The Sufi tradition into which the individual adept is introduced and by which the individual is led toward a path of purity.
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Brenner, Louis. “Separate Realities: A Review of Literature on Sufism.” International Journal of African Historical Studies 5.4 (1972): 637–658.
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A critique that Sufi studies in Africa focus more on social-political trends, and not sufficiently on their value as paths of self-purification and enlightenment.
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Brenner, Louis. West African Sufi: The Religious Heritage and Spiritual Search of Cerno Bokar Saalif Taal. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984.
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Examines the spiritual teachings of the Tijaniyya leaders who thrived after French conquest. Brenner does not ignore the historical context of the many groups, but he focuses on their leaders’ spiritual training and accomplishments.
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Brenner, Louis. “Concepts of Tariqa in West Africa: The Case of the Qadariyya.” In Charisma and Brotherhood in African Islam. Edited by Donal B. Cruise O’Brien and Christian Coulon, 33–52. Oxford: Clarendon, 1988.
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An analysis of the differences within an established order in West Africa, the Qadiriyya. It analyzes the difference in organizations between Sidi al-Mukhtar al-Kunti (1729–1811) and Sheikh Uthman dan Fodio (1754–1817).
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O’Fahey, R. S. Enigmatic Saint: Ahmad Ibn Idris and the Idrisi Tradition. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1990.
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A history of the Idris tradition that was initiated by a Moroccan Sufi, Ahmad Ibn Idris (1760–1837), who was based in Mecca. Inspired by his teachings, a number of Sufi orders spread in Northeast and East Africa throughout the 19th century.
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Samatar, Said S. “Sheikh Uways Muhammad of Baraawe, 1847–1909: Mystic and Reformer in East Africa.” In In the Shadow of Conquest: Islam in Colonial Northeast Africa. Edited by Said S. Samatar. Trenton, NJ: Red Sea Press, 1994.
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A study of Sufism in the 19th century within old established orders. This is a case study of the Qadiriyya in Somalia in the 19th century, whose influence spread throughout the coastal region of East Africa.
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Role of Sufi Orders
Sufi orders have played many different roles. Martin 2003 documents 19th-century Sufi orders in Africa as part of a broader revival of Islam and later as a general resistance to colonial occupation. Ryan 2000 has an insightful view of the widespread Tijaniyya order in West Africa. Taking this further, O’Brien and Coulon 1988 focuses on the link between charisma and authority within colonial and postcolonial contexts. More recently, Villalon 1995 illustrates the important role of the Tijaniyya in the postcolonial politics of Senegal. Villalon’s research highlights the new roles played by the orders in postcolonial politics.
Martin, Bradford G. Muslim Brotherhoods in Nineteenth-Century Africa. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
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A good overview of the Sufi orders in the 19th century, some of whom had emerged earlier in the 18th. The focus in this book is on their social organization, their authority, and later their major role in resisting colonialism.
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O’Brien, Donal B. Cruise, and Christian Coulon, eds. Charisma and Brotherhood in African Islam. Oxford: Clarendon, 1988.
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An edited collection of a variety of Sufi leaders and their leadership in society. With one exception, the articles focus on West Africa. The book attempts to use the Weberian concept of charisma to examine the nature of authority and power.
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Ryan, Patrick J. “The Mystical Theology of Tijānī Sufism and Its Social Significance in West Africa.” Journal of Religion in Africa 30.2 (2000): 208–224.
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Argues that there is a close link between the exclusivism of the Tijāniyya spiritual teachings and their appeal to groups who see themselves as unique and distinctive.
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Villalon, Leonardo Alfonso. Islamic Society and State Power in Senegal: Disciples and Citizens in Fatick. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
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A leading study on the organization and discourse of the Marabouts in Senegal in the context of a postcolonial state. Studies the way in which the orders are held together and also how the relations between state and society are managed.
