Muslim Societies in African History

This page intentionally left blank Muslim Societies in African History Examining a series of processes (e.g., islamization, arabization, and africanization) and case studies from North, West, and East Africa, this book gives snapshots of Muslim societies in Africa over the past 1,000+ years. In contrast to traditions that suggest that Africa is not Muslim or that Islam did not take root in Africa, author David Robinson shows the complex struggles of Mus- lims in the Muslim state of Morocco and in the Hausaland region of Nigeria. He portrays the ways in which Islam was practiced in the “pagan” societies of Ashanti (Ghana) and Buganda (Uganda) and in the ostensibly Christian state of Ethiopia – beginning with the first emigration of Muslims from Mecca in 615 C.E., well before the foundational hijra to Medina in 622. He concludes with chapters on the Mahdi and Khalifa of the Sudan and the Murid Sufi movement that originated in Senegal. Finally, Robinson offers reflections in the wake of the events of September 11, 2001. The Further Reading sections suggest how undergraduate readers may follow up on the themes of this volume, and illustrations and maps make the processes and case studies concrete. David Robinson has conducted research on Islamic and francophone West Africa for thirty years, at Yale University, and since 1978 at Michigan State University, where he was named University Distinguished Professor of His- tory in 1992. His notable books include The Holy War of Umar Tal (Oxford University Press, 1985) and Paths of Accommodation: Muslim Societies and French Colonial Authorities in Senegal and Mauritania, 1880 to 1920 (Ohio Uni- versity Press and James Currey, 2000). New Approaches to African History Series Editor Martin Klein, University of Toronto New Approaches to African History is designed to introduce students to cur- rent findings and new ideas in African history. Although each book treats a particular case, and is able to stand alone, the format allows the studies to be used as modules in general courses on African history and world history. The cases represent a wide range of topics. Each volume summarizes the state of knowledge on a particular subject for a student who is new to the field. However, the aim is not simply to present reviews of the literature, it is also to introduce debates on historiographical or substantive issues and may argue for particular points of view. The aim of the series is to stimulate debate, to challenge students and general readers. The series is not committed to any particular school of thought. Other books in the series: Africa Since 1940, by Frederick Cooper Muslim Societies in African History David Robinson Michigan State University cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge cb2 2ru, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521826273 © Cambridge University Press 2004 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published in print format 2004 isbn-13 978-0-511-16514-6 eBook (EBL) isbn-10 0-511-16514-5 eBook (EBL) isbn-13 978-0-521-82627-3 hardback isbn-10 0-521-82627-6 hardback isbn-13 978-0-521-53366-9 paperback isbn-10 0-521-53366-x paperback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. For Rudite and Dudleigh Acknowledgments This book is the result of a request by Martin Klein to deal with the subject of Islam in Africa for college undergraduates. He has made it a challenge and a pleasure all along the way. I hope to say something old and something new, or something known in a new way. The process has made me think differently about materials that I research and teach. I benefited from working on an older project organized by Nehemia Levtzion and Randall Pouwels, which they edited as A His- tory of Islam in Africa (Ohio University Press, 2000). Nehemia was a Visiting Hannah Professor at Michigan State at the time the book came out. During one of our sessions, he said that they should perhaps have entitled their book Muslim Societies in African History. I was already thinking along these lines at the time and had adopted that title in my conversations with Martin. It represents a useful and dynamic way to understand the history of a faith and its practitioners in the enormous confines of the African continent. I profited from a number of critiques of the initial prospectus and a variety of drafts. I thank, in addition to Martin, the following friends and colleagues: Kevin Brown, Tim Carmichael, Mamadou Diouf, Alan Fisher, Bill Freund, Alaine Hutson, my deeply missed