Islam in Burkina Faso

A Dyula family enterprise based on the lu, a working unit consisting of a father, his sons, and other attached males, could afford to give some of its younger men a Muslim education.

Having completed his studies, a karamoko obtained a turban and an ijazah, his license to teach, and set forth in search of further instruction or to start his own school in a remote village.

During the great Senegambian jihad led by Ma Ba (1809–1867) Islam spread in the stateless region of the Upper Volta, the Ivory Coast and Guinea.

In Burkina Faso the Arabist and Islamist movement is viewed a counter-culture to the European style of modernity, and also a way of integrating the disparate ethnic groups which make up the Muslim population of the country.

Madrasa education, which began just after World War II, now serves half of the Muslim population, though only tiny minorities reach the secondary level.

Islam is also strengthened by the construction of mosques, preaching on national television, official recognition of Muslim festivals, and support from the Arab world.