Political liberalization and economic reform, the weakening of the state, and increased global interconnections have all had profound effects on Muslim societies and the practice of Islam in Africa. The contributors to this volume investigate and illuminate the changes that have occurred in Africa, through detailed case studies.

Islam in Africa South of the Sahara: Essays in Gender Relations and Political Reform draws together contributions from scholars that focus on changes taking place in the practice of the religion and their effects on the political terrain and civil society. Contributors explore the dramatic changes in gender relations within Islam on the continent, occasioned in part by the events of 9/11 and the response of various Islamic states to growing negative media coverage. These explorations of the dynamics of religious change, reconfigured gender relations, and political reform consider not only the role of state authorities but the impact of ordinary Muslim women who have taken to challenging the surbodinate role assigned to them in Islam. Essays are far-ranging in their scope as the future of Islam in sub-Saharan Africa falls under the microscope, with contributing addressing such topics as the Islamic view of the historic Arab enslavement of Africans and colonialist ventures; studies of gender politics in Gambia, northern Nigeria, and Ghana; surveys of the impact of Sharia law in Nigeria and Sudan; the political role of Islam in Somalia, South Africa, and African diaspora communities. Islam in Africa South of the Sahara is an ideal reader for students and scholars of international politics, comparative theology, race and ethnicity, comparative sociology, African and Islamic studies.

Bringing together cutting-edge research from a range of disciplines, this handbook argues that despite often being overlooked or treated as marginal, the study of Islam from an African context is integral to the broader Muslim world. Challenging the portrayal of African Muslims as passive recipients of religious impetuses arriving from the outside, this book shows how the continent has been a site for the development of rich Islamic scholarship and religious discourses. Over the course of the book, the contributors reflect on: The history and infrastructure of Islam in Africa Politics and Islamic reform Gender, youth, and everyday life for African Muslims New technologies, media, and popular culture. Written by leading scholars in the field, the contributions examine the connections between Islam and broader sociopolitical developments across the continent, demonstrating the important role of religion in the everyday lives of Africans. This book is an important and timely contribution to a subject that is often diffusely studied, and will be of interest to researchers across religious studies, African studies, politics, and sociology.

In 2019, Islamic State lost its last remaining sliver of territory in Syria, and its Caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was killed. These setbacks seemed to herald the Caliphate's death knell, and many now forecast its imminent demise. Yet its affiliates endure, particularly in Africa: nearly all of Islamic State's cells on the continent have reaffirmed their allegiance, attacks have continued in its name, many groups have been reinvigorated, and a new province has emerged. Why, in Africa, did the two major setbacks of 2019 have so little impact on support for Islamic State? The Islamic State in Africa suggests that this puzzle can be explained by the emergence and evolution of Islamic State's provinces in Africa, which it calls 'sovereign subordinates'. By examining the rise and development of eight Islamic State 'cells', the authors show how, having pledged allegiance to IS Central, cells evolved mostly autonomously, using the IS brand as a means for accrual of power, but, in practice, receiving relatively little if any direction or material support from central command. Given this pattern, IS Central's relative decline has had little impact on its African affiliates-who are likely to remain committed to the Caliphate's cause for the foreseeable future.

For generations Islamic and Western intellectuals and policymakers have debated Islam’s compatibility with democratic government, usually with few solid conclusions. But where—Brandon Kendhammer asks in this book—have the voices of ordinary, working-class Muslims been in this conversation? Doesn’t the fate of democracy rest in their hands? Visiting with community members in northern Nigeria, he tells the complex story of the stunning return of democracy to a country that has also embraced Shariah law and endured the radical religious terrorism of Boko Haram. Kendhammer argues that despite Nigeria’s struggles with jihadist insurgency, its recent history is really one of tenuous and fragile reconciliation between mass democratic aspirations and concerted popular efforts to preserve Islamic values in government and law. Combining an innovative analysis of Nigeria’s Islamic and political history with visits to the living rooms of working families, he sketches how this reconciliation has been constructed in the conversations, debates, and everyday experiences of Nigerian Muslims. In doing so, he uncovers valuable new lessons—ones rooted in the real politics of ordinary life—for how democracy might work alongside the legal recognition of Islamic values, a question that extends far beyond Nigeria and into the Muslim world at large.

