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This post will amaze you with untold knowledge about how did Islam spread to Africa that you don’t know.
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Wayyy before Islam spread across the world it arrived in Africa bet you didn’t know that. But the question is how did Islam spread to Africa.
Well, your girl did some research into how did Islam spread to Africa and honestly it shocked me because I never knew ANYTHING. Prepare to be shocked and inspired by your Islamic roots too.
In this post, I’m going to walk you through exactly how did Islam spread to Africa in steps. Starting with North Africa moving into the West, East and then finally South of Africa so, you can understand it properly.
This post is all about how did Islam spread to Africa.
How Did Islam Spread To Africa?
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Did you know the first entrance of Muslims and Islam into the African continent was in Abysinnia which is modern-day Ethiopia in the year 615CE?
Let me tell you why… After the Prophet (peace be upon him) received the first revelation from God he began spreading Islam privately among friends and family. 3 years later he started preaching publically and that’s when persecution started.
The Arabs hated Islam and wanted to destroy it. They tortured the Muslims openly in the most brutal ways. So, the Prophet(peace be upon him) sent the Muslims to Abyssinia (Ethiopia). The righteous Christian ruler( Najashi) gave them refuge in his kingdom and vowed to protect them.
Later, he became Muslim after accepting the Prophet’s(peace be upon him) invitation to Islam via a letter. Interestingly, that made him the first ruler to accept Islam in the world.
Some Abyssinians converted to Islam and when Medinah was established they migrated with the Sahabas to Medinah.
Egypt Meets Islam
An important thing to note, Islam in Africa was not spread by the sword or the military but over time through trade, scholars, holy men and migration.
After Islam became the dominant religion in the Arabian peninsula, at the time of the Ummayad Dynasty when Muawiyyah was caliph. He sent a companion of the Prophet(peace be upon him) Uqba bin Nafi with his uncle Amr bin As, and they opened Egypt to Islam and continued to conquer the rest of North Africa.
HERE’S THE BACKGROUND OF EGYPT BEFORE ISLAM…
Before Islam, Egypt was under the rule of the Byzantine Empire AKA the Romans, who conquered Egypt after the Pharaohs. The Romans made the Trinity official in the Catholic Church and declared whoever disagreed would be executed.
The Egyptians disagreed so they were persecuted. When the Muslims took over, the Egyptians were given the freedom to practise their religion. Slowly, the people of Egypt embraced Islam until you see today the majority of Egypt is Muslim.
SUPER INTERESTING FACT ABOUT PYRAMIDS OF EGYPT
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You know those massive pyramids in Egypt you see today like the pyramid of Ghiza, they were ACTUALLY built by Africans who lived in Ancient Egypt.
CRAZY RIGHT?
The pyramid of Ghiza is the largest in the world and let’s be honest there is nothing like it. The size of the bricks itself weighed tonnes and the building was built without cement. All the bricks combined can be used to build 30 empire buildings.
The corners of the Pyramid structure are perfect right angles. This shows the advanced civilisation Africa had and the advanced technology at that time when there was no advanced technology well that’s what we were told, LIES! Before the Greeks discovered geometry, mathematics and all those sciences you see it in the architectural works of the Ancient Africans.
Related Post: How Did The Early Islamic Empire Expand So Quickly?
North Africa Meets Islam
The Movement of Islam entered North Africa in response to the oppression of the Romans. Their intention wasn’t to spread Islam by force no religion can truly be spread by force. The Muslims brought with them literacy, scholarship and this quest for knowledge because Islam commands the pursuit of knowledge.
Uqba Ibn Nafi along with other Muslims rode across the Atlantic Ocean and established a city called Qayrawan in Tunisia North Africa.
The Muslims settled there and traded throughout the regions of North Africa. They intermarried with the local women there which led to Africans absorbing into the Arab culture and language. They established mosques which were also places to learn about Islam and other topics like mathematics, astronomy and medicine in the Arabic language to educate the Africans which led to more people accepting Islam.
Hence, when you go to places like Morocco and Egypt almost everyone speaks Arabic as their mother tongue. They call themselves Arabs but they are really a blend of Arab and African cultures.
The Muslims were very strategic in expanding their empire. They controlled essential trade routes on land and sea, they controlled the Red Sea, the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. They knew the seas well.
So, if the Europeans wanted to trade with them they were fully dependent on the Muslims. That’s why the Muslim civilisation grew so rapidly.
They basically controlled the world trade. All the silk that came from China was transported through the Silk Road which was controlled by the Muslims. All the spices that entered Europe from the East the routes were controlled by the Muslims.
The Arab Muslims created a couple of trade routes that went from the north of Africa to the sub-Saharan desert. Many types of goods were transported for business through these routes one of the main assets was gold. The kings and rulers of Africa held good relations with the Muslims as trade helped them economically.
