A History of Shia and its Development in Nigeria: The Case-Study of Kano (original) (raw)
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national conference , 2018
This paper is a partial critique of Abdullahi Mahadi's somewhat anachronistic construction of the history of IMN in Nigeria through his memo which is widely circulated and referred to since its release to the Kaduna State Judicial Commission of Inquiry (JCI) on the 15th of February 2015. In the paper, Mahadi's foremost among other claims was what he referred to as the introduction of Shiism into Nigeria, were he argued that Shiism was introduced into Nigeria between mid-1970s and mid-1980s, that; it was introduced by one Islamul-Haq in the department of economics Ahmadu Bello University, (ABU) who in connivance with El-Zakzaky lured, indoctrinated and radicalized other students into Shi'ism. Using a combination of in-depth interview and document review as sources of data and, Event History Analysis (EHA), The paper found that one of the dramatis personae (Ibrahim El-Zakzaky) only contacted Shi'ism and became one of its agents in Nigeria beyond his stay within the confines of ABU as a student while the other (Islamul-Haq) is until today never a Shi'ite hence the study unmakes Mahadi's historical construction by concluding that the three chief claims of time, actors and place as well as the methodology used by Abdullahi Mahadi to construct the history of the introduction of Shiism into Nigeria, actually lacked thorough, deep rooted and rigorous investigation, this is by virtue of his aberration of other necessary fragmentary pieces of evidences and reluctance to necessarily employ scientific historiographical procedure which would have helped produce a more deep-rooted, thorough and comprehensive account of the introduction of Shiism in Nigeria.
This study provides the first detailed discussion of the Salgawa's role in the political history of Kano State stretching over more than a century, from the first half of the twentieth century to the beginning of the twenty-first. The Salgawa are an influential network of Tijani scholars based in Kano, but extending through the country as well as beyond its borders. Previous research on the political role of Sufi orders in Africa such as the Tijaniyya and Qadiriyya in Nigeria, or the Khatmiyya in Sudan, has neglected the importance of the activities of competing networks within a particular Sufi order. The goal of this study is to correct that tendency by highlighting the role of the Salgawa network as a distinct movement within the wider Tijaniyya order in the politics of Kano State. 1 I have written this paper while being hosted as an All Africa House Fellow by the Department of Religious Studies, University of Cape Town (UCT) under the guidance of Dr. Andrea Brigaglia. I am grateful to Professor Chuma Himonga, the Ward of All Africa House, and to Brigaglia for their support and guidance throughout my stay at UCT. This research is the product of the ongoing collaborative researches on Islam in northern Nigeria conducted by Brigaglia and various staff members of the
ASAUK 2016 Peel Roundtable, 2016
In the background to this monograph written in late 2013, John gave a synopsis of the 11 chapter work and the justification for including previously published, though now updated, materials. But in this roundtable which is dedicated to the monograph, I intend to explore his narrative on New Orthodoxy/Orthopraxis, and Fundamentalism, in regard to Islam among the Yoruba nation vis-a-vis the other two religious traditions, viz, Christianity, and traditional belief system. My analysis will draw on the drafts of Chapter 9 and 10 as available to me, viz, “A century of exchange between Islam and Christianity in Yorubaland”, and “Pentecostalism and Salafism: mirror images?” The stated aim of the first is to present a nuanced view of the forms of Yoruba Islam, as it has had to respond to the challenges of Yoruba Christianity, namely, Pentecostalism/Neo-Pentecostalism, for which NASFAT is indicated as a response. The object of the second chapter is to analyse the Nigerian Muslims’ interaction with and response to Salafism (New orthodoxy and orthopraxis) and Fundamentalisms (political activism/militant Islamism) in the context of the currents of change in the wider Muslim world. This is discussed in light of “mirror images” concept, with particular focus on Northern Nigeria. However, the narratives of two Yoruba authors are deployed in this regard; a Pentecostal view of Nigerian Christianity, and a Salafist one of Nigerian Islam in which Pentecostalism is critiqued for its failure to bring development, and Salafism for its lack of justice to Northern Nigeria. The inherent lapse of this choice, in view of the historical and traditional rivalry between northern and southern/southwestern Nigeria will be highlighted. Whereas the first movement for which Peel illustrated with NASFAT can be said to be fairly stable and predictable, the other one which found its most illustrious exponents in Northern Nigeria is more like a moving image such that some of the observations made by Peel almost became stale or due for a review no sooner than they were made. This is an area I want to address in detail in my contribution (See my KFRCIS and IAHR presentation on Salafism, especially the benign type of Muslim NGOism, the December 12, 2015 Zakzaky’s encounter with the military in Zaria (Northern Nigeria) which ultimately emboldened the locals to break the cycle of ‘suffering in silence’ and the ‘conspiracy theory ‘on the Sunni/State/Shiite triangle of violence in Nigeria). My aim is to highlight the merits and drawbacks in Peel’s analysis and catalysis of the Nigerian Muslims’ responses to Neo-Pentecostalism, and the as yet unidentified or faintly recognised varieties and velleities of pragmatic and ritualistic ripostes to Salafism and Fundamentalism in the Nigerian religious and political cosmos.
