Orient I 2012 – Focus: Islam in Africa

Dear ORIENT readers,

From its beginnings, Islam has gradually become a central feature in many parts of Africa. It was the first continent outside Western Asia into which
Islam expanded, and Islam has become an integral part of many African cultures and histories. The presence of Islam in North Africa can be traced back as early as to the seventh century. The spread of the Muslim Religion and culture however was a gradual and complex process and led to many specific forms of an African Islam.Even in the 20th and 21st century Islam is further expanding into sub-Saharan Africa. In North and North-East Africa as well as in the Sahel countries Islam has become the most important religion and cultural basis. The articles in this issue of ORIENT focus on various aspects of Islam in Africa, analysing historical and current developments in North, West and East Africa.

Dr. Patrick Desplat discusses in his article “Beyond the Politics of Othering: Shifting Representations and Transforming Agencies of Muslims in Ethiopia”the changing representations of Islam in Ethiopia as being related to recent fears of a foreign “Islamic fundamentalism”, which is suspected to worsen Christian-Muslim relations in the country. In his essay “The State and Islam in Ghana: A Review”, Dr. David Owusu-Ansah discusses the place of Islam in the national context of Ghana by presenting how the religious and social concerns of Muslims are addressed under the secular constitution.

“The History of Islamic Identity in West Africa” by Dr. Zachary Wright gives us an insight into the intellectual history of West African Islam. The paper also concentrates on the emergence of new intellectual trends in modern times. The paper “Tribal Political Culture and the Revolution in the Cyrenaica of Libya” by Dr. Thomas Hüsken explores basic patterns of the recent political culture in the Cyrenaica region of Libya with special regard to the revolutionary events that began in February 2011. Dr. James N. Sater argues in his article “The Arab Spring and Democratization in Morocco” that the protesters’ demands during the 2011 Arab Spring in Morocco were largely accepted by the Moroccan monarch as a liberal reformer. Dealing with a legal issue, Hanane Boussadani focusses on a new types of divorce called Šiqāq-divorce, which has been practiced since 2004 in the Moroccan courts and is regulated by the Moroccan family law Mudauwana, analyzing how the Moroccan legislature regulates the divorce of disruption in the family law in Mudauwana.

I wish all readers a peaceful and prosperous year
2012!
Sincerely yours

Dr. Gunter Mulack
Director of the German Orient-Institute