Islam in Africa

Islam in Africa is the continent's second most widely professed faith behind Christianity. Africa was the first continent into which Islam spread from Southwest Asia, during the early 7th century AD. Almost one-third of the world's Muslim population resides in Africa. Muslims crossed current Djibouti and Somalia to seek refuge in present-day Eritrea and Ethiopia during the Hijrah ("Migration") to the Christian Kingdom of Aksum. Like the vast majority (90%) of Muslims in the world, most Muslims in Africa are also Sunni Muslims; the complexity of Islam in Africa is revealed in the various schools of thought, traditions, and voices in different countries. Many African ethnicities, mostly in North, West and East Africa consider Islam their traditional religion. The practice of Islam on the continent is not static and is constantly being reshaped by prevalent social, economic, and political conditions.

Quotes

• The distinctiveness of Mouridism consists in the “sanctification” of work, which plays an equally, if not more important, role than meditation and prayer. Through this spirituality of work, [Ahmadou Bamba Mbacké (1853–1927)] inserted an authentically African element into Sufism, and at the same time exposed himself to criticism and reservations especially from Tijânî circles.
  • Massimo Introvigne, "Why Senegal’s Mourides Want Vatican-like Status for Their Holy City of Touba", Bitter Winter (July 15, 2023)

• [...] Marsile has taken flight,
  Yet there remains his uncle Marganice,
  That governs Carthage, Alfrere and Garamile,
  And Ethiope, a land accursed and vile.
  In his command are all the Negro tribes;
  Thick are their noses, their ears are very wide;
  Full fifty thousand are gathered in their lines,
  Boldly and fast and furiously they ride,
  Yelling aloud the Paynim battle-cry.
  • Song of Roland (11th century), 143 (tr. Dorothy L. Sayers)
    • Cp. J. R. R. Tolkien, The Return of the King (1955), Book V, Chapter 6: "And if the Rohirrim at their onset were thrice outnumbered by the Haradrim alone, soon their case became worse; for new strength came now streaming to the field out of Osgiliath. There they had been mustered for the sack of the City and the rape of Gondor, waiting on the call of their Captain. He now was destroyed; but Gothmog the lieutenant of Morgul had flung them into the fray; Easterlings with axes, and Variags of Khand, Southrons in scarlet, and out of Far Harad black men like half-trolls with white eyes and red tongues."