Papers by Amidu O L A L E K A N Sanni
Inaugural Lecture, 2025
It discusses the history of my engagement in Arabic and Islamic scholarship over the past six dec... more It discusses the history of my engagement in Arabic and Islamic scholarship over the past six decades. It illustrates the history of Arabic and Islamic studies at the traditional and university levels, the engagement of the natives in the Portuguese commonwealth and New America from the 18th century, the engagement of the Christians in Nigeria with Islamic and Arabic studies, the use of Arabic script for native laanguages (ajami), Hausa, Kanuri, Yoruba, Fulfulde, Nupe, etc
the 111th edition The Odyssey of a Theorist in Arabic and Islamic Scholarship: the Pain, the Gain and the Twain
111th Inaugural Lecture of the Lagos State University, 2025
It is the 11th Inaugural Lecture of the Lagos State University delivered on September 16, 2025. I... more It is the 11th Inaugural Lecture of the Lagos State University delivered on September 16, 2025. It relates the story of my 60 years of engagement in Arabic and Islamic scholarship in Nigeria and abroad. The story of Arabic Islamic scholarship in Nigeria, the University system, the contributions of non-Muslims, the manuscript tradition and the West African diasporic engagement with Arabic in the Lusophone Commonwealth and New America from the 18th century to date are discussed. Also, the use of Arabic script for local languages (ajami), namely, Kanembu, Kanuri, Fulfulde, Hausa, Yoruba, Nupe, Yoruba, among others, are discussed. https://youtube.com/@lagosstateuniversityoffici6418?si=Q_iS8UUc-0-e9BY-
Africa Development, 2011
Religion and ethnicity are two key issues in the economy of violence with which Nigeria has had t... more Religion and ethnicity are two key issues in the economy of violence with which Nigeria has had to contend in the last twenty-five years. The protagonists of the issues are the state, the aficionados of religious or ethnic idealism and their opponents. The article argues that the culture of denial or marginalisation has largely been responsible for the tradition of violence, which militant and radical elements in religious and ethnic circles have often employed in their systemic campaigns. It concludes by submitting that a proper appreciation of the real causes of violence by the state, and a genuine commitment to their solution through dialogue and interactive means, remains the viable option in the enthronement of world peace and order. La religion et l'ethnicité constituent deux éléments essentiels dans l'économie de la violence à laquelle le Nigeria est confronté depuis vingt cinq ans. Les protagonistes sont l'Etat, les militants de l'idéalisme religieux ou ethnique et leurs opposants. L'article défend l'idée selon laquelle la culture de déni ou de marginalisation a été à la base de la tradition de violence, ce que les militants et les éléments radicaux appartenant aux cercles religieux et ethniques ont souvent employé dans leurs campagnes systémiques. L'article propose pour conclure qu'une appréciation adéquate de la part de l'Etat des causes réelles de la violence, et un engagement sincère dans la recherche d'une solution par le dialogue et des moyens interactifs restent l'option la plus viable pour l'enracinement de la paix et l'ordre dans le monde.
Until the beginning of the twenty-first century, Africanists and indeed explorers of the cultural... more Until the beginning of the twenty-first century, Africanists and indeed explorers of the cultural heritage of Africa were generally dismissive or ignorant of the Arabic-Islamic scholarly productions of the Horn of Africa, viz, modern Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, and Somaliland. The region was considered peripheral and materially insignificant, perhaps due to the long-standing dominance of its orthodox Christian heritage. But the publication in 2003 of Fascicle 3a of the volume under review changed this tradition of neglect, as it illustrates the cultural and linguistic diversities of the region in the context of its documentary, scholarly materials under the influence of Islam. (See my review of it in Journal of Islamic Studies, 16/1 [2005]: 127-9). The current volume, Fascicle 3b, which is dedicated to the memory of both Rex Sean O' Fahey and the Ethiopian historian Hussein Ahmad is intended to fill a yawning lacuna in the bio-bibliographical narrative on the region. It is the product of 0 a research project, Islam in the Horn of Africa: A Comparative Literary Approach (2013-2018) which was executed with a grant from the European Research Council. It is significant to note that the fresh data, marginal notes, and paratexts generated in the course of the project are now accessible at http://islhornafr.tors.sc.ku.dk/. The project located 36 new manuscript or book collections in local, public, private and semi-private depositories. Images of more than 2000 items were captured, and some 4500 texts in Arabic by local and nonlocal authors, were identified. Furthermore, 56 items in Afar language, 57 in Amharic, and 42 in Oromo, all in the Arabic script (6Ajami) but previously unknown were also unearthed and itemized in the volume under review. Fifty new authors have also been identified, and additional materials in respect of others faintly recognized in the existing literature or Fascicle 3a, have been provided. Fascicle 3b comprises five chapters: ch. 1, 'The Arabic writings of Jimma and Gurage' (pp. 1-19); ch. 2, 'The Arabic writings of Wallo and Gojam-Amhara region', (pp. 20-49); ch. 3, 'The Arabic writings of Harar' (pp. 50-65), which offers information about some 400 codices of Arabic manuscripts that have been digitized at the Sharif Harar City Museum; ch. 4, 'The Arabic writings of Afar-Ethiopia and Djibouti' (pp. 66-81); ch. 5, 'The Arabic writings of Somaliland' (pp. 82-9) is generally about books, particularly jurisprudence works according to the School of Im:m al-Sh:f6;, and some hagiographic invocations in Somali
