Central and southern Africa: Islamic education variations

Abstract

Though this chapter retained “Islamic Education” in the subtitle, the author like Farid Panjwani (2004) and others are of the view that one should replace the phrase with “Muslim Education.” The primary reason for this is based on the argument that “Islamic” implies that the educational system that is in place is nothing else but “Islamic”; now this understanding is somewhat problematic and debatable to say the least. The descriptive word “Muslim” is considered a better word since it conveys the idea that Muslims differ in terms of the definitions, methodologies, and understandings; as a result, one encounters various systems. This chapter demonstrates these complexities as it considers the Qur’anic schools that were created in Central Africa (e.g., Chad) and compares them to related schools in Southern Africa (e.g., Botswana). One will observe that these types of schools are unique to Central/West Africa and that they are absent in Southern Africa. The factors that contributed to this vary and are discussed as they relate to the various schools, for example, the dominance of different schools within different areas. This chapter seeks to expand on the complexity and specificity by ethnicity or region to the accuracy of “Islamic,” “Muslim,” or other labels, such “Islamic religious” or “Arab-Islamic Education” and how these schools are uniquely contextualized within ethnic, nation-state, and regional realities.