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AEGIS European Conference on African Studies
11 - 14 July 2007
African Studies Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands
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Islamic Education and Activism: The Case of the Islamic University College of Ghana
| Panel |
30. Islamic education and activism in sub-Saharan Africa
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| Paper ID | 661 |
| Author(s) |
Heinze, Tina
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| Paper |
No paper submitted
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| Abstract | In Ghana, as in other West African countries, religious organisations have an increasing impact on public life. In the educational sector, religious bodies, by setting up their own facilities, offer an important alternative to public institutions which are deprived and congested. In the last decade, one Islamic and nine Christian private universities sprang up in Ghana – in addition to the six public universities that existed before. In October 2001 the Islamic University College of Ghana was founded in Accra. The Ahlul Bait Foundation, an Iranian NGO, established and funds this first Islamic university in Ghana. Most students entering this university are Muslims. On campus, the drinking of alcohol and smoking of cigarettes are not permitted. In addition, female students, lectures and employees have to wear a veil.
This paper examines two types of activism in Islamic education. First: How do Islamic groups represent what image of Islam by establishing educational facilities? And secondly, how does Islamic education contribute to the social commitment of Muslims in their communities and in national affairs? Its focus is on the Islamic university in Accra that I visited during my two research visits to Ghana in 2005 and 2006. I take up Birgit Meyer’s argument on Christian groups in the public sphere for Islamic organizations and thus ask: What image of Muslims does the Iranian Ahlul Bait Foundation embody in the Islamic university? And in which way do university graduates see themselves as Muslim activists?
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