Islam

Throughout history, man has endeavored to expand his beliefs across civilization quite often employing violent means to further his ideas. Islam blazed quite a trail into sub-Saharan western Africa, and it was peaceful. Abu Ubaydallah al-Bakri related vivid descriptions of eleventh-century Ghanian society. Hailing form what was then the Muslim land of al-Andalus-present day Spain- al-Bakri never witnessed the events in his tales firsthand, but those intrepid stories form 1067/1068 flawlessly depict the early history of western Sudan (pg. 387). This saga was expanded two centuries later by Abu Abdallah Muhammad Ibn Battuta, when in 1325 Ibn Battuta began reporting on his personal religion trek into the region of Mali. Unlike al-Bakri who never saw the expansion of Islam into Africa, ibn Battuta left his religious upper class home in Tangier, Morocco, to personally witness the expansion of his religion. Very noteworthy is the consistency between the lifestyles and customs of the Ghanian and Malian societies following the centuries of political and cultural advancement. The endeavor of this work is provide insight into this metamorphosis using, both, facts and my perception of facts.

Ghana was the name of one of the emergent trade centers found between the sere Saharan Desert of western Africa and the lush rainforests further south. Ghana received its moniker from the appellation given to the regions kings, and should not be misconstrued as having been derived from the present-day country of that same name (pg. 388).

Central to Ghana's geography was its dual-centered city. The city was in reality a joined pair of microcosms housed in two walled sections, and connected by a short residence-lined path. In the larger of the two cities Muslims resided, and one found

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imams teaching and leading prayers while, five times daily, muezzins chanted invitations to those faithful prayers from their perches atop the minarets. Religion was of paramount import, with the sacrosanct Friday prayer being held in one of the cities 12 mosques. A short jaunt through the residence-lined path of stone and acacia-wood houses brought one to Al-Ghaba, the smaller of the paired cities, and where the king had his royal residence and its accoutrements. In Al-Ghaba, which translates to "the forest" (pg. 389), the Muslim's polar opposite was housed: Cultist pagans made their home in the woods guarding prisoners of the king, and warding off any proponents of those lingering doubts found in the mind of a king who only was able to draw upon the culture indigenenous to western sub-Saharan Africa in forming his doctrines and judgments. Allowing his subjects to acquire this new religion suggests a tolerant king inclined to peace and the rudiments of democracy; assuming those new Islamic laws himself, the king revealed a man ruling with deference to the needs of his people: a juggernaut on the path to Islamization.

Ghanian and Malian kings proved very similar when comparing the writings of al-Bakri and ibn Battuta, the largest difference was the difference in year! Close to 200 years. Most intriguing was their shared practice of transferring power to an heir whose appetency was not due to being the king's progeny, but that of the king's sister. It is logically discerned that the prolific sexual infidelities of the denizens of that region engendered doubts pertaining to the genuineness of a child belonging to a particular man; therefore, the nepotism inherent in a monarchy was ensured by instituting the practice of causing a nephew to become king.

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Centuries likely bolstered these African kings' devotion to their newfound Islam. It is crucial to note that, even while a metamorphosis into a Muslim culture was occurring over these centuries, the path taken wasn't so divergent that it precluded the maintenance of similarities to be expected amongst peoples of a particular geographical locale. The subservience of females was prevalent: Was the role of women in those societies bad? It should be said that the women in those times were just a commonly in possession of "male friends and companions among the foreign men, Ð'... as the men [were in possession of] companions form among the foreign women (pg. 450)." With that in mind, I have to assert that we have no more moral authority to criticize their actions than they do ours: That was their culture.

The most prevalent story depicting the introduction of Islam into west sub-Saharan Africa is the tale from Malal, whose king came to be known as al-musulmani: " the Muslim" in English (pg. 390). It is told that the kingdom of al-musulmani was fraught with the strife of droughts and dwindling cattle herds for many consecutive years. In seemingly ignoring the supplications f the people of Malal, their higher power appeared to be a failure. A royal guest of the king enunciated that the route to assuaging these calamities was to believe in God and accept the laws of Islam. This chosen path was advantageous and preferable to continued onslaught. Simultaneous with the king's heartfelt prayers to the God of Islam came "an abundant rain...upon them (pg. 390)." the story of how al-musulmani came to be so known is oft-told as the pioneer event in the Islamization