SANKORE’
Institute of Islamic-African Studies®

Courtesy of Muhammad Ubayd’l-Haqq Mendes Sultan al-Hajj Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad at-Tahir ibn Muhammadu Bello ibn Muhammadu Attahiru Making supplication for all the Muslims of the Umma of Muhammad, upon him be blessings and peace on the Day of Eid’l-Adha

Muhammad Shareef, Directorate Sankore' Institute of Islamic African Studies

SANKORE' TODAY

The Sankore’ Institute of Islamic-African Studies was first conceived December 15, 1985, in the Republic of Sudan as the result of conversations between the present Sultan of Maiurno al-Hajj Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad, our shaykh, Imam Muhammad al-Amin ibn Adam Karagh, Ahmad Abideen Hassan and the founding director Muhammad Shareef.

The sultan gave written authorization and commissioned S.I.I.A.S. to collect the Arabic and Ajami manuscripts of the Sokoto Caliphate from northern Nigeria and convey them to the town of Maiurno in order to be edited and republished to provide capital for the public amenities and the general welfare of the people and jama`at of Shehu Uthman Dan Fuduye’. As a result, trips are being made to Chad, Northern Nigeria, and Mali to collect and copy rare manuscripts relevant to the Islamic heritage of the Bilad’s-Sudan. Later the
Sultan al-Hajj Abu Bakr and the Imam Muhammad al-Amin gave written authorization for S.I.I.A.S. to translate these works into English and disseminate these works among the Muslims of the United States.

To date S.I.I.A.S. has collected 1500 Arabic manuscripts and 48 Ajami manuscripts (Fulbe', Hausa, Wolof and Mande'). Of these, more than 50 have been translated and published by the institute. Classes utilizing the works published by the institute have been established in the cities of Houston, Tuskegee, Hartford, Los Angeles, San Diego, Oakland, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia . Presently in two correctional institutions in California the S.I.I.A.S. curriculum is being taught to some 400 Muslim inmates.

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