ABSTRACT
Since the 1750s, Islam has influenced the coastal forest region of present-day Liberia and Sierra Leone (Owen 1930:57). The assimilation of Islamic ideology into African life brought changes in the local world view. Muslim influence was variable and uneven: some ethnic groups staunchly resisted it; others blended it with traditional practice, after a syncretic model like that of other regions in West Africa. For the Vai ethnic group, however, it formed a unique relationship, and began a process that culminated in a move toward orthodoxy.
