ISLAMIC MOVEMENTS AND THE POLITICAL
ECONOMY IN AFRICA: AN OVERVIEW OF
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA - 1

[ The Concept ]    [The Context ]   [Contemporary Islamic Movement ]   [African Political Economy ]   [Further Evidence ]   [Description to Prescription ]   [The Human Factor ]          [Role of Movements ]   [Conclusion ]  Reviewing the Concept Too often contemporary Islamic movements, whether in Africa or else where, are seen as isolated novel enterprises rather than a continuity with the historical past and a manifestation of that eternal culture of resilience of Islam. Indeed the struggle to revive and re-establish Islam has been a permanent and prominent feature of Muslim history. Just like the Prophets are united by a common mission so are the various movements past and present united by a common aspiration, even when they are separated by time and space. The link is provided not only by the books these Mujaddidin wrote but also and more fundamentally by the Glorious Qur'an, whence all the inspiration and incentive come. To undermine this continuity and see these movements as novel inventions of these Mujaddidin's, no doubt great leaderships, is to deny the movements their roots and ignore the genus of which they are only species. Equally distortive is the stereotyping that had developed, particularly in the last two decades, where the Muslim Brotherhood, whether its Egyptian, Sudanese or Jordanian versions, and the Jama'at Islami are presented as the prototypes. This stereotyping too often ignores the context, particularly the historical antecedents and the socio-economic and political terrain in which movements are developed and nurtured. Thus the mention of a movement automatically evokes a chain of expectations and notions which then cloud our perceptions. Such oversights have affected our understanding as well as assessments of Islamic movements often leading to oversimplifications and naive conclusions. It has thus become necessary to correct this widespread notion and develop a more encompassing and richer understanding that could accommodate all the genre. This is particularly necessary for the purpose of this paper, for we are dealing with a part of the world that the rest of the Muslim World has found convenient to ignore for some time now. It needs to be emphasized therefore, that the one thread that runs through all movements is that desire to restore Islam as a living reality in every conceivable aspect of human endeavour, its religious practices, its politics, its economy, its defense, its arts, science and technology. In seeking to do this, Islamic movements are simply seeking to re-enact the missions of the Prophets of Allah. In doing this the prophets themselves become the models of the movements. By making the Prophets the models, the movements are able to correctly understand what constitute success and what constitute failure, [9] differentiate between a da'i and a salesman and distinguish between a movement and a political party.