So, the Africans were exposed to Islam through seeing the Arabs practise and embody it and this pulled them to accept Islam.
Musa bint Nusair a good Muslim scholar was sent to the Berbers(Amazigh) who were the indigenous tribes that lived throughout North Africa. He dealt with them gently and taught them Islam and many embraced Islam.
Eventually, these Berbers developed their own dynasties and helped spread Islam throughout North Africa and Subsaharan Africa. Two important dynasties were:
- AL MORAVIDS(1056-1147)
- AL MOHADS(1130-1269)
Both of these dynasties gave North Africa immense power and military force. These dynasties are important because they responded to the call for help from the Muslims of Spain against Catholic invasions.
These Berber dynasties successfully destroyed the Catholics bringing back stability to the Muslims in Spain. It shows the connection between Muslim brotherhood in Spain and North Africa.
There was something that really fascinated the Africans within these towns, it was that every time the adhan (call to prayer) was made Muslims stopped everything and prayed. They admired seeing the strong belief in God. The African Nobility(upper class) became interested in Islam and became Muslim before the masses.
So, you can imagine that through their influence in society many Africans also accepted Islam.
West Africa meets Islam
West Africans accepted Islam through their interactions with the Muslims as well: settling, trade, intermarriages and scholars.
But interestingly, before Islam, there were massive powerful African empires throughout West Africa. Many of the kings accepted Islam. A king from the Famous Ghana Empire turned his empire into a Muslim state.
This was also a massive factor that led to Islam spreading throughout West Africa not only through trade, settling and intermarriages but also through powerful African rulers who became Muslim. These rulers built mosques and turned their empire into a Muslim state.
Did you know that the richest person in human history was a West African ruler named Mansa Musa who became Muslim?
Mansa Musa was a West African ruler who accepted Islam, he ruled the Mali Empire. Historians say that Mansa Musa was the richest person in human history, his wealth was indescribable. It came from salt mines, gold mines and lands he owned.
Go and type in Google who was the richest person in history Google will say Mansa Musa. Crazy right? You’ve been deceived by the system but don’t worry we’re breaking out of it now.
In 1324CE Mansa Musa went on pilgrimage. He took with him 60,000-72,000 people with 15,000 camels stacked with Gold. Every town and city he entered their economy changed completely that’s how rich he was.
On his way back he paid scholars, architects, and engineers to come with him to benefit his empire. Every place he went to on his journey back he would build a mosque.
Interestingly, this isn’t spoken about as much but needs to be after African people converted to Islam, tribes and families would take the journey of scholarship which led to many Islamic scholars being born.
One well-known West African Islamic scholar is Al Hajj Salim Suwari from the Jahenkay tribe. He greatly influenced the spread of Islam throughout West Africa. He would travel through West Africa and benefit non-Muslim communities by establishing mosques for prayer and education, Madrasahs to teach people how to read and write and farming so each community was self-sufficient so they don’t rely on Government’s money.
A city in the Sahara desert Timbuktu was founded by Baktu an African woman in the 11th century along the Niger River. It was a city of thriving business and one of the greatest centres of learning in the world. The most famous West African scholars went there to study.
In the 12th Century there was a university called Sankore University which had over 25,000 African students who studied Islamic sciences, mathematics, astronomy, medicine and other things. Every man, woman and child was literate and every household had a hafiz/scholar.
Meanwhile, in the 12th Century Europe had no universities, no Oxford, Cambridge or all these high-end universities and research centres. No knowledge they were in darkness.
But they won’t tell you that in school will they? Africa was more civilised and wealthy than the European countries at one point.
East Africa Meets Islam
At the time of the Ummayad Caliphate, the East of Africa accepted Islam. We’re talking about Ethiopia, Somalia and Somaliland. They had been in touch with Yemen and Islam very early on and they interacted with the Muslims through trade and Muslims settling and intermarrying in those regions.
Islam also spread through a Muslim group called the Swahili people. They came about when the Arab merchants took their boats across East Africa and settled on the coastlines. They married the women of the Bantu nations of East Africa. So Arabs and Bantu nations mixed and created Swahili people.
Interestingly, in the Swahili language, the vocabulary is Arabic and the grammar is Bantu which shows the blending of the Arab and Swahili cultures.
So, Swahili culture develops along the coastline of East Africa.
The Swahili merchants travelled across the coastline into the interior as Gold was found in Zimbabwe. They would trade gold, ostrich feathers and other things and then return back to the coastline.
A number of indigenous groups embraced Islam on that route they are called: Vatsonga, Warakanga and Waremba people.
The traders also went to Malawi through river routes and traded there as well as Uganda and the regions across East Africa.
A king in Uganda also embraced Islam. Slowly Islam started spreading across East Africa.
