Page 91 - LD215 History of the Church in Africa A4 final

The Nile Corridor Churches

In 1276 a Nubian claimant to the throne, Shekanda, had himself
been crowned king under Mamluk protection. Under Muslim
pressure Shekanda allowed Arab Bedouin to enter the country.
This was the beginning of the end. In 1315 Nubia got a Muslim king,
Abdallah Marshambo.… For some centuries a Nubian kingdom
continued to exist southward in Alwa, but by the beginning of
the 16th century it could not resist anymore the invading Arab
nomads. (39)

The church lingered for a while and then collapsed, succumbing to
the persecution and pressure of Islam. Keener, with insight, states:
“Islam did not demolish the Church either in Nubia or in North Africa;
the Church demolished the Church” (italics mine, 116).

Compromise and Structure
I propose that compromise and structure contributed to the collapse
of the Nubian church. Keener described how this happened:

Nubia’s skilled archers repelled the Arabs twice at Dongola, and
unable to conquer Nubia after taking Egypt in 641, the Arabs
made an unusual treaty (Arabic Baqt) in 652. Notably, this was the
only treaty in which the Arabs recognized the independence of a
non-Muslim state.… This treaty was “a compromise guaranteeing
the Nubians independence and freedom in return for an annual
tribute of 360 slaves and the obligation to maintain a mosque.…
This agreement remained in force for six hundred years and
enabled the Nubian states to prosper and develop unhindered.”
(114, with quote from Taylor, 64)

As in North Africa, Muslims imposed a tax on the Christians. In
general, following the crusades, which had been instigated by the Roman
Catholic Church, there was a feeling of hostility toward Christians.

Although the Nubian Church does not exist today, we must give it a
prominent place in our study of the church on the African continent. Its
history for more than a thousand years is a part of our heritage, as
Groves observes: “That it should have survived so long in a kingdom
ringed round by Muslim peoples and deeply penetrated by Muslim
influence is a tribute to the root it had taken in the land” (1:108). We

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