ISLAMIC EDUCATION IN SOUTHERN NIGERIA

ISLAMIC EDUCATION IN SOUTHERN NIGERIA

The Southern part of Nigeria, particularly Yoruba land, was known to Muslims long before Islam actually reached there. History has it that there was the presence of Islam in the South long before the Jihad of Shehu Usman Dan Fodio. As contacts began to increase between the Yorubas and the Muslim scholars, the former started embracing Islam while at the same time
learning the rudiments of the religion through the study of Qur’an, Hadith and the Shari’ah (Islamic Canon Law). This saw the emergence of notable Islamic scholars in the South with their initial base at Ilorin. According to Fafunwa (1974), Usman Bin Abu Bakr was a learned scholar who hailed from Katsina, a seat of Islamic learning at that time, and had settled down at Borno and wanted to teach and preach Islam in the South. He was eventually made Imam of the Ibadan Muslims in 1839”. Ibadan later transformed into a formidable centre of learning to pair with Ilorin down South. Scholars of eminence were produced and they made their marks in the development of Islamic education in the South. Such scholars include among others, Shaikh Abu Bakr Bin al Qasim, Shaikh Harun whose contributions to the propagation of Islam in the South were monumental and unparalleled.

Soon, the religion spread and Qur’anic schools sprang in towns and villages with Ibadan and Ilorin as the main centres of higher learning.