Spanning a thousand years of history--and bringing the story to the
present through ethnographic fieldwork in Senegal, Gambia, and
Mauritania--Rudolph Ware documents the profound significance of
Qur'an schools for West African Muslim communities. Such schools
peacefully brought Islam to much of the region, becoming striking
symbols of Muslim identity. Ware shows how in Senegambia the
schools became powerful channels for African resistance during the
eras of the slave trade and colonization. While illuminating the
past, Ware also makes signal contributions to understanding
contemporary Islam by demonstrating how the schools' epistemology
of embodiment gives expression to classical Islamic frameworks of
learning and knowledge.
Today, many Muslims and non-Muslims find West African methods of
Qur'an schooling puzzling and controversial. In fascinating detail,
Ware introduces these practices from the viewpoint of the
practitioners, explicating their emphasis on educating the whole
human being as if to remake it as a living replica of the Qur'an.
From this perspective, the transference of knowledge in core texts
and rituals is literally embodied in people, helping shape
them--like the Prophet of Islam--into vital bearers of the word of
God.