Transformations in Islamic Education in Ghana

by David Owusu-Ansah

Interview with Al-Hajj Ibrahim Umar


click play for full interview
Transcript: Open/Close
Transcript: Download (18 KB)
Courtesy of David Owusu-Ansah
Creator: Owusu-Ansah, David
Umar, Imam Ibrahim
Biography: Educated in Ghana at the traditional Quranic schools, Ibrahim Umar pursued advanced religious training in the Sudan and later in Saudi Arabia. In the 1960s, he arrived in Mecca, where he received advanced training and later returned to Ghana. He takes on the orthodoxy of the Wahhabi movement and challenges the quality of Islam in the country. At the time of our interview, he was head of the group that describes itself at the Ahl-Sunna al-Jamait. Al-Hajj Umar is the founder and proprietor of the Institute of Islamic Studies School in Nima (Accra, Ghana) and he is a supporter of the Ghana Islamic Education Unit program.
Description: Al-Hajj Imam Ibrahim Umar centered his interview on Islamic orthodoxy and expressed concern about the old leadership that he described as more akin to mysticism. The Ahl-Sunna al-Jamait Group, over which he provided leadership, see themselves initially as protecting the integrity of the religion. The Imam also talked about the support he has for secular education—and in the end presents his group as more progressive.
Date: July 14, 2005
Date Range: 2000-2009
Location: Nima, Greater Accra, Ghana
Format: Audio/mp3
Language: English
Twi
Rights Management: For educational use only.
Contributing Institution: David Owusu-Ansah; MATRIX: The Center for Humane Arts, Letters, and Social Sciences Online at Michigan State University
Digitizer: David Owusu-Ansah