ABSTRACT
The head of the community was the elderly Muhammad al Ghamba', 'the Mamprussi', more commonly known as Baba, who had first settled in Kumasi in 1807.5 A man of piety and learning, his obligations to the Ktimasi faithful required the exercise of both qualities. As imam he led them in prayer,6 and as qadi he administered justice in accordance with the Shari'a. 7 Especially close to his heart was the school which he had founded and over which he presided, where some seventy pupils were taught the Quran, and thereby reading, writing, and elementary Arabic.fl Shaikh Baba's own educational attainments, however, naturally extended farther. 9 Owner of a large library,10 his studies would seem to have included not only the conventional range of Islamic sciences-tafsir, fiqh, and the like-presupposed by his liturgical and legal functions, but also ta' rikh: he was, for example, able to discourse interestingly on both Ashanti and Wes tern Sudanese history.11
