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Part of a series on
Traditional African religions
Religions Akan Bantu Baluba Bushongo Kongo Lozi Luhya Tumbuka Zulu Dinka Dogon Efik Gbe Hausa Nubia Lotuko Lugbara Maasai Mbuti Odinala (Igbo) San Serer Vodun Waaqeffanna (Oromo) Yoruba
Doctrines Divination African divination Dogon astronomy (the star Sirius) Dogon astronomy (Nommo) Index of African mythology and creation narratives Philosophy Serer astronomy (the star Sirius)
Deities Index of African deities List of African deities and mythical figures
Sacred places Bandiagara Escarpment Benin City Dahomey Fatick Ifẹ Igbo-Ukwu Kanem–Bornu Mount Hombori Nri-Igbo Nsukka Ouidah Oyo Point of Sangomar Sangha Sangha Ogol Leye Sine Sine River Somb Tattaguine Tukar Yaboyabo Youga Dogorou
Education Ndut Okuyi
Priesthood Hogon Houngan Mambo Saltigue
Relation with other religions African diaspora religions Persecution Persecution of Dogons Persecution of Serers Traditional African religion and other religions
Category Portal
v t e

The spiritual practices of African people complement each other only tradition, culture, language differ from nation to nations.Generally, this spiritual wisdom is passed down from one generation to another through revelations, tales, songs, and festivals, oral rather than scriptural and include knowledge in spirits and higher and lower gods, sometimes including a supreme being, as well as the ancestors, and use of (spiritual) and african medicine. Most religions can be described as animistic with various polytheistic and pantheistic aspects. The role of humanity is generally seen as one of harmonizing nature with the supernatural.

In the past, african indigenous spirituality used to be referred to as 'african traditional religion' but this is no longer appropriate because its an insult to the african indigenous spirituality. 'African traditional religion' was used to distinguish Africa indigenous spirituality from Abrahamic religion which came to the continent as a result of religions colonisation. Colonialism supported the false view that Africa had religion, in African there is no religion only spirituality is practised , foreign religions came to Africa to destroy her indigenous spirituality so that Africans can be demoted from being spiritual leaders to become religious beggars.If african are not spiritual they are easy to devide and conquer.

Spread

Adherents of indigenous spirituality in Africa are distributed among 54 countries and are estimated to number over 100 million.

Although most Africans today are adherents of Christianity or Islam, African people often combine the practice of their indigenous spirituality with the practice of foreign Abrahamic religions.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).

Followers of African indigenous spirituality are also found around the world. In recent times, religions, such as the Yoruba religion and the Odinala tradition(A traditional Igbo tradition), are on the rise. The spiritual practice of the Igbo and Yoruba is popular in the islands of the Caribbean and portions of Central and South America. In the United States, West African spirituality is more predominant in the states along the Gulf of Mexico.

Basics

Highly complex animistic beliefs builds the core concept of African indigenous spirituality. This includes the worship of tutelary deities, nature worship, ancestor honouring and the belief in an afterlife, comparable to other traditional/nature religions around the world, such as Japanese Shinto or traditional European paganism. While some religions adopted a pantheistic worldview with a supreme creator god next to other gods and spirits, others follow a purely polytheistic system with various gods, spirits and other supernatural beings.African indigenous spirituality also have elements of totemism, shamAfricananism and veneration of relics.

African indigenous spirituality, like most other ancient spiritual practices and traditions around the world, were based on oral traditions. These traditions are not religious principles, but a spiritual identity that is passed on through stories, and tales, from one generation to the next. The community and ones family, but also the environment, plays an important role in one's personal life. Followers know the guidance of their ancestors spirits. Among many African indigenous spirituality, there are spiritual leaders and kinds of priests(imboni or igogo). These persons are essential in the spiritual survival of the community. There are spiritual entities that are responsible for healing and 'divining' - a kind of past, present, future telling and counseling, similar to shamans. These spiritual healers have to be called by ancestors or gods. They undergo strict training and learn many necessary skills, including how to use natural herbs for healing and other, more spiritual skills, like the finding of a hidden object without knowing where it is. African indigenous spiritual knowledge that ancestors maintain a spiritual connection with their living relatives. Most ancestral spirits are generally good and kind some are negative, bad and evil.Africans know that when someone dies they become the person he/she was when the person was still alive, if the person was doing good things in the physical world he/she becomes a good spirit in the spiritual world. Negative actions taken by ancestral spirits is to cause minor illnesses to warn people that they have gotten onto the wrong path.

