Ancient Mali Religion

It grew from a local, oppressed faith that was pioneered by Muhammad and his close family and friends, to a force that united nations under one of the largest empires that the world had ever seen. It would have never become what it was without the incorporation of whole populations into the faith, the unified network of trade it provided, and the scholarly developments it pioneered and renewed. Without the deliberate conquests of different nations, Islam would not have grown so rapidly. If Islam had not grown so large, so quickly, the entirety of Afro-Eurasian trade would not have been so standard and unified. Likewise, if there was no such established network of trade, the ideas and innovations of Muslim education would not have become so widespread. Therefore, it is evident that each of these effects of the Islamic faith and its empire needed the others. Without all of them, Islam would not have been so influential to the history of Afro-Eurasia and would have produced a very different outcome that would have affected the history of Islam up until

was formed by a ruler named Sundiata in 1230 C.E. Neverless, both elites were founded on Islamic administration. Between 1200 to 1500, Mali and Delhi encountered a government system that was influenced by the Islamic civilization; however, both empires had different views of the status of women and different controls on various trade routes.

Historically, the major religions of Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism began to spread across Eurasia and Africa from the 5th century through trade routes and conquest. As these ideas and practices traveled to new and distance places, local populations adapted and transformed many of them in ways that reflected traditional beliefs and customs, also known as syncretism. The rise of rulers, such as Sundiata in Mali helps illustrate this process of partial adaptation, or syncretism, in order to get a boost of support from the subjects of the kingdom. The actions concerning syncretism, can be explanation of the rise of kings such as Sundiata. These examples can be seen through the texts “Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali”, “Worlds together, Worlds

Indigenous religions exist in every climate around the world and exhibit a wide range of differences in their stories, language, customs, and views of the afterlife. Within indigenous communities, religion, social behavior, art, and music are so intertwined that their religion is a significant part of their culture and virtually inseparable from it. These religions originally developed and thrived in isolation from one another and are some of the earliest examples of religious practice and belief. The modern world; however, has taken its toll on these groups and many of their stories, customs, and beliefs have been lost to, or replaced by, those brought in as a result of popular culture and the missionary work of Christians and Muslims.

The great Machiavelli once said, "Whoever wishes to foresee the future must consult the past; for human events ever resemble those of preceding times." Indeed, the study of history is important as history does seem to repeat itself. Many people in today's society learn about the past from textbooks and other books, as these are of easy access. Is this really the best way to learn about the past? The people of ancient Africa did not think so, as they had special people called "griots"who passed the people's traditions and history down orally from generation to generation. One such griot, Mamadou Kouyate, recalls the story of the most famous ruler in African history, Sundiata, in D.T. Niane's book Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali. This

“Sundiata: an Epic of Old Mali”: A Character Analysis of Sundiata. Sundiata is an oral epic passed from griot to griot. D.T. Niane’s Sundiata contains many powerful characters. Throughout the story Niane uses the strength and weaknesses of his characters to show the importance of destiny and fate. The character that holds his name to the story, Sundiata, is the son of King Maghan Kon Katta and the “buffalo” woman. Sundiata was prophesized to be a great leader and to save the people of Mali. Sundiata must go through a series of tests and trials, before fulfilling his destiny and taking throne of Mali. Though Sundiata road to greatness he had to deal with overcoming many different obstacles. Such as him being disable until the age of seven.

From the ancient Mesopotamian civilizations to the Muslim world, antiquity has always been filled with religions of all sorts. These religions helped guide how ancient peoples lived life and came about doing even the most common tasks that people like us do today. Religion impacted the civilizations of the ancient world by greatly influencing how peoples of ancient civilizations acted, how they thought about the world around them, how civilizations were organized and maintained, and how they interacted with civilizations of another religion.

