Stephen King - Film Elements :: essays research papers

The African international jihadsJihad, the Islamic word meaning holy place war. During the eighteenth and 19th centuries,this word brought fear to anyone who did non fully consider in the Islamic stateand resided in due west Africa. The Jihads of this era not only changed the faithof many people, but also the landscape of westerly African democracy. AlthoughIslamic Jihads had occurred in the past, they never surmounted to the magnitudeof those of the 18th century. What factors and leaders caused the West AfricanJihads, of the 18th and 19th centuries, to be so effective?The people of West Africa were tired of governments who constantly over taxedits constituents, and barely did not care for the well being of commonindividuals. The Islamic piety, which was brought to Africa by Muslimtraders, provided individuals a new opportunity of promise, equality, and thepossibility of becoming a spiritual being. Islam embraced the majority of WestAfrican people and became known as the sup reme religion of the region. During the end of the 18th century followers of the religion came to theconclusion that it was simply not sufficient to have Islam be the dominantreligion of the area. They felt that Islam needed to be part of the government,instead of having the detachment of church and state.In the 18th and 19th centuries the Islamic population of West Africa united with the common belief that under Sharia(Islamic law) the government would not stamp down individuals, and the law of the Koran would become the law of the land. "The Sharia provided an alternative modelling of government with which to compareand confront rulers." This movement, which focused on expelling thenon-Orthodox Muslim leaders of West Africa, is due to the leadership of UsmanDan Fodio and Al-Hajj-Umar. These men paved the right smart for the expansion of Islamthrough the creation of the Orthodox Sokoto and Tukolor Empires.The rise of the Islamic Jihad and the expansion of both Empires, a re at theoutset due to the oppression of the Fulbe people in the early 1700s. The Fulbewere pastoralist nomads who at the time had settled in the region of Futa Jalon,which is present day state of Guinea. In this region the Fulbe were ladenby the ruling pagan farmers, who considered them intruders to the land. Thesepagan authoritarians subjugated the Fulbe people to foreign taxes andenforced several laws to keep them from trading. Due to these extremefactors, the Fulbe looked to answer their miseries by turning to the religionof Islam, which promised a better future.