The Radio Kaduna Tafs¥r (1978-1992) and the construction of public images of Muslim scholars in the Nigerian media

Abstract

This paper looks at a public contest over Qur'anic interpretation
that accompanied the emergence of Nigerian reformist activism
in the late 1970s. This contest was staged on national radio at
regular intervals during the months of Ramadan over several
years. The events allowed a public negotiation of the issues
involved by the then polarizing fracture between ‘Sufi' and ‘anti-
Sufi' Nigerian Muslims. In addition to the demands of the familiar
doctrinal polemic register, the religious scholars who participated
in these programs were thrown into a new, challenging arena.
The paper focuses separately on the three major protagonists
involved at different stages as ‘Radio Kaduna exegetes' (Shaykh
Abu Bakr Gumi, Shaykh ‘Umar Sanda, Shaykh Tahir Bauchi),
outlines their scholarly careers, their doctrinal inclination and
their favored themes. It concludes by highlighting how the success
of the Radio Kaduna tafsir contest rested on the degree to which
it staged critical cultural negotiations that engaged the society in
a variety of ways.

Journal for Islamic Studies Vol. 27 2007: pp. 173-210