In 1979 ideological and methodological differences between Ibrahim Ya'qub El-Zakzaky and most of the Muslim Students Society (MSS) members resulted in the spilt of the society. Hence, El-Zakzaky began to lead a small, but dedicated group which formed the nucleus of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria. The movement from inception manifested militant approaches to its idea of Islamic revivalism with Iran as its source of inspiration, keenly following the revolutionary events that were unfolding there. It was, therefore, labelled 'Yan Shi'a [the Shi'ites], term it publicly rejected. Situations which led to its expansion and spread all over Northern Nigeria and beyond availed it the popularity to gain Iranian attention.
Sufism, sects and intra-Muslim conflicts in Nigeria, circa 1979-2000
PsycEXTRA Dataset, 2011
This paper analyses the major areas of discord among the Nigerian Muslims from 1804 to 1979. It further defines and distinguishes between what Sufi orders are and what sects stands for according to the primary sources of Islamic law. The Intra-Muslim conflict in Nigeria within the scope of this paper can be divided into three parts. The first is the period of consolidation and intellectual awareness, between 1804 to the later part of the nineteenth century. It shows how the three Jihad leaders, namely Sheikh Usman bin Fodio [d.1817], his son Muhammad Bello [d.1837], and his brother Abdullahi, displayed their wealth of knowledge and experiences in the true understanding of Islam. The second could be referred to as the period of struggle for supremacy. This was the time when the two dominant Sufi orders in Nigeria (Qadiriyya and Tijaniyya) struggled to restore their position as well as to acquire more Muslim members into their groups. The third period commenced in the late '70s with the emergence of a group popularly known as Izalatul-Bid'a wa-iqamatus Sunnah [Movement for the removal of innovation and establishment of the tradition]. The period witnessed a major change from intellectual disagreement in the past to incessant hostility.
Islamic Trends in Northern Nigeria: Sufism, Salafism and Shiism
The area we know today as northern Nigeria is predominantly Muslim due to centuries of contacts and Links between Muslims in the region and the wider Islamic world date back to early trans-Saharan trade and Empire of Kanem-Borno activities and its historical role in the spread of Islam. The area for an equally long time has been involved in intellectual exchange with other parts the Islamic world and has been a source of new ideas and knowledge that fed Islamic practice, thinking and teaching far beyond its national borders. Muslim identity and thought in the region derive from the Sufi orders of Qadiriyya and Tijaniyya. At time of colonial conquest in 1903, the established Islamic groups were the two Sufi orders the Qadiriyya and the Tijaniyya. In post colonial northern Nigeria, the virtual domination of the Sufi orders over the Islamic public space in northern Nigeria was broken by the introduction of Salafism in late 1970s. In the early 1980s, another force in the form of Shiism emerged, creating a neo religio-political space in northern Nigerian Islam. Official accounts of Islamic history still portray Usman Dan Fodio as role model of a religious reformer, and the caliphate he founded is represented as the conclusion of Islamic civilisation.