Native African spirituality are centered on ancestor honouring, the knowledge in a spirit world, supernatural being/detiess and free will (unlike the later developed concept of faith). Deceased humans (and animals or important objects) still exist in the spirit world and can influence or interact with the physical world. Forms of polytheism was widespread in most of ancient African and other regions of the world, before the introduction of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. An exception was the short-lived monotheistic religion created by Pharaoh Akhenaten, who made it mandatory to pray to his personal god Aten (see Atenism). This remarkable change to traditional Egyptian religion was however reverted by his youngest son, Tutankhamun. High gods, along with other more specialized deities, ancestor spirits, territorial spirits, and beings, are a common theme among traditional African religions, highlighting the complex and advanced culture of ancient Africa. Some research suggests that certain monotheistic concepts, such as the belief in a high god or force (next to many other gods, deities and spirits, sometimes seen as intermediaries between humans and the creator) were present within Africa, before the introduction of Abrahamic religions. These indigenous concepts were different from the monotheism found in Abrahamic religions.

Traditional African medicine is also directly linked to african indigenousspirituality. According to Clemmont E. Vontress, the various religious traditions of Africa are united by a basic Animism. According to him, the belief in the creator, deities and ancestors is the most important element of African indigenous spirituality. Gods were that revealed themselves through revelations which got worshiped by the people. African indigenous spirituality existed when first humans were created this means that african indigenous spirituality is not created by humans and is also older than all religions because religions are created by humans they have birth dates .

African indigenous spirituality generally hold the knowledge and wisdom of life after death (a spirit world or realms, in which spirits, but also gods reside), with some also having a concept of reincarnation and incarnation, in which deceased humans may reincarnate into their family lineage (blood lineage), if they want to, or have something to do.

Jacob Olupona, Nigerian American professor of indigenous African religions at Harvard University, summarized the many traditional African religions as complex animistic spiritual and beliefs of the African people before the Christian and Islamic "colonization" of Africa. deity worship has always played a "significant" part in the African spirituality and may be considered as central to the African worldview. Ancestors (ancestral spirits) are an integral part of reality. The ancestors are generally believed to reside in an ancestral realm (spirit world), while some believe that the ancestors became equal in power to deities which is a lie ancestors are below deties and they need deities, deities don't need human ancestors (human spirits).

The defining line between deities and ancestors is often contested, but overall, ancestors are believed to occupy a higher level of existence than living human beings and are believed to be able to bestow either blessings or illness upon their living descendants.The creator is above deties, deties are above ancestors, ancestors are above living humans because they have been promoted to the human spiritual realm. Ancestors can offer advice and bestow good fortune and honor to their living descendants, but they have limits because they are not deities or the creator , they can also make demands, such as insisting that their shrines be properly maintained and propitiated. The knowledge in ancestors also testifies to the inclusive nature of African spirituality by positing that deceased progenitors still play a role in the lives of their living descendants.

Olupona rejects the western/Islamic definition of monotheism and says that such concepts could not reflect the complex African traditions and are too simplistic. While some traditions have a supreme being (next to other deities), others have not. Monotheism does not reflect the multiplicity of ways that the African spirituality has conceived of deities/gods/high spirit beings. He summarizes that l African indigenous spirituality is not religion, but a worldview, a way of life.

Ceremonies

West and Central African religious practices generally manifest themselves in communal ceremonies or divinatory rites in which members of the community, overcome by force (or ashe, nyama, etc.), are excited to the point of going into meditative trance in response to rhythmic or driving drumming or singing. One religious ceremony practiced in Gabon and Cameroon is the Okuyi, practiced by several Bantu ethnic groups. In this state, depending upon the region, drumming or instrumental rhythms played by respected musicians (each of which is unique to a given deity or ancestor), participants embody a deity or ancestor, energy or state of mind by performing distinct ritual movements or dances which further enhance their elevated consciousness.

