Abubakar Gumi’s Concept of the Reform of Islam in Northern Nigeria

Abstract

Abubakar Gumi (1922–1992) was one of the central personalities for the development of Islam in Northern Nigeria who devoted himself to work on the reform of the religion (tajdid). He was also very active in the issue of the political unity of Muslims. Gumi’s major religious goal was to eradicate all innovations (bid’a) and to purify the faith. The Sufi brotherhoods were in his eyes not only the agents of the bi’a, but also movements which blocked the unification of Muslims. On the basis of his anti-Sufi ideas, Abubakar Gumi was connected with other thinkers of the Islamic world, especially Sayyid Qutb, the most influential thinker of the Egyptian Muslim Brothers. Gumi’s concept of the reform was also deeply influenced by the Wahhabi ideology. The article is an attempt to present Gumi’s condemnation of the bid’a as it is reflected in his programmatic treatise Al-Aqida as-sahiha bi-muwafaqat al-shari’a (The Right Faith according to the prescriptions of the Shari’a). Some attention is also paid to Gumi’s educational efforts and his role as the leader of the most recent movement of tajdid among Muslims in Northern Nigeria.