Why were common people less likely to convert to Islam?

Answer 1

Why were common people in Ghana less likely to convert to Islam you ask? Because they were born with a religion and they kept it alive. Kings thought that they could have more control by converting to a different religion.

Answer 2

The question might be better phrased, "Why were wealthy people (in conquered lands) MORE inclined to accept Islam?" Simple. They saved more money. Islam taxed Jews and Christians; the more wealthy had more to lose, so they became Muslims.

Answer 3

Assuming that you are referring to the Ghana Empire (790 C.E. - 1076 C.E.) in the modern countries of Mali and Mauritania, Islam came to this country through trade relationships with Berbers and Arabs along the northern coast of Africa. The merchants from these areas were Muslims and brought their religion with them along with their technological advances (especially the invention of writing and scholarship). As Islam was a stronger and more codified religion than those practiced by the Ghanians and its adherents more advanced technologically, the leadership embraced Islam as a method to expand their power and control.

Conversely, the general population was much more traditional and could not reap the benefits of the advanced technologies that strengthened their rulers' desire to convert. Additionally, most of the Ghanian population was rural and the distances involved lessened the speed of information transmission. As a result of the lack of temporal benefits, stricter following of local traditions, and more functional difficulties in proselytizing, Islam spread more slowly among the common people.

However, by the mid-900s C.E., Islam had become the dominant religion in the Ghana Empire.