When this trance-like state is witnessed and understood, adherents are privy to a way of contemplating the pure or symbolic embodiment of a particular mindset or frame of reference. This builds skills at separating the feelings elicited by this mindset from their situational manifestations in daily life. Such separation and subsequent contemplation of the nature and sources of pure energy or feelings serves to help participants manage and accept them when they arise in mundane contexts. This facilitates better control and transformation of these energies into positive, culturally appropriate behavior, thought, and speech. Also, this practice can give rise to those in these trances uttering words which, when interpreted by a culturally educated initiate or diviner, can provide insight into appropriate directions which the community (or individual) might take in accomplishing its goal.

Spirits

Followers of traditional African religions pray to various spirits as well as to their ancestors. This includes also nature, elementary and animal spirits. The difference between powerful spirits and gods is often minimal. Most African societies believe in several “high gods” and a large amount of lower gods and spirits. There are also some religions with a single supreme being (Chukwu, Nyame, Olodumare, Ngai, Roog, etc.). Some recognize a dual god and goddess such as Mawu-Lisa.

Traditional African religions generally believe in an afterlife, one or more Spirit worlds, and Ancestor worship is an important basic concept in mostly all African religions. Some African religions adopted different views through the influence of Islam or even Hinduism.

Practices and rituals

There are more similarities than differences in all traditional African religions, although Jacob Olupona has written that it is difficult to truly generalize them because of the sheer amount of differences and variations between the traditions. The deities and spirits are honored through libation or sacrifice (of animals, vegetables, cooked food, flowers, semi-precious stones and precious metals). The will of the gods or spirits is sought by the believer also through consultation of divinities or divination. Traditional African religions embrace natural phenomena – ebb and tide, waxing and waning moon, rain and drought – and the rhythmic pattern of agriculture. According to Gottlieb and Mbiti:

The environment and nature are infused in every aspect of traditional African religions and culture. This is largely because cosmology and beliefs are intricately intertwined with the natural phenomena and environment. All aspects of weather, thunder, lightning, rain, day, moon, sun, stars, and so on may become amenable to control through the cosmology of African people. Natural phenomena are responsible for providing people with their daily needs.

For example, in the Serer religion, one of the most sacred stars in the cosmos is called Yoonir (the Star of Sirius). With a long farming tradition, the Serer high priests and priestesses (Saltigue) deliver yearly sermons at the Xooy Ceremony (divination ceremony) in Fatick before Yoonir's phase in order to predict winter months and enable farmers to start planting.

Traditional healers are common in most areas, and their practices include a religious element to varying degrees.

Divination

Since Africa is a large continent with many ethnic groups and cultures, there is not one single technique of casting divination. The practice of casting may be done with small objects, such as bones, cowrie shells, stones, strips of leather, or flat pieces of wood.

Some castings are done using sacred divination plates made of wood or performed on the ground (often within a circle).

In traditional African societies, many people seek out diviners on a regular basis. There are generally no prohibitions against the practice. Diviner (also known as priest) are also sought for their wisdom as counselors in life and for their knowledge of herbal medicine.

Ubuntu

Ubuntu is a Nguni Bantu term meaning "humanity". It is sometimes translated as "I am because we are" (also "I am because you are"), or "humanity towards others" (in Zulu, umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu). In Xhosa, the latter term is used, but is often meant in a more philosophical sense to mean "the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity". It is a collection of values and practices that people of Africa or of African origin view as making people authentic human beings. While the nuances of these values and practices vary across different ethnic groups, they all point to one thing – an authentic individual human being is part of a larger and more significant relational, communal, societal, environmental and spiritual world.

Virtue and vice

Virtue in traditional African religion is often connected with carrying out obligations of the communal aspect of life. Examples include social behaviors such as the respect for parents and elders, raising children appropriately, providing hospitality, and being honest, trustworthy, and courageous.

