Delivered at Conference of West African Association of Theological Institutes. Peki, Ghana. August 2-6, 2010. 1 Mustapha Abdul-Hamid Department of Religion and Human Values University of Cape Coast Cape Coast. Ghana. Women and Islam in Africa: Towards an Inclusivist Theology of Leadership Introduction The motivation for this paper was borne out of two incidents. The first was in August 1999 in Tamale, the capital of the Northern region of Ghana. During a casual conversation with a Muallim (one teaches Islam) he asserted that, there was no value in being at home with his wife because a woman would not add any value to a discourse or conversation. “What ideas do women have?” he asked. In the view of the Muallim who is a guardian of the Muslim flock, women are by their very nature, not capable of any ideas at all. Coming from a Muallim, I thought that the Muallim must have been influenced by his understanding of Islam’s attitude towards women. This paper is an attempt to understand the Islamic underpinnings of the Muallim’s statement. The second incident was in 2008. During the 2008 electioneering process in Ghana, I was a Spokesperson for the Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP). At that time, the Presidential Candidate of the NPP, Nana Akufo-Addo had signalled his preference for one Hajia Alima Mahama as his Vice Presidential Candidate for the election. Hajia Alima Mahama was then Ghana’s Minister for Women and Children’s Affairs. This researcher received a letter signed by one Mohammed Tahiru from Tamale, who claimed to have been speaking on behalf of the Association of Muslim Teachers. The crux of his submission was that, they as ulama, (Muslim clergy) were against the choice of