Abstract:
Dagaaba converted to Christianity in great numbers but resisted Islam
when it came. The study seeks to investigate the factors that accounted for
Dagaaba acceptance of and resistance to Islam. It also intends to collect and
document the oral history of Islam in Dagaabaland in the Upper West Region of
Ghana.
A qualitative method of data collection and analysis was employed. Indepth
interviews, focus group discussions guide (FGD) and participant observation
were applied as research instruments for the data collection. The descriptive
research design was also used to interpret the collected primary data.
The author found out that Islam was established in Dagaabaland by nonindigenous
and indigenous Muslims. The non-indigenous Muslims, mostly
Mande-Yeri, entered Dagaabaland in the sixteenth, eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries. The indigenous Muslims consisted of Southern Ghana Dagaaba migrant
converts, liberated ex-slaves and converts in Dagaabaland. These people were
converted to Islam towards the end of the nineteenth century and in the twentieth
century. The author discovered that the non-indigenous and indigenous Muslims
established Islam through various means and succeeded in converting some
Dagaaba to Islam. However, the author also found out that the greatest obstacle to
the spread of Islam and the conversion of Dagaaba was the resilience of the
Dagaaba traditional religion. The people and the traditional religious authorities
remained committed to the ancestral veneration and refused to convert to Islam. Though Islam failed to create an impact on the Dagaaba, it influenced Dagaabe society culturally.
