Abstract

The centrality of the Qur’an school in Islamic education in Africa has been progressively marginalized. Although colonial rule drastically accelerated the pace of Islamization in Africa, extending the reach of Quranic education, it simultaneously promoted Western forms of classroom education as an alternative and superior form of schooling. Increasingly, African Muslims have been turning to hybrid forms of schooling – madrasas, Islamiyya schools, Franco- or Anglo-Arabic schools. This chapter will explore the epistemological as well as the ideological differences between these forms of schooling, and their role within a constantly evolving social landscape where programs of structural adjustment have eroded the effectiveness of state institutions, including schooling, and the appeal of Islamic institutions of very different stripes has dramatically increased.