In some traditional African religions, morality is associated with obedience or disobedience to God regarding the way a person or a community lives. For the Kikuyu, according to their primary supreme creator, Ngai, acting through the lesser deities, is believed to speak to and be capable of guiding the virtuous person as one's conscience.

In many cases, Africans who have converted to other religions have still kept up their traditional customs and practices, combining them in a syncretic way.

Sacred places

Some sacred or holy locations for traditional religions include but not limited to Nri-Igbo, the Point of Sangomar, Yaboyabo, Fatick, Ife, Oyo, Dahomey, Benin City, Ouidah, Nsukka, Kanem-Bornu, Igbo-Ukwu, and Tulwap Kipsigis, among others.

Religious persecution

Traditional African religions have faced persecution from Christians and Muslims. Adherents of these religions have been forcefully converted to Islam and Christianity, demonized and marginalized. The atrocities include killings, waging war, destroying of sacred places, and other atrocities.

Because of persecution and discrimination, as well as incompatibility with traditional society, culture and native beliefs, the Dinka people largely rejected or ignored Islamic and Christian teachings.

Science and traditional worldviews

Bandama and Babalola (2023) states:

The view of science as "embedded practice," intimately connected with ritual, for example, is considered "ascientific," "pseudo-science," or "magic" in Western perspective. In Africa, there is a strong connection between the physical and the terrestrial worlds. The deities and gods are the emissaries of the supreme God and the patrons in charge of the workability of the processes involved. In the Ile-Ife pantheon, for example, Olokun—the goddess of wealth—is considered the patron of the glass industry and is therefore consulted. Sacrifices are offered to appease her for a successful run. The same is true for ironworking. Current scholarship has reinforced the contributions of ancient Africa to the global history of science and technology.

Traditions by region

This list is limited to a few well-known traditions.

Central Africa

• Bantu mythology (Central, Southeast, Southern Africa)
  • Bushongo mythology (Congo)
  • Kongo religion (Congo)
  • Lugbara mythology (Congo)
  • Baluba mythology (Congo)
  • Mbuti mythology (Congo)
• Hausa animism (Chad, Gabon)
• Lotuko mythology (South Sudan)

Eastern Africa

• Kushite mythology (central parts of Sudan with origins in kerma culture)
• Bantu mythology (Central, Southeast, Southern Africa)
  • Gikuyu mythology (Kenya)
  • Akamba mythology
• Abaluhya mythology (Kenya)
• Dinka religion (South Sudan)
• Malagasy mythology (Madagascar)
• Maasai mythology (Kenya, Tanzania, Ouebian)
• Kalenjin mythology (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania)
• Dini Ya Msambwa (Bungoma, Trans Nzoia, Kenya)
• Waaqeffanna (Ethiopia and Kenya)
• Somali mythology (Somalia)

Northern Africa

• Ancient Egyptian religion (Egypt, Sudan)
  • Kemetism
• Kushite mythology (along the Nile valley in Sudan)
• Punic religion (Tunisia, Algeria, Libya)
• Traditional Berber religion (Morocco (including Western Sahara), Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso)

Southern Africa

• Bantu mythology (Central, Southeast, Southern Africa)
  • Lozi mythology (Zambia)
  • Tumbuka mythology (Malawi)
  • Zulu traditional religion (South Africa)
• Badimo (South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho)
• San religion (Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa)
• Traditional healers of South Africa
• Indigenous religion in Zimbabwe

Western Africa

• Abwoi religion (Nigeria)
• Akan religion (Gana/Ghana, Ivory Coast)
• Dahomean religion (Benin, Togo)
• Efik religion (Nigeria, Cameroon)
• Edo religion (Benin kingdom, Nigeria)
• Hausa animism (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Gana/Ghana, Ivory Coast, Niger, Nigeria, Togo)
• Ijo religion (Ijo people, Nigeria)
• Godianism (a religion that is purported to encompass all traditional religions of Africa, primarily based on Odinala)
• Odinala (Igbo people, Nigeria)
• Asaase Yaa (Bono people (Gana/Ghana and Ivory Coast)
• Serer religion (A ƭat Roog) (Senegal, Gambia, Mauritania)
• Yoruba religion (Nigeria, Benin, Togo)
• Vodou (Gana/Ghana, Benin, Togo, Nigeria)
• Dogon religion (Mali)
• Ifa religion(Nigeria)

