Muslim Societies in Africa: A Historical AnthropologyBy Roman Loimeier

Abstract

The stated aim of the volume is to engage with the history and development of African Muslim societies within African history. This is not to dissociate African Muslim history from European history but to look at the relation of the two histories from the southern perspective. From the vantage point of Africa and its adjoining regions, their history with the rest of the world according to the author can be viewed as a history of multiple entanglements. This study of African Muslim societies across times and places is not an exhaustive overview; rather, it selects some major regions of Islam in Africa through the lens of key historical periods. The focus is on local social dynamics and their relation to the wider world, and some key themes in the development of African Muslim societies, such as legitimacy of political rule, the role of outsiders in politically driven religious movements, the relationship between core and margin in the African Muslim empires, the centrality of trade and the social conflicts over control of long distance trade-routes. The author foregrounds the agency of African Muslims as traders and scholars, as leaders of states and religious movements, as both promoters and sufferers of Africa’s slave trade, and practitioners of different models of faith. As a historical anthropology, Muslim Societies in Africa delves into multiple legacies that inform different roles and positions in the given societies. In exploring the influence of the wider world, the author highlights Islam and how different regions become Muslim in diverse ways. The Introduction provides the geographical and anthropological context for the issues, themes such as: Is there an ‘African’ Islam? or Do different Muslim societies in Africa represent different expressions of Islam in distinct historical contexts, characterized by different relations with Christianity, Judaism and African indigenous faith traditions?