... Departing from the policy of Sunni Ali, Askia Mohammed sought to make all the empire [of
Songhai] one big Muslin community. Although he did not succeed in converting the entire
Sudan [region bordering the southern Sahara], he remodeled his empire along Islamic lines as
far as possible. Legal and social reforms were indroduced, Islamic judges were appointed in all
of the large districts of the empire, and justice was administered according to Muslim principles
rather than traditional African laws. The court of Aslia Mohammed was the highest court in the
land, to which appeals from lower courts could be brought ...
Source: Fred Burke, Africa, Houghton Mifflin