Ancient Ifreeqiyyah (Africa) and its Boundaries

The Arabs call Africa 'Ifreeqiyyah.' They gave this name to the Eastern part of Barbary and called the western part of Barbary the Maghrib, the name used until today. The Romans called it Africa after the destruction of Carthage. They included Barbary in it and later called the whole continent as Africa. Al-Bakri, a Muslim historian, interprets the word Ifreeqiyah as the Queen of Heaven. Al-Mas'oodi, another Muslim historian, holds another view that the name Ifreeqiyah  is given after the name of Ifrigos bin Abraha bin Al-Raysh, who built the town of Ifreeqiyah  in the Berber country. The famous Arab historian Ibn Khaldoon says that the name Ifreeqiyah was given after Ifreequs bin Qays bin Sayfi, one of the Kings of Yemen. Ibn al-Shabbat says that the name is derived from the Arabic word Bariq meaning 'clear,' because "in Africa there are no clouds in the sky".

Islam and Africa

Prophet Muhammad  (may Allah exalt his mention) who was born in 571 C.E., preached the message of Islam until his death in 632 C.E. The early contact of Islam with Africa began during the lifetime of the Prophet . He taught the unity of Allah and abolition of priesthood. The Qurayshites, who were the priestly class of the Arabs, therefore began to oppress him and his early followers. When their oppression went beyond limits, the Prophet  advised them to migrate and seek shelter in some other part of the world. Acting on his advice, some of them migrated to Abyssinia and sought refuge with Negus, a Christian king of Abyssinia in the year 615 C.E. It was significant that the first shelter of early Muslims was in Africa and their host who stood firm with them was an African.

These first Muslim-Arab refugees were pursued by their oppressors, the Qurayshites, even up to the court of Negus to take them back to Arabia. In spite of the appeal of the Qurayshite delegation, Negus did not leave the Muslims in the hands of their enemies; on the contrary, he welcomed them and granted them shelter and security.

Africa on the Eve of the Expansion of Islam

The power of the Roman Empire was sapped by religious discord. By the time Prophet Muhammad  began his mission, the Egyptians and Syrians had partially severed their active link with the Roman Empire. In the year 634 CE, when the Muslim volunteers advanced with their faith toward new territories, the first Caliph, Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, instructed them saying: "Do no harm to women, children and old people, refrain from pillage and the destruction of crops, fruit trees, and herds, and leave in peace Christian monks and authorities as might be found in their cells."

When Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, died, his mission was taken over by the second Caliph of Islam 'Umar bin Al-Khattaab (634-644), may Allah be pleased with him.

The state of North Africa, on the eve of the Arab conquest, was far from being stable. The Latin-speaking provinces were governed from Constantinople. Although the ecclesiastical policy of the House of Heraclius favoured the Christology known as Monothelitism, or the doctrine of the single will, the Pope, under whose jurisdiction the African church fell, frowned upon it and repudiated it as heretical.

When the Arab conquest began in 647 A.D., the Exarch Gregory had already denounced allegiance to Constantinople and had proclaimed himself an Emperor. The peasantry was so oppressed that they had no inclination to fight for their masters. The native Berbers were highly disorganised and lacked leadership. Only those Berber clans which had accepted a settled life as cultivators carried some Byzantine influence, but the others were kept beyond the reach of civilisation. Christianity was not planted among them on a firm footing although there was some missionary work done. It is believed that the modern Tauregs were once Christians.

In Egypt, the native Copts were instructed by their bishop in Alexandria to offer no resistance to the Arab Muslims marching toward Egypt. "This is not surprising," says Professor Phillip Hitti, in view of the religious persecution to which they (Copts) as Monophysites had been subjected by the official Melkite (Royal) Church.

It was against this background that during the Caliphate of 'Umar bin Al- Khattaab, may Allah be pleased with him, the Muslim volunteer force, in 639 A.D., under the command of 'Amr bin Al-'Aas, may Allah be pleased with him, penetrated into Egypt.

During the days of Jaahileeyyah (the pre-Islamic period of ignorance), 'Amr bin Al-'Aas, may Allah be pleased with him, had made many caravan trips to Egypt and was familiar with its routes and cities. The following portrait of the advancing Muslim Arabs has been recorded by an envoy of Cyrus:

"We have witnessed a people, to each and every one of whom death is preferable to life, and humanity to prominence, and to none of whom this world has the least attraction. They sit not except on the ground, and eat not but on their knees. Their leader (Ameer) is like unto one of them: the low cannot be distinguished from the high, nor the master from the slave. And when the time of prayer comes, none of them absents himself; all wash their extremities and humbly observe their prayer."

The fall of Egypt made the Byzantine provinces, bordering on its west, defenceless. Later Bargah and the Berber tribes of Tripoli were included in the Islamic provinces without any resistance.