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Colonial Era
The imperial and colonial era in both East and West Africa disrupted these political and religious developments. Both the French and the British were highly alert to the development of an Islam-based revolt, and kept a watchful eye (Stewart 1990). The British followed their policy of indirect rule and sometimes regarded Islam as a midwife to civilization born of the barbarism of Africa. The French were more suspicious, but at times promoted the idea of Islam noir to distinguish it from what they framed as “militant Arab Islam” (Harrison 1988). The Portuguese had much earlier attacked the Muslim city-states on the East African coast, defeating them and also smaller groups who rose against them. New arrivals from Hadhramawt and later Oman had established Arab hegemony in the coastal cities (Middleton 1992). The defeated Muslims devised a variety of strategies in response to colonialism (Brenner 1984, Stewart 1990, Umar 2006). At first, there was strong resistance, but Muslim leaders reluctantly accepted the inevitability of colonial rule, with some even actively promoting it. Sufi movements, in particular, thrived during this period, as they provided a safe haven for Muslims and new converts from the ravages of colonialism and modernization (Nimtz 1980, O’Brien 1971, Soares 2005). For some, like the Yao in Malawi, Islam even became an eminent symbol of anticolonial opposition (Thorold 1993). On a broad social level, more extensive communication and trade opportunities facilitated the spread of Islam to areas and groups that had never been exposed before (Fisher 1985).
Brenner, Louis. West African Sufi: The Religious Heritage and Spiritual Search of Cerno Bokar Saalif Taal. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984.
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An important study of the transformation of the Tijaniyya after its defeat by the French. The history and thought of one Sufi shaykh among the many successors who aligned themselves to the new political context.
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Fisher, Humphrey J. “The Juggernaut’s Apologia: Conversion to Islam in Black Africa.” Africa: Journal of the International African Institute 55.2 (1985): 153–173.
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This article emerges out of a long debate on the nature of conversion to Islam in Africa in the context of colonialism. Fisher makes a case for the unique history of conversion to Islam, particularly in West Africa, related to its complex and long precolonial history.
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Harrison, Christopher. France and Islam in West Africa, 1860–1960. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1988.
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A detailed and thorough study of French policy toward Islam in West Africa. Guided by French interests, it changed often and engaged actively with anthropologists and officials documenting the history of Muslims in Africa.
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Middleton, John F. M. The World of the Swahili: An African Mercantile Civilization. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1992.
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An excellent history and overview of the history of the Swahili on the East African coast. With language and religion, presents the Swahili as a distinctive culture along the coast.
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Nimtz, August H. Islam and Politics in East Africa: The Sufi Order in Tanzania. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1980.
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A study of the Sufi order as a sociopolitical movement that reflected the class and ethnic divisions of East African Muslims.
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O’Brien, Donal B. Cruise. The Mourides of Senegal: The Political and Economic Organization of an Islamic Brotherhood. Oxford: Clarendon, 1971.
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A sociological analysis of the Mourides as an economic success story that employed religion to found a religious and economic empire. Examines its emergence and distinction from other Sufi orders, its close relation with the French, and the cash economy it introduced.
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Soares, Benjamin F. Islam and the Prayer Economy: History and Authority in a Malian Town. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2005.
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A study of the economy of religious practices and amulets over both the colonial and postcolonial periods, detailing the emergence of new patterns of Islamic discourses. Examines the conditions, political and social, produced by the French in which these Muslim patterns developed and grew.
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Stewart, Charles C. “Islam.” In The Colonial Moment in Africa: Essays on the Movement of Minds and Materials, 1900–1940. Edited by Andrew D. Roberts, 191–222. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
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A good overview of colonial approaches toward Muslims in different parts of Africa, the differences between the French and the British, and the variegated responses of Muslims. Also includes the emergence of schools and reformist Islam. Covers all of Africa.
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Thorold, Alan. “Metamorphoses of the Yao Muslims.” In Muslim Identity and Social Change in Sub-Saharan Africa. Edited by Louis Brenner, 79–90. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993.
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A study of Yao reaction to colonialism and their adoption of Islam in response to the British in Central Africa.
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Umar, Muhammad S. Islam and Colonialism: Intellectual Responses of Muslims of Northern Nigeria to British Colonial Rule. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2006.
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Unique in its focus, a study of the Hausa and Fulani reactions to colonial rulers and policies in political and social matters between 1903–1945. A detailed analysis of Muslim traditions employed in their response to colonialism.
