Islamic Education in Hausaland: History, Problems and Prospects

Abstract

Education, as understood to be the process of acquiring and transmitting knowledge for effective behavior change, is given high impetus in Islam and ranked second to none in its practice (worship). Islamic education, therefore, becomes the bedrock of performing all religious activities. Islamic education in its entity is married and never divorced from Islamic practices. Hence, performing any Islamic act without its corresponding knowledge is null and void and rejected by the Islamic Sharia. This is supported by the first verse revealed to Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W), which directed him to "read.” This injunction, therefore, applied to all Muslims that they should seek knowledge before practicing the religion. It is about this divine injunction that Muslims of all ages made it a duty to search for knowledge, especially in Ibadat, Hadith, jurisprudence, Nahwu, Sirah, etc. The search for this knowledge begins from birth and ends when a person dies. Anybody involved in the search is either a student (Almajiri) or a Teacher (Malam). The search for Islamic education is characterized by the movement of Teachers and students to various destinations, especially when peace prevails and Government policies are favourable. This paper discusses the history of Islamic education in Hausaland and its problems and prospects.