West Africa Research Paper

West African Muslims in the Bronx On March 7, 2007, a chilly evening welcomed the warmth of an electric space heater. The setting was an overcrowded home in the Highbridge area of the Bronx. A total of 23 Soninke immigrants from Mali occupied the four-story house, with a staggering 17 of these being children. The two families that occupied the home were from one of the hottest regions in the world, and as the space heater warmed the first floor to a bearable degree, sleep began to take hold of the occupants. What happened next blurred their distinction between nightmare and reality. The space heater’s overheated electric cord ignited a small fire. While the woman sleeping on the first floor hurriedly warned and sought help from others in
In West Africa, the mosque is simply a place of worship, and the imam spends almost all of his time studying, leading prayers, and expounding on the Qur’an (Muslim holy book) and Hadith (the traditions of Mohammed). Furthermore, marabouts tend to have more religious influence in West Africa than even the imams. As society is the strongest force on community, social, and religious life, the practice of Islam can often be treated as secondary to other social and cultural factors. However, the West Africans’ placement in America lands them on much different soil, in which familiar spaces of social, cultural, and political interaction have been taken away. The only institution that stands strategically placed to address the needs of the West African community is the mosque. It comes as no surprise, then, that West Africans quickly established ethnic mosques all over Harlem, Bronx, and parts of Brooklyn. On any given Friday, juma sermons can be heard in Soninke, Bambara, Jula, Maninka, Mandinka, Wolof, Hausa, and Pulaar. These mosques naturally emerged into not only religious centers, but also social, political, and commercial ones as well. Elements of West African society that had little to do with the mosque have become merged into the function of every West African mosque in the city, increasing the importance of Islam, religious practice and
Islam established a foothold in some West African societies up to 1,000 years ago. For most of the millennium, Islam was the religion of the ruling class and merchants. A famous story has been relayed throughout the years about Mansa Musa, who has the ruler of the Malian empire between 1312 and 1337. While taking the hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca, Mansa Musa reportedly gave out so much gold along the way, that the North African economy suffered for decades and gold prices depleted all over the world. However, the influence of Islam did not widely infiltrate the sustenance farmers of West Africa, which is the majority population, until the beginning of the 20th century. Remarkably, since that time, Islam has spread throughout the masses, and over 90% of people in most of the West African countries in discussion consider themselves to be