Africans Contribution to Islam

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African' Contributions to the Rise of Islam

By Adib Rashad ( [email protected] )

Since the beginning of the revelation of the Qu'ran that inspired andmotivated Prophet Muhammad in 670 C. E., Africans have been pivotalfigures in the development of Islam.

Never in the history of Islam were Africans severed or dissociated fromits glorious advent.Washington Irving , in his book, Life of Mohamet, andAbu Uthman Amr Ibn Bahr Al-Jahiz, in his The Book of The Glory of TheBlack Race, state that Prophet Muhammad was reared by Barakah, anAfrican woman, after the Prophet's mother died. D. S. Margoliouth, in his

Mohammed and the Rise of Islam, and Al-Jahiz say of the sons of Abd Al-Muttalib, Prophet Muhammad's grandfather, that All ten sons were ofmassive build and dark colour.The earliest converts and disciples ofProphet Muhammad were Africans, including Zayd bin Harith, theProphet's adopted son and one of his generals.

Another pioneer noted in Islamic history was Abu Talib, uncle of theProphet and father of Ali Ibn Abi Talib, the fourth Caliph. Al-Jahiz writesthe following: The family of Abu Talib were the most noble of men, andthey were Black with Black skins.Dr. Akbar Muhammad, noted Islamic

scholar, and son of the late leader of the Nation of Islam, The HonorableElijah Muhammad, informs us that not only were the Prophet's ancestors(members of the Quraish tribe as well) of African descent, but manyAfricans were among his earliest followers, among them Barakah UmAyman, the wetnurse of the Prophet, whom he called my mother after mymother, and Mitjar the first martyr at the Battle of Badr.

Two of the Prophet's wives were Africans, Umm Habiba and Maryam, anEgyptian Copt. A number of Africans who were companions of the Prophetand participated notably in the earliest advancement of Islam were slaves

freed Prophet Muhammad and Abu Bakr, the first Caliph. Examples areUmm Ayman, Zinnira, and Abu Anjashah al-Habashi, a former slave whobecame the trusting caretaker of the Prophet's family.In the year 615 C.E., the Muslims were experiencing such severe persecution that theProphet commanded a small group to flee from Mecca. He advised themto seek refuge in Abyssinia ( Ethiopia ), with the Christian king, al-Najashi; this migration is known as the first Hijra, or flight. This is astrong testament to the respect Africans had for Islam and the admirationand respect the Muslims had for Africans.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


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The African king protected the Muslims and eventually accepted Islam; helater sent a delegation, which included his son, to study under theProphet in Medina.Another African was Wahshi, the assassin of Hamzah,paternal uncle of the Prophet. Very few studies mention the fact that afterWahshi was freed and received numerous rewards for his dastardly deed,

including Hind's hand in marriage, she commissioned Wahshi toassassinate Hamzah, he continued to reside in Mecca.

Most importantly, years later he embraced Islam, and the Prophetpardoned him for his crime.After the death of Prophet Muhammad, a largenumber of Muslims perished in a war with an enemy of Islam, Musaylimahof Najd. Wahshi succeeded in killing Musaylimah, and felt vindicated. Heis reported to have said: I had killed one of the best Muslims, Hamzah;now for killing one of the worst enemies of God, God will perhaps pardonme for my former crime. Later, Wahshi participated in the wars against

the Byzantine Empire; he settled in Syria, where he died at an advancedage.

The most celebrated African in Islamic history was/is Bilal Ibn Rabah, thefirst caller to prayer (Mu'adhdhin) and treasurer of the early IslamicState. He was an Abyssinian slave in bondage to a cruel master whomistreated him for accepting Islam. He became an early follower ofProphet Muhammad in Mecca. Abu Bakr, saw Bilal being mistreated andfreed him.

When the Muslims entered Mecca in triumph, in the year 9 A. H./630 C.E., Bilal made the call to prayer from the top of the Ka'bah. Bilal remaineda trusted companion of the Prophet and of the caliphs. He eventuallytraveled to Syria where became governor, he is said to be buried there.

Early Africans were known narrators and teachers of Hadith. Even non-Muslim Africans contributed to the culture of Islam. For example, therewas the poet Antar, who was an Ethiopic Arabian, so dark that hisnickname was Gharab (the crow).J. A. Rogers, in his World's Great Men ofColor, Volume One and Dr. Carter G. Woodson's African Heroes and

Heroines, point out that Antar accomplished great feats as a warrior andpoet in pre-Islamic Arabia.

