Non Muslims In Africa

The following is a 3 paragraph paper that we did in groups. Our assignment was to write a three paragraph research paper about how non Muslims are treated in Africa. Our paper has a paragraph for modern, a paragraph for when Islam was spreading in Africa, and a paragraph for the change over time. There are some links for websites that some information was taken from.

Africa and Non Muslims

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36TNd3c0K8Q --watch first
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_D1WhNwN5qk&NR=1 --watch second
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpOKKjaTAKQ&feature=related --watch third
http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/009767.php --not a video, text
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4JhLH558rw --some blurred out blood
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcI5qVdxMuM --some parts hard to understand

According the above website (the text), non muslims in Africa, especially black africans, have not been treated fairly by Muslims. Slavery had to be forced to stop by the French when the Muslims were enslaving the black Africans and pressurin other religions like CHristianity in Nigeria. The first three videos form you tube talk about treatment of non muslims in Egypt, Africa. The Christians were often forced to live in the dirtiest parts, sorting rubbish for a living. There was a underground Christian church, where the Christians were only allowed to practice their religion if they did not attract any Muslims, especially to attract a Muslim to convert. They aren't really allowed to build any churches above ground, Christians in Egypt are strongly discriminated against. Sometimes police won't even help the Christians. Muslims are not allowed to convert to Christianity and if one does try to convert, it is not recognized. In the video below the text website, it's from a news agency. In Ethiopia, Africa, Muslims attacked and burned a Christian Church. Many people were hurt very badly. The Muslims had guns and knives, when they couldn't get in they doused the church with gasoline and lit it on fire (while the Christians had been inside praying). A jihad was declared on Ethiopia, and it has been said in more than just this video that the Muslims have the goal of making the whole continent of Africa Islamic. In the last video Muslims are kidnapping Christian girls and boys, making it very hard to find them, especially by completely veiling the girls. They made it so hard for one girl to be found that the police started to give up. Then her mother recognized the way she walked and rescued her. Four days later, she was kidnapped again and sent to a man who taught the ways of Islam. Some of these people were threatened with violence and amputations, even beheading if they did not pay attention and do as they were told.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spread_of_Islam#Africa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_conquest_of_Egypt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umayyad_conquest_of_North_Africa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Sudan_(Coming_of_Islam_to_the_Turkiyah)

That was in the modern times. As Islam originally spread in Africa, the people in Africa were treated somewhat fairly, as you can se by reading the above articles from wikipedia. The non-muslims were basically allowed to practice their own religion as long as the Arabs/Muslims were ruling. However, when the Muslims invaded Nubia twice, the second time they tore down one of the major cathedrals and caused the non Muslims to put up a stout defense. In the end, the Muslims put up an armistice to maintain as much peace as possible. In Egypt, some Copts thought that Muslims were more tolerant than the Byzantine that had previously held power. Taxes were raised, which made some Africans quite unhappy, but the people were not subjected to further assaults once the Muslims were in power and they were pretty much left in peace. In many places like Alexandria for example, the victorious Muslim conquerors granted religious freedom to the CHristians, who would still be subject to the Muslim rule. However, Islam was spread by the sword where there was resistance, then peace was somewhat maintained. There were many wars when the Muslims were invading northern Africa. In some instances, when the Muslims were still battling the Byzantine EMpire for control over Africa, a city was burned. Some captives that were taken were either forced into slavery or military service. In some areas of Africa, Islam was spread by the vast number of merchants over many trade routes, especially on the Eastern coast and northern Africa. In North Africa, the Jews were really the only ones who didn't accept Islam being there. Christians and pagans both accepted the Muslim rulers, and many Berbers converted and helped with the Muslim conquests. The Muslims mostly allowed the people of Africa to keep doing what they were doing, as long as the Muslims were allowed to rule.

The treatment of non Muslims in Africa has changed greatly over time. When Islam first started to spread in Africa, the non Muslims were treated somewhat fairly. They were mostly still allowed to practice their own religion as long as they let the Muslims rule and followed the laws. Islam was spread by the sword, so some non muslims were probably killed, but peace was mostly maintained. In fact, Muslims were considered more tolerant than the Byzantine Empire. However, these freedoms have changed greatly over time. Today, whereever the Muslims are in Africa there's not religious freedom. Christians and Jews are very persecuted. The links at the top of this page show this. Many non Muslims are being killed, tortured, and kidnapped. The Muslims seem to have the goal of converting the whole of Africa to Islam. The Muslims are being very violent toward the non muslims, not trying to maintian peace, but disrupting it very much. This was a great change since when Islam first started to spread in Africa.