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Islam is the most widely practiced religion in Africa, having first been brought to sub-Saharan Africa more than a thousand years ago. It has had active scholarly and literary traditions in this region since at least the fifteenth century. Yet, the study of Islam in Africa as a religion and a system of thought and belief has been neglected by comparison with research on the history and sociology of African Muslim polities or movements. Additionally, until very recently, sources in the Arabic language and in African languages written in the Arabic script have played a minor role in scholarly syntheses of the continent's life of the mind and heart, even though they express the concerns and aspirations of millions of Muslims all over the continent. Very large collections of written sources do exist, going back for a millennium or more. And unlike most of the Christian (with the exception of Ethiopia) and oral historical sources, these are the direct and contemporary expressions of the faithful themselves. They therefore offer unique opportunities, not only to study written work from what has often been depicted as an "oral continent," but to trace out the voices, the intellects and the communities of belief of those who created the Muslim intellectual tradition in Africa. The purpose of ISITA is to stimulate interest in the Islamic tradition of learning in Africa, and encourage further research into it, so that new African knowledge can be incorporated into existing patterns of understanding about Africa and Islam.
The principle objectives of ISITA are:
1.) Supporting the preservation of, and disseminating information on, African Arabic manuscript libraries.
2.) Establishing networks of collaboration between African, American, and European scholars working on the Islamic intellectual tradition in Africa.
3.) Bringing scholars together to discuss multiple aspects of Islamic thought in Africa through workshops, colloquia, and conferences.
4.) Promoting the publication of collective volumes of studies arising from scholarly meetings, and essential works of reference relating to the Islamic intellectual tradition in Africa.
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