African diaspora

Afro-American religions involve ancestor worship and include a creator deity along with a pantheon of divine spirits such as the Orisha, Loa, Vodun, Nkisi and Alusi, among others. In addition to the religious syncretism of these various African traditions, many also incorporate elements of Folk Catholicism including folk saints and other forms of Folk religion, Native American religion, Spiritism, Spiritualism, Shamanism (sometimes including the use of Entheogens) and European folklore.

Various "doctoring" spiritual traditions also exist such as Obeah and Hoodoo which focus on spiritual health. African religious traditions in the Americas can vary. They can have non-prominent African roots or can be almost wholly African in nature, such as religions like Trinidad Orisha.

See also

• Folk religion – Expressions of religion distinct from the official doctrines of organized religion

Notes

1. Juergensmeyer, Mark (2006). The Oxford handbook of global religions. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-513798-1. OCLC 64084086.
2. Mbiti, John S. (1991). Introduction to African religion. Oxford : Heinemann Educational Books. ISBN 0-435-94002-3. OCLC 24376978.
3. Nweke, Kizito Chinedu (2022-12-25). "Responding to new Imageries in African indigenous Spiritualties". Religious: Jurnal Studi Agama-Agama dan Lintas Budaya. 6 (3): 271–282. doi:10.15575/rjsalb.v6i3.20246. ISSN 2528-7249. S2CID 255213985.
4. Kimmerle, Heinz (2006-04-11). "The world of spirits and the respect for nature: towards a new appreciation of animism". The Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa. 2 (2): 15. doi:10.4102/td.v2i2.277. ISSN 2415-2005.
5. Vontress, Clemmont E. (2005), "Animism: Foundation of Traditional Healing in Sub-Saharan Africa", Integrating Traditional Healing Practices into Counseling and Psychotherapy, SAGE Publications, Inc., pp. 124–137, doi:10.4135/9781452231648, ISBN 9780761930471, retrieved 2019-10-31
6. ^ Cite error: The named reference mol was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
7. An African Story BBC Archived November 2, 2015, at the Wayback Machine.
8. What is religion? An African understanding Archived May 21, 2016, at the Wayback Machine.
9. Britannica Book of the Year (2003), Encyclopædia Britannica (2003) ISBN 978-0-85229-956-2 p.306
   According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, as of mid-2002, there were 480,453,000 Christians, 329,869,000 Muslims and 98,734,000 people who practiced indigenous spirituality in Africa. Ian S. Markham, A World Religions Reader (1996) Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publishers Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine is cited by Morehouse University as giving the mid-1990s figure of 278,250,800 Muslims in Africa, but still as 40.8% of the total. These numbers are estimates, and remain a matter of conjecture (see Amadu Jacky Kaba). The spread of Christianity and Islam in Africa: a survey and analysis of the numbers and percentages of Christians, Muslims and those who practice indigenous religions. The Western Journal of Black Studies, Vol 29, Number 2, (June 2005), discusses the estimations of various almanacs and encyclopedias, placing Britannica's estimate as the most agreed on figure. Notes the figure presented at the World Christian Encyclopedia, summarized here Archived March 5, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, as being an outlier. On rates of growth, Islam and Pentecostal Christianity are highest, see: The List: The World's Fastest-Growing Religions, Foreign Policy, May 2007.
10. Lugira, Aloysius M., African Traditional Religions (New York: Chelsea House, 2009), p. 36 Varghese, Roy Abraham, Christ Connection: How the World Religions Prepared the Way for the Phenomenon of Jesus, Paraclete Press (2011), p. 1935, ISBN 9781557258397 (Retrieved 24 March 2019)
11. Mbiti, John S (1992). Introduction to African religion. East African Publishers. ISBN 9780435940027.When Africans are converted to other religions, they often mix their african indigenous spirituality with the one to which they are converted. In this way they are mixing things that must not be mixed (a snake and a frog).Although a large proportion of Africans have converted to Islam an Christianity, these two world religions have been assimilated into African culture, and many African Christians and Muslims maintain spiritual practices
12. "Ancient African Religion Finds Roots In America". NPR.org. Retrieved 2020-11-27.
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15. Hornung, Erik (2001). Akhenaten and the religion of light. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-8014-8725-0. OCLC 48417401.
16. Hexham, Irvin ((1981), Lord of the Sky-King of the earth: Zulu Traditional Religion and Belief in the Skrelicsy God, Sciences Religieuses Studies in Religion, vol. 10: 273-78)
17. Busia, K. A. (1963). "Has the distinction between primitive and higher religions any sociological significance ?". Archives de Sciences Sociales des Religions. 16 (1): 22–25. doi:10.3406/assr.1963.1996.
