Appraisal of tabsiratul-anam fì anal 'ilma huwal-imam (mirror to the world: that knowledge is the leader)

Abstract

Researchers have made efforts to overcome the problems of mass failure and lack of seriousness in students at different levels of education in Nigeria and West Africa at large. It eventually turns to low standard, incompetence of the teachers handling the students which collectively have a negative impact on the capacity development of the youth. Different books of Muslim scholars and philosophers such as Shaykh Shamuji’s Ta ‘limul-Muta ‘llim and Imam al-Ghazalf categorised knowledge into three degrees in their ascending scale of certitude: Knowledge by inference, knowledge by perception or observation and knowledge by personal experience or intuition which its acquisition found difficult by contemporary West African students due to some problems which Tabsìratul 'ariani fi 'armai ‘Urna Huwal- 'Imam addressed. A book written by a prolifìc writer - Shaykh Ibrahim al-Senegàl in which he propounded some theoretical views on the ways knowledge could be acquired, what can lead to forgetfulness, ethics of students and illegitimate succession of a leader among West Africa Sufi group. The work also embedded with wise sayings of early scholars that enrich intellectual ability of Arabic scholar.