U4L17 - The Influence of Islam on West Africa

How did Islam first reach Ghana?

• by the Arab Muslim armies that conquered Ghana

• after a Ghanaian king had a vision of Muhammad

• through Muslim traders and missionaries

• after Ghanaian scholars traveled to the Middle East for their studies

What was the impact of Islam's view toward traditional religious practices in West Africa?

• The Muslims' opposition to traditional religious practices slowed down the acceptance of Islam.

• Muslims borrowed freely from other religious traditions, which encouraged non-Muslims to convert.

• The Muslims banned all traditional religious practices, which drove non-Muslims into hiding.

• The tolerance shown by Muslims toward traditional religious practices helped Islam spread.

Which statement about Mansa Musa is true?

• Mansa Musa was the first leader of Mali to accept Islam, though he did not practice devoutly.

• Mansa Musa's pilgrimage to Mecca was an enormous and impressive undertaking.

• Mansa Musa was happy to kneel before the sultan in Cairo, because he admired the sultan greatly.

• Mansa Musa was an isolationist and tried to cut off all contact between Mali and the outside world.

Under the rule of Askia Mohammed Toure, the Songhai empire

• covered a territory as large as western Europe.

• began a prolonged war against the Byzantine empire

• conquered the empire of Ghana and ruled all of West Africa.

• abandoned Islam and returned to traditional religions.

In West Africa, Muslims

• took part in both Islam and their own traditional religious practices.

• abandoned their traditional religious practices when they adopted Islam.

• quickly reverted to their traditional religion after their initial contact with Islam.

• continued to practice their traditional religion, but gave each celebration an Arabic name.

West Africans began to celebrate the festival of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of

• Songhai

• Eid al-Adha.

• Ramadan.

• Ibn Battuta.

After they became Muslim, West Africans preserved some of their old religious practices, such as

• learning the Five Pillars of Islam.

• making sacrifices to the spirits of dead ancestors.

• making pilgrimages to Mecca.

• worshipping in mosques.

How did Muslim rulers change the line of succession in West Africa?

• Leadership now passed from mother to daughter.

• The right to rule now became patrilineal.

• The people now elected their rulers.

• Rulers now decided who would succeed them to the throne.

Which of the following is a major change that Muslim rulers adopted in West Africa?

• They decentralized the government according to longstanding Muslim tradition.

• They used local names for their leaders, rather than Arabic terms sultan, amir, or emir.

• They adopted the use of "trial by wood" to test the guilt or innocence of an accused person.

• They replaced the customary laws of West Africa with the shari'ah.

A major center of learning in West Africa was

• Cairo.

• Baghdad.

• Timbuktu.

• Istanbul.