I've just been reading about this so here's my 2¢ on the topic.

Islam was spread during the reign of the Ottoman Empire that flourished from around the Middle Ages to about 1956. It was not forced on the African people - they practiced their own religions. As a matter of fact, due to the conglomeration of people living under Ottoman rule, the Ottomans allowed for the different peoples to practice their own religions and even follow their own laws while still under the Sha‘aria- Islamic Law. They allowed this because Christians ahd Jews were considered people of the book.

This is why they were able to govern such a vast empire for as long as they did. Islam was still, however the dominant religion and people of other religions did face persecution and prejudice - one was first a jew, a muslim, a christian, before they were an arab or an ottoman or an armenian.

They considered Islam the complete truth, that which was revealed in whole to Prophet Muhammed (pbuh). Everybody else, especially the Christians, knew only half the truth and were in effect "half intelligent" or half conscious of the truth. i.o.w they were stubborn halfwits for not accepting Islam as the one true religion, which justified their being unable to secure or rise to high positions outside of their millets or religious communities.








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