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Islam in the Contemporary African Society

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Contemporary Perspectives on Religions in Africa and the African Diaspora

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Abstract

The word Ifriqiya has featured prominently in some Muslim history books, although it does not connote the contemporary continent of Africa. The name has been given various interpretations by different scholars. It is believed by Leo Africanus to have been derived from an Arabic word Faraqa, which means to divide—an indication of the division of Africa from Europe and Asia by the Mediterranean and the Nile respectively.1 According to Al-Masudi, the name is also said to have been taken from Ifriqos bin Qais bin Saifi, one of the kings of Yemen. Some other historians hold that it came from the name of Ifriq, son of Quatura, the second wife of the patriarch.2 Whatever the case may be, the continent of Africa has remained one of the seven continents of the world and has been known to the Arabs and non-Arabs to include North Africa (including the Maghrib), East Africa, West Africa, Central Africa, and South Africa.3

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Notes

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Authors
  1. R. Ibrahim Adebayo
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Ibigbolade S. Aderibigbe Carolyn M. Jones Medine

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© 2015 Ibigbolade S. Aderibigbe and Carolyn M. Jones Medine

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Adebayo, R.I. (2015). Islam in the Contemporary African Society. In: Aderibigbe, I.S., Medine, C.M.J. (eds) Contemporary Perspectives on Religions in Africa and the African Diaspora. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137498052_9

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