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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Islamic scholarship across the Nigeria-Cameroon border: the case of the old Adamawa Emirate
Authors:Saad, Hamman TukurISNI
Abba, Isa AlkaliISNI
Year:1994
Periodical:Frankfurter afrikanistische Blätter
Issue:6
Pages:23-52
Language:English
Geographic terms:Nigeria
Cameroon
Subjects:Adamawa polity
Islamic education
education
Abstract:The present article investigates Islamic scholarship in the former Adamawa Emirate, today located partly in Nigeria, partly in Cameroon, and partly in the Central African Republic, and cross-border relations among Muslims, particularly those in Nigeria and Cameroon. It is based on interviews primarily among Islamic scholars, mostly on the Nigerian side of the border, conducted in 1974, and updated in 1992. Islamic scholarship in the Adamawa subregion exists today as a continuation especially of the tradition founded by the leaders of the 19th-century jihads. One of its distinctive characteristics is the use of Fulfulde as the primary medium of religious instruction. At the base there is Koranic or elementary education. This is followed by middle-level schooling, higher education and, at the highest level, the attainment of the status of a 'moodibbo' (a scholar of great learning). Acquisition of Islamic learning in Adamawa is peripatetic. The most important activity of mainstream Islamic scholars is the teaching and learning of 'fiqh' (basic Islamic theology, jurisprudence, Arabic language and poetry). Islamic scholars are also involved in the 'tariqah' (brotherhood) or Sufi orders, and in 'dibbu' (the use of supernatural agencies to control the natural environment). A recent development is the rise in the 1950s and 1960s of the Islamiyya system of education. App., bibliogr., sum.
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