Al-Mustafa University in Africa: Its Origins, Role Determinants and Influence

Abstract:
 Iran headed towards the African continent, armed with the tools of soft power, especially the religious and educational dimensions, which was embodied in Al-Mustafa University, which was established from the merger of two seminary institutions to begin its official activity in 2008. The university relied on many tools to achieve its goals, through many centers. Its affiliates, the magazines it issues, and the educational programs it implements.
  Al-Mustafa University has registered a remarkable presence on the African continent, through 17 main branches in the continent’s regions, and runs about 100 centers, schools, mosques, and religious institutes in 30 African countries, such as Nigeria, Niger, Tanzania, Madagascar, Senegal, Congo, Ivory Coast, Comoros, Uganda, Cameroon, and Sierra Leone. And South Africa.
 By expanding the network of Al-Mustafa University in the countries of the African continent, Iran aimed to play an important role in shaping Iranian policies in Africa, to achieve interests and goals that serve Iran at the geostrategic level, most notably exporting the revolution, penetrating African society, its elites and institutions, spreading Shiism, and recruiting fighters for the Revolutionary Guard.
 Despite the danger that Al-Mustafa University represents as an effective institution within the framework of Iranian soft power, its promotion by Iranian officials is no different from the policy of delusion, exaggeration and exaggeration that Iran follows in marketing its power in all fields. The numbers that are announced about the number of converts to Shiism because of the university, which reach... To 50 million, according to Iranian claims, seem illogical, in the presence of obstacles and difficulties facing this expansion, most notably the crises that Iran faces at home and which are reflected in its projects outside the borders, as well as the state of competition with effective regional powers that are aware of the expansion plan and are seeking to confront it. This paper monitors the impact of the spread of Al-Mustafa University in Africa, through five main axes, which are as follows: Al-Mustafa University’s origins and development, goals and tools for expansion, a map of expansion in the countries of the African continent, determinants of the role of Al-Mustafa University in achieving the goals, and the impact of Al-Mustafa University on the religious situation in Africa.
 The study monitored the activities of Al-Mustafa University in the countries of the continent, and the mechanism of work of alumni networks in cooperation with the rest of the Iranian institutions on the continent. The study concluded that Iran continues to strengthen the university’s efforts within the continent, going beyond the repercussions of this expansion on the existing state of competition between Iran and its opponents on the continent.