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Colonial and Postcolonial Sharia
During the colonial period, the scholarly networks were formalized into schools with buildings and modern curricula. Such schools were supported by the British, sometimes built by them, as a means to direct their graduates into positions in the new bureaucracies (Peters, et al. 2001; Bang 2001). These positions were particularly linked to the special courts that the British established for the adjudication of Islamic law that they favored (Anderson 1970). Some of these courts have continued into the post-independence period. They have become more symbols of Muslim identity and power (or powerlessness) in the modern nation states than centers of law or authority (Hirsh 1998, Moosa 1997). The application of Sharia in some states (Nigeria, Zanzibar, Kenya, and Nigeria) has been very controversial, but seems to set the scene for renewed attention of the ulama in modern societies.
Anderson, J. N. D. Islamic Law in Africa. London: Frank Cass, 1970.
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Account of Islamic law, jurists, and judges in the British Empire and the Commonwealth. Dated, but presents a perspective on the meaning and future of Islamic law in Africa.
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Bang, Anne K. “Intellectuals and Civil Servants: Early 20th Century Zanzibar ʿUlama and the Colonial State.” In Islam in East Africa: New Sources (Archives, Manuscripts, and Written Historical Sources, Oral History, Archaeology). International Colloquium, Rome, 2–4 December 1999. Edited by Biancamaria Scarcia Amoretti, 59–98. Rome: Herder Editrice le Libreria, 2001.
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A study of four intellectuals based in Zanzibar who traveled extensively between East Africa and the Middle East. A study of their relations with the colonial state, the book documents their role in the reform of the judicial system and explains how they became civil servants in the process.
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Hirsch, Susan F. Pronouncing and Persevering: Gender and the Discourses of Disputing in an African Islamic Court. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998.
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An illuminating study of the Kadhis’ courts in Kenya, adjudicating Islamic law over marriages and its effects. Examines the gender dynamics of court practices.
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Moosa, Ebrahim. “Prospects of Muslim Law in South Africa: A History and Recent Developments.” In Yearbook of Islamic and Middle Eastern Law. Vol. 3. Edited by Eugene Cotran and Chibli Mallat, 130–155. London: Kluwer Law International, 1997.
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A comprehensive overview of the idea of personal law in general, and its meaning and history in South Africa in particular. Brings the debate up to the post-apartheid period.
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Peters, Ruud, Rudolph Peters, and Maarten Barends. The Reintroduction of Islamic Criminal Law in Northern Nigeria. Lagos, Nigeria: European Commission, 2001.
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A report prepared for the European Commission, including a survey of the place of Islamic law from colonial times through post-independence. Available online.
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Modern Reformism
As elsewhere in the Muslim world, modern societies and states have witnessed movements of reform that in some respects followed earlier models. Close attention to detail, and their institutional locations, reveals some novel developments as well. Kaba 1974 examined such reformists in French West Africa between the two wars who were driven by renewed contacts with the Muslim center through pilgrimage and study. The global nature of this reformism has only intensified as the means of communication have increased (Hunwick 1997). Mostly lay intellectuals, the reformists also rejected the established imams and scholars of law schools (Umar 1993). The reformism could be and was employed in national political contexts. Loimeier 1997, a study of the reformists in Nigeria, illustrates reformism’s entanglement with the power and representation of Islam in the nation state, while Masquelier 1996 points to the revival of consumer culture brought on by the new middle classes. Mahmoud 1997 shows the connection between modern reformists and their premodern and colonial antecedents in the Sudan.
Hunwick, John O. “Sub-Saharan Africa and the Wider World of Islam: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives.” In African Islam and Islam in Africa: Encounters between Sufis and Islamists. Edited by David Westerlund and Eva Evers Rosander. Athens: Ohio University Press, 1997.
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Points to Western political concerns about the connection between sub-Saharan Africa and the wider world of Islam. Hunwick underlines the growth and consolidation of African Islam with global trends.
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Kaba, Lansiné. The Wahhabiyya: Islamic Reform and Politics in French West Africa. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1974.
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One of the first studies of modern Islamic reformism; a detailed examination of reformist ideas spreading from the Middle East into West Africa.
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Loimeier, Roman. Islamic Reform and Political Change in Northern Nigeria. Series in Islam and Society in Africa. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1997.
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A history of the Islamic reform movement in Nigeria, in the context of the state and the Nigerian political conflicts. Loimeier has written more than anyone else on various aspects of Islamic reform.
