Yale University

Unlocking West Africa’s Intellectual Legacy: The book unborrowed from Yale Library for 120 years

By Muhammad Jameel Yusha’u, PhD

On Friday, March 3rd, 2023, I attended two events at the Divinity School. The first was a lecture convened by Professor Ousmane Kane, and the second was a joint symposium called the Zaytuna-Harvard Symposium. These two events shared similarities in that they both aimed to highlight the intellectual heritage of sub-Saharan Africa in various fields of knowledge and the importance of traditional means of knowledge acquisition.

The former was a presentation by Ustadh Umar Sheikh Tahir, the son of a prominent Nigerian scholar Sheikh Tahir Bauchi and a current PhD candidate at Columbia University. His presentation was titled “Rediscovering 18th Century Knowledge Tradition: Alkashinawi’s (d.1742) Intellectual Networks in Bilad Al-Sudan and Hijaz.” The latter was a presentation by Sheikh Hamza Yusuf, President of Zaytuna College, who spoke on “The Arts of Understanding Prerequisites for Unlocking the Islamic Tradition.” Sheikh Hamza Yusuf studied traditionally with scholars in Mauritania, West Africa.

Ustadh Umar presented the story of Muhammad Alkashinawi, a West African scholar from today’s Katsina province in Northern Nigeria. Alkashinawi developed proficiency in Arabic language, logic, mathematics, and jurisprudence in West Africa. When he moved to Hijaz, his scholarship was acknowledged, and he became a respected scholar from whom society was learning. When he died in Egypt, he was buried in the cemetery of scholars. Alkashinawi’s story highlights the journey of a scholar whose intellectual depth was developed in West Africa and whose scholarship transcended geographical boundaries.

The uniqueness of Alkashinawi’s work was not as prominent as it should have been, and Ustadh Umar’s work is more relevant in that he is translating Alkashinawi’s book into English. Interestingly, some of Alkashinawi’s work is only available at Yale University, and his book was not borrowed from the library at Yale for 120 years until Ustadh Umar asked for it.

The unborrowed book from Yale Library for 120 years

Sheikh Hamza Yusuf’s presentation highlighted the importance of traditional means of knowledge acquisition and how it translates into scholarship that transcends geographical boundaries. Both presentations mesmerised the audience, providing evidence that knowledge is a human heritage that belongs to those who work to acquire it. It is neither the monopoly of a region, ethnicity, nor race but a heritage that beautifies a society that values it.

During the symposium, I sat among the students of Zaytuna College. One of the students asked me where I was from, and I responded Nigeria. He then introduced me to one of his schoolmates from Texas, who was a descendant of Sheikh Uthman ibn Fodio. I found it interesting how the family of Uthman Dan Fodio crossed the Atlantic and still keeps the story of their genealogy intact.

Takeaway: Knowledge is a human heritage. It belongs to those who work to acquire it.

Muhammad Jameel Yusha’u, PhD, is a candidate for a Mid-Career Master’s in Public Administration at Harvard University, John F Kennedy School of Government. He can be reached via mjyushau@yahoo.com.