Journal of Law and Religion, 2000
Orthodoxification of the Muslim society through the instrument of the Islamic legal code (shari'a... more Orthodoxification of the Muslim society through the instrument of the Islamic legal code (shari'a) has continued unabated since the twilight of last millennium and the title under review, in spite of its age, underscores the perdurable relevance of this development in Muslim majority and minority societies, excluding, for inexplicable reasons, sub-Saharan Africa, its stupendous theoretical and practical legacies in the subject matter notwithstanding. 1 This volume is made up of contributions by several authors and is divided into four parts. Part 1, "Legal Theory", contains two essays; one on ijtihad (deriving a new rule of law from the foundational sources) in Sunni discourse and the other on usul al-fiqh (legal theory) in shi'ism as found in Yusuf al-Bahrani. Part 2, "Ifta", Fatwas and Muftis', has four contributions in which issues relating to jurisconsults, and legal responsa as a process and source of legislation are discussed. Part 3, "Minorities under Islamic Law", consists of two papers; one on the theory and practice of Church vaķs (Arabic waqf-endowment) in Ottoman Law as exposited by the grand juris consult Ebu Su'ud (r. 1545-1574), and the other is on how shari'a provisions were applied to the Yemeni Jewish community between 1900 and 1940. Part 4, "Modern Islamic Law" which can rightly be interpreted as a discourse on etatization of law in theory and practice, contains three essays in which are examined the legal rationality of organ transplant, a key issue in modern bioethics, 2 state reforms on family law in Algeria before and after the 1984 Family Code, and the operation of Islamic law in modern day Israel vis-à-vis the role of the Qadis. The issue of ijtihad looms large in this book. Ironically, the strength and weakness of the discourse on the subject matter lie in the lack of a consensus on its definition in relation to judicial practice, legislation, and proclamation of fatwas. Moreover, the fundamental objective of the spirit auctores behind this collection is in fact to provoke and stimulate varying perspectives from Joseph Schacht's (1950) absolutist position to Wael Hallaq's (1984) liberalist stance, such that we can now safely agree that the notion is a multi-dimensional and multi-faceted concept with a demonstrable gradation that ranges from folk adherence to a scholar/school (taqlid) to absolute legal authoritativeness (ijtihad mutlaq), solely attributable to founders of legal school. 3 Besides, it is even possible now to talk of neo-Ijtihad, as the original notion has now transformed into a fundamental matrix in contemporary revivalist discourse. 4 The importance of fatwas in legal operation and legislation is set within the concept of "Legal Realism", that is, law taken to be "what its authoritative spokesmen declare it to be" (p. 50). It is on this premise that we see an articulate rebuttal of many Western legalistic, (especially Noel Coulson's) prejudices and an exposition of how judicial officials upheld the rule of law on account of received fatwas in medieval Muslim Spain, specifically in Granada (pp. 49-86). And on the basis of a fifteenth-century Māliki fatwa from Fez in which the question of equality/parity (kafa'a) in marriage is discussed, it is possible to establish the intricacies involved among the various coordinates of Islamic legalism, that is, between fatwa and history, fatwa and furu' (positive stratigraphical law) literature, and fatwa and usul al-fiqh foundational texts. This title is doubtless a useful textbook; it provides information on the basic aspects of Islamic legal code in theory and practice. It is also useful as a research document in legal
Religious Studies Review, 2017
