The development of Arabic and Islamic studies in Kumasi during the twentieth century: challenges and prospects

© 2012 Dr. Mohammed HafizThis thesis forms part of a general attempt to understand the influence of Islam in West Africa. It examined the evolution and growth of Arabic-Islamic studies in Kumasi from the dawn of the twentieth century to date. The overriding purpose was to highlight the factors influencing the development of Arabic and Islamic learning over the last century. The study focused on traditional Arabic-Islamic studies in Qur’ān schools and ḥalaqāt (study circles) and on Arabic-Islamic learning in modern Islamic schools. It highlighted the shift in teaching approaches of Arabic-Islamic studies from traditional to more contemporary styles, exploring the reasons for these changes. It entailed extensive fieldwork in Kumasi, employing four basic research instruments; interview, questionnaire, observation, and focus group discussion to yield the essential data for analysis. The study revealed that Arabic and Islamic studies began in Kumasi from around 1905 and grew steadily over time. It began with Qur’ān schools and was accompanied by the founding of ḥalaqāt, where students acquired advanced knowledge in Arabic and Islamic sciences. By the 1950s, the Qur’ān schools were transformed into what became known as al-madāris al-islāmiyya (Islamic schools). On the other hand, the ḥalaqāt circles thrived through the dedicated efforts of distinguished scholars from Kumasi, throughout the majority of the twentieth century, albeit losing its intensity somewhat in the early 1980s. Around the same time, Arabic-Islamic studies encountered two principal developments. The first was the introduction of secondary level Arabic and Islamic studies in the Islamic schools. The aim was to create an alternative platform for teaching advanced Arabic and Islamic studies, since the ḥalaqāt were gradually phasing out. The second was the infusion of secular curriculum into the Islamic schools. It sought to motivate Muslim learners to participate actively in secular education, in order to secure the requisite qualifications for employment in Ghana. This led to concurrent teaching of Arabic-Islamic studies and secular stream in the Islamic schools. Apart from the challenges that the dual education initiative imposes on Arabic and Islamic learning in the Islamic schools, the domain of Arabic and Islamic studies, as a whole has been, and still is, confronted with a myriad of linguistic, pedagogical, organizational, and administrative challenges. Notwithstanding, Arabic and Islamic education has a bright future in Kumasi