Introduction

Islam is both religion and state, and in that combination it has penetrated several societies in Africa, advancing on both fronts where possible, typically with the religious yogi preceding the state commissar. Muslim Africans demonstrate political confidence based on classical Islamic sources and reinforced from the tradition of Muslim rule in precolonial Africa, whereas, for their part, modern Christian Africans have no comparable political experience to draw on and consequently, they feel on the defensive. Islam continued to be a major factor in the terms the West demanded for its hegemony in traditional Africa. Pride and prejudice had attained the high-minded refinement of cold fusion, but it was a process that spared Muslim Africa in its role as tutor to, and as prototype for, the noble savage. Furthermore, colonial policy might itself have welcomed Muslim cooperation in quelling indigenous African resistance, as happened in Senegal or north Nigeria.