Teaching and Learning Trends of Islamic Studies at Nigerian Universities “Sufism as a case study”

Abstract

The history of University level of education in Nigeria can be traced to 18^th January, 1948 when University College of Ibadan was established. Later followed by other universities which were established at different time and locations in Nigeria. These include the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, the University of Lagos. The University Ife Ile – Ife among many others. Islamic Studies is one of the courses introduced in some of the Nigerian University. It is a wide academic course that comprises multivarious aspects. One of such aspects is Sufism. Hardly would one find an academic institution especially at university level where Sufism not taught as an aspect in the discipline of Islamic Studies. This is the focus of this paper. The objective of this research paper is to examine the teaching and learning trends of this aspect of Islamic Studies – Sufism – in the Nigerian Universities. The method adopted in the research is interpretative approach based on the disciplines of Sufism and history. By consulting works written on the history of Education in Nigeria, Islamic Education, Syllabus of Islamic Studies in Nigerian Universities as well as materials on Sufism. The end-result reveals that the discipline is taught by lecturers of different specialization a situation that need to the re-visit the current trend whereby the course is taught and learnt theoretically whereby it ought to be both theoretical and semi-practical. As a recommendation, one will advocate that specialists in the field of Sufism be to made to teach the course and to embark on research on local matters which have not received adequate attention from Academia.