Revisiting the Islamic Past of West Africa: A Reassessment of the Islamic Experience in Bruce S. Hall’s A History of Muslim West Africa

Abstract This review critically examines Bruce S. Hall’s A History of Race in Muslim West Africa, 1600–1960, a landmark study that redefines the intellectual history of race in precolonial and colonial Africa. Hall challenges the assumption that racial discourse in Africa originated solely from European colonialism, arguing instead that racialized hierarchies and concepts of difference were deeply embedded in precolonial Sahelian societies. His analysis of Arabic manuscripts, oral traditions, and colonial archives traces how ideas of race intersected with religion, slavery, and social status over four centuries. The review commends Hall’s methodological precision, linguistic mastery, and sophisticated analysis, but also notes significant shortcomings, including his limited attention to ethnicity and his inclination to prioritize discursive power over the tangible coercive mechanisms of colonial rule. Nonetheless, by locating African racial thought within both indigenous Islamic intellectual traditions and wider comparative frameworks, Hall provides a compelling reinterpretation that challenges and enriches Eurocentric narratives of racial history. This review concludes that Hall’s work is an essential contribution to African intellectual history, providing valuable insights for scholars of race, Islam, and the Sahelian world. Keywords: Race; Intellectual History; West Africa; Islam; Colonialism; Tuareg; Sahel