The Prophet Muhammad reminded the Muslim world, “We are a single community, distinct from others.” The distinction shapes the Muslim’s religious identity and underlines the nature of the Islamic ideal, whether the purity of the monotheistic concept, the uncompromising quest for morality, or the lifelong seeking of knowledge. It also accentuates the common historical thread running through the international Muslim community.
In Global, African, and Near Eastern studies, the role of the African Muslim may be the most overlooked by Western academia, and involve the most tenacious myths about the spread of Islam. The lack of African sources allowed scholars to make false assumptions as they evidenced the old axiom, “scholarship follows the national flag.” The dominance of Western scholarship resulted in complete silence about African creativity, innovation, exploration, trade, and skills in scholastic writings and textbooks.
In 1945, British historian Hugh Trevor Roper galvanized the Eurocentric view when he wrote, “the only history in Africa is the history of Europe in Africa.” Given the self-perpetuation of cultural exceptionalism, it is not surprising that African history remains mythologized under the shadows of Euro-American history. Yet, the dissemination of Islam in Africa by first Arabs and then African Muslims, and the role that Islam and Muslims have played in the development of Africa, are essential to a balanced and accurate understanding of African history.
