BRIDGET AISHA LEMU AND HER CONTRIBUTIONS TO ISLAMIC SCHOLARSHIP IN NIGERIA, 1940 – 2019

Abstract

Women through passage of time have been part of successes of Islamic scholarship in Nigeria. It is noteworthy to 
state that Nana Asmau, the daughter of the 1804 Jihad has a strong background in Islamic scholarship. She was 
poetess of reputation. Thus, this paper examines the place of Aisha Lemu in the development of Islamic in Nigeria, 
1940 – 2019. These areas seem to have been neglected by scholars. But her giant stride and massive publications in 
the realm of Islamic scholarship cannot be undermined. She did well not only to promote Islamic ideals through her 
scholarship expositions but also brought closer the true understanding of Islam and its teachings. It is against this 
background that we explored some of her tremendous achievement that perhaps had not been hitherto properly 
recorded. We relied on some comment in the Guardian news and secondary works. Our tentative results are that the 
scholar under consideration had authored more than thirty books in different sphere of Islamic studies in Nigeria. 
This informs the present effort to look into various works of the writer. We realized that the work of the scholar 
under consideration are very many. As such, a few of her efforts as this present paper, space, and other 
considerations would permit have to be examined. Thus, the development of Islamic scholarship, 1940 to 2019, 
cannot be over emphasized. Bridget Aisha Lemu was a famous scholar and very experienced educator. She was 
deeply involved in her effort to conceptualize and develop Islamic scholarship at different levels of educational 
systems in Nigeria.