Reconsidering the influence of Islam on Yoruba cultural heritage,1930-1987

Abstract

Previous studies on the activities of Islam have focused on the contribution of the religion to state building (Last, 1967, p. 4 ), the nineteenth century jihad (Smith, 1961, p. 45) and the phenomenal growth of Islam during the colonial period (Gbadamosi, 1978, p. 77). However, no specific attention has been paid to how Islam affected Yoruba culture negatively with specific focus on the area of religion education and language. This study intends to fill this obvious gap in the historiography of influential cultural invasion of Islam from 1930, when colonial political structures allowed the Muslims to maintain a physical and cultural presence in Yoruba towns to 1987 when the proliferation of Islamic learning centres became well established to promote Islamic cultural orientation in the community. primary data on colonial petition reports were sourced from archival materials as well as oral interviews with people selected through purposive sampling technique while the secondary data were derived from books and journal articles. The data collected through these methods were classified and subjected to qualitative analysis. Arabic schools throughout Yoruba land were established as centers promoting Arabic civilization and Islamic cultures (Bidmos, 1972, p. 32). These schools were found in most of the large urban cities in Yoruba city states such as Lagos, Ibadan, Ilorin, Abeokuta, Saki, Osogbo, Ede and Ikirun (Mahmud, 1983, p. 37). The activities of these schools were geared towards producing Yoruba Arabs. These schools encouraged the wearing of turban (al-hammamah), the flowing robe (jalamiyyah and hijab). Arabic words with lexical equivalents in Yoruba lexicography. Some Muslim scholars that graduated from these Arabic schools branded their physical appearance by keeping long beards as a measure of cultural affinity with the Arab Muslims. The influence of Islamic literacy has also manifested in the mode of naming such that converts changed their names deemed associated with Yoruba deities to Islamic names. There were also reports of instances Muslim clerics spearheaded and attacked Yoruba religion, language and education. Islamic literacy has brought about cultural changes in the mode of language, beliefs and education of the Muslims in Yoruba society. The Arabic schools in Yoruba society promoted cultural influence with the establishment of structures which undermined the preservation of Yoruba religion, language and education.