‘Every little tree has its own bit of shade’: Qur’an-based literacy of the Peul Fuuta community

In pre-colonial West Africa, Islam served as the impetus for knowledge and literacy. For example, to meet the religious need and aspirations of its community, the Peul Fuuta community developed its own Qur’anic literacy model which is divided into major phases. At the basic level, Qur’anic literacy focused on developing Qur’anic reading skills. It is only at the advanced level that Qur’anic literacy became an instrument for access to Islamic knowledge and Islamic scholarship. However, with the arrival of European powers the knowledge ecology shifted. The Western education model took over and Qur’anic literacy was pushed to the backyard and lost considerable ground. This fate of Peul Fuuta Qur’anic literacy was compounded by a post-colonial education system and by urbanisation which changed the social structures. As a result, Qur’anic literacy which has contributed for centuries to West African knowledge and scholarship has become a simple instrument that provides basic devotional and ritualistic skills.