African Islam Explored: A Review Of Terje Ostebo’s Edited Work ‘Routledge Handbook Of Islam In Africa’

The book provides an alternate to the set narratives and dominant discourses of pure and borrowed Islam that have emerged in understanding Islam from the standpoints of centrality and marginality in the African context. Terje Ostebo’s work rightly titled as ‘Handbook of Islam in Africa’ finely enriches the discourse of Islam from the African viewpoint as being integral and not marginal for the outer Muslim world in various significant ways.

The twenty one different chapters (including the introduction) by a diverse group of noted scholars, taking a variety of interdisciplinary approaches and experts and the work aptly been divided into seven major parts  reveals fresh perspectives on Islamic sociologies and experiences in Africa. To cover a wide range of issues from historical perspectives of Islam to politics and Islamic reforms to the role of Islam in the life world of youth, gender realities besides new technologies, media and popular culture thereby analyzing the age old relationship between Islam and the larger socio-political developments across Africa.

The book reflects that there is lot more to understand on Islam in Africa and its rich scholarship especially the role of faith (Islam) in the socio-cultural and historical development of African Muslims. This book has come at an appropriate time for it covers the long standing research of one of the most insightful religious researches on Africa where there are many misconceptions and biases on Islam in Africa and that too at a time when Islam is spreading fast and African countries are growing both demographically and economically.

Besides introduction, Terje Ostebo has written another important chapter on African Salafism to present a nuanced image of African salafism and describe it beyond the security or jihadist perspectives. He explains salafism as something having many local strands but deems the same not wholly unproblematic.(p.173). He argues that African salafism can only be understood through its interconnected local realities (p.174).

However the core emphasis of the work is to debunk the much dominant and celebrated myth of marginality of Islam in Africa and Muslims of the continent being labeled as passive recipients of Islamic impetuses devoid of their own Islamic scholarship and religious discourses despite of that fact that Africa is one of the oldest Islamic cultural traditions in the world. The work portrays a clear picture of African Islam and confronts the set discourses that have affected the overall scholarship and created a wedge between the Africa and the rest. On the identity and status of African Muslims the book is topical and relevant to the contemporary socio-religious and Islamic discourse on Africa and its Muslims.

Although reading the 320 pages can be rather laborious but the work is so engaging and highlights the multiple concepts and issues on the status of Muslim population in Africa and makes the reader think beyond binaries of centrality and marginality. Since the book is one of the finest pieces of work on Islam in Africa it is also interesting to see how concepts have been thought through fieldwork data as well as historical research on Islam and Muslim lived realities in Africa. The extraordinary narrative compels the reader to revisit many commonly held misconceptions, beliefs, manipulations, stereotypes and biases. Also it is quite interesting to see a novel perspective on African Islam coming to light for the readers outside Africa which will help academics who teach the relevant subjects. The book sizzles and draws the line with a renewed focus on African Islam as a religion that governs public life and has a significant role to play in the everyday life world of the African Muslims and their holistic social structure.

Besides adding to the current scholarship in the field of Islam in African history and sociology, it provides the reader with a clear analytical lens to understand the seemingly disparate and divergent streams of religious research. Ostebo’s deeper understanding of African Islam gets revealed by the style of his writing especially the introduction of the work that frees the reader from the burden of reading the whole book. He lucidly outlines the clear synopsis of the whole work description and delves on the perceptions of the central and marginal Islam (original vs borrowed) and proves that there is no such a thing existing for African Islam in itself has all the features that makes a faith completely independent of foreign impetuses besides proving insights into the origins and nature of contemporary issues about Islam right from Islamic education and liteature,Sufism to salafism to the questions of gender and the patterns of Islamic reforms, everyday life and role the religion plays, digital media and popular culture and African Muslim Diaspora.

By unraveling the global nature of Islam and the global perception of African Islam, Terje Ostebo has brought forth, the complexities of discourses on African Islam and the problems of right portrayal and scholarship in presenting the true practicing Islam in Africa. This work will therefore inspire rather provoke relevant academics in India and Pakistan to challenge the label of marginality prevailing since centuries.

Looking at Ostebo’s work on African Islam from a south Asian prism, the book seems equally relevant in this context as well for the same narratives of marginality dominate in the Indian subcontinent where the Arab Islam is treated as the superior and original and the local one as dependent on Arab impetuses which is not true on the ground level as in Indian context, there is an independent Islamic scholarship and Islamic infrastructure and noted ulema (Islamic scholars) like Shah Wali Ullah Haq Muhaddis Delhvi, Maulana Anwar shah Kashmiri,Mufti Taqi Usmani, Mufti Zarvalli Khan and many others who even inspired Arab scholars and major seminaries like Darul ulomm Deoband (India),Jamia Arabia Ahsanul uloom (Pakistan),etc, which are purely indigenious creations. The book adeptly shows and articulates that fresh narratives can challenge the old dominant perspectives and the need for thorough interactions on Islam in different continents that had escaped the notice of scholars and experts of the field. The author responds to this saying that Islam is not averse to critical thinking and drives home this point with substantial evidence.

Based on the approach that the book has followed, novelty lies in moving away from the casual understanding of Islam in Africa and through the nuanced reading and understanding the chapters, Ostebo lays out the pitfalls of the existing perceptions of Islam and the Muslims. The book provides a complete story of the reality and sociology of Islam in Africa today, it is a map which presents the trees but doesn’t miss the woods for it reexamines the notions works and utterances by critically engaging with the academic as well as socio-historical questions on Islam including the everyday lived realities and performances of Muslims in Africa.

The intent of this work is to showcase the play of academic or literary dominance on Africa by non-Africans. The book fills an important academic gap at a time when going native and indigenous lifestyle is being propagated. The editor brings in a cautionary interjection and cares for the understanding of African Islam outside Africa. It makes an important contribution to the understanding of how stereotypes can become realities if not intervened timely.

Though there is a chapter on African Muslim Diaspora in the west, the work is silent on the impact of African Islam especially political Islam on Muslim refugees in African countries, African Islam’s impact on Muslim expatriates working in Africa and African Muslims working outside of the west that would certainly have addressed the last remaining question on African Islam beyond Africa. Ostebo’s book is a mix of sociological and religious studies and historical facts is a useful multidisciplinary source and can hugely benefit the researchers of African studies and religions, Islamic studies in Africa, comparative religion studies, sociology of religion and political science, besides researchers across social sciences.

The work is a welcome edition to the scholarship on Islam in Africa that reflects critical scholarship on proving how Islam’s indigenous and dominant foot print is overlooked and shows how dangers of the discourse of marginality has flourished on African Islam outside Africa despite of the fact that Islam continues to be rich in Islamic scholarship and religious discourses quite independent of the outside impetuses.

• Acknowledgement and disclaimer: This review was originally published by International Sociology reviews (ISR):Sage.(Vol.38,Issue 5).