Islam in Africa

Many of us, especially Islamic brethren, might assume that Islam in only found in the Arab world and parts of Asia. But unknown to us, Islam, has for ages been one of the accepted religions of millions of African men and women. In this case, I specifically refer to black Africa because northern Africa is Arab and Islam is presumably their dominant religion.

One may ask: When did this religion penetrate black Africa? The answer to this question is simple if we learn a bit of what in Islam is called Hijra (migration for religious reason). Moslem historians categorized Hijra into two. First, The Prophet Muhammad's companions' migration to Habasha today's eastern Africa especially parts of Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia etc. This was in search of political asylum. They were accepted and given religious freedom to practice Islam. Through their contact with local people as time went on, they spread the religion and this was how my ancestors first came into contact with Islam. In other words, Islam came to Africa when Prophet Muhammad was still alive.

The second category was migration from Mecca to Medina also in search of political asylum. Islam was also spread across the continent through Arab nomads, traders etc. In fact, at one time in history, Sokoto Sultanate in northern Africa was officially using Arabic for all its functions -- even before being invaded by British colonizers. Just like Indonesia at an international level, Nigeria, at African level, has the largest Moslem population. Somalia has 100 percent Moslem population. Others like Mali, Senegal, Gambia, Niger, Comoros Islands, Tchad etc., have all around 90 percent Moslem population. At the moment, the famous Organization of Islamic Conference (O.I.C.) has 54 members. About half of these member nations are African.

In fact, recently the secretary-general of this organization was Hamid Alghabid, also an African from Republic of Niger (not Nigeria). When I first came to Indonesia, I found that Shafi- iyyah school of Islamic jurisprudence has been adopted. In Africa, we mostly adopted Malikiyya Islamic school of thought.

As far as Islamic institutions are concerned there are at the moment professional Islamic universities in Niger, Uganda, Sudan etc. There are a great number of distinct Islamic tribes in Africa; the Hausas, Fulas, Mandinkas, Somalis and Arabized blacks in Sudan. Ahl-Assunah is a widely accepted sect. But others like Qadriyyah, Tijjaniyya and some Iranian Shi-ism are popular.

I am not a Moslem convert because even my ancestors were Moslem. I still accept the question: Mr. black, why are you Moslem? I am Moslem because Islam doesn't discriminate against black men, instead, it always reaffirms that the more God- conscious a person is, the higher respect he/she enjoys before God.

BUHARI ABDU

Jakarta