In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Muslim societies in Africa had to face a plethora of challenges: European colonialism and the development of secular nation states, processes of urbanisation and the social transformation of many African societies. Processes of social transformation have created new spaces and new forms of social life, as well as new modes of organising time. National and international efforts have contributed to increasing literacy and a subsequent explosion of text production for local consumers. Processes of change have also enhanced the spread of new media such as the Internet and have introduced global issues into local discussion contexts. Today, sub-Saharan Africa's most prominent place is no longer a shade tree in the village, but the central bus station, and time in Africa's Muslim societies is not primarily marked by the adhān, the call to prayer of the local muʾadhdhin, but by the daily programmes of a multitude of radio and TV stations. Also, in many sub-Saharan Muslim societies, the khuṭba, the Friday sermon, is rendered today in the local vernacular languages and broadcast in these languages on national radio and TV (Tamari 1996: 49), even though Islamic prayers and the ritual are still recited and enacted in Arabic: Africa, including Muslim Africa, has thus become modern in multiple, yet often inconspicuous ways.

Processes of change have often been seen as having an adverse impact on communities and societies. This applies not only to modern Europe, but also to modern North Africa, western Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. In response, Muslim scholars have tried to find answers to the challenges of modernity (and globalisation) and find a place for religion in different local, regional and national contexts. In their responses to processes of change, Muslim scholars of different orientations have sometimes developed rejectionist answers and sought self-isolation, or supported movements of radical opposition against processes of change (perceived as Westernisation). But Muslim reformers have also incorporated features of modernity, such as new media technologies. In their efforts to translate modernity into an Islamic code, they have contributed to the emergence of new ways of viewing both their own communities and the world.