Abstract

This book – Handbook on Islam in Africa – provides state-of-the-art research and a broad overview over the main features of Islam in Africa along with key case studies covering certain themes not addressed in previous collections. The aims of this handbook are twofold. First, to provide an overview of the characteristics of Muslim communities in Africa, mainly in Sub-Saharan Africa. The different chapters deal with both historical and contemporary dynamics, covering themes like processes of Islamization, literacy and Islamic scholarship, religious infrastructure, the relevance of local religious cosmologies, media, youth, reformism, and the role of Islam in contemporary politics. The second aim of the book is to contravene the all too common notion that Islam in Africa holds a peripheral position in relation to an assumed heartland of Islam in the Middle East. Furthermore, it demonstrates and underscores the constant interactions between African Muslims and the rest of the Muslim world, thus pointing to their relevance in the production of Islam as a global religion.