My paper explores a fundamental, yet little studied, question in the intellectual history of Muslim West Africa. Among the most numerous titles found in manuscript libraries across West Africa are didactic texts meant for learners of classical Arabic. Included in this type of literature are lexicons and works of lexicology, morphology, syntax, rhetoric and prosody. For any serious student aspiring to advance in the Islamic sciences, mastering the various branches of Arabic linguistics was essential. The principal texts studied in this field were written in medieval North Africa, and acted as the central building blocks for the intellectual tradition of Muslim learning that developed in West Africa. It was also the field of Islamic knowledge that West African authors proved to be most prolific and influential across the West African region. The paper will provide an overview of Arabic language learning materials used in West Africa, and explore two especially well-known West African texts: Muḥammad Bāba b. Muḥammad al-Amīn b. Ḥabīb al-Mukhtār al-Tīnbuktī (d.1606), al-Mināḥ al-ḥamīda fī sharḥ al-farīda; and al-Mukhtār Būnah’s (d.1805/6) Ṭurra ʿalā alfiyya Ibn Mālik.