Getting to Know Nana Asma'u, the Muslim Scholar Who Advanced Women's Education

Hidden in the savanna region of Nigeria, filled with rainforests, palm trees, and fertile soil, a woman was born who would later become a symbol of female empowerment, leadership, and intelligence. From this region came Nana Asma’u, who later became known as one of the early icons of Islamic feminism.

Quoted from About Islam, the light of Nana Asma’u’s work continues to inspire and is practised more than 150 years after her death. The daughter of the Sokoto Caliph was named after Asma’ bint Abu Bakar.

In England, Nana Asma’u is known as one of the early feminist icons. Meanwhile, West African Muslim communities honour her for her efforts in fighting for women’s rights to obtain education and play an active role in society, strengthening the role of women which in previous generations had been largely ignored.

In her time, she influenced West African society, intellectuals from the banks of the Nile, and scholars in the Middle East. As a poet, scholar, teacher, polymath, and intellectual, Asma’u’s contributions shattered the stereotype that Muslim women in history were merely marginalised figures, forced into silence, and limited to domestic work.

Decades later, during the British colonial period, British delegates were astonished by the high intellectual tradition of Sokoto society. When Jean Boyd was sent by Britain to educate the people of Nigeria, she noted, “Here there is literacy, there is God, so allow me to return and try to learn from the people I was supposed to be educating.”