The influence of Islam in Mali dates back to the 15th century when Al-Bakri mentions the conversion of its ruler to Islam.\u00a0 There was a miserable period of drought which came to an end by offering Muslim prayers and ablutions.\u00a0 The Empire of Mali arose from the ruins of Ghana Empire.\u00a0 There are two important names in the history of Islam in Mali: Sundiata (1230-1255) and Mansa Musa (1312-1337).\u00a0 Sundiata is the founder of the Mali Empire but was a weak Muslim, since he practiced Islam with syncretic practices and was highly disliked by the scholars.\u00a0 Mansa Musa was, on the other hand, a devout Muslim and is considered to be the real architect of the Mali Empire.\u00a0 By the time Sundiata died in 1255, a large number of former dependencies of Ghana also came under his power.\u00a0 After him came Mansa Uli (1255-1270) who had made a pilgrimage to Makkah.<\/p>\n
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Mansa (Emperor) Musa came to power in 1312 and his fame reached beyond the Sudan, North Africa and spread up to Europe.\u00a0 Mansa Musa ruled from 1312 to 1337 and in 1324-25 he made his famous pilgrimage to Makkah [Hajj].\u00a0 When he returned from his pilgrimage, he brought with him a large number of Muslim scholars and architects who built five mosques for the first time with baked bricks.\u00a0 Thus Islam received its greatest boost during Mansa Musa\u2019s reign.\u00a0 Many scholars agree that because of his attachment to Islam, Mansa Musa could introduce new ideas to his administration.\u00a0 The famous traveller and scholar Ibn Batutah came to Mali during Mansa Sulaiman\u2019s reign (1341-1360), and gives an excellent account of Mali\u2019s government and its economic prosperity – in fact, a legacy of Mansa Musa\u2019s policy.\u00a0 Mansa Musa\u2019s pilgrimage projected Mali\u2019s enormous wealth and potentialities which attracted more and more Muslim traders and scholars.\u00a0 These Muslim scholars and traders contributed to the cultural and economic development of Mali.\u00a0 It was during his reign that diplomatic relations were established with Tunis and Egypt, and thus Mali began to appear on the map of the world.<\/p>\n
Islam began to spread in the Empire of Songhay some time in the 11th century when the ruling Za or Dia dynasty first accepted it.\u00a0 It was a prosperous region because of its booming trade with Gao.\u00a0 By the 13th century it had come under the dominion of the Mali Empire but had freed itself by the end of the 14th century when the dynasty was renamed Sunni.\u00a0 The frontier of Songhay now expanded and in the 15th century, under the leadership of Sunni \u2018Ali, who ruled between 1464-1492, the most important towns of the Western Sudan came under the Songhay Empire.\u00a0 The great cities of Islamic learning like Timbuktu and Jenne came under his power between 1471-1476.<\/p>\n
Sunni \u2018Ali\u2019s was a nominal Muslim who used Islam to his ends.\u00a0 He even persecuted Muslim scholars and practiced local cults and magic.\u00a0 When the famous scholar Al-Maghilli called him a pagan, he punished him too.\u00a0 The belief in cults and magic was, however, not something new in Songhay.\u00a0 It existed in other parts of West Africa until the time the revivalist movements gained momentum in the 18th century.\u00a0 It is said of Sunni \u2018Ali that he tried to compromise between paganism and Islam although he prayed and fasted.\u00a0 The scholars called it merely a mockery.<\/p>\n
Sunni \u2018Ali\u2019s syncretism was soon challenged by the Muslim elites and scholars in Timbuktu, which was then a center of Islamic learning and civilization.\u00a0 The famous family of Agit, of the Berber scholars, had the post of the Chief Justice and were known for their fearless opposition to the rulers.\u00a0 In his lifetime, Sunni \u2018Ali took measures against the scholars of Timbuktu (in 1469 and in 1486).\u00a0 But on his death, the situation completely changed: Islam and Muslim scholars triumphed.\u00a0 Muhammad Toure (Towri), a military commander asked Sunni \u2018Ali\u2019s successor, Sunni Barou, to appear before the public and make an open confession of his faith in Islam.\u00a0 When Barou refused to do so, Muhammad Toure ousted him and established a new dynasty in his own name, called the Askiya dynasty.\u00a0 Sunni \u2018Ali may be compared with Sundiata of Mali, and Askiya Muhammad Toure with Mansa Musa, a champion of the cause of Islam.<\/p>\n
On his coming to power, he established Islamic law and arranged a large number of Muslims to be trained as judges.\u00a0 He gave his munificent patronage to the scholars and gave them large pieces of land as gifts.\u00a0 He became a great friend of the famous scholar Muhammad Al-Maghilli.\u00a0 It was because of his patronage that eminent Muslim scholars were attracted to Timbuktu, which became a great seat of learning in the 16th century.\u00a0 Timbuktu has the credit of establishing the first Muslim University, called Sankore University, in West Africa; its name is commemorated until today in Ibadan University where a staff residential area has been named as Sankore Avenue.<\/p>\n
Like Mansa Musa of Mali, Askia Muhammad Toure went on a pilgrimage and thus came into close contact with Muslim scholars and rulers in the Arab countries.\u00a0 In Makkah, the King accorded him great respect; he was turbanned.\u00a0 The King gave him a sword and the title of the Caliph of the Western Sudan.\u00a0 On his return from Makkah in the year 1497, he proudly used the title of Al-Hajj.<\/p>\n
Askia took such a keen interest in the Islamic legal system that he asked a number of questions on Islamic theology from his friend Muhammad al-Maghilli.\u00a0 Al-Maghilli answered his questions in detail which Askia circulated in the Songhay empire.\u00a0 Some of the questions were about the fundamental structure of the faith, such as \u2018who is a true Muslim?\u2019 \u00a0and \u201cwho is a pagan?\u201d \u00a0When we read Shehu \u2018Uthman Dan Fodio\u2019s works, we can see some of his arguments quoted on the authority of Al-Maghilli.\u00a0 In other words, Al-Maghilli\u2019s detailed discussions of the issues raised by Askiya Muhammad played a great role in influencing Shehu.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The influence of Islam in Mali dates back to the 15th century when Al-Bakri mentions the conversion of its ruler to Islam.\u00a0 There was a miserable period of drought which came to an end...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[180],"class_list":["post-1392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history-of-islam","tag-islam-in-mali"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1392"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1393,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1392\/revisions\/1393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}