A Scholar’s Role in African Self-Determination

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

Shaykh Ibrahim ibn ‘Abdullah Niyas al-Kawlakhi (q.s.) played roles that were extraordinary, coming from an esoteric scholar that lived somewhere in the semi-arid zone of the tiny belt of the Senegambia.  He fought for the independence of Black Africa through his relentless, direct contact with leaders, and communities of many African states, in the post-independence era. 

Immediately after the end of World War II, Shaykh Ibrahim (q.s.) embarked upon the laborious task of seeking the unity of the continent, and preparing it for autonomy.  In his celebrated work, al-Ifriqiyyah li al-Ifriqiyyin, published in 1950, he opined elaborately that Africa “must be governed by its own children.”  Indeed, the quest for true freedom was considered by Shaykh Ibrahim (q.s.) to be the purest obligation of all men of ample discretion, knowing no religious boundaries, and this was exactly the statesmanship of the Prophet (s.a.w.) in Madina.