Islam and Politics in Black Africa

The growing importance of Islam was made suddenly clear with the 1979 Iranian Revolution and the subsequent rise of Moslem political activism and religious fundamentalism in countries as disparate as Syria, Sudan, the ex-Soviet Central Asian republics, and Algeria. Far less known and studied is the changing political role of Islam in Africa south of the Sahara, where the overwhelming majority of the continent’s peoples live.

African politics and economics are today in a state of flux unknown since the early years of independence, nearly three decades ago. The political impact of Islam is an essential issue. Not only is Islam one of Africa’s two
dominant religions, but ever since the last century, together with a...