african history
...vided by relgions. Although both Christianity and Islam were experiencing growth during the colonial time period, Christianity was the newer and less known religion to the African continent. It was introduced to Africa by the Europeans, and was seen as the religion of the educated white man. To Africans, the Christian religion not only was seen as a change in their religion but it was also seen as a means to a new and better way of life. Africans saw Christian missionaries creating schools and hospitals and saw a superior and more modernized way to live their life. Many of the new Christian followers happened to be young adults who took interest in becoming educated to become nurses and doctors in the hospitals or just solely being educated. Literacy also began to spread with the printing press becoming popular. This was because the Bible was able to be printed and circulated throughout Africa in both English and African languages. Although the Christian religion sounded great and prosperous for the Africans, many saw it also as just another way for the colonialists to rule over them. People believed that riding Africans of their indigenous culture and converting them to Christianity was just another part of the colonialists endeavor. The educational reasons that were drawing Africans towards Christianity also had downfalls as well. Missionary schools taught mainly Christian messages and were reluctant to teach anything that would stray Africans to anything that would cause Africans to convert back to different religions. For those who did convert to Christianity, the change was not as cut and dry as it seemed. Africans still held on to some of their gods of the localized beliefs as well as the continual beliefs in magicians and spiritual healers. The less controversial and propitious religion during the colonial time was the Islamic faith. The traditional Islamic traditions of accommodation allowed the Islamic people adapt easier to the large change. The three ways that Muslims adapted were by hijra, jihads and taigyya. Islamic people who practiced hijra practiced withdraw. Whether that withdraw was a physical retreat from the controlled area or a more internal retreat, they took themselves out of the situation at hand. The jihad is a more proactive way to handle the colonial situation. Jihad, literally meaning holy war, was a way for people to publically express ones discontent for the current political situation. Things such as public protests were a good example of a jihad of the time. The happy medium between these two, jihad and hijra, is called Tagiyya. This more passive alternative helped Muslims keep good faith and kept them believing that the colonial rule wouldn’t last long. They felt they cou...