Introduction

This chapter proceeds from the contention that the advent of the Murid Sufi order was a part of a larger historical process involving the progression of Islam across West Africa. In this sense, it is necessary to examine the major trends within the history of Islam in West Africa and how those trends both shaped and reflected the larger societal context of West African history. To go a step further, the societal context within West Africa was continually affected by events from outside of the region emanating from either North Africa or the Middle East and later from Europe. What results from this discussion is the presentation and analysis of a more comprehensive view of the historical forces that influenced the emergence of the Murids. In this sense, the Murids are not a product largely of French colonization, devoid of agency and a place within the larger history of Senegambia and West Africa. Rather, the Murid order is considered to be an integral part of the continuing historical development of Islam in West Africa.

The arrival and early spread of Islam in West Africa constitutes the logical start of this progression. For the purposes of the present study, the initial phase of the implantation of Islam in West Africa encompasses a span of time from roughly the eighth century C.E. to the sixteenth century C.E. This phase was characterized by the predominately pacific conversion of an important yet a small minority of West Africans and the existence of the expansive empires of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay that looked largely to the trans-Saharan trading networks as their foyer for cross-cultural contact and trade with the world.