Contesting Islam in Africa examines the experiences of "returnee" scholars, an emerging class of elites trained in Saudi and Egyptian theological universities, and their role in educational initiatives and the reconfiguration of Muslim identity in Ghana between 1920 and 2010. Based on oral interviews and significant archival work in Ghana and at the National Archives in London, the book addresses three questions: How did the returnee scholars conceptualize and rationalize local politics and Muslim life in a pluralistic society where Muslims are a minority? How did Ghana''s colonial and post-colonial governments react to the transnational spaces constructed by Muslims generally? And, given the returnee educational imperative, what has been the Saudi and Egyptian influence on the formulation of Muslim culture in Ghana? The book also explores the influence of local mallams, in particular Alhaji Yussif Soalihu (Afa Ajura), who was indefatigable as he almost single-handedly spread Wahhabism in Ghana. For any meaningful understanding of reform Islam and the "returnee" scholars in Ghana, its essential to appreciate the many facets of the life of Afa Ajura. The activities of Afa Ajura and his literate assistants created public controversy and sometimes led to open confrontation with religious adversaries, the Tijaniyya fraternity. These activities redefined intra-religious conflagration and turned Afa Ajura into a religious phenomenon. The many violent confrontations that ensued also attracted the attention of external actors not only interested in spreading reform Islam, but also interested in integrating Ghanaian Muslims into the wider world of Islam. This book argues that Salafism/Wahhabism was and in many ways remains a homegrown religious phenomenon that benefitted primarily from preexisting splits within the northern Ghanaian Muslim community. It also argues that transnational Salafism/Wahhabism and Middle Eastern and North African contact--especially through education and outreach programs--only provided the ideological justification and the grammar for reinterpreting the common good and for reconfiguring local social and political sensibilities. This book is part of the African World Series, edited by Toyin Falola, Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities, University of Texas at Austin. "The influence of Wahhabism in sub-Saharan Africa remains one of the least-investigated areas in African studies at a time when tensions, mistrust and religious conflicts have increased. By examining the role of the returnee ulama (Muslim scholars) and their organizations in creating new Muslim identities modeled on their Arab funders, in stark contrast to the Africanized versions of Islam practiced by their own parents, grandparents or relatives at home, the book promises to shed new light on the changing face of Islam in traditionally peaceful and tolerant Muslim societies of sub-Saharan Africa." -- Fallou Ngom, PhD., Associate Professor of Anthropology & Director of the African Language Program, African Studies Center, Boston University "The study of Islam in Africa has not attracted a lot of scholarly attention because the focus has tended to be on the colonial project in Africa. The great moment in the manuscript is when the author asks this question: ''How do we explain the intensity of these clashes - Muslim against Muslim - in a religiously plural country where Islam remains a minority religion?'' This is an important question because the tendency has been to see conflict between Muslims and non Muslims and yet this book promises to provide a totally different type of analysis. The manuscript provides insightful overview of some of the tensions in the past, by looking at conflicts that have occurred in the past. ... Using lucid and great narrative, analytical and interpretative style, the author takes on a rich array of issues that have not attracted a lot of attention in African history. It is a project that deploys primary and secondary sources in a remarkable manner. It will be a useful addition to literature on the spread of Islam in Africa. It is likely to have a great impact on our knowledge of Islam in West Africa in general and Ghana in particular." -- Maurice Amutabi, PhD, Associate Professor, The Catholic University of Eastern Africa, Nairobi, Kenya "The author was able to connect the spread of Islamic education in line with the Saudi Wahhabi doctrine fueled by the return of graduates from the Islamic University of Medina and the influx of Islamic books that promote the Salafy ideology into Ghana and the decline of Tijaniyya in Ghana." -- Dauda Abubakar, African Studies Quarterly

Muslim Societies in Africa provides a concise overview of Muslim societies in Africa in light of their role in African history and the history of the Islamic world. Roman Loimeier identifies patterns and peculiarities in the historical, social, economic, and political development of Africa, and addresses the impact of Islam over the longue durée. To understand the movements of peoples and how they came into contact, Loimeier considers geography, ecology, and climate as well as religious conversion, trade, and slavery. This comprehensive history offers a balanced view of the complexities of the African Muslim past while looking toward Africa's future role in the globalized Muslim world.