SOAS, University of London (The School of Oriental and African Studies)

From dissent to dissidence: the genesis & development of reformist Islamic groups in northern Nigeria

In this essay I wish to show that the Muslim umma in northern Nigeria has never been without religious dissidence. There is a process to the development of separatist Muslim communities which needs to be studied if government is to formulate both successful policies of containment and a programme that leads the government to self-reform: for these ‘extreme’ movements of protest (even Boko haram) articulate real concerns, even ideals, at the grass-roots that are unwise to ignore. This was true in the past; it is still true today – hence I will re-analyse as an early example the most successful of all northern Nigeria’s religious protest movements, the jihad of the Shaiklh ‘Uthman dan Fodio. But I will also survey movements that failed, and try to explore the dynamics that underlie violence in the name of religion. In seeking to understand the Muslim opposition to jihad I may be offering readers an unusual, certainly a controversial perspective. I personally think the jihad, and the caliphate that arose out of it, was one of the most remarkable achievements in the history of Nigeria, if not of Africa. The start of the Sokoto Caliphate 200 years ago last year (1232-1432 AH) has not been marked by any Nigerian event of any kind – whether to celebrate the political acumen that made it possible or to analyse and assess the considerable human costs involved on all sides of the violence. This essay, then, hopes both to provoke the reader and to open eyes onto data that may have been overlooked.