WEST AFRICA IN ANTIQUITY

                                     WEST AFRICA IN ANTIQUITY

The Roots of 'Sudannic' (African?) Civilization

As we have already learned, by about 2000 BCE the lands south of the Mediterranean coast and west of the Nile valley had become desert regions, which supported only limited populations of herders and oasis farmers.  Traveling south from the Mediterranean coast there are more than a thousand miles of arid lands to cross before desert gives way first to semi-arid steppes, then open savanna and increasingly moist woodlands, and finally to the dense rain forests of the Atlantic coastal zone. Although nomadic pastoralists did move their herds seasonally from the central Saharan mountains to the Sahel and back, the desert was very difficult to traverse, particularly before the introduction of the camel in Roman times.  Desert routes were not the only possible ones between Egypt and the Niger valley, but the

ROLE OF WOMEN IN ISLAMIC CIVILISATION

Women's Contribution to Classical Islamic Civilisation: Science, Medicine and Politics

By: 

sadeeq gumel

***

1. Introduction
While several studies have investigated the contribution of Muslim women in various fields of the classical civilisation of Islam, such as in hadith transmission, jurisprudence (fiqh), literature, and education, until now few sources mention the role of women in the development of science, technology, and medicine in the Islamic tradition.
In scholarship, there are isolated and scattered references to the famous women who had a role in advancing science and who established charitable, educational and religious institutions. Some examples are Zubayda bint Ja'far al-Mansur who pioneered a most ambitious project of digging wells and building service stations all along the pilgrimage route from Baghdad to Mecca, Sutayta who was a mathematician and an expert witness in the courts, Dhayfa Khatun who excelled in management and statesmanship, Fatima al-Fehri who founded the Qarawiyin mosque in Fez, Morocco, which

YOUTHS IN ISLAM

Muslim Youth - The Struggle to Maintain the Islamic Personality

 

The dire consequences of the absence of Islam as the governing system of today's society are manifesting themselves in all aspects of our lives. The detrimental effects of not having the Islamic social system can be felt regardless of whether we live in the Muslim lands or elsewhere. There is nothing more painful than seeing our youth grow up amidst a non-Islamic atmosphere leading, in