One of Antar's poems was accorded the highest honor possible for anAfrican-Arabian writer. Antar's works hangs among the seven poems atthe entrance of the Mosque at Mecca . This collection of seven poems,known as the Muallakat, is cherished by Muslims around the world.DhulNun was a great ninth century C. E. philosopher/mystic. A Nubian whowas born a slave, he nevertheless became one of the finest scholars of hisday, noted throughout the Islamic world for his wisdom andaccomplishments in such diverse fields as law, alchemy, and Egyptian

history and hieroglyphics.


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Among Sufis, he is considered one of the greater mystics. Dr. Muhammadargues quite persuasively that religious scripture has not eradicatedethnocentrism; therefore, after the death of the Prophet, scripes andscriptural translators infused their biases into their translations. Thusracism and the willful neglect of other people's contributions to the broad

multicultural significance of Islam are still quite prevalent. These biaseshold firm insofar as African Muslims and their contributions to Islam areconcerned.

According to Dr. Muhammad, the root words denoting Blackness occur tentimes in the Qu'ran; three times they have the meaning of Lordship (Al-Siyadah). Blackness, referring to darkness or cloudiness, occurs five timesas a description of a spiritual condition or state rather than an inherentcharacteristic or color of countenance. The two remaining words refer tothe landscape and nightfall. Hence, there is no negative connotation to

Black as a color, or to Africans as a people, in the Holy Qu'ran (or theBible for that matter).

A similar view is stated by Idris Shah:The Kaaba (cubic temple, Holy ofHoliest) in Mecca is draped in Black, esoterically interpreted as a play onwords of the FHM sound in Arabic, alternatively meaning Black or Wise,understanding. The word sayed (prince) is connected with another rootfor Black, the SWD root. The original banner of the Prophet Mohammedwas Black, collectively standing for wisdom, lordship.

By 690, the Muslims were firmly established in Egypt and Tunisia, readyto advance onto the Iberian Peninsula . The so-called Berbers, whoinitially offered considerable resistance to the advancing Muslim armies,eventually became great advocates and propagators of Islam. Theysuccessfully crossed into Europe in 713, under Berber/Moorish generalTariq Ibn Ziyad, from whose name the word Gibraltar is derived (JabilTariq, the mountain of Tariq).

The advance into Europe did not stop until 732, when Charles Marteldefeated the Muslim forces at the battle of Poitiers ( Tours ), in France.

Most of us are not aware that the peoples whom the classical Greek andRoman historians called Berber were Black and affiliated with the thencontemporary peoples of East African areas. The word Berber in fact wasused to refer to peoples of the Red Sea area in Africa as well as NorthAfrica...It was such populations that in large measure comprised theMoorish people, but because of the attribute of Blackness which sharplydistinguished them from the bulk of the European people, the word cameto be generally used by Europeans to describe persons of Blackcomplexion in general.

The word Moor was used for people basically Berber in origin but then

came to include, during the Islamic period, the early Arabians. Both of


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Inner Africa experienced no Arab conquests and Islam was to spreadthrough the peaceful work of African itinerant traders and peripatetic localUlama (teachers and scholars). Islam filtered across the Sahara into WestAfrica through the agency of Islamized Berber/Moorish traders whofrequented Bilad Ed-Sudan (Lands of the Blacks). Their first converts were

their West African counterparts, the Mande traders known as the Djula,and court officials. A class of local Ulama (also known as Marabouts)emerged and towns such as Timbuktu, Jenne and Walata becamerenowned centers of Islamic studies. In the eighteenth century, theQadiriyya Sufi brotherhood became one of the most important agents ofIslamization in the area...

On the other hand, the seeds of Islam were sown in the Horn of Africaand the East African Coast by Arab migrants and traders from SouthernArabia (many of these Arabs were dark in complexion). In time, a cadre

of Ulama of local origin also emerged in these areas.

These Ulama opened schools that produced scores of teachers who in turnopened Quranic schools in their localities.Ghana was the first greatkingdoms to emerge in western Africa after the spread of Islam. Thiskingdom reached its height about 1000 C. E., when it covered parts ofwhat are now Mali and Mauritania.By the beginning of the tenth centurythe Muslim influence from the East was present. Kumbi Saleh (the city)had a native and an Arab section, and the people were gradually adoptingthe religion of Islam.

