Transcript Lecture 15 File

Islam in Africa
• 1/3 of Muslims are in Africa
• 45% of the African population
First Higra 613-615
• Followers of the
Prophet fled Mecca
to the Kingdom of
Aksum in modern
day Ethiopia
• Embassy of Quraysh
• Exiled and fled to
Medina 628
Trade
Islam from the North and West
Jurisprudence
Three Stages of Islamic Conversion
• containment, mixing, and reform.
• African kings contained Muslim influence by
segregating Muslim communities
• African rulers blended Islam with local
traditions as the population selectively
appropriated Islamic practices
• African Muslims pressed for reforms in an
effort to rid their societies of mixed practices
and implement shariah.
• The success of Islam in Africa is partially the result of its
ability to respect and absorb other traditions.
• spread of Islam gradual.
• Moslems did not, for the most part, attempt to force
conversion
• converts often continued to practice some aspects of
African traditional religions at the same time that the
adopted the core principles and teaches of Islam.
• Islam requires obedience to the five pillars, the religion is
tolerant of other beliefs and practices as long as they don't
contradict these basic principles.
• spread of Islam was also facilitated by the fact that many
traditional African religions are also flexible and adaptable.
• the practice of Islam in Africa often contains mystical
elements
• Accommodation of Pagan
practices in the spread of
Christianity to Europe
• Easter, Celtic god of spring
• Christmas, Dec 25 chosen
to replace the high Roman
ceremony of Saturnalia
African Jihadism
• 1998 bombings Kenya
Tanzania
• Revenge for US involvement
in Extradition to Albania and
of 4 EIJ operatives
• Bin Laden cited, Invasion of
Somalia, Rawandan
Genocide, Plan to partition
Sudan
IS Affiliates
• al-I'tisam of the Koran and Sunnah [Sudan] - 1 Aug. 2014 •
• al-Huda Battalion in Maghreb of Islam [Algeria] - 30 Jun. 2014 –
• The Soldiers of the Caliphate in Algeria [Algeria] - 30 Sep. 2014 –
• Islamic Youth Shura Council [Libya] - 22 Jun. 2014 –
• Jamaat Ansar Bait al-Maqdis [Egypt] - 30 Jun. 2014 –
• Jund al-Khilafah in Egypt [Egypt] - 23 Sep. 2014 –
• Islamic State Libya (Darnah) [Libya] - 9 Nov. 2014 –
• Lions of Libya [Libya] (Unconfirmed) - 24 Sep. 2014 –
• Shura Council of Shabab al-Islam Darnah [Libya] - 6 Oct. 2014 –
• Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem (MSCJ) [Egypt] - 1
Oct. 2014 –
• Okba Ibn Nafaa Battalion [Tunisia] - 20 Sep. 2014 –
• Boko Haram [Nigeria] - 7 Mar. 2015 –
• Jund al-Khilafah in Tunisia [Tunisia] - 31 Mar. 2015 –
• al-Murabitoun [Mali] - 14 May 2015 –
• Mujahideen of Tunisia of Kairouan [Tunisia] 18 May 2015 -
Al Qaeda Major Affiliates
• AQIM
• Al Shabaab
Boko Haram, Nigeria
• Formed by Mohammed Yusuf 2002, Killed 2009
• promotes a version of Islam which makes it "haram", or
forbidden, for Muslims to take part in any political or social
activity associated with Western society.
• extends its military campaign by targeting neighbouring states..
• President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in
May 2013 in three northern states
• In August 2014 Caliphate declared "We are in an Islamic
caliphate, "We have nothing to do with Nigeria. We don't believe
in this name.“
• Pledged allegiance to ISIS
• March 2015, Boko Haram had lost all the towns under its control
to a regional coalition - Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger .
Abductions and Slavery
• April 2014, 276 school girls abducted
• Forced to convert. Sold as brides for 12 dollars each
• Shekau "Allah instructed me to sell them...I will carry
out his instructions. Slavery is allowed in my religion,
and I shall capture people and make them slaves.”
• 100’s of other women held outside of Nigeria
Sokoto Caliphate
• founded during the
Fulani War in 1809
by Usman dan Fodio
• one of the largest
states in Africa in the
1800s.
• success inspired
similar jihads in
Western Africa
• Terminated by the
British 1904
Ansaru
• Vanguard for the Protection of Muslims in Black Lands founded in
January 2012
• based in the northeast of Nigeria.
• splinter group of the larger Boko Haram organisation
• Dedicated to an international purpose
• describes BK as "inhuman to the Muslim Ummah".
• Group claims not kill innocent non-Muslims or security officials,
except in "self defense"
• Defends the interests of Islam and Muslims not just in Nigeria but
the whole of Africa.
• coordinates its operations with Mali-based AQIM
• Several of Ansaru’s commanders have been reported as returning to
Boko Haram over 2013.
Al Shahaab
• The Youth
• It emerged as the radical youth wing of Somalia's now-defunct Union of
Islamic Courts, which controlled Mogadishu in 2006, before being forced
out by Ethiopian forces.
• 7,000 and 9,000 fighters. Foreign recruits drawn from Neighboring
countries US and Europe.
• Westgate shopping centre in 2013, 68 Killed
• In Westgate, and other attacks, the militants spared Muslims, while killing
those unable to recite verses from the Koran.
• Kenya has sent its troops into Somali territory, where they have joined the
African Union force battling the militants.
• Although it has lost control of most towns and cities, it still dominates in
many rural areas.
• It was forced out of the capital, Mogadishu, in August 2011 and left the
vital port of Kismayo in September 2012.
• In a joint video released in February 2012, former al-Shabab leader Ahmed
Abdi Godane said he "pledged obedience" to al-Qaeda head Ayman alZawahiri.
Al Shabaab
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
• founded in 1998 following the dismantling of
the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) - the militant
group that fought the Algerian government
during the 1990s.
• Served as a recruiting source for jihadist
conflicts in Middle East and Afghanistan
Defections.
• "Masked Men" Battalion and MUJAO, announced merger under the
new name of El-Mourabitoun.
• "The Movement for Monotheism and Jihad in West Africa"
(MUJAO) was formed in late 2011 and came to prominence in April
2012, when it joined two Tuareg groups, the National Movement
for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) and Ansar al-Din, in seizing
control of northern Mali. MUJAO controlled the town of Gao
between April 2012 and January 2013.
• Based in northern Mali, this AQIM offshoot is made up mostly of
Arabs from Mali, Niger and Mauritania
• 'The Sons of the Islamic Sahara Movement for Justice'
• This group split from MUJAO in May 2013 and reportedly works in
northern Niger, western Libya and south-eastern Algeria.
• Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West
Africa (MOJWA), Movement for Unity and
Jihad in West Africa (MUJWA), or Jamāʿat attawḥīd wal-jihād fī gharb ʾafrīqqīyā[