The Spread of Islam
Islam has been present in Africa since the seventh century ce. By the eighth century, Arab Muslims controlled North Africa from Egypt to Morocco, and Islam has been the dominant religion in North Africa for several centuries.
Islam spread more slowly throughout sub- Saharan Africa. The number of Muslims in sub-Saharan Africa increased as Islam spread throughout West Africa and along the East African coast from the eleventh century until the present. Powerful kingdoms in West Africa, like the Mali Empire, gradually became majority Muslim. At first, it was typically only the merchants and traders who were Muslim, and historians believe that many converted to Islam for strategic purposes, such as to secure trading relationships with Muslim leaders in North Africa. In the kingdom of Ghana around 1100, towns were divided: Muslim traders lived on one side, and practitioners of the indigenous religion, including the king, lived on the other. Along the East African Swahili coast, trade and conversion also went hand in hand, and most people were Muslim by about 1500. Today, in addition to North Africa, the populations of much of West Africa, Northeast Africa, and the East African coast are predominantly Muslim.In most cases, Islam spread through trade and through the teachings of traveling scholars. Often, elite Africans adopted Islam as a means to facilitate trade connections because Muslim traders from North Africa were more likely to trade with other Muslims than with nonMuslims. As Africans became Muslims, they often retained elements of indigenous religious practice. For example, in Northeast and East Africa, the spirits known as zar are part of the religious worldview and practice of Muslims and Christians, as well as followers of indigenous religions. This is similar to the persistent belief in bori spirits in West Africa among Muslims and non-Muslims alike. The belief in possession by zar and bori spirits preexisted the arrival of Islam and has been incorporated into the religious practice of African Muslims. We will discuss possession in more detail later in the chapter.