The prosperity that came in the wake of Arabian infiltration increased thepower of Ghana, and its influence was extended in all directions. In theeleventh century, when the king had become a Muslim, Ghana couldboast of a large army and a lucrative trade across the desert. FromMuslim countries came wheat, fruit, and sugar. From across the desertcame caravans laden with textiles, brass, pearls, and salt. Ghanaexchanged ivory, slaves, and gold from Bambuhu for these commodities.

Among fourteenth century Africans, none is more renowned than Mansa

Musa (1312-37), the great leader of the Mali Empire. In 1324 C. E., heperformed the pilgrimage to Mecca in such a fashion that his fame wasproclaimed from Andalusia to Khurasan, and the names of Mansa Musaand Mali made their appearance on fourteenth century maps.

During the fifteenth century, the Songhai Empire, founded by Sunni AliBer, spread forth from the capital city of Goa, on the Niger River, 200miles south of Timbuktu. This Muslim civilization is acknowledged byhistorians as one of the greatest in history. During the fifteenth century,in East Africa, the majority of Sudanese Muslims became linked throughtheir religious leaders (Imams), with either the Qadiriyya or Tijaniyya Sufi

order.


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The propagation of Islam in Africa cannot be understood withoutconsidering this attachment of the leaders to one or another of theseorders. The Tariqas (another Sufi order) in the Sudan operated on twodifferent levels: among Muslims, they sought converts to Sufism, whileamong non-Muslims, they sought converts to Islam. Despite their spiritual

roots, they had a profound impact on the social, political, and economiclife in the area. During the late 1440s and 1500s, Europeans began toestablish trading posts in Africa.

While the spread of Christianity motivated sincere Christians to establishnumerous missions, gold and slaves eventually became the primaryinterest of the Europeans interlopers. Ironically, the more that non-Muslim Africans saw of Europeans, the more they gravitated to Islam. Inthe early days of European control there were few Muslims in the coastaltowns. Today none are without their Muslim quarter.

The population of Lagos , for instance, is about 50 percent Muslim; inDakar the proportion of Muslims is steadily increasing. In Sierra LeoneColony in 1891 Muslims formed 10 percent, in 1931 they numbered25,350 out of 95,558 or 26.2 percent....During the eighteenth century,Islamic militancy increased as the European presence became morepervasive. Unjust rule, heavy uncanonical taxation, bida or innovationsforeign to Islam, immoral practices, mixing Islam with traditional customsand subordination of Muslims to non-Islamic rule prevailed throughout theregion.

Above all, European invaders, the infidels, identified as the terrible Gogand Magog, were thrusting dagger deep in the heart of Muslim Africa. TheDajjals were everywhere in the area in the form of despotic and corruptrulers.The conditions were ripe for revolution. The West African Jihadistscapitalized on them. Usman Dan Fodio founded a theocratic state inNorthern Nigeria; Seku Ahmadu established the Hamadullah Calphate inMasina (republic of Mali); and Al-Hajj Umar Tall carved out an IslamicEmpire in the Senegambia.

During the nineteenth century, resistance by African Muslims to Europeanoccupation was relentless. The Mahdi of Sudan, Muhammad Ahmad(1848-85) led a remarkable holy war against the British; his forcesdefeated General Gordon and took over Khartoum in 1885. MuhammadAbdullah Hasan, the Mahdi of Somalia, fought the forces of occupationfrom 1889 until he died of influenza in 1920. Mahdist uprisings againstEuropean encroachment were so frequent in other parts of Africa that,writing on Nigeria in 1906, Lord Lugard stated, I do not think a year haspassed since 1900 without one or more Mahdist movement.


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Ahmadu Bamba (1850-1927) founded the Murid brotherhood in 1886. Itwas/is a branch of the Qadiriyya Sufi Order and it attracted oppressedAfricans that were uprooted by the French occupation of Senegal.Bamba's followers make their Hajj not to Mecca, but in Touba, whereBamba is buried.*=====

Adib Rashad ([email protected]) is an education consultant, educationprogram director, author, and historian. He has lived and taught in WestAfrica and South East Asia.*

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Africans Contribution to Islam