A Manual for the Teacher of Islamic Studies by Murtala A. Bidmos (Lagos: University of Lagos Press, 2010), 166 pp. Price $8.00. ISBN: 978-978-49588-3-7

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INTRODUCTION: Muslim scholars, teachers and educationists will most probably enjoy and profit from this loaded and interesting book probably with a title capable of arresting the attention of even the most absent-minded Muslim scholar: A manual for the teacher of Islamic Studies. Murtala A. Bidmos, a professor of Islamic education at the University of Lagos since 2007 and current Chief Imam of the University, through this book, contributes impressively to Islamic scholarship. To this task, Bidmos brings many a qualification. For three decades he has taught Islamic Studies at the University of Lagos, establishing a reputation as a pioneer lecturer in the discipline. A product of traditional Arabic system with no formal secondary education, Bidmos’ academic credentials are a Thanawiyya certificate from a prestigious madrasa in Agege, Lagos, an ordinary certificate in Arabic and Islamic Studies from the University of Ibadan, a Bachelor’s degree in Arabic from the University of Kuwait, a Master and doctorate degrees from the University of Ibadan all of which were topped up with a Postgraduate Diploma in Education also from the University of Ibadan. Bidmos’ qualifications show that his academic territory is Arabic and not Islamic education. Yet, an Arabic scholar of high caliber that he is, is certainly not an unfamiliar guest in the domain of Islamic Studies in view of the inter-twinned and interrelated nature of the two disciplines