History of Africa - Islam in Africa

Good morning!  I have been researching the series further and discovered it was twenty episodes over two seasons.  It sounds like many episodes covering the history but I feel like there could have been explored.  It was a good start in discovering the history of Africa though.  Today’s episode is called Islam in Africa and the run time for this episode is 44:49.

Zeinab Badawi travels to several countries and looks at the spread of Islam.  She explores how many Africans practice Islam particularly the Sufi form of Islam.  Arab culture also had a huge influence in Africa and she explores that as well.  She then looks at the rise of Islamic Dynasties in North Africa.  These dynasties would build monuments, mosques, and empires and they would play a part in Africa’s history.

At the start of the episode, Zeinab takes in a bird hunt in Tunisia.  People gather for an annual event involving hunting with birds.  It is a sport loved by Arabs and this transitions to a discussion on the Arab arrival to North Africa and their impact on the region.  Zeinab holds a bird in this section and is encouraged to dance with the falcon.  She ends up with a falcon on the head and talks about how the locals keep the falcons to train and then release them back.  After the festival, the birds are released and they migrate back to Saudi Arabia.

In addition to the bird festival, Zeinab takes in a horse race in the Tunisian capital.  This is more evidence of Arab influence on Northern Africa.  Arabian horses are prized in North Africa and Zeinab sits in the saddle on the horse but is nervous about riding.  She explores the history of the Arabian stallion in North Africa.  After this detour, then Zeinab explores the history of the first arrival of the Arabs.  They went to Egypt first before moving on.

The Arabs would conquer Northern Sudan and destroy a cathedral.  There were other skirmishes and eventually, there was a truce between the Arabs and the Nubians.  The Nubians would hold on to their independence, however, the people could not resist the tide of Islam and today many people are that area are Muslim.  Africans and Arabs not only traded in goods, but they traded in customs as well.  The people also infused their own ideas with Islamic beliefs.  Islam in North Africa typically incorporated the mysticism of the Sufi tradition.

Then she explores the Islamic Dynasties that were established in North Africa.  She visits the tomb of one of the followers of Mohammad.  The Berbers were going to be subdued during this period because they resisted the Arab conquerors.  Zeinab also explores the story of Queen Kahina, she did not want Arab or Islamic rule.  She was a princess and tribal leader and it was believed that she could predict the future.  She predicted that she would be killed by the Arabs.  Queen Kahina should have been explored more, especially Queen Kahina as a person and ruler.

Zeinab then explores the Idrisites dynasty.  It was established by a holy man so known for his piety that the Berbers named him their leader.  He married a Berber woman and he established his dynasty in Morocco.  Unfortunately, the kingdom would eventually be divided which would weaken the dynasty.  Eventually, their rule would come to an end.  I was unclear about where this dynasty ruled, so Zeinab could have made it clearer.  Perhaps there should have been more exploration of the rulers of this dynasty.  To learn more about the Islamic dynasties continue to watch this episode.

Just based on the summary, I had a feeling that this was one episode that could have been broken up into two separate episodes.  As I watched the episode, I thought it was done well enough to warrant one episode, just make it longer, however as I watched further I changed my mind.  This episode could have been broken up into further timestamps because the timestamp on Sudan was long.  Zeinab had moved beyond Sudan during this time frame.  This continues to be a good primer on the history of Africa and would be something I would show in the classroom.