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Everyday Islam in Kumasi: Devout Lay Men and Women in Daily Life
by Gracia Clark
Men
Allabar Women's Islamic School
The wife of an Islamic teacher founded this school in their home, in one of Kumasi's oldest Muslim neighborhoods. A long front room holds beginning, intermediate and advanced groups. It offers Arabic, English, math and sciences classes, and she has hired Muslim and non-Muslim teachers to present the full public school curriculum, although the school gets no government support. The students are mostly married women, who attend part time in between their family and work responsibilities.Bantama Women's Fellowship
Bantama mosque serves a central Kumasi neighborhood that historically contained a large proportion of Muslim families before colonial rule. On Fridays, a group of women gathers under the supervision of the local Imam, to study the Koran and learn basic Arabic. On two Fridays they heard an explanation of this website project and were invited to record interviews for posting on it. Interviews were held in the large women's side chamber of the mosque before prayers began.Tafo Women's Fellowship
Old Tafo lies along the main highway north from Kumasi, and was one of the earliest settlements for immigrant Northerners. As an old Muslim community it has several neighborhood mosques, and the imam of one founded a government-supported primary and middle school that offers instruction in the Koran and Arabic language along with the standard national curriculum. This group of women attends that mosque and meets on Fridays to learn Arabic and read the Koran. After hearing about the website project, those who agreed to record an interview for it met us in an empty classroom.Men
Palaver Held at the Central Market, Kumasi
Date: October 13, 1946Format: Text/jpegMuslim traders settled freely in Kumasi after British conquest in 1898, but they had to negotiate a place for themselves politically and economically as a minority. Each immigrant ethnic group acknowledged a Kumasi headman, who maintained constructive relations with the Asante chiefly hierarchy and the British colonial authorities to protect their trading activities and legal traditions. Although most of the translations for this case will be from oral interviews, the paramount chief's archives contain valuable English language documents from earlier decades, such as petitions and court cases. The following sample document shows high-ranking palace officials mediating a conflict between male traders from Gao (Mali) and Asante women traders. Their rivalry over access to truckloads of yams arriving in Kumasi Central Market sparked several violent clashes between 1938 and 1952.
The Work of God
Date: 2006Format: Video/mp4"Next time that I greet you, with the grace of God you will also be a Muslim."
Not Every Woman Can Do This Work
Date: 2006Format: Video/mp4"It is only me, a woman selling these double axles here. My family are proud of me as a woman selling this, because it is not easy for some women to learn this trade."
A Trader and a Teacher
Date: 2006Format: Video/mp4"My uncle saw that I was not interested in marriage, so one day he just called me and said 'I want you to be married to your brother [cousin],' and it worked."
A Secondary School Teacher
Date: 2006Format: Video/mp4"My Mum never gave up."
An Arabic Teacher
Date: 2006Format: Video/mp4"As I understood the teachings of Islam, I pledged to let my fellow Muslims also know more about Islam and the Koran. That is why I prefer teaching."
Runaway Wife
Date: January 3, 1939Format: Text/jpegThis wronged husband is appealing to the Asantehene because he feels the chief of his ethnic community in Kumasi has been unfair.
Suleiman Zakaria
Date: August 13, 2009Format: Video/mp4"The religion of Islam is totally about peace"
Abdul Hannan Al Waiz
Date: August 13, 2009Format: Video/mp4"I know what is bad and what is good for me."
Discussion Club
Date: 2009Format: Image/jpeg
Truck Parts and Engines
Date: 2006Format: Image/jpeg
Zongo Street
Date: 2009Format: Image/jpeg
Allabar Women's School
Date: 2006Format: Image/jpeg
Learning to Pray
Date: 2006Format: Image/jpeg
Ramadan Class
Date: 2006Format: Image/jpeg
Cloth Importers
Date: 2009Format: Image/jpeg
Bantama Floor
Date: 2006Format: Image/jpeg
Front Porch
Date: 2009Format: Image/jpeg
Roadside Shop
Date: 2009Format: Image/jpeg
Herbal Stall
Date: 2009Format: Image/jpeg
Yam Porters and Drivers
Date: 1979Format: Image/jpeg
Kumasi Central Market
Date: 2009Format: Image/jpeg
Tailor Alley
Date: 1982Format: Image/jpeg
Veiled Buyer
Date: 1979Format: Image/jpeg
Men Tomato Sellers in North
Date: 1979Format: Image/jpeg
Madame Hawa, Tomato Wholesaler
Date: 1979Format: Image/jpeg
Headloading at a Village Market
Date: 1979Format: Image/jpeg
At the mosque
Format: Image/jpegA photo album of six images showing the mosque in Kumasi and activities happening at the mosque.
Abdu Basit
Date: August 13, 2009Format: Video/mp4"Bicycles have helped me."
Abdul Rashid Alhassan
Date: August 15, 2009Format: Video/mp4"You must be seen to be a good Muslim."
Abu Rawbil
Date: August 15, 2009Format: Video/mp4"Islam teaches us to love one another."
Ahmed Abdulah
Date: August 21, 2009Format: Video/mp4"I will drive peacefully; I will come home peacefully."
Ahmed Abubakar Ali
Date: August 21, 2009Format: Video/mp4"I'm a real Zongo man."
Ahmed Bashir Baba
Date: August 13, 2009Format: Video/mp4"All that we need is unity."
Fuseini Nahidshah
Date: August 15, 2009Format: Video/mp4"People like coming here."
Halima Abdallah
Date: August 21, 2009Format: Video/mp4"I don't think I can marry again."
Mohammed Bawa
Date: August 13, 2009Format: Video/mp4"First, be honest; second, be patient."
Muhammed Amin Abu Bakr
Date: August 21, 2009Format: Video/mp4"Islam has taught me a lot."
Muhammed Bashiru Danakabu
Date: August 21, 2009Format: Video/mp4"They are not doing it for Islam."
Sadick Jaffo
Date: August 15, 2009Format: Video/mp4"I have to respect these people."
Suleman Haruna
Date: August 21, 2009Format: Video/mp4
Ibrahim Abdul Rashid
Date: August 15, 2009Format: Video/mp4"We don't advise that."
