Acknowledgments
This book encapsulates insights from numerous Muslim scholars and activists as well as colleagues and friends I received over the past forty years. Some of the discussions were informal, others planned interviews. All of them have shaped my understanding of Muslim activism and intellectual reasoning on poverty alleviation and socio-economic improvements. Without these inputs, the book would never have been completed. I therefore offer special thanks to all interviewees mentioned in the text for sharing with me your time and wisdom.
Furthermore, I am very grateful for encouragement and stimulating discussions I have received from many friends and colleagues in Ghana, Finland, Germany, and Sweden, most notably Yunus Dumbe, Haji Mumuni Sulemana, Afa Razaq Tawheed, Haji Mohammad Damba, Sani Mohammed Sani aka Garba, Franz Kogelmann, Roman Loimeier, Rüdiger Seesemann and Torsten Hylén as well as the manuscript’s two anonymous reviewers. My research on Muslim empowerment in Ghana would never have reached its final stage without your positive response and support. But most of all, I thank my wife Minna for companionship and encouragement.
I am also grateful to the Research Council of Finland and Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters for funding my fieldwork in Ghana, the editors of Brill’s Islam in Africa series for accepting my manuscript, as well as Åbo Akademi University for funding the Open Access publication of the book.