The Decline of Islam among the Benin and Esan of Edo State, Nigeria: a Historical Perspective1

Abstract

Recent research among Muslim leaders in Benin has revealed that the
community is facing a decline in the number of Muslims among the Benin and
the Esan people of Edo State, Nigeria. This decline runs counter to the popular
belief that Islam is experiencing expansion and revitalization in Africa, as was
enunciated by Ali Mazrui in the late 1980s. Islam spread among the Benin and
Esan people in the late nineteenth century, under different circumstances. The
expansion was driven by the emigration of Benin and Esan people into Islamized
communities, where they embraced Islam, and by the immigration of stranger
Muslims into these Benin and Esan areas, which further spread the faith.
Archival records show occasional incidents of mass conversions to Islam in some rural communities. Muslim groups established schools to sustain and
spread the faith and benefited from other conducive factors, such as access to
mass media. Such factors and developments in the history of Islam in Africa
tended to lead to increased conversions, but instead, there was a decline in the
Muslim population. This paper examines this decline among the Benin and Esan
people and attempts to account for its development, dating back to colonial
times