Mandyang: Journal of Central Nigeria Studies, Department of History, University of Jos, Nigeria
Researching through the history of religious activities in the north this essay argues that there is a relationship between the current state of disunity and conflict in Kaduna state and the Northern Nigeria in general, and the resurgence of the radical reformist religious movements' that developed among both the Muslim and Christian communities. These movements (Izala and Pentecostal) that resurfaced nearly at the same time created tendencies for division and militancy among their followers. Side by side with the international politics and the deteriorating state of the Nigerian economy due to merciless plunder of the national resources by the political elite across the religions and ethnic groups favourable condition for mass recruitment of insurgents becomes very easy. Thus from 1980s Kaduna state started experiencing clashes and continuing growth of enmity and hatred encouraged and financed by the respective local elites and possibly other international financiers. This essay argues that the challenge for peace in Kaduna state must address the excesses of these new religious movements, which produced not only inter religious, but intra-religious contestations and conflict.
Political Islam in Northern Nigeria
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2015
The success of the Nigerian state is not only due to the prevalence of a federal structure of governance, but also on the umbrella of identity provided by religion. In particular, I explore the role of Islam in an ethnically charged society such as northern Nigeria. However, Islam has evolved and exploited as a basis for political mobilization in northern Nigeria. This discussion explores the symbiotic relationship between religion and politics. Furthermore, it explores how religion (Islam) as a powerful element has attained the position as the primarily identity marker of the Muslims in northern Nigeria, and surveys the role of Islam in integrating various ethnic groups in northern Nigeria.
Islam's profound influence on global peace and prosperity through the teachings of the Quran and Sunnah is being challenged by a rising tide of anti-Sunnah grandiloquence. This qualitative research delves into the Shiite agenda and Orientalists' strategy to defame the Sunnah and its followers in Southwestern Nigeria, offering insights and recommendations to counter these efforts. Drawing on secondary sources, including books, articles, and online materials, the study examines the propagation of falsehoods and fabrications about the sayings of Prophet Muhammad (Peace and Blessings of Allaah be upon Him), perpetuated by groups aiming to sow discord within the Muslim community under the guise and falsely claims, through their positions that they want to purge Islam of adulteration. Tactics such as lectures, writings, and media portrayals associating Sunnah with extremism and violence are analyzed. The research highlights the significant threat posed by the infiltration of these ideologies to Muslim cohesion and integrity in Nigeria. It advocates for unity among scholars, institutions, and alumni to defend Quran and Sunnah through intellectual discourse, academic rigor, and doctrinal clarity. By promoting education, countering negative narratives, and safeguarding traditional teachings, Nigerian Muslims can confront external pressures and preserve the purity of Islamic teachings. Ultimately, the study underscores the importance of critical engagement and resistance to external manipulation in safeguarding Islam's integrity and the unity of Muslim communities.
Islam and Contemporary Challenges: the Northern Nigerian Experience
Northern Nigeria is predominantly Muslim. Islam was introduced into the area since about the 11th century. By about the 15th century most of the empires and Kingdoms of the region have not only accepted Islam, but have started using it as a state religion. By the 19th century, especially with the Islamic reform movement of Sheikh Uthman Ibn Fodio, a community of Muslims was put in place governed by the laws of Islam. Referred to as the Sokoto Caliphate this community made up the political unit called northern Nigeria. The conquest of the area by the British during the colonial interlude marked the first interference or challenge. The most disturbing challenge is what developed from within the community itself in the late 1970s. Prominent members of the community noted to be very close to corridors of power championed an ideological discourse around the thought of Muhammad Ibn Abd al Wahab (1703-1792). This paper is hypothesizing that like the experience of the Arabian peninsula of the 18th century which established Wahabi Islam and divided Islam, the present northern Nigeria and the Islamic religious crisis facing it is a product of the so called religious reforms championed by the likes of Mallam Mahmoud Abubakar Gumi (d. 1992).