WORLD HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Only about a fifth of the world’s Muslims live in the Middle East and North Africa, but it is the only region where a majority of the population is Muslim. While the Muslim share of the region’s population increases slightly in the coming decades, the Christian and Jewish shares are expected to decline modestly.

Detailed explanation-2: -According to Clemmont E. Vontress, the various religious traditions of Africa are united by a basic Animism. According to him, the belief in spirits and ancestors is the most important element of African religions. Gods were either self-created or evolved from spirits or ancestors which got worshiped by the people.

Detailed explanation-3: -The oldest stratum of religion in western and central Africa is Orisha religion, which mutually obligated humans and members of the extraordinary realm of divine and ancestral beings. Beginning in the ninth century of the Common Era, varieties of Islam would become familiar to the region.

Detailed explanation-4: -ECONOMIC EFFECTS Islam promoted trade between West Africa and the Mediterranean. The religion developed and widened the trans-Saharan Caravan trade. The trade enriched the West African and the Muslim traders. Muslims from North Africa came in their numbers and settled in the commercial centres.