Publication Date:
2017
abstract:
This article looks at the lawḥ (wooden tablet) in traditional Quranic education
in Africa, through the lens of the phenomenology of religion. It argues that,
the set of pedagogical practices that are sustained with the support of the lawḥ can be understood as a complex ritual of initiation into Islamic notions and beliefs. As in Eliade’s classical phenomenology, this ritual takes the form of a symbolic re-enactment
of a primordial myth and acts as the support of a symbolic identification
between the initiate and a sacred ancestor. A symbol, at the same time, of the archetypal Quran (al-lawḥ al-maḥfūẓ), of the metaphysical reality of the Prophet (al-
ḥaqīqa al-muḥammadiyya), and of the pupil’s human form, the lawḥ allows for the
symbolic identification of the protagonist of the initiation (the pupil) with the protagonist (the Prophet) of Islam’s most primordial myth (the revelation of the
Quran).
in Africa, through the lens of the phenomenology of religion. It argues that,
the set of pedagogical practices that are sustained with the support of the lawḥ can be understood as a complex ritual of initiation into Islamic notions and beliefs. As in Eliade’s classical phenomenology, this ritual takes the form of a symbolic re-enactment
of a primordial myth and acts as the support of a symbolic identification
between the initiate and a sacred ancestor. A symbol, at the same time, of the archetypal Quran (al-lawḥ al-maḥfūẓ), of the metaphysical reality of the Prophet (al-
ḥaqīqa al-muḥammadiyya), and of the pupil’s human form, the lawḥ allows for the
symbolic identification of the protagonist of the initiation (the pupil) with the protagonist (the Prophet) of Islam’s most primordial myth (the revelation of the
Quran).
Iris type:
2.1 Contributo in volume (Capitolo o Saggio)
Keywords:
Islamic Education; Nigeria; Phenomenology of Religion; West Africa
List of contributors:
Brigaglia, A
Book title:
The Arts and Crafts of Literacy: Islamic Manuscript Cultures in Sub-Saharan Africa