Timbuktu Timbuktu is located in West Africa where the Niger River flows northward in the Sahara Desert. Because of Timbuktu’s location, it became and important port where goods from North and South Africa were traded. By the 12th century, Timbuktu became a center of Islamic learning and commercial establishment. The diverse economy of Timbuktu greatly impressed Mansa Musa. Timbuktu was discovered in 1100 A.D. around a small oasis.
However, after its spread, its ideas were changed to fit the already present belief systems of the people living there. First, Islam, like many other religions, spread through trade. Trading was the first form of interactions between different civilizations and allowed not only goods to travel from place to place, but
Islam also linked Africa more closely to the outside world through trade, religion, and politics. Through trade and long-distance commerce, many parts of the continent were able to be linked to regions beyond Muslim invasion. Another effect was now fundamental teaching of Islam, the idea that Muslims are equally made, brought the acceptance of rulers easier. The spread of Islam into
This journey is known in the Islamic calendar as the Hirja. The Islamic calendar begins in the year 622. After the death of Muhammad in 632, Muslims came together to choose a new leader or ‘khalifa’ (caliph) to be the successor of Muhammad. The caliph was to be the symbolic head of the Muslim community throughout the world. • A religion that began with the prophet Muhammad in the 7th century • Muhammad believed he was a messenger sent by God • Muslims follow the teachings of the holy book, the Qur’an • Muslims pray in the direction of Mecca, the centre for Islamic worship • Islam spread rapidly throughout the Middle East and beyond Photograph courtesy of SacredSites.com Science and technology in Medieval Islam The
Most forms of coastal art in East Africa are characterized by geometric patterns and bold, vibrant lively designs (an influence from the Islamic cultural faith and arts) This was brought upon by the trade in Africa, whereby some of the fist settlers in the coastal regions were Arabs, bringing with them their Islamic influences in terms of architecture and design. Parts of Mombasa, a coastal town in Kenya are now referred to as ‘Old Town’, and are host to many ruins of the Muslim world such as ‘Fort Jesus’. The town consists of mosques once heavily adorned in intricate designs, but now old and un-kept remain as reminders of what they once were. After the defeat of the Portuguese, the Omani Arabs controlled the coast of East Africa (1697-1888), and it is this Arabic influence that can be traced around Mombasa town. Old town for example is renowned for its impressive carved doors.
“Integration of Theory and Practice” Case Study Presentation -Violence between Muslims and Christians in Guinea- The current West African country called Guinea is the home of diverse socio-cultural and political history of the region. It was successively an important part of the great empires of Ghana, Mali, Sosso, Songhai, Gao, Wassolon, and the theocratic kingdoms of Fouta Diallon before the French invasion in the late nineteenth century. Guinea is historically known to be the last West African territory to surrender under the European colonial army, and the first to recover its independence among the French African colonies in 1958. And as many other coastal counties, Guinea was the departure point for innumerable men and women for the new world (Americas) during the Atlantic slave trade. At the time when Islam was massively being practiced in the northern part of the country since the eleventh century, Christianity was reshaping the socio-cultural life of the indigenous people along the coast with the slave trade in fifteenth century.
Islam affected the Arabian Peninsula in many ways. This new religion had a massive affect on the Bedouin tribes of Arab nations. As Islam spread and gained popularity it began to change the Arab nations and it significantly impacted the social, cultural, religious, and economic on the Arabian Peninsula. Muhammad’s vision for the future of Islam Muhammad was born into one of the most tribes called the Quraish, which consisted of wealthy merchants. The tribe gained its power through trading along the west coast of Arabia, north to Syria, and south to Yemen.
Hindu and Muslim conflict is basically cause by the Muslim conquest in the Indian subcontinent. Around 630 A.D, Islam was introduced to India through Arab traders. They are peaceful until the 8th century when a Syrian general named Muhammad bin Qasim desiring control of trade routes to India invaded. Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent mainly took place from the 12th to the 16th centuries, though earlier Muslim conquests made limited inroads into modern Afghanistan and Pakistan as early as the time of the Rajput kingdoms in the 8th century. With the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate, Islam spread across large parts of the subcontinent.
Although there are differences between the Arab people from Morocco to the Persian Gulf, Arab people enjoy a common bond of history, culture and tradition. It was in the Arab world where people first developed the system of writing; scientific advances were also developed. Rich cultures like Ancient Egypt, Assyria and Babylonia began in this region. The Arab culture has had many influences but Islam has shaped the culture like no other. The message of Islam appeared for the first time in the Arabian Peninsula in the early seventh century, and soon the faith expanded across North Africa, the entire Middle East and extended to the borders of China.
Somalia: A Lost Cause Somalia once known as a peaceful beautiful country inhabited with nomadic tribes is now known to the world as a dangerous territory stricken by famine and an on-going civil war. In the 7th and 8th century the immigrant Muslim Arabs and Persians settled in the coast of Somalia and used it for trading posts as it was the middle of the Aden and Indian ocean coasts. This was a start for Mogadishu trading station. The nomads living in Somali were starting to build a country as well as moving into the Ethiopian territory. Centuries on Somalia had now been colonised by three different foreign countries The French taking over Djibouti, Italians have colonised southern Somali renaming it Italian Somaliland and last the British colonising British Somaliland in the northern region.