Islamic Modernism and Colonial Education in Northern Nigeria: Na’ibi Sulaiman Wali (1927–2013)

From the colonial period on, elite education in northern Nigeria has been an arena marked by ambivalence over how to combine Islam with “modernity”—a concept with as many different definitions as the protagonists involved in the debate. In postcolonial northern Nigeria, graduates of elite schools often evinced discomfort with their own education. This discomfort was visible in the generation of northern Muslim elites who were trained in colonial schools but whose careers peaked after independence. To explore the interrelationships among education, Islam, and modernism, this article discusses the life of Na’ibi Sulaiman Wali (1927–2013).