Ansar Ud Deen - Background

Background

By the turn of the twentieth century, an emerging social class of Christian elites had risen to prominence and were emerging as an authority in political and social affairs in Lagos. This was mostly due to the effort of missionaries in promoting Western education, which resulted in the creation of many graduates in different professional fields. The new elites also promoted the use of the word Yoruba to promote a unifying social and ethnic group in Southwestern Nigeria; among the new groups was Samuel Johnson, a pioneering Nigerian historian. The group emerged at a time the communal towns and cities of Western Nigeria were being inundated by the imperial interest of Great Britain. They then decided to carve out ways to maintain and enhance the social and cultural development in modern Yoruba states as a response to the imperial interests of Great Britain. However, in reality, many of the new elites were cooperative with the British mission to unite Nigerian communities.

The role and effect on the Lagos Muslim community of the movement towards hegemony was thought of as good a political and social route. Thus a notion of tolerance among Muslims with other groups in Lagos was accepted, resulting in a polarizing and diverse communal society as promoted by the new elite. However, an awareness of emerging conflicts between Christian elites and the colonial government especially in Lagos and the role Western education played in the emergence of the elites led many Muslims to devise means of educating their communities. These reformist groups were associated with elemental Yoruba organizations called, Egbe (professional associations) and were also influenced by different factors and movements in the Muslim community such as the Ahmadiyya movement in Lagos and itinerant Arabic scholars. Ansar Ud Deen enjoys a well documented success in major Yoruba cities such as Ibadan the largest city in Africa Sub-Sahara and Osogbo, hometown of the Muslim scholar Sheikh Dr. Abu-Abdullah Adelabu founder of Awqaf Africa London and the African Muslim portal esinislam.com and islamafrica.com.