“Travel to Abyssinia, for there is a king under whose rule no one is wronged. It is a land of truth, until God grants you relief from what you face.”
This Prophetic teaching about the people of Africa — and Ethiopia specifically — represents one of the earliest statements in recorded history describing the relationship between Arabs and Africans. Early Muslims came to know African societies even before Islam spread widely across the continent, through economic and commercial relations, as well as political and religious connections between Arabia and East Africa in what was once known as the “Zanj Coast”.
African presence in early Islamic history was never limited to enslaved individuals brought from the continent. Abyssinia had deep ties with Yemen in the southern Arabian Peninsula, and Zanzibar on Africa’s eastern coast shared longstanding connections with Oman even before Islam flourished in both regions. It is therefore unsurprising that Islam’s early engagement with Africa was a natural continuation of these ancient ties.
Muslims reached Africa by two main routes.
The first was maritime: crossing the Red Sea through Bab el-Mandeb toward Somalia, Abyssinia, and Zanzibar. Because of this, East Africa was strongly influenced by the Arabian Peninsula, reflected in the spread of its legal schools and Sufi orders — the very traditions that shaped religious life across Arabia and the wider Indian Ocean.
The second route was land-based: entering North and West Africa. It was the path taken by Amr ibn al-‘As when opening Egypt. After Muslim governance stabilised there, military missions extended westward to Barqa, then Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco. Once Islam became established across North Africa, its call naturally moved southward into the Sahel and beyond the Sahara.
Islam in Africa did not spread by conquest.
Contrary to widespread misconception, most African nations did not embrace Islam due to military campaigns or collapsing kingdoms. Rather, Islam spread through merchants, travelling scholars, and the influence of early African Muslim converts whose character, justice, and spiritual discipline reshaped their societies. These communities carried the banner of the faith after the Companions and their successors.
Much has been written about Muslim-majority regions neighbouring the Arab north — Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Chad — which historically benefitted from religious scholarship, Arabic literacy, mosque construction, and institutions of learning that extended southwards. Proximity to universities like al-Azhar and al-Qarawiyyin also made travel for study more accessible.
But what about southern and southeastern Africa?
In countries such as Botswana, Mozambique, and Namibia, Muslim populations have grown steadily over the past decade, influencing social and economic life in regions where Islam is less documented.
Botswana: A Quiet Story of Islamic Presence
Botswana — a country with more elephants than any other on earth and an important source of diamonds — is also home to a small but growing Muslim population. Despite former president Ian Khama being listed among the world’s most openly discriminatory leaders, Islam today ranks as the nation’s third-largest religion.
A former British protectorate known as Bechuanaland, Botswana became independent in 1966. With only around 1.5 million people, the country went on to become one of Africa’s greatest development success stories, posting some of the fastest per-capita growth rates globally. Minerals, particularly diamonds and uranium discovered in 2010, created financial stability and a sophisticated banking system.
Islam in Botswana
Islam arrived through Indian Muslim traders whose commercial journeys doubled as da‘wah. Although Muslims remain a minority, their numbers continue to rise, visible in community initiatives, mosques, and local Islamic organisations.
Ibn Battuta himself described the flourishing Muslim towns along East Africa’s coast during his travels in the eighth Islamic century, affirming a long-standing and vibrant Islamic presence in the region.
Several organisations support Islamic education in Botswana, such as the Botswana Islamic Society, the Islamic Council, and the Muslim Youth Movement, all of which have repeatedly appealed for more qualified teachers, preachers, and Arabic-language instructors to meet community needs.
Because Islamic schooling in Botswana remained underdeveloped for decades, many young Muslims travelled to neighbouring Mozambique for structured religious education.
Mozambique: Islam Under Colonial Siege and the Struggle to Rebuild
Mozambique, located in southeastern Africa, gained independence in 1975 after more than 450 years of brutal Portuguese colonial rule. Since the sixteenth century, the Portuguese fought Islam relentlessly, continuing the same anti-Muslim ideology that followed their expulsion from Andalusia. Mozambique became one of their principal battlefields against African Islam.
Under colonial rule, Islamic education was undermined, destroyed, or tightly controlled. Mosques were neglected and teachers unqualified, with almost no access to religious books. Despite Muslims forming a demographic majority in many regions, the political and educational landscape marginalised them.
Although independence ended formal colonial rule, the structural damage remained. Schools were weak, resources limited, and Catholic-run institutions continued to dominate the educational sector.
Gulf support — coming from countries such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia — emerged in the late twentieth century as a response to this vacuum. Educational projects like the Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum Schools expanded across southeastern Africa, building dozens of institutions, including major facilities in Mozambique.
To communities deprived of formal Islamic education for centuries, such efforts felt like a lifeline.
From Sufism to Salafism and the Rise of Wahhabism: A Needed Correction in 2025
Across much of Africa, Islam historically grew through Sufi scholarship, Sunni orthodoxy, and the Ash‘ari creed — the same theological tradition embraced by al-Azhar, al-Qarawiyyin, Timbuktu’s scholars, and nearly every major African Islamic dynasty for a thousand years.
These traditions shaped African spirituality, jurisprudence, literacy, and community life. They emphasised mercy, humility, knowledge, and the purification of the soul — values deeply resonant with African cultures.
But in the twentieth century, external funding introduced Salafi and later Wahhabi teachings that did not historically belong to African Islam.
Some African governments turned to Sufism to counter Salafism; others used Salafism to curb the rise of Wahhabism. Yet the strongest push — materially and institutionally — came from Wahhabi-aligned funding agencies seeking influence across the continent.
It is essential, especially today, to state clearly:
Wahhabism is not the authentic Islamic creed of Africa — nor of Sunni Islam itself.
It diverges from the mainstream Sunni Ash‘ari and Maturidi traditions that defined Islamic theology globally for over a millennium.
Its harshness, literalism, and rejection of the classical scholarly legacy stand in sharp contrast to the tolerant, scholarly, spiritually rich Islam that spread from Cairo to Timbuktu, from Zanzibar to Mogadishu.
African Muslims accepted Sufi, Ash‘ari, and Maturidi teachings not because they lacked alternatives, but because these teachings reflected Islam’s depth, beauty, and universality.
Today in 2025, many African scholars and communities are actively reclaiming this heritage, distancing themselves from Wahhabi discourse and affirming a return to authentic Sunni tradition — a tradition rooted in scholarship, spirituality, and continuity with the Prophetic legacy.
Where education is scarce, African Muslims face a stark choice: Either attend whichever schools are available, regardless of their theology, or fall under the pressure of ongoing missionary campaigns. Strengthening authentic Sunni institutions is therefore not only a religious necessity but a cultural and historical restoration.
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