Everyday Islam in Kumasi: Devout Lay Men and Women in Daily Life

by Gracia Clark

Women

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.

Women


Palaver Held at the Central Market, Kumasi

Palaver Held at the Central Market, Kumasi

Date: October 13, 1946
Format: Text/jpeg
Muslim 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

The Work of God

Date: 2006
Format: 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

Not Every Woman Can Do This Work

Date: 2006
Format: 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

A Trader and a Teacher

Date: 2006
Format: 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

A Secondary School Teacher

Date: 2006
Format: Video/mp4
"My Mum never gave up."
An Arabic Teacher

An Arabic Teacher

Date: 2006
Format: 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

Runaway Wife

Date: January 3, 1939
Format: Text/jpeg
This wronged husband is appealing to the Asantehene because he feels the chief of his ethnic community in Kumasi has been unfair.
Suleiman Zakaria

Suleiman Zakaria

Date: August 13, 2009
Format: Video/mp4
"The religion of Islam is totally about peace"
Abdul Hannan Al Waiz

Abdul Hannan Al Waiz

Date: August 13, 2009
Format: Video/mp4
"I know what is bad and what is good for me."
Truck Parts and Engines

Truck Parts and Engines

Date: 2006
Format: Image/jpeg
Truck Parts and Engines
Hajia Habiba in her stall with double axles in Suame Magazine.
Zongo Street

Zongo Street

Date: 2009
Format: Image/jpeg
Zongo Street
Commercial building in Old Zongo.
Allabar Women's School

Allabar Women's School

Date: 2006
Format: Image/jpeg
Allabar Women's School
The Allabar Women's Islamic School main classroom in front of house.
Learning to Pray

Learning to Pray

Date: 2006
Format: Image/jpeg
Learning to Pray
Small girl standing behind praying women in the mosque.
Ramadan Class

Ramadan Class

Date: 2006
Format: Image/jpeg
Ramadan Class
Women in chairs, men at table with books at the mosque.
Cloth Importers

Cloth Importers

Date: 2009
Format: Image/jpeg
Cloth Importers
Two women and one man from Togo sit in cloth stall in Kumasi Central Market.
Bantama Floor

Bantama Floor

Date: 2006
Format: Image/jpeg
Bantama Floor
Interviews on the floor of mosque -- women's side.
Herbal Stall

Herbal Stall

Date: 2009
Format: Image/jpeg
Herbal Stall
Herbalist stall in Kumasi Central Market.
Kumasi Central Market

Kumasi Central Market

Date: 2009
Format: Image/jpeg
Kumasi Central Market
Overview of Kumasi Central Market from above wholesale yards.
Veiled Buyer

Veiled Buyer

Date: 1979
Format: Image/jpeg
Veiled Buyer
Customers standing, tomatoes on sack.
Madame Hawa, Tomato Wholesaler

Madame Hawa, Tomato Wholesaler

Date: 1979
Format: Image/jpeg
Madame Hawa, Tomato Wholesaler
Silhouette of old lady at tomato yard.
At the mosque

At the mosque

Format: Image/jpeg
A photo album of six images showing the mosque in Kumasi and activities happening at the mosque.
Ahmed Bashir Baba

Ahmed Bashir Baba

Date: August 13, 2009
Format: Video/mp4
"All that we need is unity."
Halima Abdallah

Halima Abdallah

Date: August 21, 2009
Format: Video/mp4
"I don't think I can marry again."
Mohammed Bawa

Mohammed Bawa

Date: August 13, 2009
Format: Video/mp4
"First, be honest; second, be patient."