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Mahmoud, Muhammad. “Sufism and Islamism in the Sudan.” In African Islam and Islam in Africa: Encounters Between Sufis and Islamists. Edited by David Westerlund and Eva Evers Rosander, 162–192. Athens: Ohio University Press, 1997.
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A critical survey of Muslim leadership in the Sudan from the premodern Funj sultanate to postcolonial political conflicts.
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Masquelier, Adeline. “Identity, Alterity, and Ambiguity in a Nigérian Community: Competing Definitions of ‘True’ Islam.” In Postcolonial Identities in Africa. Edited by Richard Werbner and Terence O. Ranger, 222–244. London: Zed Books, 1996.
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An examination of conflict between Islamists and Sufi followers in Niger. Traces the underlying contexts of a new consumerist culture.
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Umar, Muhammad Sani. “Changing Islamic Identity in Nigeria from the 1960s to the 1980s: From Sufism to Anti-Sufism.” In Muslim Identity and Social Change in Sub-Saharan Africa. Edited by Louis Brenner, 154–178. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993.
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A close examination of modern Islamic identity in northern Nigeria, connected to a new class of educated youth and the modern state.
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Reformist Institutions
Modern reformism emerged and developed from unique institutions. As elsewhere, Islamist intellectuals were products of various forms of modern education. In many places in Africa, they also promoted new models of Islamic schools, combining the sciences of Islam and modern secular subjects. In North Africa, such schools were introduced by the state, whilst in southern Africa they were the product of non-state initiatives (Reichmuth 1996, Umar 2001). An uneasy balance or integration has been attempted, eventually, according to Brenner 2001, leading to a transformation of the meaning of knowledge and education in Islam. In recent conflicts over radicalism and Islam, education is seen as a central site of the battle over the minds of Muslims (Herrera 2003). Another important institution brought into Islamic society by these reformists was the rational-bureaucratic association, which other groups (particularly the ulama) have also adopted (Brenner 1993). In the last twenty years, with the collapse of communism and the slow liberalization of political and public space, traditional movements (Sufism and ulama networks) have revived. At the same time, there are also new creative experiments with new forms of communication (Soares 2005).
Brenner, Louis. “Introduction: Muslim Representations of Unity and Difference in the African Discourse.” In Muslim Identity and Social Change in Sub-Saharan Africa. Edited by Louis Brenner, 1–20. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993.
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In this excellent introduction, Brenner puts his finger on the pulse on the emergence of rational-bureaucratic association of African Muslims and the search for identity.
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Brenner, Louis. Controlling Knowledge: Religion, Power and Schooling in a West African Muslim Society. London: Hurst, 2001.
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Traces the history of Islamic schooling in Mali, often against both the French and Sufi leaders, and its transformation of knowledge from a mystical episteme to a rational episteme. Discusses also the political challenges of the schools against suspicious political authorities.
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Herrera, Linda. “Islamization and Education in Egypt: Between Politics, Culture, and the Market.” In Modernizing Islam: Religion in the Public Sphere in the Middle East and Europe. Edited by John L. Esposito and François Burgat, 167–189. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2003.
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Examines the continuing employment of modern Islamic education for political purposes and cultural effects. Islamic education is employed in the fight against radicalism, while parents turn to it to provide a source of cultural identity in an age of uncertainty.
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Reichmuth, S. “Education and the Growth of Religious Associations among Yoruba Muslims—The Ansaar-Ul-Deen Society of Nigeria.” Journal of Religion in Africa 26.4 (1996): 365–405.
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Traces the history of both educational movements and new political parties in colonial Nigeria. Focused on northwestern Nigeria, where the success of modern schooling is quite distinct from the north.
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Soares, Benjamin F. “Islam in Mali in the Neo-Liberal Era.” African Affairs 105.4180 (2005): 77–95.
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An examination of the continuing debate on identity, Islam, morality, and politics in the public spheres of Mali, with a focus on the use of new communication media.
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Umar, Muhammad Sani. “Education and Islamic Trends in Northern Nigeria: 1970s–1990s.” Africa Today 48.2 (2001): 126–150.
DOI: 10.2979/AFT.2001.48.2.126Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A study of the religious movements in Nigeria and their connection with distinctive educational movements.
