AEGIS ECAS 2007 - View abstract

Panel	30. Islamic education and activism in sub-Saharan Africa
Paper ID	66
Author(s)	Skinner, David E.
Paper	No paper submitted
Abstract	Muslim missionaries and Islamic organisations played a significant role in these territories long before the establishment of British colonial administration, and Islamic influence continued to grow during the colonial era. The Ahmadiyya Order from South Asia and the al-Azhar Egyptian missionaries were particularly active in developing their own networks and in supporting local Muslims. With the advent of political independence, however, other external agencies played an increasingly active role in funding and promoting Islamic institutions. Agencies from Libya, Sa'udi Arabia, Kuwait and Iran were particularly important in this endeavour. A vast network of missionary organisations, schools, mosques, cultural centres and libraries was created. In many cases missionary efforts were coordinated in more than one country through embassies or institutes specially created to promote their activities. Special projects included the organisation of groups to make the pilgrimage, the celebration of festivals, the presentation of public lectures and the recruitment of young men to study abroad at Islamic institutions. Graduates of these institutes returned to work for the external missionary agencies that had financed their studies or to build their own organisations with the intention of promoting what they believed were 'orthodox' Islamic practices, to mobilise poorly represented members of society and to enhance their political and economic status. This paper examines in detail the ideas and activities of many of these missionary organisations in The Gambia, Ghana and Sierra Leone during the four decades after the end of formal colonial administration. External Muslim missions continue to educate indigenous Muslims and to exercise considerable influence in West Africa, while at the same time indigenous Muslim scholars and teachers are creating and developing their local institutions. The activities of these missionaries and groups connect West African states to multilateral agencies and to the global Muslim community with the effect of creating translocal influences and movements. The analysis is based on data collected from more than two hundrend interviews with Muslim educators, administrators and politicians; documents from dozens of Islamic organisations; newspaper reports; government archives; and scholarly publications.

Da'wa in West Africa: Muslim Missions in The Gambia, Ghana and Sierra Leone.