0Africa is likely the only continent with a Muslim majority. More than a quarter of the world's 1.7 billion Muslims live in Africa, and Islam is the religion of more than 200 million West Africans. When and how did this come to be? How has the acceptance of Islam by West Africans shaped their history? And, conversely, how have West Africans shaped Islamic thought and practice?

This book provides answers by exploring-from an internal perspective-what it has meant to be a West African Muslim. It charts the past from within Islam as a system of religious meaning, showing how West Africans have utilized the doctrines and dogmas of the faith to shape history. By focusing on theology and history, this book shows how ordinary men and women have made the core principles and practices of Islam meaningful.