https://doi.org/10.1093/9780197851739.003.0874
- Published: 20 May 2026
Abstract
Ahmadi missionary activity in West Africa is associated with the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at (AMJ), the branch of the messianic Muslim reform movement led by successors to the South Asian Muslim scholar Ghulam Ahmad (c. 1835–1908). The AMJ operates a global missionary organization; uses media to propagate its message; stresses individual piety and collective solidarity; and provides educational, medical, and social services to support its members and others. The first West African AMJ missions were established in the 1920s, opening in the British Gold Coast (Ghana) and Nigeria after Africans read Ahmadi materials and invited missionaries to found English-language schools in the region. Some West African Muslim scholars vigorously opposed Ahmadi initiatives, and the AMJ developed strategies to surmount the challenges and expand regionally in the middle decades of the 20th century. New AMJ activities in the postcolonial era include health care beginning in the 1970s and Ahmadi radio and television stations after state liberalization of the media in the 1990s, when West Africa addressed postcolonial economic crises and neoliberal austerity policies. In the 21st century, West African Ahmadi Muslims head a constellation of national AMJ missions in a global messianic Muslim reform movement.
Keywords: Ahmadiyya, Islam, Christianity, reform, messianism, new media, education, health care
Subject
Collection: Oxford Research Encyclopedias
source https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/61799/chapter-abstract/563164749?redirectedFrom=fulltext
Categories: Africa, Ahmadis, Ahmadiyyat: True Islam, Western Africa