College of Humanities
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Item Arabic Manuscripts Production in Ghana: A Close Study of Jumcat's al-lāmiyyat al-Ṣughrā(University of Ghana, 2020-03-05) Hafiz, M.The study contributes to an ongoing discussion on the need to engage with the content of the Arabic and Ajami manuscripts deposited in archival centers across West Africa. Using one of the primary manuscripts from the Arabic and Ajami collection of the Institute of African Studies in the University of Ghana, the study vividly describes three core iterant processes that recur in manuscripts writing in Ghana and in West Africa. These processes comprise the occasions that necessitate the production of Arabic and Ajami manuscripts, the choice of appropriate titles and thematic interconnectedness of various Arabic manuscripts. The essence of the study is to demonstrate how these three processes have been catered for in the selected manuscript relative to a few manuscripts from the IAS collections. To contextualize the discussion, the paper began with an overview of Arabic manuscripts production in Ghana, accompanied by a brief description of the manuscript under study. The study revealed that akin to several Arabic manuscripts from the IAS collections, the occasion that necessitated the manuscript under consideration has been elaborated in a prelude. Indeed, for emphasis, the purpose of writing the manuscript has also been explicitly stated in the third lines of the poem. The two-worded title of the manuscript (al-lāmiyyat al-ṣughra) although catchy, barely reflects the content. Nonetheless, the manuscript share a close thematic affinity with a few manuscripts from the IAS collection and many others from West Africa. Notwithstanding, it is unique in many respects. It qualifies as a funeral dirge, a genealogy and obituary poem apiece. Above all, it contains invaluable information for historical and anthropological enquiriesItem Muslim Scholars of Yoruba Origin in Ghana: A Critical Study of Musah Abdul- Kadir’s Dirge(2018-11-14) Hafiz, M.The Yoruba migrant community has been an integral part of the Ghanaian society since the late nineteenth-century. Their vast contribution to the thriving of trade and commerce in Ghana, chiefly in the informal sectors has been extensively examined by H. Polly (1970) and J.S. Eades (1994) among others. Nonetheless, there are dearth of studies on the socio-cultural impact of Yoruba people on the Ghanaian community. This study sheds some insight into the contribution of Ghanaian Muslim scholars of Yoruba origin to the Arabic literary tradition in Ghana. It focuses on the late Sheikh Musah Abdul-Kadir who traces his root to Ilorin. The study upon analyzing a dirge Musah composed to eulogize the late Sheikh Ahmed Yasin of HAMAS, came to the conclusion that it was a critical and an original contribution that provided extra insight into the assassination of Ahmed Yasin, and that Musah’s contribution to the cause of Arabic and Islamic, and those of his ilk’s’ in Accra and Kumasi, signal that Ghanaian Muslims of Yoruba origin contributed substantially towards the blossom of Arabic and Islamic education in Ghana in the twentieth- century.Item From Timbuktu to Salaga: A Critical Study of Intellectual Works of Ahmed Baba al-Timbukti and Umar Krache.(2018-03-14) Hafiz, M.; Quarshie, D.This paper explores the similarities between Timbuktu and Salaga as robust centers of Arabic and Islamic learning at different epochs in West African Arabic-Islamic intellectual history focusing on two eminent scholars of these cities. Timbuktu had flourished mainly between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, evolving to become the favorite destination of traders who sought to grow their business and multiply their returns, as well as students who aspired to acquire profound insight into the Arabic and Islamic disciplines. Likewise, Salaga became the ultimate and preferred destination of traders and students in Ghana in the nineteenth century. It was soon referred to as the Timbuktu of the South (Morris Johnson, 1965). There is no gainsaying Ahmed Baba al-Timbuktī stands tall among several distinguished luminaries who propelled Timbuktu into prominence and recognition. Through his teaching and intellectual productions within and beyond Timbuktu, he earned himself the accolade al-Timbukti. On the other hand, despite his late affiliation to Kete Krache, Umar b. Abu-Bakr earned his fame as an unrivalled Muslim scholar of the Gold Coast in Salaga, where he had a very rewarding and memorable academic career — which manifested in his active teaching and extensive scholarly writings. It is against this background that this paper highlights the close similarities between Timbuktu and Salaga through the intellectual lives and writings of these scholars. It will be established that notwithstanding the geographic stretch between Timbuktu and Salaga, and the nearly two centuries gap between these two illustrious scholars, there are some notable similarities in their lives and intellectual endeavors that ultimately reflect on their respective cities as well.Item Arabic Manuscripts Production and Distribution in Ghana: A Close Study of Jumucat's al-Lāmiyyat al-Ṣughrā(2016-02-16) Hafiz, M.; Asunka, J.This study focuses on a manuscript entitled 'al-Lāmiyyat al-Ṣughra' composed by Malam Jumu'at in 1939 on the occasion of the death of his teacher and brother, 'Ustādh Muḥammad Bāko, who was then the Chief Imam of Accra. The manuscript appears to be an original one, with no accession number, albeit, it is not clear whether it was handwritten by Jumu'at himself or by another scribe. It was found accidentally among the manuscripts photocopied and preserved at Herskovits library in Northwestern from the collection of Institute of African Studies (IAS), University of Ghana, and therefore was sent back to IAS in 2007 by Dr. Andrea Brigaglia. In terms of content, the manuscript is quite similar to IAS/AR 195, but the hand-writings differ appreciably: IAS/AR 195 was collected from 'Ustādh Adam b. Uthman in Amakom Kumasi on October 5, 1963, while the manuscript under consideration was acquired from 'Ustādh Sacd 'Itan in Zango, Accra on July 7, 1971. The manuscript is written in thin central Sudanic script on a brownish white semi-thick paper with two sets of inks: local black ink and artificial blue ink. The black ink was used for writing the lines of the poem, while the blue ink was used for writing names of persons, places and dates cited in the poem, including the numerous marginal notes across the five folios. Overall, this manuscripts is by far more legible than IAS/AR/ 195. IAS/AR/ 195 has already been a subject of study by K.O. Odoom (1971) who sought to demonstrate the historical value of this manuscript, insisting it is unique in the sense that it is the only document by a Muslim scholar on pioneering Muslim communities in Accra. Far from this, this particular study seeks to explore this manuscript in order underscore some of the intricacies connected to manuscripts production in Ghana, ranging from the occasions that inspire the authorship of Arabic manuscripts, the choice of appropriate titles, mode and format of writing, the relevance of accompanying marginal notes, alterations in manuscripts by scribes, mode of distribution, and interconnectedness of manuscripts in terms of the subject matter they addressItem The Contribution of Academic Migration to Timbuktu’s Arabic-Islamic Scholarship and Manuscripts Culture in the Golden Era(2019-02-21) Hafiz, M.Academic migration is increasingly emerging as a distinctive field of pursuit in migration studies, however it has a longstanding history in Arabic and Islamic culture. This has been attributed to the Quranic and Hadith injunctions that encourage Muslims to travel in quest of Knowledge. This study examines the impact of academic migration on Arabic and Islamic scholarship in Timbuktu in the Golden era in order to demonstrate how that consolidated Arabic and Islamic education in West Africa. The paper contends that of all the factors that brought home fame and recognition to Timbuktu, and earned her the accolade "the pearl of the desert", the movement of people into and out of Timbuktu has been unsurpassed, and that Academic migration was instrumental in the transformation of Timbuktu into a center of academic excellence, and the utimate destination of scholars and teachers. The study seeks to enrich our understanding of this critical issue, which has so far received only minimal attention, especially in languages other than Arabic.