Islamic Conservatism and Interreligious Conflict in sub-Saharan Africa

• In Event: Religion and Political Behavior in Africa

Abstract

In the past few decades, there has been a marked rise of Islamic conservatism is sub-Saharan Africa. While the literature proposes multiple explanations for the Islamic revival in Arab countries, no studies have investigated this phenomenon in Africa. With African Muslims primarily residing in Muslim-minority countries, the implications of rising conservatism for inter-religious conflict are of paramount importance. This project examines the causes of rising conservatism in Africa and its implications for inter-religious conflict. First, I document and characterize conservatism propagated through mosque sermons. Second, I consider one oft-hypothesized channel for the spread of conservatism: foreign countries’ exportation of fundamentalist ideology by recruiting and training African Muslim leaders. Using data from a survey of 300 mosques in Uganda, I test whether imams who trained in foreign countries are more likely to espouse conservative ideology in their sermons. Finally, I assess the effect of exposure to conservative sermons on interreligious cohesion. This project offers important insights into the role Muslim religious institutions and doctrine play in shaping social cohesion. It also sheds light on the transnational diffusion of (religious) ideas and its implications for local social cohesion in multi-religious countries.

Author

• Aala Abdelgadir, Stanford University