Boafo's book unveils the exceptionally positive legacy of the nineteenth century Wesleyan Methodi... more Boafo's book unveils the exceptionally positive legacy of the nineteenth century Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society on the West Coast of Africa, a legacy still influencing Ghanaian sociopolitical life today. The WMMS worked tirelessly toward abolishing slavery and the slave trade. Singling out the Wesleyans as unique among nineteenthcentury European missionaries is possible only by scrutinizing the life of John Wesley (1703-1791), one of the primary founders of Methodism. To that end, Wesley's family, academic, and religious backgrounds help trace the origins of his key theological doctrines, spirituality, and sociopolitical thinking that undergirds his own anti-slavery advocacy at a time when the Anglican Church and British elite strongly backed the degrading trade. Boafo finds that Wesley rejected Calvinism, as represented by his main dialogue partner, Rev. George Whitefield (1714-1740), a defender of the slave trade and a slaveowner. The Wesleyan doctrine of sociopolitical interference is grounded in a religion of love as ''a remedy for social vices.'' Hence, ''the achievements of the Wesleyan Revival should be evaluated in terms of the moral and ethical transformation which it engendered in individuals who became responsible for the political, social and economic growth of the society.'' Most of Wesley's nineteenth-century British and African heirs thus fought slave traders in Britain, the West Indies, and West Africa, while some tried a noninterference approach to avoid persecution. Boafo believes that the antislavery legacy championed by the Afro-British Thomas Birch Freeman (1809-1890) was behind Ghanaian Methodists' witness for moral and societal transformation throughout independence, post-independence, and the democratizing era and hopes to see key areas of public life that are being neglected today being addressed in the future. Wesleyan theology and African Christianity are enriched by this book, which reveals how some Western Christian missionaries were sociopolitically engaged and humane in Africa and how Africans' own participation in abolition could inspire sociopolitical engagement today.
American Anthropologist, 2008
Eastern Cherokee Fishing, by Heidi M. Altman, is a welcome addition to the corpus of literature o... more Eastern Cherokee Fishing, by Heidi M. Altman, is a welcome addition to the corpus of literature on Cherokee ethnoecology. Using a diachronic approach, Altman interweaves archaeological, linguistic, and historical documentary information with her own ethnographic field research to examine traditional and contemporary fishing practices among the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians living on the Qualla Boundary, western North Carolina. Her objectives are to understand the function of fishing in past and present-day Cherokee economy, to examine indigenous ecological knowledge and its adaptation to local changes, to analyze the boundaries of identity construction within the context of today's ethnotourism, and to compare fish terminology between Cherokee and English vernacular. The resulting publication is an informative presentation of how Cherokee fishing evolved from a seasonally significant aspect of a mixed subsistence economy in the past to a profitable, nearly year-round role in a cash-based tourist economy today. Moreover, from the perspective of fishing, Altman explores cultural, linguistic, and environmental changes, as related to aquatic resources, spanning the period from European contact to the present. The book is divided into six chapters followed by six short appendices. The introductory chapter presents the methodology and theoretical approach used, the objectives of the study, and a brief discussion of the Cherokee language. Ethnographic fieldwork includes conducting interviews with local Cherokee and non-Cherokee people to collect life histories, folktales, and reminiscences about fish and fishing; arranging fishing expeditions to observe traditional and modern fishing practices; and holding directed elicitation sessions to obtain names of fishes. Documentary sources are consulted for information on traditional cultural practices and beliefs related to fishing. Chapter 2 reviews Cherokee history in relation to changes in the local environment. Perspectives on the environment are gleaned from early contact narratives, later ethnohistorical documents, and recent ethnographic interviews. Altman examines environmental changes resulting from the earlier impact of colonization and the later pro
The indigenization of an intellectual tradition: A new trend in contemporary Islam in Yorubaland (Nigeria)
Islamic Law and Society, 2012
The Shafiªi jurist al-Amidi (d. 1233) refers to the fact that the companions of the Prophet were ... more The Shafiªi jurist al-Amidi (d. 1233) refers to the fact that the companions of the Prophet were in possession of the Shariªa-value (hukm) on the basis of which they could limit or restrict the ambit of a Qur'anic text (nass).
Africa Development, 2011
Religion and ethnicity are two key issues in the economy of violence with which Nigeria has had t... more Religion and ethnicity are two key issues in the economy of violence with which Nigeria has had to contend in the last twenty-five years. The protagonists of the issues are the state, the aficionados of religious or ethnic idealism and their opponents. The article argues that the culture of denial or marginalisation has largely been responsible for the tradition of violence, which militant and radical elements in religious and ethnic circles have often employed in their systemic campaigns. It concludes by submitting that a proper appreciation of the real causes of violence by the state, and a genuine commitment to their solution through dialogue and interactive means, remains the viable option in the enthronement of world peace and order.
