Islam in West Africa

Abstract

This book, which continues my studies of Islam in West Africa, is primarily a phenomenology study of the religious life of West Africa Muslims. My special aim has been to try to assess what have been the results of the impact of Islam, the way it influences African society, and, conversely the way the African community moulds the Islam it receives. It is concerned with what is, not what ought to be; with the living beliefs and practices of particular peoples, not with the ideal of Islamic thoughts and practice. At the same time, it embraces more than the actual study of Islam in west Africa since it is concerned with the way Africans have assimilated it, the degree to which it fulfills their religious aspirations, and, where these cannot find expression in Islam, in what directions they are fulfilled