Artistic Islamism of Ibadan

Ibadan, the largest city in West Africa is equally the most populous city in Nigeria. Her advent in 1829 was native with pockets of Muslims during the Jihad penetration of the Yorubaland through Ilorin. But for her valiant, the Jihadists were diversely halted at Ijesa, Ekiti and Osogbo between 1835 and 1843. Islam in Ibadan nonetheless, blossom few decades after, despite the pandemonium of the Jihad; also flourished is the budding Islamic culture which embraces art and representational arts courtesy of the Hanafi, the Shafi to mention few. Their various teachings can be argued, responsible for art and artistic tolerance among Muslims in Ibadan, contrary to orthodox which cursorily arbors art practice. In view of the latter, this paper examined Islam in history, its rationalistic pluralism vis-à-vis the various indigenous art practices in Ibadan, the emerging art among Muslims and Muslim artists of old to the twenty first century Ibadan.