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Nation-States
With some exceptions, Muslim involvement did not overtly dominate anticolonial nationalist movements. However, Brenner 1993 does provide a good overview of the response of Muslims to the nation state. Emphasis is placed on identity and Muslim representation. Muslims and their representative associations were often directly involved in the balance of power in countries consisting of a diversity of peoples. See Loimeier 1997 for Nigeria and the crucial relations between Muslims and Christians there. In East Africa, the motivation for the formation of such national bodies came from the state which wanted to keep the potential for revolt and sectarianism under control (Hansen and Twaddle 1995). Here, too, the comparison and competition with Christianity is very important. In South Africa, on the other hand, the apartheid state witnessed the proliferation of religious ideas mobilized against apartheid (Jeppie 1991).
Brenner, Louis, ed. Muslim Identity and Social Change in Sub-Saharan Africa. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993.
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For the modern period, an extremely insightful collection of articles on developments in Muslim societies within nation states. The themes cover issues of identity, associational life, and change.
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Hansen, Holger Bernt, and Michael Twaddle, eds. Religion and Politics in East Africa: The Period Since Independence. Oxford: James Currey, 1995.
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A good overview of Christianity and Islam and their relations with the state. Close attention to the role of these two religions in politics and policy formation. Includes a useful article by Constantine on Muslim identities in Africa and their struggle and often inability to represent their demands and interests with the modern state.
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Jeppie, Shamil. “Amandla and Allahu Akbar: Muslims and Resistance in South Africa c. 1970–1987.” Journal for the Study of Religion 4.1 (1991): 3–19.
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The emergence of an anti-apartheid voice from Muslim students in South Africa and the response of the state.
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Loimeier, Roman. Islamic Reform and Political Change in Northern Nigeria. Series in Islam and Society in Africa. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1997.
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A history of the Islamic reform movement in Nigeria in the context of the state and Nigerian political conflicts.
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After the Cold War
Since the end of the Cold War, liberalization in African societies witnessed renewed interest in the new public spheres, with a greater demand for Islamic symbols therein (Tayob 2007). The number of Muslim associations has mushroomed with other civic and secular movements and associations. In other places, Islam has emerged as a political force. Some have seen this as an attempt to restore the moral and institutional fabric of their societies, while others regard it as a much wider power struggle between competing forces in the nation state (De Waal 2004; Ostien, et al. 2005).
De Waal, Alexander, ed. Islamism and Its Enemies in the Horn of Africa. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2004.
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A good overview of the conflicts in the region and the attempts by Islamists to gain control of state and society. Points out, however, that contrary to expectations, Islamists have not been very successful in the region.
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Ostien, Philip, Jamila M. Nasir, and Franz Kogelmann, eds. Comparative Perspectives on Shariʿah in Nigeria. Ibadan, Nigeria: Spectrum, 2005.
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Articles based on a conference held in Jos, Nigeria, on the expansion of Sharia in Nigeria. The papers place such implementation in the wider context of the revival of religion and in different Muslim contexts. Also contains Nigerian responses to the presentations.
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Tayob, Abdulkader, ed. Islam and African Muslim Publics. Special Issue of Journal for Islamic Studies 27. Cape Town, South Africa: Centre for Contemporary Islam, 2007.
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A edited collection of articles on public spheres in Muslim societies across Africa, particularly East and West.
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Islam and Culture
An emphasis on the religious movements in Africa may obscure equally important aspects of the impact and interaction between Islam and Muslims on a broader cultural level. These would include the interaction between Islamic and African groups in aspects of healing, art, science, language, and other everyday practices. Westerlund and Rosander 1997 makes a distinction between “African Islam” and “Islam in Africa,” to refer to two distinct streams that most scholars have rejected as terms imposed by French colonial authorities. Ibrahim 1989 argues that many of the popular religious practices are themselves rooted in Islamic texts and are also more widespread outside Africa. Seesemann 2006 presents an East-African case study that points to a changing perception of the meaning and scope of African and Islamic elements in disputed rituals. And yet, the persistence of tensions and conflicts over cultural practices points to a rejection of local practices that conflict with some perceived definition of Islamic norms (Miles 2003). “African Islam” has also acquired indigenous political meaning, used by African nationalists to either regard Islam as a foreign importation and imposition or as an authentic expression of the faith for Africa (Mazrui 1998, Mbembe 2002). If the idea of “African Islam” is imposed and inappropriate, some other concept is needed to refer to a widespread phenomenon. Bravmann 1983 uses the term in reference to Islamic art in Africa. Others have used it for the often unarticulated response of the majority of African Muslims to the revivalist movements that have swept though African history (Glassman 2001, Haynes 1995).