colleague Harold Marcus, Jonathan and Marie Miran, Ahmed Sikainga, Ray Silverman, Charles Stewart, Ehud Toledano, and Brian Yates. I owe special thanks to Tim’s students at a Smith College Seminar in the winter of 2003: Autumn Barr, Sasha Berkoff, Emmi Felker-Quinn, Jessica Keating, Jessica Quinn, Maya Ramos, and Kavita Venkatesan, for taking the time to read through the draft and give me the benefit of vii viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS their reactions. Ray Silverman has guided me through the process of selecting illustrations and made excellent suggestions. Suzanne Miers, Al and Polly Roberts, Doran Ross, and the Fowler Museum of Cultural History at UCLA have kindly granted me permission to use images from their collections. I also express my gratitude to Ellen White of the MSU Geography Department for the preparation of the maps and to Alia Winters of the press for her sustained interest in seeing the book to publication. DAVID ROBINSON East Lansing, Michigan March 2003 Contents LIST OF MAPS AND FIGURES page xi INTRODUCTION xv PART I The Historical and Institutional Background 1 1 Muhammad and the Birth of Islam 3 2 The Basic Institutions of Islam 11 PART II General Themes 25 3 The Islamization of Africa 27 4 The Africanization of Islam 42 5 Muslim Identity and the Slave Trades 60 6 Western Views of Africa and Islam 74 PART III Case Studies 89 7 Morocco: Muslims in a “Muslim Nation” 91 8 Ethiopia: Muslims in a “Christian Nation” 108 9 Asante and Kumasi: A Muslim Minority in a “Sea of Paganism” 124 10 Sokoto and Hausaland: Jihad within the Dar al-Islam 139 11 Buganda: Religious Competition for the Kingdom 153 ix x CONTENTS 12 The Sudan: The Mahdi and Khalifa amid Competing Imperialisms 169 13 Senegal: Bamba and the Murids under French Colonial Rule 182 CONCLUSION 197 GLOSSARY 211 INDEX 215 Maps and Figures Maps 1. A typical portrayal of the spread of Islam in Africa. page 29 2. Trade routes of Northern Africa. 30 3. The Omani trading networks in East Africa. 37 4. The Arabs’ conception of Africa in the thirteenth century C.E.75 5. Muslim states and struggles in the Nile Sudan and Ethiopia. 119 6. Muslim states and struggles in West Africa. 136 7. The implantation of the Murids in Senegal. 191 Figures 1. Calligraphy. Illuminated page from a biography of Muhammad, from Centre Ahmed Baba, Timbuktu, Mali. Author’s photo, 1979. 13 2. The secret to ocean trade. The East African dhow that permitted travel around the Indian Ocean. Peter S. Garlake, The Kingdoms of Africa. Elsevier-Phaidon, Oxford, 1978, p. 93. 31 3. Kilwa, the most prominent of the Swahili cities in the early period. An artist’s reconstruction of the palace, Kilwa Island, Tanzania. Garlake, p. 101. 35 xi xii MAPS AND FIGURES 4. Mosque in the traditional mud-brick style of the West African savanna. The Sankore mosque and university in Timbuktu, Mali. Author’s photo, 1979. 46 5. Another mosque in the traditional style. Friday mosque at Mopti, Mali. Author’s photo, 1976. 47 6. Mosque in the Moroccan style. A minaret of the Grand Mosque of Dakar, Senegal, built by Moroccan designers and mosaic workers in the early 1960s. Author’s photo, 1968. 48 7. A modern artist’s rendition of the mud-brick mosque style. A painting by Boubacar Coulibaly, Senegalese painter, about 1975. Author’s photo. 49 8. Basic Islamic instruction. Quranic teacher and pupil, Guinea, about 1890. From Felix Dubois, La vie au continent noir. Paris: J. Hetzel, 1893, p. 170. 50 9. Piety and prayer. Senegalese Muslim praying on a boat; from a sketch of a colonial soldier made by a French artist. From Dubois, p. 13. 51 10. Piety and protection. Photo of an Asante chief, Ejisuhene Nana Diko Pim III, in his great warshirt with talismans, 1976. Collection of Doran Ross. 52 11. Divination and protection. Arabic text showing magic squares to be used in talismans and for other purposes. Claudia Zaslavsky, Africa Counts. Boston: Prindle, Weber and Schmidt, 1973, p. 144. 53 12. European intrusion. Napoleon in Egypt, investing an Arab shaikh, ca. 1800. Normal Daniel, Islam, Europe and Empire, Edinburgh University Press, 1966. 83 13. Defense against European intrusion. A coastal fortress at Agadir, Morocco. Photo by author, 1967. 97 14. Muslim royalty on tour. A sketch of Mulay Hassan, Alawite Sultan of Morocco, in the late nineteenth century. From the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, late nineteenth century collections, published in Hatier’s Histoire du Maroc, Casablanca, 1967, p.

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