Super Interesting Facts About Ethiopia
Did you know there’s a mysterious city called Harar in the Ahmar mountains in south Eastern Ethiopia that claims to have the most mosques in the world?
In fact, they have a beautiful system they follow. This is basically for every 40 families in an area a mosque is built and each mosque has an Imam.
Every month all the Imams in the city come together to find out if there are any issues in the areas the whole of the city has a say too. Then they will figure out how to resolve the issues. When someone is sick in the area the people of the masjid will visit them, if someone’s house is burnt down by a fire everyone comes together to build them a home
It’s truly a beautiful Muslim community where everyone is taken care of. Definitely a place I want to visit in my lifetime Inshallah.
Okay, this will shock you…
In this city, the first coffee was discovered. So it goes like this, at night in the mountains around Harar, the Shepherds would get up and see their goats and sheep jumping about. They couldn’t understand why until they saw a berry they were eating. They took it and boiled and tasted it for themselves.
It woke them up, so they started trading it with Yemen and later the Ottoman Turks made it international.
For the longest time before the world started drinking coffee, it was a Muslim drink. Only Muslims drank it. CRAZY RIGHT?
And then there’s Donald Trump and all those Islamaphobes who want to kick us out yet can’t survive without coffee haha.
South Africa Meets Islam
Islam entered South Africa through the Dutch colonisers funnily. The Dutch built a colony in Cape Town on a coastline where they brought in Muslim slaves and political prisoners from India, Sri Lanka Malaysia, East and West Africa, New Guinea, Indonesia and Madagascar during the Dutch colonisation.
These enslaved Muslims were the first pioneers of Islam in South Africa, and ever since Islam has stayed here.
There were two main areas where Islam developed which became a means of Islam spreading across South Africa: Macassar and Bo-kaap.
Let’s talk about these Muslim heroes…
Sheikh Yusuf of Makassar
An influential Islamic scholar and the man who brought Islam to South Africa. He was the nephew of King Biset of Goa so he came from a noble heritage.
In 1694 he was captured and then exiled by the Dutch colonisers because he actively resisted and fought against them with 4000 fighters. He was sent as a prisoner to Sri Lanka and then to Cape Town at the age of 68 with his family and followers where he lived for the rest of his life till his death.
The Dutch sent him to the farm Zandvilet because slaves lived there and he had no links to the people of that region so he wouldn’t be able to influence them.
Little did they know, he taught the slaves Islam which resulted in them accepting Islam and a strong Muslim community amongst the slaves was growing which planted a seed for Islam to thrive for future generations to come in the Cape.
To this day he is an important figure within Islamic history in South African culture.
Tuan Guru
Also known as Imam Abdullah Ibn Qadi Abdul Salam was banished to Robben Island the same island Nelson Mandela was in during the apartheid regime. After he came out in 1793 he wrote the whole Quran from memory which can be found today in Awul mosque 1794.
Along with other followers, he converted many people in South Africa not by force but through education. The people fell in love with Islam.
Tuan Matarin
An Indonesian Muslim man who was a prisoner on Robben Island.
Tuan Rahman and Tuan Mahmoud
They were Indonesian Muslims who were exiled from Indonesia in 1667. They established a community of Muslims in Constantia in Cape Town.
Despite this difficult period of Dutch colonisation, the Muslims stayed true to their deen. There were Muslims who were chained and bolted slaves but they would still get up in the middle of the night to pray tahajjud and read the Quran.
You see a blending of so many different cultures of Muslims in Cape Town South Africa from this event. From East and West Africa, Madagascar, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Sri Lanka, Arabia and the khokhoi culture.
To this day in Cape Town, this culture exists along with different types of foods. The adhan is called out loud and there’s amazing halal food all over Cape Town. You need to visit!
Lessons We Learn From How Did Islam Spread To Africa
- Africa is a diverse continent and cannot be defined by a narrow base. There are light-skinned and dark-skinned Africans some with straight hair and some curly hair.
- History should be told from all perspectives not just from the conquerors or ruling elite perspective.
- Ancient Africa was a land of high civilisations and advanced technology.
- Early Africans had many different beliefs, belief in one God, ancestors and created things.
- Islam has always been connected with Africa and Tawheed has always been an important part of African thought.
- Early African leaders stood together with Muslims against polytheism. This breaks down the stereotypes in terms of Islam and the African continent.
- The spread of Islam throughout the continent was by merchants, mystics and pious people. Not by the sword because that’s propaganda.
- The Islamic empires of West Africa were highly developed and complex societies.
- Great scholars and leaders appeared throughout the history of Islam in Africa.
- Timbuktu, Harar, Marakesh and other Islamic cities were great centres of learning and trade in Africa.
- East African spread of Islam was not based on slavery and oppression but on strong relationships between merchant, coastal and inland people that depended on each other.
- Swahili arab muslims were part of South African society long before colonisation.