Description in Classical Arabic Poetry: Wasf, Ekphrasis, and Interarts Theoryby Akiko Motoyoshi Sumi
The Qur'an in Context: Historical and Literary Investigations into the Qur'anic Milieu by Angelika Neuwirth; Nicolai Sinai; Michael Marx
The Middle East Journal
ABSTRACT In the 1970s, works such as John Wansbrough's Quranic Studies: Sources and Metho... more ABSTRACT In the 1970s, works such as John Wansbrough's Quranic Studies: Sources and Methods of Scriptural Interpretation (Oxford, 1977) and Patricia Crone & Michael Cook's Hagarism: The Making of the Islamic World (Cambridge, 1977) and, later, Christoph Luxenberg's Die syro-aramäishe Lesart des Koran: Ein Beitrag zur Entschlüsselung der Koransprache (Berlin, 2000) — among others — mistrusted or completely rejected Arabic sources about early Islamic history and developed new hypotheses to explain what "really happened." In these circumstances, Western scholarship on the Qur'an and its origins was said to be "in a state of disarray" and a conference was held in Berlin in January 2004 to study the situation, and this hefty volume emerged as a result of it. The book is divided into two parts: Part One deals with the Qur'an's historical context and consists of 12 articles while Part Two deals with contextualizing the Qur'an and has 15 articles. Each of the articles has its own extensive bibliography. The volume may be considered a major account of the field of Qur'anic studies in current Western scholarship, showing the main scholarly concerns of those working in it today. The emphasis in the book is on seeing the Qur'an as a text reflecting the environment of Late Antiquity, and on employing methods of microstructural literary analysis to its content that have been usually used in biblical studies. Viewed in a diachronic perspective, the Qur'an is seen as a continuing discourse with its contemporaneous community and its historical and cultural conditions, and as a parallel text to other texts of Late Antiquity and especially as part of those of the biblical tradition. Yet the Qur'an's integrity and distinct uniqueness are made manifest in its milieu of the Arabian Peninsula. This milieu is shown in Part One to have been in contact with surrounding nations and civilizations, with not an insignificant amount of exchange of ideas. Although this fact was known by historians, there has been little attention to detailed literary analysis of the Qur'an itself in relation to those ideas or the wording that expresses them. In Part One, Mikhail D. Bukharin shows how Meccan trade connected South Arabia, Syria, and Mesopotamia; Norbert Nebes demonstrates the inroads made by Zoroastrian Iran and Christian Ethiopia into the Arabian Peninsula; Harald Suermann examines non-Arab sources on the rise of Islam and shows the apocalyptic perceptions of Christians and Jews regarding the Arab invaders; and Kirill Dmitriev studies 'Adi ibn Zayd (d. circa 600 C.E.), a pre-Islamic Christian Arab poet from al-Hira in Mesopotamia, and offers a close reading of his poem about the biblical story of the creation of the world and the fall of man. These are only some of the themes dealt with in the articles comprising Part One. In his article, Dmitriev compares parts of 'Adi's poem with relevant texts in the Qur'an showing amazing parallel features, and also the Qur'an's selectivity by being "less concerned with the narration of history than with presenting its ethically relevant message." The Qur'an is shown as drawing on something already known in order to impart moral teaching, and thus the poem provides an insight into the pre-Islamic religious background of the Arabs and their acquaintance with the biblical tradition. No Qur'anic dependence is implied here but rather a reference to an insistent and strong religious message that uses all available means to eloquently communicate new teaching to people. In Part Two, there is more detailed microstructural literary analysis of the Qur'an. This begins with the issue of chronology, where Nicolai Sinai defends the dating criteria of Theodor Nöldeke in his pioneering book Geschichte des Qorâns (Göttingen 1860), in which he chronologically divided the Qur'anic corpus into (a) early, (b) middle, and (c) late Meccan suras and (d) Medinan suras on the basis of structure and content. But Sinai goes beyond Nöldeke by further subdividing the early Meccan suras into four successive chronological groups according to criteria of literary structure as well as of verse length and text length. In her article, Nora Katharina Schmid goes...