Bravmann, René A. African Islam. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1983.
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A broad survey of the artistic expression of African Muslims, using the materials and motifs at their disposal. An interesting use of “African Islam” to refer to this production.
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Glassman, Jonathan. “Stolen Knowledge: Struggles for Popular Islam on the Swahili Coast, 1870–1963.” In Islam in East Africa: New Sources (Archives, Manuscripts, and Written Historical Sources, Oral History, Archaeology). International Colloquium, Rome, 2–4 December 1999. Edited by Biancamaria Scarcia Amoretti, 209–222. Rome: Herder Editrice le Libreria, 2001.
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Argues for the coherence of popular Islam as a concept; an implicit criticism against African Islamic scholarly traditions.
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Haynes, Jeff. “Popular Religion and Politics in Sub-Saharan Africa.” Third World Quarterly 16.1 (1995): 89–108.
DOI: 10.1080/01436599550036257Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Islam, like Christianity, is represented by leaders in modern states, who serve narrow class and ethnic interests. In this sense, ordinary Muslims and Christians or their religious values have been ignored.
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Ibrahim, Abdullah Ali. “Popular Islam: The Religion of the Barbarous Throng.” Northeast African Studies 11.2 (1989): 21–40.
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An examination of key issues in so-called popular Islam, which have their roots in the greater tradition of Islamic texts.
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Loimeier, Roman. “Patterns and Peculiarities of Islamic Reform in Africa.” Journal of Religion in Africa 33.3 (2003): 237–262.
DOI: 10.1163/157006603322663497Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A wide divergence of reformists exists, but they share an underlying common ground on issues of “superstitions” and against the excessive financial drain of popular customs and traditions.
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Mazrui, Ali A. “Islam and Afrocentricity: The Triple Heritage School.” In The Postcolonial Crescent: Islam’s Impact on Contemporary Literature. Edited by John C. Hawley, 169–184. New York: Peter Lang, 1998.
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Good overview of the author’s idea of the triple heritage, in which he speaks of Africa as the outcome of three influences: African indigenous, Islamic, and Western.
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Mbembe, Achille. “On the Power of the False.” Public Culture 14.3 (2002): 629–641.
DOI: 10.1215/08992363-14-3-629Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Argues against Africanists who seek to identify the negative impact of European and Islamic influences on Africa. Seeks instead to identify the continuing impact, even though negative, as real.
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Miles, William F. S. “Shariʿa as De-Africanization: Evidence from Hausaland.” Africa Today 50.1 (2003): 50–75.
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An examination of the impact of reformist movements on Nigeria and Niger. Sharing the same cultural background, northern Nigeria has witnessed an erosion of or intense debate on local cultural practices.
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Seesemann, Rüdiger. “African Islam or Islam in Africa? Evidence from Kenya.” In The Global Worlds of the Swahili: Interfaces of Islam, Identity and Space in 19th and 20th-Century East Africa. Edited by Rüdiger Seesemann and Roman Loimeier, 229–250. Berlin: Lit Verlag, 2006.
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Argues that “African Islam” is not a helpful term, tainted as it is by its political value in the past and the present. More substantially, shows the changing history of reformers’ criticisms of local practices. Presents the example of the mawlid (the celebration of the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad) between 19th- and 20th-century debates.
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Westerlund, David, and Eva Evers Rosander. African Islam and Islam in Africa: Encounters between Sufis and Islamists. Athens: Ohio University Press, 1997.
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An edited collection that seeks to identify the impact of reformist movements in modern African nation-states. Links African developments with countries outside Africa.
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Healing
Historians have pointed to the esteemed role played by Muslim scholars as healers, astrologers, and advisers at African courts. The healing traditions, in particular, have also served Muslim communities on a much more widespread level. Such practices are often integrated into the symbols and practices of Islam (El-Tom 1985). There is one particular practice, associated with healing on a psychological level, that has attracted the attention of scholars across Africa. These are the rituals of spirit possession that Lewis 1986 was one of the first to examine in a systematic manner. Lewis regarded this practice as a response of the marginalized Muslim, but more recent studies (Masquelier 2001, Larsen 2001, Giles 1987) have argued that such rituals lie at the center of the conceptual worlds of African Muslims. Masquelier 2001 locates the practice in the context of contests between reformers and “traditionalists.”
