Askia Muhammad I · Politics

Islam as the Framework of the State

How Askia made Islam the legitimating framework of the Songhai state - the 1496 pilgrimage to Mecca, his investiture in Cairo as the Caliph’s deputy over the land of the Blacks, and the building of a polity of judges, law, and mosques - while the older local religion persisted beneath it.

What you'll be able to recall

You learned that Askia turned Islam into imperial policy: the hajj of 1496-97, his being named the Caliph’s deputy ( khalifa ) over the land of the Blacks, and the framing of the state around sharia courts, judges, and mosques - even as most subjects kept their local religion. Explain why a universal faith solve…

Leads to Niccolò Machiavelli.

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