The contribution of selected Asante Kings to the spread of Islam in Kumasi in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries
Victoria Agyare Appiah 
Issue: Vol. 12 No.9 2026 Issue Article 3 pp. 408 – 424
DOI: https://doi.org/10.38159/erats.20261293 Published online 23rd October 2026.
© 2026 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
A remarkable aspect of Asante history that has not received adequate scholarly attention is the role of Asante rulers in the spread of Islam in Kumasi, the capital of the empire, which the expansion of the Asante brought into contact with Muslim communities, including the Hausa, Dagomba, Mande and Gonja. Although scholars have researched the history of Islam in Asante extensively, little of this work isolates the specific contribution of individual kings to the religion’s spread. This paper addresses that gap by examining how Nana Osei Kwadwo, Nana Osei Kwame, Nana Osei Bonsu and Nana Agyemang Prempeh II supported the Muslims who served their courts through charms and amulets, prayers for warriors before battle, secretarial work, trade and medicine. The qualitative study draws on structured interviews with fifteen participants in Tafo, Suame and Asawase, triangulated with secondary historical sources. The findings show that each king made a distinct, identifiable contribution to Islam’s growth in Asante, from Osei Kwadwo’s administrative reforms to Prempeh II’s grant of land for the Kumasi Central Mosque. The study concludes that these rulers were deliberate agents whose support for religion was consequential rather than incidental, and it contributes to African religious historiography by shifting analytical focus from the structural presence of Muslim communities in Asante to the personal agency of the kings who hosted them.
Keywords: Asante, kings, Islam, patronage, 18th, 19th and 20th Centuries.
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Dr.Victoria Agyare Appiah is a lecturer at the Centre for African and International Studies in the University of Cape Coast. She possesses a PhD and master of Philosophy in Religious Studies (Islam and Syncretism from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, a bachelor’s degree in religious studies from the University of Cape Coast and a diploma in Education from the University of Education, Winneba (Kumasi Campus). Her research areas include: Islam and Syncretism (Asante Culture), History of Islam in Asante and History of Asante Muslims.
Appiah, Victoria Agyare. “The contribution of selected Asante Kings to the spread of Islam in Kumasi in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.” E-Journal of Religious and Theological Studies 12, no.9 (2026): 408 – 424. https://doi.org/10.38159/erats.20261293
© 2026 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Journals. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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