The Impact of the Expansion of Islam in North and West Africa
The Islamization of Africa started around the seventh century with the military conquests in Egypt led by Arabic armies and spread over the western part of the continent during the next five hundred years, reaching Morocco. Islam brought major changes at all levels of society in North and West Africa, at first, and to the the rest of the continent along the centuries, till today. Christian Egypt was the first country that knew islamization, after the death of Mohammad, around 639 C E, through the Arab armies and also through the Arab merchants that brought along scholars. These were wise men that taught the newly conquered people the Arab language and also gave advice to their leaders. They needed guidance in economic and political related matters and the Arabs came with their knowledge and organization due to the new faith that also established new rules and forms of governing. The faith of Islam was successful in conquering the people in Egypt and further, during the next five centuries, in Maghreb because it was not just a new religion intended to replace these populations' beliefs but it came with new sets of rules and political knowledge. The followers of Mohammed were united by a faith that sought justice and unity f
The Arabs and their new religion found in the northern and western parts of Africa people and tribes that were subjected to the Byzantine Empire and already had the Christian laws, the laws of a monotheist religion imposed by their rulers. "Analogy" allowed the scholars to bring in precedents from other practices, including Jewish, Christian, Zoroastrian, Roman and Sasanian. The societies from these parts of Africa that came under Arab rule were benefiting from the knowledge the Muslims brought with them and shared. It became the common language used between the tribes that each spoke its own different language. The Arabs founded cities and Universities that spread the word of Allah and helped them preserve their faith and teach their god given rules and laws to the Egyptians and the Berbers in the Maghrebian territories. A new form of establishing and applying law was also accepted from Islam. It did not, however attempt to change some customs or rules that were not agreeing to the rules of Islam when it came to family rules related to inheritance, for example and it showed once again its versatility that insured it its slow but successful spreading through the entire north and west of the African continent. This very good knowledge of the territory to be invaded and their new religion that allowed them to settle wisely and develop the advantages of adhering to the new faith were great assets for the Arabs in their continuous expansion after Mohammed's death, but this allowed them however to completely spread their religion only over centuries in the northern and western parts of Africa and over a millennium and four hundred years into the whole continent. Mohammed was aware from the beginning that the major religions of the rest of the people around Saudi Arabia had to be taken into consideration, that meant include them into the new faith and not completely exclude them. The Arab traders opened the routs to their merchandizes and their religion into the Saharan desert and further into the heart of the black continent. It adapted and suited every tribe, city or countryside, women or men. The Maliki school became dominant in North and West Africa" (Robinson idem). David Robinson talks about two major principles the clerics and scholars used when working with the holy book of Islam, the word of God through the teachings of the Prophet.
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