Christian Africans, Muslim Africans, and the European Colonial Project

This chapter examines intricate and varied Christian-Muslim relationships in colonized African societies. Whereas once it was assumed that European and American Christian missions during the colonial era had little impact in converting Muslims, research from various parts of the continent—West Africa, the Horn, and East Africa—shows that Christian missionary activities among Muslim peoples were more extensive than previously thought in spheres such as translation, printing, education, and medicine and had effects quite apart from and in the absence of conversion to Christianity. Moreover, missions were not the only institutions shaping interreligious relations—colonial administrations and indigenous rulers also interfered in the religious lives of Africans in many realms—domestic relations, education, and healing, to name a few—beyond rituals and beliefs. Colonial-era negotiations of religious encounters by Europeans and Africans led to increased scrutiny and reform of personal and gender relations and behavior that were sometimes unintended. Yet the implications of this history last today. While the European colonial project might have aimed to “civilize” Africans using religion as but one factor, the consequent divisions and othering of Africans in new ways using religious difference created competition amid co-existence and profound challenges for practitioners of indigenous African religions.