East Africa and contemporary muslim education: The unholy triple alliance conundrum

Abstract

This chapter is a theoretical discourse about East Africa and contemporary Islamic education. Working concepts are given in context and difference between Islamic and Muslim education clarified. A brief history shows that Islam came from across the Indian Ocean and Arabian Seas. It dwells at length on how Islamic-Muslim education, African System of Education (ASE) and Western-Christian education systems converse in time and space. The existing collaboration, coexistence, and relative harmony are due to shared values, common motives, the nature of African culture and interstice factor that is a hidden phenomenon. The unholy alliance that is neither alliance nor holy is a conundrum. It is argued that the rise of Islamic-Muslim education system in the region is not a bandwagon reaction. It is identified as a Contemporary Muslim Education Renaissance perhaps imbued with progeny for survival in the modern age of globalization and the internet. The conclusion discusses the need to re-invent a neo-Islamic epistemology and ontology as an urgent agenda.