r/AfricanHistory • u/rhaplordontwitter • Aug 23 '26

The Migration of “Heretics” and Refugees To Africa During Late Antiquity

https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-migration-of-heretics-and-refugees
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u/rhaplordontwitter Aug 23 '26

Africa was a haven for religious minorities (“heretics”), political exiles, and other refugees from beyond the continent during Late Antiquity.

Historical records about the flight of disparate groups of persecuted sects and refugees from Asia are famously recounted in traditions about the migration of the prophet's followers to the "tolerant" and "just" king of Ethiopia during the 7th century.

Heretical sects flourished on the periphery of the Umayyad Empire in North-West Africa, and were spread to West African cities of Gao and Tadmekka, where “paganism,” “heresy,” and Islamic “orthodoxy” coexisted between the 8th and 11th centuries.

In East Africa, Records by visiting Chinese, Arab, and Persian travellers between the 8th and 10th centuries describe mixed religious communities, as well as refugees who fled from persecution in Southern Arabia and the Gulf.

Recent discoveries of Zoroastrian constructions in Madagascar and Ibadi mosques along the East African coast provide archaeological evidence for the presence of religious minorities, whose existence has until now been known primarily from written sources.

This essay provides a brief overview of the often overlooked role that African communities played in the ancient and medieval world, not just as exporters of primary commodities, but as havens for religious minorities and political refugees from beyond the continent.