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
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