In 2002 the Miss World Contest was relocated from Abuja, Nigeria to London because of violent deaths as Hausa-Muslims protested against the competition; in 2005 200 people were killed in Northern states after a Dutch newspaper published cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad; In 2007 a Christian teacher was burnt alive by Muslim students after rumours spread that she had dropped the Qur'an, and in 2011 houses were burnt and people killed by angry Hausa/Muslim protesters following the election victory of Southern President Goodluck Jonathan instead of the Northern presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari.
Rioting Youths in Kano
7. Pack Mentality
Islam is also male-dominated and women are separated so that their gentler influence on the religion is absent, as opposed to Christianity where it is often the mother that exemplifies the religion and women fill the church.
It is also true for Northern Nigeria. I know Hausa men whose natural inclination towards intolerance has been quelled by mainstream education or Christianity. Education elevated the primitive, barbaric and superstitious European into reasoned men who instituted laws based on fairness and justice and not an ancient book, and it can do the same for Northerners.
Someone once said:
So are Hausas too aggressive? Does Islam promote violence? Here are 10 reasons why I think there is so much unrest in the North.
1. Easygoing But Serious-Minded
As stated in my previous post 8 Reasons Why You Meet Few Hausas in the UK, Hausas are primarily laid-back people who are more reserved than the exuberant Southerners. But though they have calm personalities, they are very serious-minded about honour and religion. They are easy to get along with but the one thing they never joke about Islam.
2. Strict Nature of Islam
The fact that most Hausas are Muslims also explains their serious personalities and inability to compromise. Islam, as opposed to Christianity, is very strict about its customs which have to be fully obeyed without excuse. Whereas not every Christian fasts for Lent or covers their head when they pray, and Christianity tolerates criticism and casual observance from its followers, Muslim leaders demand total obedience and questioning authority is highly discouraged.
So as Islam has been a major influence in Hausa communities for centuries, it has shaped the Hausa man's strictness and intolerance of dissent. This intolerance is also evident in other Islamic countries like Saudi Arabia and Pakistan where other religions are surpressed.
3. Religious Leaders
The Imams in the Hausa community have a lot of power in influencing the way the people think. But certain Imams, armed with the knowledge that their people are highly intolerant of Islamic disrespect, often provoke Hausa youths to violence to further their own political or economic interests. Most Hausas never even saw the Dutch cartoons, but at the instigation of their Imams they committed murder when told that so-and-so insulted the Prophet.
The Qur'an
4. Lack of Family
The culture of poor Hausa parents sending their young sons off to Islamic boarding schools miles from their homes is a major factor to the prevalence of millions of unsupervised youths (Almajiris) terrorising the streets of Northern Nigeria. These youths grow up with no parental care and are desolate, desperate and unskilled. The lack of moral guidance coupled with the neglect and abuse from their Imams (the kids have to beg for food and money) leaves the almajiris suseptible to criminal activities including murder and vandalism.
5. Islamic Education
Hausa-Muslims despise state education (which they deem western and Christian) and insist on only an Islamic education for their youth, which isolates them from other Nigerians (and the world) in terms of understanding science, maths, writing and other information vital to knowing how the world works. The singular curriculum of a Qur'anic education not only blinds almajiris to universal truths but also disables their ability to deal efficiently in the professional and business arena, and so they remain poor and dependant on Imams who use their ignorance and idleness for violence.
Hausa-Muslims despise state education (which they deem western and Christian) and insist on only an Islamic education for their youth, which isolates them from other Nigerians (and the world) in terms of understanding science, maths, writing and other information vital to knowing how the world works. The singular curriculum of a Qur'anic education not only blinds almajiris to universal truths but also disables their ability to deal efficiently in the professional and business arena, and so they remain poor and dependant on Imams who use their ignorance and idleness for violence.
6. Lack of Jobs
A Hausa man with a full time job does not have the time to riot. But many Hausa youths are just as jobless as their Southern counterparts and they can be paid or easily pushed to violence in relation to their religion because Islam is all they know and all they have.
7. Pack Mentality
The Hausa/Fulanis are less likely to inter-marry or mingle with other ethnicities in Nigeria, which means that they remain closely-knit and fiercely defensive of their culture; when you attack one you attack all. The mixture of views and backgrounds in the South makes it harder for people there to come together under one ideology, but the unambiguity of Islam and cultural cohesiveness of the Hausas makes it easier for them to unite to defend their religion.
8. Religion vs Money
8. Religion vs Money
Hausas are more religion-conscious than money-conscious. They would rather be thought of as good Muslims than rich men. That is why religious disrespect (also linked to cultural honour) is the only thing that will bring a Hausa man to shout in the streets, whereas in areas like the Niger Delta it is the desire for more oil wealth that gets the youths rioting.
9. Ethnic divisions
The difference between Hausa/Fulanis and other Nigerians is more pronounced because of the influence of Islam. Whereas Yorubas, Igbos and other ethnicities in Nigeria share Christianity, language origins and cultural similarities, the Hausa/Fulanis are distinct, which means issues are easily turned into an 'us' vs 'them' situation.
10. Christianity vs Islam
The New Testament emphasises love for your neighbour, and the statement by Jesus that if someone wrongs you 'turn the other cheek' is well known amongst Christians and non-Christians so that violence is discouraged. But Islam is more tolerant about fighting for your religion ("Fighting is obligatory for you, much as you dislike it" Surah 2:216), and the concept of jihad, infidels and matyrdom leading to paradise is encouraged by Imams.
