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- Title
The Decline of Islam among the Benin and Esan of Edo State, Nigeria: a Historical Perspective.
- Authors
Usuanlele, Uyilawa
- Abstract
Recent research among Muslim leaders in Benin has revealed that the community is facing a decline in the number of Muslims among the Benin and the Esan people of Edo State, Nigeria. This decline runs counter to the popular belief that Islam is experiencing expansion and revitalization in Africa, as was enunciated by Ali Mazrui in the late 1980s. Islam spread among the Benin and Esan people in the late nineteenth century, under different circumstances. The expansion was driven by the emigration of Benin and Esan people into Islamized communities, where they embraced Islam, and by the immigration of stranger Muslims into these Benin and Esan areas, which further spread the faith. Archival records show occasional incidents of mass conversions to Islam in some rural communities. Muslim groups established schools to sustain and spread the faith and benefited from other conducive factors, such as access to mass media. Such factors and developments in the history of Islam in Africa tended to lead to increased conversions, but instead, there was a decline in the Muslim population. This paper examines this decline among the Benin and Esan people and attempts to account for its development, dating back to colonial times.
- Subjects
AFRICA; EDO State (Nigeria); ISLAMIC leadership; CULTURAL maintenance; MAZRUI, Ali Al'Amin, 1933-2014
- Publication
Al-Qasemi Journal of Islamic Studies, 2022, Vol 7, Issue 1/2, p1
- ISSN
2519-6200
- Publication type
Article