Banjul Muslims and the Islamic Court
By Walter Hawthorne and Bala Saho
This gallery contains documents from court cases created by the Bathurst (Banjul) Muslim court between 1927 and 1954. The 12 cases include marital conflicts, divorce suits, child custody disputes and settlements of dowry. They represent the events, subjects, and circumstances that brought African Muslim couples into conflict and, eventually, to the Muslim court. These cases tell a story about family law and gender relationships among African Muslims in early to mid-20th century Bathurst, but they must be understood in the colonial context.