Islam is also male-dominated and women are separated so that their gentler influence on the religion is absent, as opposed to Christianity where it is often the mother that exemplifies the religion and women fill the church.
?SOLUTION?
Ex-British Prime Minister Tony Blair once said the UK's main objective should be:
"Education, Education, Education"
It is also true for Northern Nigeria. I know Hausa men whose natural inclination towards intolerance has been quelled by mainstream education or Christianity. Education elevated the primitive, barbaric and superstitious European into reasoned men who instituted laws based on fairness and justice and not an ancient book, and it can do the same for Northerners.
Someone once said:
"With or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can do evil; but for good people to do evil — that takes religion"This is true of Hausa Muslims. But with a decent state education their religion will stop being a hindrance to their humanity.
I am also an ex-muslim like you from the north but I am an atheist now. I can't help but agree with you on most of the points you raised. The main problems in the north are : Islam and lack of education. The leaders of the north have allowed the educational infrastructures to decay so much that the youths there are largely illiterate and easily influenced by crackpot imams.
ReplyDeleteAnother issue you didn't raise is the lack of family planning in the north(though this is not just a northern problem, it is a nigerian problem). I have seen bus drivers that have about 12 kids; that is not acceptable, one should only have the number of kids he can care for if not the excess kids are gonna turn into rascals that terrorize the society!
that is just my 2 cents. Take care.
I agree with Anonymous.
DeleteI'd like to add that, there should be an agreed population policy, to say "have as many as you can afford" is licence to the rich to pack the place with their offspring. Everyone has to exercise responsibility, if we are to avoid Nigeria becoming a wasteland.
Is the problem Islam or the way the clerics in Northern Nigeria have chosen to interpret (/distort) it to subdue the population? For instance the idea that Western education is bad, is such a load of rubbish, it is a ruse designed to perpetuate an underclass (oppressed by poverty and ignorance) that is easily manipulated by unworthy leaders (be they religious or political).
Thanks
auchomage
I thoroughly enjoyed this article, succinct and informative.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
Thanks Feral Female, and thanks for following. Your blog is great :)
ReplyDeleteYep @ anonymous, education is key. And some poor Hausa parents might think that the more children they have the more they'll be looked after in their old age.
I think your statement on Muslim leaders demand that every rule in the Koran is to be followed without questioning authority is a problematic generalization. Many fundamentalist Christians take issue with people questioning anything they say,and there are also very liberal interpretations of Sharia. There have also been many schools of Islamic philosophy that attempted to find higher truths by questioning everything.
ReplyDeleteI agree with all you've said. I'll still say that on the whole Islam is a stricter, more prescriptive and less watered-down religion than Christianity. Even the Qu'ran is still in Arabic.
ReplyDeleteInitially, when I started reading your essay, I thought you were trying to justify the riots...but I understand that you were innocently trying to explain the reasons behind the incessant riots in the North. However, most of the reasons you suggested may not be necessarily cogent because there are so many Muslim countries where there is little or no violence (even though someone pointed out that those are usually the countries where the Muslims are in the clear majority). On the other hand, your conclusion was very logical and the problem lies in a lack of education. But there is more to the violence than just a lack of education...HATRED...the root of all genocides...
ReplyDeleteRegrettably, in the recent riots, the killings were carried out by both sides and even Christians slaughtered many Muslims in the Christian dominated Kaduna South. The level of hatred between Christians and Muslims is so high in the North that in Jos, Christian and Muslim children refuse to sit down on the same desk in schools and universities and in the markets, Christians and Muslims refuse to buy from and sell to each other...this is shameful and pitiful and we need to destroy this ROOT OF BITTERNESS...
Thanks Kene. It's sad to hear about the hatred in Kaduna between Christians and Muslims. When I was growing up there there was no such thing, I remember playing with my Christian and muslim neighbours. Religious rivalries at such a young age is just brewing violence for the future.
ReplyDeleteI agree with some of the points you made,but many factors like (Islamic education) does not have anything to do with violence resurgence. And also your portrayal of the Imams, repeatedly as the reason behind this is baseless, there are bad Imams out there but not as you keep mentioning their influence. lastly, you need to do more research about uncountable verses and hadeeths that encourage tolerance. The question is, are those verses followed?
ReplyDeleteHi, let me contribute my quater, i totally disagree, on your reason of violence as related to religion,it is not true you should have made through research into violence in the North so that your reader can understand your point about cause of riot in the Noth, what i suspect would among other thing, selfishness attitude individual, and bad Government policies, they must learn to accommodate one and other devoid of religion and ethnicity and finally. legislature should re visit the policy that affect the life and aspiration of the common man and woman in the North.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first started reading this article I assumed that you were going to have some very strong arguments but it seems to me like the only thing you want to do is to point a finger at religion. There are numerous Islamic or religious communities in the world that are not violent. Blaming this on a religion is extremely close minded, this is a much bigger issue. It has a lot to do with anger. Most of these youths have had to watch their parents and family members suffer or even die due to just being born into the wrong social class. Many of them can barely ensure what they are going to eat at night and in their position they will blindly follow any man that promises them their next meal and do whatever the man wants. This man may or may not disguise himself under a religious appearance because it is more appealing to the youths. Nevertheless it is not a religious issue.
ReplyDelete