Islam in Africa South of the Sahara: Essays in Gender Relations and Political Reform

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Islam in Africa South of the Sahara: Essays in Gender Relations and Political Reform draws together contributions from scholars that focus on changes taking place in the practice of the religion and their effects on the political terrain and civil society. Contributors explore the dramatic changes in gender relations within Islam on the continent, occasioned in part by the events of 9/11 and the response of various Islamic states to growing negative media coverage. These explorations of the dynamics of religious change, reconfigured gender relations, and political reform consider not only the role of state authorities but the impact of ordinary Muslim women who have taken to challenging the surbodinate role assigned to them in Islam. Essays are far-ranging in their scope as the future of Islam in sub-Saharan Africa falls under the microscope, with contributing addressing such topics as the Islamic view of the historic Arab enslavement of Africans and colonialist ventures; studies of gender politics in Gambia, northern Nigeria, and Ghana; surveys of the impact of Sharia law in Nigeria and Sudan; the political role of Islam in Somalia, South Africa, and African diaspora communities. Islam in Africa South of the Sahara is an ideal reader for students and scholars of international politics, comparative theology, race and ethnicity, comparative sociology, African and Islamic studies. Contents Preface Acknowledgments Part I: Historical Origins of Islam in Africa and the Basic Principles of Islamic Theocracy Chapter 1: Islam and the African World Chapter 2: Basic Doctrines of Islam and Colonialism in Africa Chapter 3: Arab Enslavement of Africans: An Islamic Viewpoint Chapter 4: One Hundred Years of Muslim Community in Accra: A Historical Study of Tudu from 1900 to 2000 Part II: Gender Relations within Islam in Africa Chapter 5: Renegotiating Gender: Changing Moral Practice in the Tablighi Jama’at in the Gambia Chapter 6: The Status of Women in Islam: Perceptions from a Visit to the Madina Central Mosque in Accra, Ghana Chapter 7: Muslim Women in Political Leadership in Hausa Society of Northern Nigeria Chapter 8: Islamic Call: The Role of Women in Da’wah Activities, Dagbon, Northern Ghana—The Case of Hajia Mariam Alolo Chapter 9: Religious Experience and Women Leadership in Nigerian Islam Part III: The Sharia Code and Conditions of Women in African Islam Chapter 10: Nigeria’s Sharia Criminal Procedure Codes Chapter 11: Sharia Implementation and Female Muslims in Nigeria’s Sharia States Chapter 12: The Past in the Present? The Issue of Sharia in the Sudan Chapter 13: Religious Models for Peace and War in a Heterogeneous Society: A Case Study of the Sharia Law Model in Yorubaland Part IV: Political Islam and Africa and the African Diaspora Chapter 14: Islamic Political Dynamics in the Somali Civil War Chapter 15: Islam vs. Islamism: The South African Dimension Chapter 16: Political Islam in the African Diaspora: A History of the Nation of Islam Selected Bibliography Glossary of Islamic Words Contributors