Africa and Islam

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Africa and Islam

• Rahi Patel, Daniel Pham

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Key Terms

• Islam a religion based on the Quran, a book
  believed to be the verbatim word of god, and the
  teachings of Islam Prophet, Muhammad
• Ifriqiya Arabic name for north eastern Africa
• Maghrib Arabic name for western Africa
• Jihad a holy war to purify, spread, and protect
  the Islam faith
• Muslim a follower of Islam
• Berbers people of the desert in classical
  Africa
• Almoravids - members of an Islamic purifying
  reform movement among Berbers

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Spread of Islam
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Maghrib
Maghrib the western region of Africa
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Important Islam Figures
Muhammad the prophet of Islam
Quran - the holy book
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Almoravid Movement
The Almoravids initiated a jihad and spread Islam
into sub-Saharan Africa and north into Spain and
Portugal
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Outline/Summary

• From 640-700 C.E., followers of Muhammad spread
  across northern Africa from Suez in the north
  east to Morocco in the north west, where Islam
  found many followers. Conversion was rapid and
  widespread because of the unity provided by the
  Abbasid dynasty, which ruled the Arabian
  peninsula and Ifriqiya, although this unity
  eventually broke down. Islam flourished because
  African kings saw the tradition of uniting state
  and religion as a way to reinforce their power
  and also because the concept of unity put
  Africans, Arabs, and Bebers on equal grounds. In
  the 11th century, Almoravids launched a jihad to
  purify the faith in a reform movement that was
  directed south and another group, the Almohadis,
  did the same in the 12th century. These two
  reform movements would eventually become the
  thrust for the spread of Islam into sub-Saharan
  Africa.

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Importance in World History

• The spread of Islam into Africa brought with it
  the workings of cultural diffusion and opened
  Africa to the global community. Though not
  isolated before, Islam brought Africa into more
  intensive contact with the global community and
  connected many areas in Africa into global trade.

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Interesting Fact

• Christianity had a firm hold on Mediterranean
  Africa, spread from the Roman Empire, before
  Islam came and the majority converted to Muslims.
  Christianity still thrived in the Axum kingdom,
  as well as in Egypt and Nubia, however.