Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
and the Palestinian Territories. To the west, the unrelenting conquest swept across North
Africa. By the end of the 7th century, the Muslims had reached and conquered what is
now Morocco. In 710, they marched on Spain.
The natural barrier formed by the Sahara meant that Islam took longer to trickle down
into West Africa than elsewhere. It first reached the Sahel around 900, via trans-Saharan
traders from present-day Morocco and Algeria. Islam cemented its position as the domin-
ant religion in the Sahel in the 17th and 18th centuries, filling the vacuum left by the then-
defunct Sahelian empires. Spiritual power was fused with political and economic hege-
mony, and Islamic jihads (holy wars) were declared on nonbelievers and backed by the
powers of the state. In time, several Muslim states were established, including Futa Toro
(in northern Senegal), Futa Djalon ( Guinea ), Masina (Mali) and the Sokoto state of
Hausaland (Niger and Nigeria).
Although ordinary people in many regions preferred to retain their traditional beliefs,
Islam quickly became the state religion in many West African kingdoms and empires,
where rulers skilfully combined aspects of Islam with traditional religions in the adminis-
tration of the state. The result was a fusion of beliefs that remains a feature of West Afric-
an life today.
Some Muslims believe that the Quran must be studied in its original classical Arabic form ('an Arabic
Quran, wherein there is no crookedness'; sura 39:25) and that translations dilute the holiness of its sac-
red texts. For Muslims, the language of the Quran is known as
sihr halal
( lawful magic).
The Quran
For Muslims the Quran is the word of God, directly communicated to Mohammed. It
comprises 114 suras, or chapters, which govern all aspects of a Muslim's life.
It's not known whether the revelations were written down during Mohammed's life-
time, although Muslims believe the Quran to be the direct word of Allah as told to Mo-
hammed. The third caliph, Uthman (644-56), gathered together everything written by the
scribes (parchments, stone tablets, the memories of Mohammed's followers) and gave
them to a panel of editors under the caliph's aegis. A Quran printed today is identical to
that agreed upon by Uthman's compilers 14 centuries ago.
SONY & THE QURAN
West African Islam is generally regarded as more liberal than the Islam espoused by purists in Cairo or Mecca. In
October 2008, that diversity of opinion was thrust into the international spotlight. A Sony video game,