The Medieval period lasted from 500 AD to 1500 AD. With the fall and transformations of several empires Islam was conquering and increasing trade which caused its cultural interaction to spread. This caused for the Rise of Islam and an empire to occur, this came about because the key figure for the religion was Mohammed which was believed to be the last prophet, and also the way the religion unified people and communities that were at conflict with it’s monotheistic belief. At this moment in time, Islam was at its highest peak. Many mosques, libraries and schools were being built that expanded the knowledge on Islam. With the rise of Islam many Muslim political characters, cultural icons, travelers, and people of science became well known. Two of the many travelers and political characters became known which were Ibn Battuta and King Mansa Musa. Ibn Battuta was a famous Moroccan traveler who was raised in a family of scholars whom traveled thousand of miles starting at the age of twenty-one. Ibn Battuta started his journey at first with the goal of going to Mecca, and he ended up traveling over 40 countries. Mansa Musa was the first Muslim African King who ruled the empire of Mali, and is mostly known for his massive wealth that he had. Mansa Musa caused mass inflation that lasted for years, this was because Musa had made a lot of generous donations to the poor, and gave out so much gold. On his return from Mecca, Mansa Musa had hired architects and scholars that he

     Before one starts to outline the traditional religion in Africa, one must first explain the way Africa is as a whole. Without the knowledge of the past combined with knowledge of culture, one would have a very vague, if any, understanding of traditional religion.

The indigenous tribes of North America have much in common with the indigenous religions of Africa but there are also many differences in the belief of an afterlife, supreme deity, and the daily practices of each. Today many of these lesser known religions are hardly ever studied but they exist and are still practiced all over North America and Africa. We will discuss how these religions differ in their main beliefs and practices, and we will also discuss how they correlate with one another on smaller aspects.

The spread of Islam and Christianity. Both belief systems spread both rapidly and were efficient religions that brought great change for the greater good. They were the largest religions in the entire world and both happened to be monotheistic. Both religions share a similar history and tradition. Christianity appealed to the people because of their unwillingness to live on and how hopeless they were to move forward in poverty. Travel played an enormous role in conversion because of the missionaries sent out to unknown lands to spread the faith through trading routes (Christianity) and contacts (Islam). Islam prospered, on the other hand, with a vision of the angel Gabriel from Muhammed (became a god messenger and prophet of Allah). Interactions with other civilizations developed the Islamic World. These new religions led to more growth in the aspects of their social, economic, and political systems in addition to influencing other upcoming religions in history.

When most western people think about Native American or African religions there is a certain stigma that comes with the topic. This is in part because there is a lot of misinformation in the world about Native American and African religions. When most westerners think of African religions they think of voodoo and black magic. Likewise, the view of Native American religions is still looked at through the lens of the pilgrims who wrote about Native Americans as being savages and less than human. These stereotypes were all formed from a lack of accurate information. African and Native American religions are very similar. It is difficult to find a lot of accurate information on African and Native American indigenous religions because of the lack of written history but there is a lot of oral history that has been passed down from generation to generation. From this information, it is clear that Native American and African religions have many more similarities than they do differences. Three of these similarities will be discussed in this paper. The first topic of discussion is the similarity between African and Native American people when it comes to their perception of the spirit world. Following this topic are the similarities between Native American and African views on the afterlife and finally, the diversity of beliefs within African and Native American religions.

Like in any religion the people have certain beliefs. In the african religions there is no single religion. Researchers try to identify similarities in world views and ritual processes across the african boundaries. African Religions are polytheistic; which means they believe in more than one god. They believe in one overall god, but also ancestral spirits. Most African religion’s creation story reveal the creation of humans more than

As history continues, many religions have had an over powering effect on western civilization. When the 5th century arose, the religion, Islam, had an extremely important impact on the civilization. Muhammad, an Arabic prophet founded Islam and began to introduce it the people of his time. Diplomacy, violence, warfare, public laws, and Arabic tradition played a crucial role in the building of the Islamic religion. These important aspects helped shape and build the Islam religion that is now one of the world’s most widely practiced religions.

Although religions today take on many shapes and forms, and may seem so dramatically different from each other, in order to study and understand these religions, their similarities must be identified. This paper will first present a definition of religion that will connect to all religions at the simplest base. Then this paper will examine the common practices and experiences that are present in both the primary religions of the world, as well as the indigenous religions. Finally, this paper will discuss the issues that are critical to the academic study of religions.