El-Tom, Abdullahi Osman. “Drinking the Koran: The Meaning of Koranic Verses in Berti Erasure.” Africa 55.4 (1985): 414–431.
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A good example of a practice demonstrating the healing power of sacred texts.
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Giles, Linda L. “Possession Cults on the Swahili Coast: A Re-Examination of Theories of Marginality.” Africa 57.2 (1987): 234–258.
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An overview of theories on possession cults and a proposal to understand possession cults in the presentation of a worldview and symbolic system.
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Larsen, Kjersti. “Spirit Possession as Oral History: Negotiating Islam and Social Status. The Case of Zanzibar.” In Islam in East Africa: New Sources (Archives, Manuscripts, and Written Historical Sources, Oral History, Archaeology). International Colloquium, Rome, 2–4 December 1999. Edited by Biancamaria Scarcia Amoretti, 275–296. Rome: Herder Editrice le Libreria, 2001.
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Possession cults as an expression of the multiple identities that constitute the Swahili and their role in facilitating a way of negotiating such identities.
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Lewis, I. M. Religion in Context: Cults and Charisma. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1986.
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A functional analysis of religion in context, arguing in particular that African-based customs spread among Muslim peoples.
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Masquelier, Adeline. Prayer Has Spoiled Everything: Possession, Power, and Identity in an Islamic Town of Niger. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2001.
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An examination of the relation between Bori and Islam, underlined by conflict and competition but also by absorption of Islamic elements and symbols.
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Art
The expression of Islamic beliefs and Muslim cultural traditions is widespread across Africa. African cultural influences are not restricted to secular areas, but they are rooted in the very fabric of Islamic traditions as Bravmann 1988 and Hassan 1992 have shown. Artistic expressions thrive even in those areas where there is controversy. For example, music has been controversial among African Muslim scholars, as elsewhere. Buba and Furniss 1999 and Larkin 2004 examine the praise song traditions in northern Nigeria. McLaughlin 1997 records the change in Senegalese popular music and the important Sufi orders in the country. On the other hand, Fyle 1997 points to the powerful use of music in festivals as form of popular protest against authorities, both political and religious.
Bravmann, René A. “A Fragment of Paradise.” Muslim World 78.1 (1988): 29–37.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1478-1913.1988.tb02808.xSave Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A study of a talisman from Jenne, particularly its magical and secretive power.
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Buba, Malami, and Graham Furniss. “Youth Culture, Bandiri, and the Continuing Legitimacy Debate in Sokoto Town.” Journal of African Cultural Studies 12.1 (1999): 27–46.
DOI: 10.1080/13696819908717838Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The authors argue that Bandiri is of recent origin (early 1990s), supported by the Qadiriyya order in northern Nigeria to provide a popular form of entertainment suitable for young Muslims.
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Fyle, C. Magbaily. “Popular Islam and Political Expression in Sierra Leone.” In Islam and Trade in Sierra Leone. Edited by Alusine Jalloh and David E. Skinner, 161–177. Trenton, NJ: African World, 1997.
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A study of music at a festival engaged in a direct and creative critique of the political and religious status quo.
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Hassan, Salah M. Art and Islamic Literacy among the Hausa of Northern Nigeria. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen, 1992.
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A fascinating study of the art and healing traditions that were located at the heart of the transmission of Islamic texts and learning.
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Larkin, Brian. “Bandiri Music, Globalization, and Urban Experience in Nigeria.” Social Text 22.4 (2004): 91–112.
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This study records the rise of a musical form, Bandiri, to popularize Hausa praise songs of the Prophet in the 1950s. More recently, through the influence and popularity of Bollywood movies and songs, the Bandiri songs incorporate such elements in their repertoires.
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McLaughlin, Fiona. “Islam and Popular Music in Senegal: The Emergence of a ‘New Tradition.’” Africa 67.4 (1997): 560–581.
