Did Mali And Songhai Contribute To The Rise Of Islam In West Africa

The presence of Islam was a powerful force in Mali and Songhai, leading to improvement in scholarship and government. The empires of Mali and Songhai were able to have an improvement in scholarship in West Africa due to the thirst for education by conversion Islam, as well as an increase in opportunities for people living in the kingdoms. The kingdom of Mali brought Islam to West Africa, which was extremely crucial to development in scholarship as there was a social mindset of Muslims being well educated, as they had many revelations on topics such as astronomy, math and medicine. This meant that the powerful presence of Islam in West Africa encouraged people to convert to Islam in order to become educated, which lead to a generally knowledgeable society and an improvement in scholarship in West Africa. The kingdom of Songhai very similarly continued to
spread improvement in scholarship as people wanted to convert to Islam to become more educated. Additionally, the Askiya dynasty built more than one hundred Muslim schools were built in Timbuktu, which lead to Muslim scholars becoming more prominent in the society, as well as the city becoming a center for all intellectual Muslims to go to study. (Hamilton 5) And so this lead to a major improvement in scholarship as it meant that many more people were able to become educated.
The presence of Islam in the kingdoms of Mali and Songhai also created a large improvement in government through the general expansion of their empires. A very crucial part of the spread of Islam in Mali was Mansa Musa, who was a Muslim leader who helped the practice of Islam multiply all over West Africa. Mansa Musa combined military success with Sundiata, who was another ruler of Mali, and so their combination of creativity and power created a stronger government for Mali (McKay, Mali 242). Additionally, Musa was extremely devoted to the practice of Islam and so on his pilgrimage to Mecca, he continued to expand the empire and spread the religion of Islam (McKay, Mali 242). During his pilgrimage, he brought with him over five hundred slaves who, on every Friday, would build a mosque. This was extremely beneficial to Islam as it displayed government strength and also spread Islam as new mosques meant that more people knew about the religion and more people had a place to practice
it. Additionally, Mali had a very effective agricultural and commercial base, which strengthened the Mali empire as it supplied enormous wealth, as well as created a large population (McKay, Songhai 522). This was extremely beneficial as it strengthened and expanded Mali’s government. Islam was an extremely crucial part of the improvement in scholarship and government of Mali an Songhai, and it helped the kingdoms to create stronger empires. In Songhai, the empire’s king Muhammad Ture, who was a devout Muslim who was greatly influenced by his religion as all of his actions are said to have been based upon his dedication and devotion to Islam (BBC, Songhai). This meant that the presence Islam had a great influence on government in Songhai and is what pushed the king to complete his actions.