‘I Heard it from my Teacher’: Reflections on the Transmission of Knowledge in Islamic Manuscripts from Senegambia and Mali

Abstract

: This article is concerned with Islamic manuscripts from the wider Senegambia region in which the main text is in Arabic and the annotations are in Arabic and in one or more local languages. By examining these annotations closely, it becomes evident that local scholars developed an elaborate system of explaining and commenting on the texts. This included making references to the sources from which the information was obtained, such as the names of local scholars. Analysis of these annotations containing references allows researchers to explore the actors and sources involved in the educational pro- cess and the ways in which knowledge was transmitted.