ABSTRACT
Studies of the spread of Islam in many parts of Africa have concerned themselves mainly with the problems of 'culture cohtact' or 'acculturation', because the introduction of Islamic beliefs i:qto a large number of African societi.es involved radical political and social changes, apart from the more personal aspects of conversion. It is by now a commonplace in the study of religion that ii cannot be carried out satisfactorily without a full appreciation of the social institutions in which it is embedded, both as an observable aspect of social action and as art integral part of the sociological models arising from the structural analysis of societies.
