The land of Islam is large, and there are many Muslims, as they make up a quarter of the world's population, which is filled with religions. Only one-fifth of them are Arabs, while 80% are not Arabs, and they are spread across the eastern and western parts of the earth. Many Muslims overlook them and their condition, even though the Sharia has organized rights and duties accordingly. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) compared us to a single body when he said: "The believers in their mutual kindness, compassion and sympathy are just like one body. When one of the limbs suffers, the whole body responds to it with wakefulness and fever”. (1)

In these articles, we take a look at some pages from the history of Muslims in Nigeria as part of this duty, a country that is considered the largest center for Muslims in Africa, where Muslims make up 53.5% of the population, which stands at 220 million people, and this number is, moreover, significantly increasing.(2) It is indeed accurate, considering the reality, to describe it as countries rather than a single nation; for its vast area of 923,769 km², and being the most densely populated in all of Africa with 218 people per km², as well as the diversity of ethnicities within it, which exceeds 250 ethnic groups, including: Hausa, Yoruba, Fulani, Igbo, Ijaw, Ibibio, Tiv, Kanuri, and others. Additionally, there are more than 500 languages spoken, including Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, and Fulani, alongside English, which is the official language. It is a federal republic consisting of 36 states in addition to the federal capital, allowing each state to enact its own laws. Muslims constitute an absolute majority in 19 of these states, and in 12 of them, there is a legal system derived from Islamic Sharia. (3) "We can say that."

The principle of the history of Islam in Nigeria.

The same is true when looking at history; in terms of the multitude of influences in the history of Islam, and then the establishment of several kingdoms that encompassed large parts of it, these are states, not a single state.

The principle of the entry of Islam into it was the influence it received from the regions conquered by Muslims in North Africa during the time of the honorable companions, led by the great follower Uqba ibn Nafi (d. 63 AH), who set out from the east, conquering the lands he found to the west until he reached the sea, and said: "O Allah, I bear witness to You that there is no way to cross the ocean; if there was a way, I would have crossed it."(4) Then came Musa bin Nusayr (d. 97 AH), who brought back those who had apostatized from the people of that region to Islam, allowing them to participate with him in the conquest of what remained until they reached al-Andalus. After that, the influence of Islam continued to extend from North Africa to the central and western parts of the continent towards the south, whether through intermarriage between Arab tribes and others from the local population, or through trade, and later through the Islamic conquests that established and strengthened the presence of Islam in Nigeria.

Kingdom of Ghana.

The first reference to the history of Islam in West Africa was from the Kingdom of Ghana, which at that time extended from the Desert to the north, Nigeria to the east, and the ocean to the west and south, encompassing almost all the countries of West Africa. Its people were pagans until Islam gradually entered among them.

It reached the peak of its glory in the 5th century AH, as described by the Andalusian geographer Abu Abū ʿUbayd Muhammad al-Bakri (d. 487 AH), who visited it in 460 AH / 1028 AD. He found a widespread presence of Islam there and narrated that its capital was divided into two large sections: one for Muslims and the other for pagans. In the Islamic neighborhood, there were 12 mosques, each with an imam, a muezzin, a reader, and a teacher. Even within the pagan neighborhood itself, near the royal palace, there was a mosque where the Muslims of the king’s entourage prayed. (5) It was mentioned that the Umayyad Caliphate had sent an Islamic army to conquer the western Sudan region during the early Islamic period, and that soldiers from this army settled in the land of Ghana and brought Islam to its people.
It was mentioned that the reason for this is that the Umayyad state had sent an Islamic army to conquer the lands of West Sudan in the early days of Islam, and some soldiers from this army settled in the land of Ghana and brought Islam to its people.

Thus, Islam did not appear all at once in the Empire of Ghana; rather, it spent a period spreading through invitation before the Almoravids conquered it in the year 469 AH / 1076 AD. Its capital, Kumbi Saleh, fell, and the Almoravids annexed it to their territories before King Tenkamenin of Ghana was influenced by Islam. He soon converted to Islam and accepted the authority of the Almoravid Sultan Abu Bakr bin Umar. This opened the door wide for the Islamization of the subjects, transforming the kingdom from paganism to Islam, as Al-Qalqashandi states: Islam was adopted by its people at the beginning of the conquest. (6) It remained so until the pagan Sosso Kingdom and their allies from Galam and Diara took control in 600 AH.

The influence of the Kingdom of Mali, then Songhai, and the empires of Kanem -Bornu on Nigeria.

The Kingdom of Mali did not fall at the time of the fall of the Kingdom of Ghana; rather, approximately 38 years later It entered a war with the Kingdom of Sosso and defeated its king. In the year 638 AH / 1240 AD, Sundiata, the king of Mali, headed towards Koumbi Saleh and reopened it. The influence of the kingdom spread over most of the territories of the ancient Kingdom of Ghana, and it played a significant role in spreading Islam in the western part of the continent and preserving what existed of it, even in areas controlled by pagan kingdoms. Among its most famous kings was Mansa Musa, considered by some historians to be the richest man in history. During his reign, the kingdom was one of the richest and most developed countries in terms of construction and civilization.

Then the Songhai Empire arose from its ruins, which expanded to include northern Nigeria, reaching its greatest extent during the reign of Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr Ture, known as Askia Muhammad, who was close to scholars and often inviting many of them, such as Imam Muhammad ibn Abdul Karim al-Maghili, (7) among others.

Then came the influence of the Bornu Empire, which emerged as an extension of the Kanem Empire that had been established in the 5th century Hijri (around the 11th century CE). Its presence in Nigeria lasted from 1380 to 1893 CE, alongside parts of Sudan, Chad, Libya, Niger, and Cameroon. One of its most famous rulers was Idris III, nicknamed Alooma (died 1602), who was a great Muslim, a prominent military leader, and a just ruler. During his reign, the army was equipped with Turkish rifles, and the empire had ambassadors in Arab and Islamic countries. Its people in Cairo had a special school for Maliki jurisprudence, and they were also allocated a section in Al-Azhar for educational purposes. (8)

During the late eighteenth century, weakness set in, and signs of deviation spread, leading to what is known as the Fulani War, which diminished the presence of the Bornu Kingdom in many areas. This heralded the birth of a great hero, a significant leader, and a religious reformer in this vast geographical region: Usman dan Fodio, whose story we will discuss in the next episode, God willing.

1. It was narrated by Bukhari (6011) and Muslim (2586), and the wording is attributed to him.
2. In a report issued by the Pew Research Center in 2015, it was estimated that by the year 2060, Muslims will make up 60% of the country's population.
3. The International Religious Freedom Report of 2008 issued by the U.S. Department of State.
4. The Complete History to Ibn al-Athir, Vol. 4, p. 42.
5. He described what he found in it in his book: Book of Roads and Kingdoms 2, pp. 871, 872
6. "Citing from the book: Muslims in West Africa, p. 33."
7. There were questions exchanged between them called: The Poor Man's Answers to the Prince's Questions.
8. Adam Abdullah Al-Ilory mentioned this in his book: Islam in Nigeria.

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