Law and Humanities
Quarterly Reviews
ISSN 2827-9735
Published: 25 December 2022
Fulfilling a Religious Duty: Emigration of Hausa Salafists of Ghana to Saudi Arabia
Mohammed Salisu
Qatar University
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10.31014/aior.1996.01.04.45
Pages: 172-182
Keywords: Ghana, Saudi Arabia, Gulf Kingdom, Hausa Salafists, Secular Education, Emigration
Abstract
Literature on West African migrants to the Gulf Arab States have over the years been enmeshed in what has come to be known as ‘Pull-Push’ factors, the socio-economic forces influencing movements of people. Despite enduring link between religion and migration of West Africans to the Gulf Arab sub-region, the subject is yet to receive the needed academic attention. This article fills the vacuum by illuminating a connection between secular education and the emigration of Hausa Salafists of Ghana to Saudi Arabia. It reveals how the coming into force of the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) policy in 1995 spurred the Hausa Salafists on to settle in the Gulf Kingdom. Thus, the article argues that unlike the traditional Ghanaian migrants in Saudi Arabia, the Hausa Salafists do not intend to ever return to homeland Ghana.
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