The Muslim regions of Africa, although rich in writings in Arabic and in various local languages in most branches of the Islamic sciences and literary genres, are poor in those tools that are the essential foundation for research: catalogues of manuscript collections, biographical dictionaries of local scholars, and monographs on specific literary traditions or schools.

In the early 1960s John Hunwick as lecturer in Arabic at the University of Ibadan (Nigeria) established a Centre of Arabic Documentation there. The activities of the Centre were documented in the Research Bulletin Centre of Arabic Documentation (RBCAD) , which began publication in 1964 and still appears. This eventually resulted in a typescript entitled Handbook to the Arabic Writings of West Africa and the Sahara (Cairo, 1979), the preparation of which was supported by the Malian Arabic Manuscript Microfilming Project, directed by David Robinson and funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (Washington D.C.). The Handbook consisted of three fascicles and copies were sent to selected libraries in the United States and Africa. In 1980, Hunwick invited R.S. O'Fahey to join his project in order to cover all the known Arabic and local language writings of Saharan and sub-Saharan Africa.

From that point on Hunwick and O'Fahey adopted a two-pronged strategy: they published jointly a bulletin of ongoing research called Arabic Literature in Africa: a Bulletin of Biographical and Bibliographical Information (BALA ), (again with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities).   Three issues appeared between 1985-87. In 1990 BALA was replaced by Sudanic Africa: A Journal of Historical Sources   (SAJHS), published annually from the Centre of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, University of Bergen. Although SAJHS has a wider scope than simply literary works, it is a companion tool to the volumes described below. So far twelve issues of SAJHS have been published.

The other prong was the preparation of a series of regional volumes, published by E.J.   Brill as the Arabic Literature of Africa series (a sub-series of Handbuch der Orientalistik ). A number of Hunwick and O'Fahey's colleagues and former students have collaborated with them on the volumes, which provide a bio-bibliographical overview of the Islamic writings of Saharan and sub-Saharan Africa. To date, four volumes, comprising just over 2,000 pages, have been published.   A total of six volumes are currently planned.   Overviews of each of the completed volumes may be accessed through the links below.

	ALA I - The Writings of Eastern Sudanic Africa to c. 1900 , compiled by R.S. O'Fahey et alii, 1994, xv+434 pp
	ALA II - The Writings of Central Sudanic Africa , compiled by J.O. Hunwick et alii, 1995, xxvi+732 pp.
	ALA III, Fascicle A - The Writings of the Muslim Peoples of Northeastern Africa,   compiled by R.S. O'Fahey et alii, 2003, xxii+174 pp.
	ALA III, - Fascicle B - The Writings of the Muslim Peoples of Eastern Africa , compiled by R.S. O'Fahey et alii, in preparation for publication in 2004. This fascicle will list writings predominantly in Kiswahili.
	ALA IV - The Writings of Western Sudanic Africa , compiled by J.O. Hunwick et alii, 2003, xxiv+814 pp.
	ALA V - The Writings of the Sudan Republic from c. 1900 , compiled by J.O. Hunwick and R.S. O'Fahey, in preparation. This volume will undoubtedly comprise several fascicles.
	The Writings of the Western Sahara , compiled by J.O. Hunwick.