Modernity, Islam and an African Culture

Abstract

The human quest for the meaning of life is an unending one marked by undulating landscapes. In order to  confront the flux of experience generated by this quest for meaning, the human embraces science, morality,  politics and religion. Religion is said to provide the basis for transcendental values which give humans succour  after the physical and material struggles have ended. At the same time, religion also uses the observable social world as the starting point for the embrace of transcendental values. In this essay, an attempt is made  to examine the interconnectedness of modernity (which has its basis in the social world), Islam (which  provides the human with transcendental values) and an African culture (which serves as a nexus of modernity and Islam). The essay is basically an exercise in analysis whereby the readers are made to draw some compelling inferences.

Keywords: Modernity, Islam, African culture, Values, Human happiness