North+Africa

How did Islam Spread here?:

Africa North of the Sahara had long been part of the classical world, where Phoenicians, Romans, Greeks, and Vandals traded, settled, and battled.After the age of the pharaohs, Egypt became an important part of the greek world in 331BC, later becoming a valued province in the Roman empire due to it's grain.However, the war between the Vandals and the Byzantine Empire in the 5th and 6th centure CE allowed the Berber people from Subsaharan Africa to raid the coastal cities. Between 640 and 700 CE, Islam spread across North Africa from the Suez to Morocco's border with the Atlantic Ocean.By 711AD, Arab/Berber armies had crossed into what is now Spain. Only their defeat at the Battle of Poitiers by Charles Martel and the Franks stopped the Muslim expansion westward.The message of Islam was able to spread easily because it offered equality, and unifying church and state was appealing to some African kings in order to consolidate their power.

What were African reactions to Islam?:

In opposition to the new states dominated by Arabic rulers, the people of the desert(Berbers) formed their own states in areas such as Fez, and Sijilmasa, old trading cities.By the 11th century, under pressure from Muslim invaders, a strong puritanical reform movement developed, including such groups as the **Almohadis, and Almoravids**, who launched a Jihad(Holy War) into Spain. This was the basis of Islamic spread into Sub-Saharan Africa.

Examples of Syncretism in North Africa:

Though Islam’s expansion in North Africa was gradual, it was even slower in sub-Saharan Africa.Sub-Saharan Muslims tended to keep their traditional culture, incorporating Islam into their practices, while North Africans had a greater likelihood of adopting traditional Islam, and less of a predisposition towards syncretism.

Urbanization in North Africa and ties to Islam:

Cities arose there as centers of religion and government in ancient kingdoms, and a web of trade routes linked these centers with Muslim cities in North Africa and the Saharan borderlands.Jenne-jeno, located in M ALI, is thought to be the oldest city in West Africa. Already nearly a thousand years old by A.D. 800, Jenne-jeno consisted of many round brick houses surrounded by a wall. At that time, it was actually two cities: a native town and a nearby settlement of Arab merchants. This mixture of Islamic and African elements was typical of many sub-Saharan cities with links to North Africa. The town of T IMBUKTU in Mali, founded around A.D. 1000, became a major trading hub and a center of Islamic learning in the 1400s and 1500s.( [] )

Islamic Architecture in this region: The process of Islam's spread and it's adaptation is apparent through the unique style of African mosques.Usually built out of clay, and incorporating wood for support and decoration, with a tower and open courtyard, thse mosques emphasized elegance through simplicity, demonstrating ethnic and regional differences through variance in materials.For example,simple buildings of the Dogon Village or elaborate Timbuktu Mosques such as the Sankore, can reflect the integration of Islam to African life.This variation of building materials to fit the local environment helped Islam spread by giving the African converts a sense of unity)(Sankore Mosque, seen here []) Dogon Mosque( [])

Growth of Trade in North Africa due to Islam: Islam facilitated long distance trade by offering useful sets of tools for merchants including contract law, credit, and information networks. Muslim merchant-scholars also played an important role in non-Muslim kingdoms as advisors and scribes in Ghana. They had the crucial skill of written script, which helped in the administration of kingdoms. Many Muslim were also religious specialists whose amulets were prized by non-Muslims.Merchant-scholars also played a large role in the spread of Islam into the forest zones. These included the Jakhanke merchant-scholars in [name region], the Jula merchants in Mali and the Ivory Coast, and the Hausa merchants during the nineteenth century in Nigeria, Ghana, and Guinea Basau,]. Muslim communities in the forest zones were minority communities often linked to trading diasporas. ([])