Islam is the world’s second largest religion with about 1.8 billion followers around the world. It originated in the 7th century in Mecca, or modern Saudi Arabia. The first Muslim was Mohammed and he began preaching across Mecca in 613 BCE. He told people about Allah, worshiping him, and the messages Allah had to offer to humans. Muslims have several beliefs that are about the afterlife, how to get closer to Allah, and how to devote your life to him.
Muslims also follow "The 5 pillars of Islam". The Five pillars are a list of what to do in order to get closer to Allah in the afterlife. The first pillar is accepting that Allah is the only God. The second is offering 5 prayers to Allah. These are done during dawn, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset, and night. The third pillar is about offering 2.5% of your wealth to those who are poorer and less fortunate. The fourth pillar is about Ramadan, which is to “remind people of the goodness they have” and to put them in the shoes of those who are poor. The fifth pillar is about making a pilgrimage to Mecca.
Today, 1/3 of the world’s Muslim population live in Africa. However, it took over two thousand years to get this way. It started in 7 B.C.E, when Islam first arrived in Africa through traders, scholars, and missionaries. It was spread peacefully through these traders in North Africa. The first Muslims to arrive here left from the Saudi Arabia to escape persecution. Islam was spread relatively peacefully because the rulers of most area in Africa either allowed, tolerated, or converted to the religion themselves. In the second wave of Islam, Muslim traders crossed the Red Sea and spread to East Africa and the Swahili Coast. From this point on, Islam spread “profoundly and gradually” wherever there were trade connections.
The Muslims first took over in Africa in 985 C.E when they took over the Gao empire. Then in the 10th century, they took over the Ghana Empire. Merchants here funded the building of Mosques and also encouraged the peaceful spread of Islam. Islam's encouragement of brotherhood also helped
spread the religion. Brotherhood in Islam is about judging people not based on their race or wealth, but by how good of a person they are, the way that Allah would judge them. The Quran states that “the believers are but brothers, so make settlement between your brothers”.
Islam the spread eastwards toward the Mali and Songhai Empire. It was in the Songhai empire where Timbuktu was founded. Traders who settled there brought scholars with them. These scholars taught the citizens how to read and write. This also helped create a common language in the city. Almost all citizens there knew how to read and write.
Then, Islam spread in the Kingdom of Kanem between the 11th and 13th century. By the late 14th century, Islam had almost completely taken over North Africa.
While Islam was spreading quickly in North Africa, its spread was being stifled in the east by Christianity. The Kingdoms of Faras, Dongola and Alodia were all resisting the spread of Islam until the late 1300s when Egypt decided to step in. It was the military from Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt that intervened and made these kingdoms become Muslim, except for the kingdom of Abyssinia, which had already accepted Islam.
Islam in Africa has flourished in the 1000+ years it has been around and it continues to spread, but it doesn't mean that there hasn’t been many great defeats in it’s history. The most important losses in the continent was the fall of Songhai, Timbuktu, and Gao. In 1585, Morocco invaded Songhai in order to take over their gold. In addition to invading Songhai, Morocco also invaded Gao and Timbuktu, some of the greatest Muslim cities in Africa. When Songhai fell, the start of empires slowed down and the scholars left to spread the religion. This kept the religion spreading through Africa into the 20th century and still today.
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Mackey, Damien F. “Lost Cultural Foundations of Eastern Society.” Blogsopt, 2015, artikel20.com/00.archiv/000/99won_13mohammed_0_1236681p.jpg.
This article is very good. Adding subtitles could of made it better and more organized though.
I enjoyed the article, but I think the title could be better
That was a great article ! I enjoyed learning more about Islam especially since Islam is one of the most prominent religions today.
This article is really good! There is so much good information and it is well written.