Pride, Faith and Fear: Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"Although immensely varied, African Islam, Charlotte A. Quinn and Frederick Quinn demonstrate, is defined by three overarching beliefs. First, African Islam is local Islam. There is no ordained clergy, no international body to regulate doctrine, no pope or curia, which accounts for the many manifestations of the religion. At the same time, the importance of Islam as a source of communal identity in African societies experiencing rapid and wide-scale change can scarcely be overstated. To be part of the umma, the worldwide Islamic community, is a defining feature of the African Muslim worldview. Finally, even as the African Muslim understanding of life abroad is deeply influenced by the millions of Muslims migrating to the United States and as many African Muslims become eager to incorporate aspects of Western material culture into their lives, a pervasive belief holds that the West is on a new crusade against Islam. Neither reason nor facts support such a position, but neither is the property of desperate people." "With in-depth coverage of Islam in Nigeria, the Sudan, Senegal, Kenya, and South Africa, Pride, Faith, and Fear provides both a general overview of African Islam and a detailed picture of Muslim politics - which are increasingly national politics - in some of Africa's most populous regions. The authors convincingly demonstrate that Islam ascends as respect for the state declines; consider that the full sharia - strict Islamic rule - has now been introduced in ten of the twelve northern states of Nigeria, long one of Africa's most corrupt countries." At a time of growing interest in the mushrooming expansion of Islam worldwide, the Islamic revival in Africa merits particular attention. The first general survey of its kind in more than a quarter century, Pride, Faith, and Fear is an invaluable reference for scholars, students, and general readers alike.

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