Islam In West Africa Essay

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In today’s age, there are several controversies surrounding the religion of Islam, however, looking back on history, that was not always the case. Like every other religion, not everyone accepted it with open arms, but for some, it was a refuge. One such example was in West Africa. To better understand, it is important to understand what Islam stands for. Islam basically translates to mean submission and is a religion that stands for absolute monotheism. Unlike the other religious traditions such as Judaism and Christianity, Islam stands for complete submission to Allah’s will with no other supreme existing or believing that Jesus is his son. Started with the vision of Muhammad while on one of his retreats around early 600 CE, the Islamic faith quickly spread into the surrounding regions, initially by military conquests. However, no one was forced to convert as willingness is seen as the only legitimated way of converting someone. With the spread of Islam in West Africa, it was rare for people of the region to not be affected by the religion. One state most affected by it was Mali. Mali was one of the wealthiest states or countries in the world due to its location among a very prosperous trade route and also because of all of the resources it offered that could be traded. With so much trade came more
Also, the factors that lead to the spread of Islam in Mali did not yield the same results in other states because the circumstances were different. Without the geographical placement that Mali had that allowed the country to flourish with trade and without a king that was willing to rule by example above all else, no other regions ever had as great an Islamic influence as the state of Mali. The closest was to mix Islam with local religious

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