18. Peterson, Olof. "Foreigen influences on the idea of God in African religions".
19. ^ Okwu AS (1979). "Life, Death, Reincarnation, and Traditional Healing in Africa". Issue: A Journal of Opinion. 9 (3): 19–24. doi:10.2307/1166258. JSTOR 1166258.
20. ^ Stanton, Andrea L. (2012). Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa: An Encyclopedia. SAGE. ISBN 9781412981767.
21. Baldick, Julian (1997). Black God: the Afroasiatic roots of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religions. Syracuse University Press:ISBN 0-8156-0522-6
22. The Civilizations of Africa: A History to 1800, by Christopher Ehret, James Currey, 2002
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27. Annemarie De Waal Malefijt (1968) Religion and Culture: an Introduction to Anthropology of Religion, p. 220–249, Macmillan
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30. Peter C. Rogers (2009) Ultimate Truth, Book 1, p100. Published by AuthorHouse, ISBN 1-4389-7968-1
31. Parrinder, E. G. (1959). "Islam and West African Indigenous Religion". Numen. 6 (2): 130–141. doi:10.2307/3269310. ISSN 0029-5973. JSTOR 3269310.
32. Ndemanu, Michael T. (January 2018). "Traditional African religions and their influences on the worldviews of Bangwa people of Cameroon". Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad. 30: 70–84. doi:10.36366/frontiers.v30i1.405.
33. John S. Mbiti (1990) African Religions & Philosophy 2nd Ed., p 100–101, Heinemann, ISBN 0-435-89591-5
34. Olupona, Jacob K. (2014). African Religions: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-19-979058-6. OCLC 839396781.
35. John S. Mbiti (1992) Introduction to African Religion 2nd Ed., p. 68, Published by East African Publishers ISBN 9966-46-928-1
36. Roger S. Gottlieb (2006) The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Ecology, p. 261, Oxford Handbooks Online ISBN 0-19-517872-6
37. Henry Gravrand (1990) La Civilisation Sereer Pangool, PP 21, 152, Published by Les Nouvelles Editions Africaines du Sénégal, ISBN 2-7236-1055-1
38. Simone Kalis (1997) Médecine Traditionnelle, Religion et Divination Chez les Seereer Siin du Sénégal: La Coonaissance de la Nuit, L'Harmattan, ISBN 2-7384-5196-9
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40. Resolving the Prevailing Conflicts Between Christianity and African (Igbo) Traditional Religion Through Inculturation, by Edwin Anaegboka Udoye
41. Anne C. Bailey, African Voices of the Atlantic Slave Trade: Beyond the Silence and the Shame.
42. M. Darrol Bryant, Rita H. Mataragnon, The Many faces of religion and society (1985), Page 100, https://books.google.com/books?id=kv4nAAAAYAAJ:"African traditional religion went through and survived this type of persecution at the hands of Christianity and Islam..."
43. Garrick Bailey, Essentials of Cultural Anthropology, 3rd edn (2013), p. 268:"Later, during the nineteenth century, Christian missionaries became active in Africa and Oceania. Attempts by Christian missionaries to convert nonbelievers to Christianity took two main forms: forced conversions and proselytizing."
44. Festus Ugboaja Ohaegbulam, Towards and Understanding of the African Experience (1990), p. 161:"The role of Christian missionaries are a private interest group in European colonial occupation of Africa was a significant one...Collectively their activities promoted division within traditional African societies into rival factions...the picture denigrated African culture and religion..."
45. Toyin Falola et al., Hot Spot: Sub-Saharan Africa: Sub-Saharan Africa (2010), p. 7:"A religion of Middle Eastern origin, Islam reached Africa via the northern region of the continent by means of conquest. The Islamic wars of conquest that would lead to the Islamization of North Africa occurred first in Egypt, when in about 642 CE the country fell to the invading Muslim forces from Arabia. Over the next centuries, the rest of the Maghreb would succumb to Jihadist armies...The notion of religion conversion, whether by force or peaceful means, is foreign to indigenous African beliefs...Islam, however, did not become a religion of the masses by peaceful means. Forced conversion was an indispensable element of proselytization."
46. Beswick, S. F. (1994). "Non-Acceptance of Islam in the Southern Sudan: The Case of the Dinka from the Pre-Colonial Period to Independence (1956)". Northeast African Studies. 1 (2/3): 19–47. doi:10.1353/nas.1994.0018. ISSN 0740-9133. JSTOR 41931096. S2CID 143871492.
47. ^ Bandama, Foreman; Babalola, Abidemi Babatunde (13 September 2023). "Science, Not Black Magic: Metal and Glass Production in Africa". African Archaeological Review. 40 (3): 531–543. doi:10.1007/s10437-023-09545-6. ISSN 0263-0338. OCLC 10004759980. S2CID 261858183.
48. Eltis, David; Richardson, David (1997). Routes to slavery: direction, ethnicity, and mortality in the transatlantic slave trade. Routledge. p. 88. ISBN 0-7146-4820-5.
49. Houk, James (1995). Spirits, Blood, and Drums: The Orisha Religion in Trinidad. Temple University Press. ISBN 1566393507.

