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Towards an African Qur'anic Hermeneutics

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There already exist two Islamic theological genres in sub-Saharan Africa, both foreign and regarded as normative: The Atabo-Islamic Theology - a theology that evolved out of the cultural, social. political and historical experiences of Muslims in the Middle East; and what may be described as the Indo-Pakistani Islamic theological phenomenon, also born out of the socio-cultural context of India and Pakistan.

Until recently, it has never been felt necessary to re-read Islamic theology in the context of the African experience, although in some parts of Africa Islam continues to be viewed as an Indian or Arab religion while Christianity is seen as a European religion. There have been calls to stop looking beyond Africa's borders for spiritual and Islamic understanding and to start looking within Africa for an interpretation of Islamic theology. There is no doubt that this is an idea that is emerging out of the contemporary discourse of the 'African Renaissance', an idea that is still in its infancy.

The received Islamic theology is a theology that was a result of interpretations, which obviously affected the self-understanding of their societies and were largely influenced by the socio-cultural, political and historical conditions in which they developed - conditions which are different from those of contemporary Africa. Moreover, there is a time-space gap not only between the African and the classical interpretations of Islamic theology, but just as much between the African Muslim and the Qur'an itself. He cannot just read these texts and understand what he sees because of the gap that divides past and present. To him, the received Islamic theology and the classical tafsir genre constitute the 'tribal other'. To the Indian or Arab Muslim in Africa, the African is still regarded as 'the undesirable other'. Therefore, the African theological and hermeneutical voice must be grounded in and must grow out of this identity of otherness. In this way decontextualisation and recontextualisation of Islamic theology with regard to the texts as with regard to their readers is imperative. The terms 'African Islamic theology' or 'African Qur'anic Hermeneutics' stress the contextual nature of this theological and hermeneutical genre in Africa. It is predominantly concerned with the ways to reconstruct Islamic theology independent from the Arab or South Asian socio-cultural influences. It is an attempt to bring Africa's existential experiences to the text - what is typical of Africa, and to search for an African intellectual self-definition. This is because the Qur'anic truth is open, dynamic and subject to reinterpretation and recontexualisation.

Source: Section from 'Towards an African Qur'anic Hermeneutics' - Available for download once logged in

Comments (2 posted):

Oludamini Ogunnaike on 10/07/2009 14:13:30

This article seems to speak mainly to the South African experience: The Swahili coast, West Africa (Mali, Guinea, Senegal Nigeria) and the horn of Africa all have long-standing venerable traditions of Islamic theology,tassawuf, and Quranic tafsir and ta'wil in both Arabic and local languages-not to mention the oral traditions of Sufi turuq such as the Tijaniyya which represent the kind of Islamic theology for which the author is calling. These traditions are thoroughly grounded in the various local African experiences in which they emerged, and in many parts of the Muslim world in Africa-such as the villages around Timbuktu, the classical texts of Islamic tradition are more familiar than a newspaper form the country' capital.

African Islamic theology or African Qur'anic hermeneutics is nothing new and does not need to be reinvented, but rather maintained. Just as the Indo-Pakistani world developed its own theological and hermeneutic voice from Arab and Persian sources, so have the Swahili Coast, and West Africa.

The issue of "otherness" or an identity gap arises not so much from the African study of classical texts or the African Islamic tradition, but with the modern so-called reform or Salafi schools, doctrines and ideas now flooding the continent on the wave of oil money from the gulf. Such ideas are indeed foreign, have not yet been indigenized, and create a distance of identity between not only the African Muslim and the texts, but all traditional Muslims and the texts by ignoring or condemning the living traditions which bridge the lived realities of contemporary Muslims everywhere and the source of the religion.

I highly recommend the works of Amadou Hampate Ba, particularly La Vie et Enseignments de Cerno Bokar: ea sage de Bandiagara, and the (Arabic) works of classical scholars such as Ahmed Baba and Mohamed Bagayoko and more recently the works of Utamn dan Fodio, Hajj Umar Tall, and Shaykh Amadou Bamba and Ibrahim Niasse for clear examples examples of traditional Islamic thought firmly rooted in the African experience. Again, African Islamic theology' or 'African Qur'anic Hermeneutics' need not be invented or created or discovered, but maintained.

There are a great many shuyukh and 'ulama who represent this tradtion in places like Touba, Kaolack, Djenne, Timbuktu, Sokoto and Zanzibar who are happy to train students in the African tradition of Islamic learning.

Djibril Sankofa on 27/12/2009 00:01:26

I would have to agree with Bro. Oludamini. An African Islamic theology is nothing new. The writings of Amadou Hampate Ba concerning Shaykh Cierno Bokar are excellent as well as the writing of Shaykh Uthman dan Fodio and the writings of Shaykh Ahmadou Bamba and Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse. If this is being looked at from the context of Shi'i scholars in Africa then that would be another story which could very well be re-written within another 50 - 100 years as the Shi'i faith is relatively new to Africa. However, I would dare say that even in that regard the question becomes what is African and what is Arab? As Amadou Hampate Ba recounted, when speaking of Shaykh Hamallah (the great Shaykh of the Tijaniyya)that although he was black as everyone else in his village because he was a sharif he was counted as Arabi simply because his lineage was traced through the Prophet (SAW). I said that to say this African Islamic theology existed in Morocco. It existed with the Fatimids. It existed and began with revelation when God told the Prophet (SAW) to tell the ummah vis a vis the Qur'an to have love for his family. This hermeneutic existed prior to Qur'an and we are reminded of it every year during hajj when millions of people the world over pay respects to an African woman, Hajar (SA), and her son, Ismail (AS). The Shi'i are reminded of this when millions perform ziyarat for the Imams from Jafar Sadiq to Imam Mahdi (May Allah bless them all and grant them eternal peace).