In short, the products of this religious and educational institution became the leaders of society in all its spheres of activity. The Sankore’ University was the symbol of the spirit of the society, the guardian of its morals and the formulator of its hopes and aspirations.
The Sankore’ Institute of Islamic-African Studies International was first conceived December 15, 1985, in the Republic of Sudan as the result of conversations between the present Sultan of Maiurno al-Hajj Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn Bello Maiurno ibn Attahiru ibn Ahmad Zuruku ibn Abu Bakr Attiku ibn Shehu Uthman Dan Fodio, our shaykh, Imam Muhammad al-Amin ibn Adam Karagh, Ahmad Abideen Hassan and the founding director Muhammad Shareef. The sultan gave written authorization and commissioned S.I.I.A.S.I. to collect the Arabic and Ajami manuscripts of the Sokoto Caliphate from northern Nigeria and convey them to the town of Maiurno in order to be edited and republished to provide capital for the public amenities and the general welfare of the people. As a result trips were made to Chad, Northern Nigeria, Mali to collect and copy old manuscripts relevent to the Islamic heritage of the Bilad ‘s-Sudan. Later the Sultan al-Hajj Abu Bakr and the Imam Muhammad al-Amin gave written authorization for S.I.I.A.S.I. to translate these works into English and disseminate these works among the Muslims of the United States.
To date S.I.I.A.S.I. has collected 3000 Arabic manuscripts and 123 Ajami manuscripts (Fulbe’, Hausa, Wolof and Mande’). Of these, more than 89 have been translated and published by the institute. Classes utilizing the works published by the institute have been established in the cities of Houston, Atlanta, Compton, Los Angeles and Oakland. Presently in two correctional institutions in California the S.I.I.A.S.I. curriculum is being taught to some 400 Muslim inmates. In 1992 the S.I.I.A.S.I. was officially made a research organization of IHRAAM (the International Human Rights Association for American Minorities), the only non-governmental organization that represents American national minorities in the United Nations.
Our teacher, the late Waziri of Sokoto, Junayd ibn Muhammad al-Bukhari once said, “Knowledge is universal and eternal but it has a social and cultural stamp. It also has a purpose and a commitment to a particular world view. It therefore cannot be neutral.”  History has shown that African Muslims around the world have been branded and stamped with a social and cultural stamp which not their own. The world view that they now share is completely alien to them.

Waziri Junayd also said in his book called Nayl ‘l-Arab Fi Istifsaa’i ‘n-Nasab

“Whoever does not inform his children of his grandfathers then has destroyed his child, marred his descendants, and injured his offspring the day he dies.
Whoever does not make use of his ancestry,     then he has muddled his reason
Whoever is not concerned with his descent, then he has lost his mind.
Whoever neglects his origin, then his stupidity has become critical
Whoever does not know his roots, then his idiocy has become great.
Whoever does not cause his ancestry to be abundant then his opinion has become corrupted.
Whoever is ignorant of his lineage then his intellect has dissipated.
Whoever does not increase his place of descent, then he has abolished his honor.”

Although this searing poem was originally composed more than 500 years ago, it accurately describes the psychosis suffered by Africans the world over, especially the Africans in the United States and the western hemisphere. The above poem by our Muslim ancestors foretold our sickness and the work of the Sankore’ Institute of Islamic-African Studies International will help (Allah willing) calculate the cure. The overall aims of the institute is to rediscover the authentic purpose, commitment and particular world view of Islamic Africa and to revive the learning which gave it its unique social and cultural stamp. In short, the Sankore’ Institute is, with the help of Allah ta`ala, preserving and extending the intellectual heritage of the ancient Sankore’ University/Mosque of the 15th century - making this legacy viable for the electronic age for the Muslims of Africa, America and the world.

Shaykh Muhammad Shareef

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