References

• Information presented here was gleaned from World Eras Encyclopaedia, Volume 10, edited by Pierre-Damien Mvuyekure (New York: Thomson-Gale, 2003), in particular pp. 275–314.
• Baldick, J (1997) Black God: The Afroasiatic Roots of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Religions. New York: Syracuse University Press.
• Doumbia, A. & Doumbia, N (2004) The Way of the Elders: West African Spirituality & Tradition. Saint Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications.
• Ehret, Christopher, (2002) Civilizations of Africa: a History to 1800. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia.
• Ehret, Christopher, An African Classical Age: Eastern and Southern Africa in World History, 1000 B.C. to A.D. 400, page 159, University of Virginia Press, ISBN 0-8139-2057-4
• Karade, B (1994) The Handbook of Yoruba Religious Concepts. York Beach, MA: Samuel Weiser Inc.
• P'Bitek, Okot. African Religions and Western Scholarship. Kampala: East African Literature Bureau, 1970.
• Princeton Online, History of Africa
• Wiredu, Kwasi Toward Decolonizing African Philosophy And Religion in African Studies Quarterly, The Online Journal for African Studies, Volume 1, Issue 4, 1998

Further reading

• Encyclopedia of African Religion, - Molefi Asante, Sage Publications, 2009 ISBN 1412936365
• Abimbola, Wade (ed. and trans., 1977). Ifa Divination Poetry NOK, New York).
• Baldick, Julian (1997). Black God: the Afroasiatic roots of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religions. Syracuse University Press:ISBN 0-8156-0522-6
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External links

• Media related to Traditional African religions at Wikimedia Commons
• African Comparative Belief
• Afrika world.net A website with extensive links and information about traditional African religions Archived 2019-06-01 at the Wayback Machine
• Baba Alawoye.com Baba'Awo Awoyinfa Ifaloju, showcasing Ifa using web media 2.0 (blogs, podcasting, video & photocasting)
• culture-exchange.blog/animism-modern-africa An article explaining the parallels between traditional and modern religious practices in Africa

• Traditional African religions
• Sub-Saharan Africa
• Religion in Africa