Global Salafīsm: Islam's New Religious Movement
Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 2012
Middle Eastern Literatures, 2010
Abstract The Arabic terminological tradition is remarkably unique for the application of a single... more Abstract The Arabic terminological tradition is remarkably unique for the application of a single referential word to a variety of concepts across subjects. One such term is laḥn, which, in the sense of a terminus technicus, became a familiar topos in philological, jurisprudential, literary, and Qur'ānic discourses. The present study re-examines the referential terrain of the term, taking as its point of departure, Johann Fück's (d. 1974) seminal discussion of it. An entirely new area to which the term came to be applied relates to the aesthetic genres; namely, the poetic and prose forms where particular manipulation of meanings or expressions became interpretable as rhetorical laḥn. From Ibn Durayd (d. 321/933) down to Ibn Rashīq (d. 456/1063), this study examines the trajectory of the evolution and formalization of the term laḥn in the context of allusive tropes established by theorists and literary legislators. The study also demonstrates that, its strong referential attachment to incorrect idiom notwithstanding, the application of the term laḥn to other phenomena in the scholarly discourse was all the more remarkable in regard to the literary, theoretical tradition where the elasticity of the terminological convention is once more established.
Islam and the Abolition of Slavery
British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 2012
William Gervase Clarence-Smith, London, Hurst, 2006, xxvi +293 pp. The nature of slavery in Islam... more William Gervase Clarence-Smith, London, Hurst, 2006, xxvi +293 pp. The nature of slavery in Islam and the logic of its abolition is the subject matter of this title. It is divided into two parts. P...
The West African Arabic Manuscript Heritage in the Modern African World
Oriental Pearls from Southern Nigeria—Arabic-Islamic Scholarship in Yorubaland: A Case Study in Acculturation
L'Islam a atteint progressivement l'Afrique subsaharienne (Empires du Ghana, du Mali, du ... more L'Islam a atteint progressivement l'Afrique subsaharienne (Empires du Ghana, du Mali, du Songhay et de Kanem-Bornu, Hausaland et Yorubaland). Avec l'introduction de la religion islamique, la pratique de l'arabe s'est developpe dans le Yorubaland sous la pression des Haoussa. L'art de la versification prit de l'ampleur dans les productions litteraires de l'« ulamā » comme le montre l'etude d'un auteur appartenant a l'ancienne tradition et d'un autre representant la tradition moderne
From Codicology to Technology: Islamic Manuscripts and their Place in Scholarship
Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 2014
... of Islamic Art, 2); ID.: After Timur: Qur'ans of the 15thand 16th centuries, Oxford, New... more ... of Islamic Art, 2); ID.: After Timur: Qur'ans of the 15thand 16th centuries, Oxford, New York 1992 (The Nasser D. Khalili collection of ... 24 Hitti, Philip K. and Faris, Nabih Amin, and 'Adb al-Malik, Butrus: Descriptive Catalog of the Garrett Collection of Arabic Manuscripts in the ...
Contemporary Islam, 2012
The Prophet Muhammad stated: "Seek knowledge even as far as China." The Internet could be seen as... more The Prophet Muhammad stated: "Seek knowledge even as far as China." The Internet could be seen as an extension of that quest". ' (p. 26) There is probably no scholar who has logged and blogged more hours searching websites by and about Muslims than Gary R. Bunt, a senior lecturer in Islamic Studies at the University of Wales. His latest book expands on two earlier studies, the pioneering Virtually Islamic (2000) and follow up Islam in the digital age: e-jihad, online fatwas amd cyber Islamic environments (2003). It is not surprising that in the early days of his online research Bunt was responsible for a meltdown of his university server due to the amount of Islam-related Internet traffic arriving in his e-mail account (p. 82). iMuslims is a study that not only locates Islam in cyberpace, but provides a rich documentation of websites, both ongoing and those which have disappeared. The present volume reintroduces the reader to his earlier concept of cyber-Islamic environments (CIE), surveys previous research, probes the wide range of sites and Muslim perspectives online, examines the trajectories of Islamic sacred content in cyberspace, and focuses on Muslim blogging and what he terms 'digital jihadi' websites, especially for the recent war in Iraq and the Palestinian issue. As a scholar who studies Islam rather than a proponent for any particular Islamic worldview, Bunt proposes his 'cyber-Islamic environment' as an 'umbrella term' (p. 1), the diverse dimensions of which he illustrates in a massive chart (pp. 46-47) that interrelates sacred sources, the reading environment, translation issues, symbolism, content, players, technologies and media types, surfer profiles and globalization issues. He even encourages readers to provide their own amendments and additions to this chart via a wiki format on his main website (virtuallyislamic. com). Although the focus is primarily on Sunni, or what appear to be Sunni, sites, Bunt applies the term "Islamic" in the widest possible sense. One of the facets of
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Papers by Amidu O L A L E K A N Sanni