Early Islam on the East African Coast

Abstract

The East African coast was inhabited by both hunter-gatherers and fishing and farming communities who had access to maritime technology well before the arrival of Islam. While The Periplus of Erythreaen Sea describes a flourishing trade between southern Arabia and East Africa in the first century, the first secure documentary evidence for the presence of Islam dates to the early tenth century. In the late tenth or early eleventh century, the fortunes of the East African towns changed again. Accurate dating for Islam on the East African coast can be obtained through Islamic burials, early mosques, and locally minted coins with Islamic inscriptions from the late eighth century. By being part of the Islamic world, the East African coastal towns had much in common with their most important trading partners. However, they did not simply adopt Islamic forms as slavish copies of Middle Eastern forms but often developed their own styles.

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