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Expansion of the Islamic empire
The Influences of African Religion on Christianity
Expansion of the Islamic empire
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I. INTRODUCTION
Christianity in Africa is not a recent happening nor is it a product of colonialism if we go back to the very time of the apostle. Christianity in most area was confronted during the centuries after the struggle by Islam, the Christian religion suffered in some measure, but did not disappear. Christianity has been flourishing on the northern part of this continent for years before Islam was born. Christianity in North African seemed to have been well founded deeply entrenched and firmly led.
The question then to ask is why then did Christianity died from North Africa when Islam made it great advance during the centuries? Was there something unique about North Africa? Did the Muslims use a different technique in North Africa than they did in other areas which they invaded? An overview of this assignment will give the dead of Christianity from North Africa finding it primary and most decisive cause in a unique form.
II. CHRISTIANITY IN AFRICA
Even though the European worlds have tried to claim Christianity as their religion, the teachings of Christianity are of universal application. Musa A.B Gaiya noted that, “There is strength in the Christian present in Africa they first dates from the apostolic period. It first entered Egypt and quickly spread to other [part of North Africa, namely Ethiopia, Nubia, and Maghreb area. These means Christianity was indigenized since Africa were themselves instrumental in the spread of the gospel” this has made Christianity not to be considered as a foreign religion. “Historically Christianity was thriving in Africa long before it reach American and British where most of the protestant missionaries come from. We can therefore call Christianity an Africa religion” . We may there...
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...a, yet it has survived and is still surviving as an oppressed
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One of Kingsolver’s plot ideas was American Missionaries of the 1960’s, which occupied African soil in order to aid African nations from rival countries, poor economical development and paganism. Relations between African leaders and the President of t...
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As the world of trade developed over time, goods were not the only things that were traded throughout these routes. With the merchants that traveled the world, were the ideals and religions that had learned from foreign lands, and the major religions of Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism, spread like wildfire throughout the regions of Eurasia and Africa because of this. The spread of Islam throughout the continent of Africa acted as a major influence both politically and socially. After 1600, Islam began to make its mark on the newly centralized states in Africa and was spread through western land trade, and through merchants on the Swahili coast. The major gold trading center of the Kingdom of Ghana, attracted merchants, and was a center for the Muslim community . By the 10th century, the kings of Ghana had converted to Islam in order to improve the relation between the kings and merchants. The early converts of Central and West Africa did not e...
Throughout history, the rise and fall of empires in Europe had become so prevalent that it was hardly a surprise anymore. There were a great deal of changes in rulers, land ownership, and religion in all the areas of Europe. The area that I plan to focus on is Afro-Eurasia between the times of 300-600 CE. During this time, new borders were made, religions were traded from area to area, and new empires came to be.
Imagine a group of foreign people invading your home, disavowing all your beliefs, and attempting to convert you to a religion you have never heard of. This was the reality for thousands and thousands of African people when many Europeans commenced the Scramble for Africa during the period of New Imperialism. A great fiction novel written by Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart, highlights the responses to missionaries by African people. The African natives responded to the presence of white missionaries with submission to their desires, strategic responses to counteract them, and with the most disruptive response of violence.
The novel Things Fall Apart written by Chinua Achebe highlights the many important historical events that happened during the period of colonialism, spread of religious fervor to Africa from Europe, and the importance of the native religion among African societies. Achebe shows that religion holds a major influence in many African societies and influences the daily life of the natives. Furthermore, the novel introduces a major event that happen during pre-colonial Africa, the spread of the Christian faith, which forever changed and affected the natives in Africa, more specifically the Igbo society located in Nigeria. Things Fall Apart vividly describes and explains how the Christian faith that arrived in Africa changed both the individuals in the Umoufia and society. To add on, the novel shows how the spread of Christianity ultimately leads to the destruction of the many native African cultures, and shows what redeeming qualities that arise from the destruction of their culture. Achebe describes how the Christian faith acts as a guide to the Igbo society and at the same time acts as the inevitable downfall of the Igbo society.
Although, the Civil war brought about change for Africans, along with this change it brought heart ache, despair and restriction of worship to the African...
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To colonize the land of Nigerian tribal people or any other lands in the world, the British wisely used religion as a tool of invasion. Though the process of spreading Christianity took longer time than war and killing, the attack on belief and spirituality made the native people completely submit to the new government which generated and supported the religion that those people followed. In fact, the British missionaries succeeded in convincing the Igbo people of the new religion despite the Igbo’s conservativeness and extreme superstition.
The spread of Islam in Africa had taken course from a number of factors, including external and internal forces. After my analyzing of the spread of Islam in Africa, I have gather three main themes that stuck out during the expansion of Islam: Islam and trade, the conversion conditions of Islam, and the economics/political development involving Islam. These three themes provide great insight on how Islam started to spread through out Africa. Through trade the culture and religion of Islam was spread to many different areas. This correlates to the conversion of different people, which helped spread Islam. By these conversions Islam was able to establish Islamic states, which played a factor in the development of strong economic and political
The Middle Passage presents very clearly the traditional European held notion of African savagery. In essence, everything about African people such as their religious views, cultural practices, and physical make reveals their lack of civility and class in relation to the western world. Of the most notable European notions about African religi...
“When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said “let us pray.” We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land.”- Bishop Desmond Tutu.
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