The first serious attempt to expand Islam in Africa is credited to 'Uqbah (Okba) bin Naafi'  who is revered to this day as the founder of Muslim Africa. He planted a permanent camp at Qayraawaan in 670 C.E., and thus came closer to the Byzantines and the Berbers. About ten years later, he undertook his famous march to the west and boldly claimed the whole African continent for Islam. This brought Muslims almost close to Europe.

It is reported that 'Uqbah began his march from Qayraawaan, avoiding the Byzantine towns north of the Awras, and went toward the Central plateau and pushed beyond the Atlas Mountains and went as far as Tangier, and then turned south to Morocco. In the march, he followed the course of the river Sus to the point where it discharges into the Atlantic Ocean.

Muslim geographers and historians have provided us with excellent records about Africa. Ibn Battootah will always be remembered as the earliest Muslim scholar to travel through the thick forest of Africa. The Europeans named the forest as 'The white man's grave', even in the early 19th century. Early geographers, like Al-Khawarzimi, have indicated various names of African territories. The famous Muslim Scholar, Ibn Hawqal in his book Soorat al-Ardh has discussed the lifestyle of the black people. More copious material on West Africa is available from Al-Bakri who wrote in 1067 C.E., and later Ibn Khaldoon.

 

The actual timing and introduction of the Islamic religion and its practice to Southeast Asia is subject to debate. European historians have argued that it came through trading contacts with India whereas some Southeast Asian Muslim scholars claim it was brought to the region directly from Arabia in the Middle East. Other scholars claim that Muslim Chinese who were engaged in trade introduced it.

Whatever the source, scholars acknowledge that Muslim influence in Southeast Asia is at least six centuries old, or was present by 1400 A.D. Some argue for origins to at least 1100 A.D. in the earliest areas of Islamic influence, such as in Aceh, northern Sumatra in Indonesia.

Whatever exact dates and sources one chooses to support, there is no doubt that Islamization of many peoples in present-day Malaysia southern Thailand Indonesia Brunei and the southern Philippines occurred within a few hundred years. The process of religious conversion absorbed many pre-existing Southeast Asian beliefs (often referred to as 'animism', or the belief in the power of invisible spirits of people's ancestors and the spirits of nature to influence the fortunes of humans on earth).

The scholar Anthony Reid, Professor of History at the University of California Los Angeles argues that this process of Islamization (and Christianization in the Philippines) occurred rapidly in Southeast Asia especially during the period of 1550-1650.

For example, Islam became strong in eastern Indonesia, especially coastal kingdoms of Sulawesi, Lombok, Kalimantan, Sumbawa, Makassar, and in Sulu and Magindanao (Cotabato Province) in the southern Philippines from 1603-1612. This does not mean that rulers and their subjects in these areas were totally devoted to upholding all of the basic rules of Islam. It means that Islamic influence was present, as evidenced through ruling elites' obligation to renounce the consumption of pork and to pronounce the daily five prayers. Some also practiced circumcision during this period.

Islam's influence and conversion in Southeast Asia

In the year 1500, Anthony Reid notes that Islamic influence was present in coastal ports of Sumatra, Java, and Malaysia. During this period, Muslim rulers tried to balance their patronage of Islam with international traders, urban mosques, and basic adherence to the Muslim doctrine of avoiding pork with their need to sustain rural peoples' beliefs in animism.

In the year 1590, Islamic writing appears in both Malay and Javanese scripts. This indicates a period of activity by Muslim scholars in select areas who were promoting Islamic beliefs.

Rapid commercialization increased global trade that involved Southeast Asians in extensive travel outside their home areas. Animism, or the belief in spirits, was an intensely 'local' religious form. It was difficult to perform rituals outside of one's own home area, since spirits (ancestral or otherwise) were not 'portable'. The increased global trade influenced indigenous Southeast Asian traders in two ways: 1) they were attracted to new religious forms that were not tied to specific places; and 2) they were impressed by the wealth and apparent materialistic power and talents of foreign traders.

Wealth and power, by indigenous animistic beliefs, signaled enhanced spiritual power. In other words, traders began to contemplate Islam and Christianity as alternative, in some cases superior, forms of religious belief. The success of European traders and Arabic traders during this period provided the basis of attraction to new ritual practices. In many cases, new religious practices were absorbed into the existing Southeast Asian ritual practices.

Southeast Asian peoples came into direct contact with Muslim traders who had been not just to India but also to Arabia. Arabic scholars also came to Malaysia and Indonesia facilitating information about the new religion. In the Philippines in contrast, Spanish missionary priests were directly involved in spreading Christian beliefs among the local populations.

The successful spread of Islam in Indonesia Malaysia and the Philippines owed much to the introduction of the Noble Quran and other Islamic books and references. Animistic beliefs, or those indigenous to Southeast Asia prior to the impact of Hindu or Theravada Buddhist beliefs, had no such written legacies.

Written doctrines enable religions to establish durability and a lasting impact on people; oral religious traditions easily change and adapt to new circumstances. While these great new religious traditions took a toll on local beliefs, and in that sense were intrusions of foreign influence in Southeast Asia they also left great impressions.