The Palgrave Handbook of Islam in Africa

This handbook generates new insights that enrich our understanding of the history of Islam in Africa and the diverse experiences and expressions of the faith on the continent. The chapters in the volume cover key themes that reflect the preoccupations and realities of many African Muslims. They provide readers access to a comprehensive treatment of the past and current traditions of Muslims in Africa, offering insights on different forms of Islamization that have taken place in several regions, local responses to Islamization, Islam in colonial and post-colonial Africa, and the varied forms of Jihād movements that have occurred on the continent. The handbook provides updated knowledge on various social, cultural, linguistic, political, artistic, educational, and intellectual aspects of the encounter between Islam and African societies reflected in the lived experiences of African Muslims and the corpus of African Islamic texts.

• Sub-Sahara
• North Africa
• West Africa
• East Africa
• Southern Africa
• Pre-Colonial Africa
• Colonial Africa
• Post-Colonial Africa
• Salafism
• Sharia
• Wahabism
• religion and society

“The purpose of life is to know, speak, and be useful to one another, a wise Senegalese imam tells us, and the compelling essays of this volume are offered in just such generous spirit. That God is multilingual and Islam polycentric are blessings extending to us all, as we gratefully learn through the voices of thirty-plus scholars, the majority from sub-Saharan Africa which is, after all, home to over one sixth of the world’s Muslims.” (Allen F. Roberts, Distinguished Professor of World Arts and Cultures, University of California, Los Angeles, USA)

“An authoritative work on Islam and Sudanic Africa from pre-colonial time to date. For anyonelooking for an exertion that is marked by depth and breadth of analytical rigor in the reinterpretation of old narratives and injection of new thoughts in a readable language, this is an effort sui generis.” (Amidu. O. Sanni, Vice-Chancellor, Fountain University, Nigeria)

• Boston University, Boston, USA

  Fallou Ngom

• Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria

  Mustapha H. Kurfi

• University of Texas at Austin, Austin, USA

  Toyin Falola

Fallou Ngom is Professor of Anthropology at Boston University, USA.

Mustapha H. Kurfi is Senior Lecturer at Bayero University in Kano, Nigeria.

Toyin Falola is University Distinguished Teaching Professor and Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities at the University of Texas at Austin, USA.

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