Islamic Law in Africa

Because of calls in northern Nigeria for the full implementation of sharia, Islamic law in Africa has received much attention recently. The spotlight usually falls on the other side of the continent - on the Sudan - since the promulgation of the 1983 'legal revolution' of Numayri and where no constitutional debate has been free of major political struggles over the question of sharia. But apart from these two sub-Saharan countries, there is very little general knowledge on or scholarship about the history, ethnography or politics of Islamic law on the continent. Yet because of the Muslim presence, in large or small numbers, in the populations of all African countries, recognition of Islamic laws in many African states has, since independence, been fraught with political controversy. In certain cases, it is part of 'customary law', in others it stands independently but always secondary to state law and maintains a curious relation to customary law. 'Muslim personal law' has been and continues to be a focus of debate in Muslim communities and often a source of tension in national politics