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Locates the world-famous Senegalese singers Baaba Maal and Youssou Ndour in the religious context of Senegal. Identifies the controversies (mainly overcommercialization) of their songs devoted to their spiritual teachers.
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African Religions
In the 1950s and 1960s, John Trimingham wrote a number of books on Islam in Africa. His position on the interaction between Islam and African religions was that Islam was extremely accommodating, demanding a minimal response and leaving the penetration of the religion to a later period (Trimingham 1959). This thesis was accepted for a long time, until Sanneh 1980 took an almost opposite view. Islam, in its normative drive, was basically intent on eradicating any vestige of African polytheistic belief and practice. More focused studies have indeed presented cases of tension between reformers and inherited religious practices, but they have pointed to compartmentalization (Faulkner 2006) and discursive engagement (Holý 1991).
Faulkner, Mark R. J. Overtly Muslim, Covertly Boni: Competing Calls of Religious Allegiance on the Kenyan Coast. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2006.
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A study of rituals in a society, divided into their locations of home, mosque, and bush. Each has a different function and location.
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Holý, Ladislav. Religion and Custom in a Muslim Society: The Berti of Sudan. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
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An interesting study of the relationship between Islam and traditional practices, based not on a global thesis, but on the subject of continuous interaction and examination.
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Sanneh, Lamin. “The Domestication of Islam and Christianity in African Societies.” Journal of Religion in Africa 11 (1980): 1–12.
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A central argument, much debated within Christian theology, about the relative capacity of Islam and Christianity to become indigenous. According to Sanneh, Islamic reform led away from African traditional religions, while Christian reform led toward Africanization.
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Trimingham, John Spencer. Islam in West Africa. New York: Oxford University Press, 1959.
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In this book, Trimingham presents his central argument on the relation between Islam and traditional religions. They both stand to lose in the face of modernization.
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Literature
Islam has been represented in a wide variety of forms in African literature. Harrow 1991 and Harrow 1996 provide a general overview of the field. Bangura 2000 and some contributions in the Harrow volumes see the depiction of Islamic stereotypes in the literature. Others, however, examine more subtle readings of the literature (Biersteker 1991). Kearny 2006 and Whitsitt 2002 identify modern novelists in South Africa and Nigeria, respectively, exploring the values of their societies and religion.
Bangura, Ahmed S. Islam and the West African Novel: The Politics of Representation. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2000.
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A critical analysis of what the author argues is an orientalism in African literature.
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Biersteker, Ann. “Language, Poetry, and Power: A Reconsideration of ‘Utendi Wa Mwana Kupona.’” In Faces of Islam in African Literature. Edited by Kenneth W. Harrow, 59–77. Oxford: James Currey, 1991.
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A gendered reading of a 19th-century utenzi poem that appears to reflect patriarchal relations in Swahili society. Biersteker shows a subtle but deeply effective critique of this social structure in the poem.
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Harrow, Kenneth W., ed. Faces of Islam in African Literature. Oxford: James Currey, 1991.
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The editor assumes the representation of African Islam in the literature, covering issues of authority, authenticity, and everyday life. Literature also includes nonstandard conceptions of history within societies.
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Harrow, Kenneth W., ed. The Marabout and the Muse: New Approaches to Islam in African Literature. Oxford: James Currey, 1996.
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This is a sequel to Harrow 1991 and points to writers engaging in a critical examination of Islam in modern societies.
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Kearney, Jack. “Representations of Islamic Belief and Practice in a South African Context: Reflections on the Fictional Work of Ahmed Essop, Aziz Hassim, Achmat Dangor and Rayda Jacobs.” Journal of Literary Studies/Tydskrif vir Literatuurwetenskap 22, nos. 1–2 (2006): 138–157.
DOI: 10.1080/02564710608530394Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
An examination of some novels by South African writers, discussing the extent to which they use literature to examine and explore the values of Islam.
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Whitsitt, Novian. “Islamic-Hausa Feminism and Kano Market Literature: Qurʾanic Reinterpretation in the Novels of Balaraba Yakubu.” Research in African Literatures 33.2 (2002): 119–136.
DOI: 10.2979/RAL.2002.33.2.119Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A fascinating view of Muslim feminist novelists as questioning traditional social relations in Hausa society. Presents an analysis of the popular but controversial writers in Kano, Nigeria.
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