"This is the first English translation and commentary upon the collected works (poems) of Alhaj Y???usuf ???S???ali???h (1910-2004), popularly known as Afa Ajura. Since 1952, he introduced and advocated for what the translator terms "Ajuraism," promoting his understanding of Sunnah and rejecting the status-quo of traditional practices and the syncretism of Tij???aniyyah Sufism in Northern Ghana. Hand-written in local Dagbani ajami, the original manuscripts consist of sixteen poems in 153 pages. This translation is ...
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"This is the first English translation and commentary upon the collected works (poems) of Alhaj Y???usuf ???S???ali???h (1910-2004), popularly known as Afa Ajura. Since 1952, he introduced and advocated for what the translator terms "Ajuraism," promoting his understanding of Sunnah and rejecting the status-quo of traditional practices and the syncretism of Tij???aniyyah Sufism in Northern Ghana. Hand-written in local Dagbani ajami, the original manuscripts consist of sixteen poems in 153 pages. This translation is accompanied by an extensive survey of Afa Ajura's own social, religious, and intellectual background, a contextualization of the environment in which he founded and ran his Sunni community (Munchiri; Ajuraists), and an assessment of the impact Ajuraism, his writings and preaching have had on Northern Ghana. Afa Ajura's contributions are evidenced in his large following and in the reforms he effected, speaking against abuses in wedding practices and funeral rites where clerics extorted relatives for financial gains; fighting on behalf of old women accused of witchcraft; fighting against clerics' bogus claims of spiritually solving people's problems; and finally, mobilizing to erect numerous classroom structures mainly from donations and sending many students abroad on scholarships"--
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