532

Since the beginning of the world, human beings have been creating different systems
that could change or dominate people’s worldviews. From the dawn of the seventeenth
century, a system that emerged associated with culture, intellectual movement and
affected the everyday life of individuals where religious and social horizons were
challenged is modernity. Modernity is considered to be critical towards traditional
worldviews and lifestyle which makes it a civilization developed in Europe and spread
to other parts of the world. Many factors played great roles in the spread of modernity;
like globalization and industrialization. Modernity has been spreading throughout the
world leaving behind negative and positive changes on traditional societies, the
negative aspects of modernity can be witnessed in the everyday lives of many people
whereas the positive aspects are things one cannot be seen in everyday life. This
research focuses on the impact of modernity on Northern Nigerian Muslims, despite
having rich history with Islam and the people upholding to Islamic practices,
modernity is still taking effect on their worldview.
Keywords: Islam, Modernity, Civilization, Nigeria, Northern Nigerian Muslims.

Dünyanın başlangıcından beri insanoğlu, insanların dünya görüşünü değiştirebilecek
veya ona hükmedebilecek farklı sistemler yaratmaktadır. Modernite on yedinci
yüzyılın başlarından itibaren kültürle, düşünsel hareketle ilişkilendirilerek ortaya
çıkan, bireylerin gündelik yaşamlarını etkileyen, dini ve sosyal ufukların sorgulandığı
bir sistemdir. Avrupa’da gelişen ve dünyanın diğer bölgelerine yayılan bir medeniyet
anlayışı olan modernite, geleneksel dünya görüşleri ve yaşam tarzına karşı eleştirel bir
tavra sahiptir. Modernitenin yayılmasında sanayileşme ve küreselleşme gibi birçok
faktör büyük rol oynamıştır. Modernite, geleneksel toplumlar üzerinde olumlu ve
olumsuz değişimler bırakarak tüm dünyaya yayılmakta, olumsuz yönleri birçok
insanın günlük yaşamında tanık olurken, olumlu yönleri ise günlük hayatta
göremediğimiz şeylerdir. Bu araştırma, modernitenin Kuzey Nijeryalı Müslümanlar
üzerindeki etkisine odaklanmaktadır. İslam ile zengin bir tarihe sahip olmalarına ve
İslami uygulamaları savunan insanlara rağmen, modernite hala Kuzey Nijeryalı
Müslümanların dünya görüşleri üzerinde etkili olmaktadır.
Anahtar kelimeler: İslam, Modernite, Medeniyet, Nijerya, Kuzey Nijeryalı
Müslümanlar.
iv
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. May the peace and
blessing of Allah be upon his beloved Prophet; Muhammad, his family and
companions, and all those who follows them in righteousness till the Day of
Judgement. All praises and gratitude belong to Allah who in His infinite blessing and
favor good works are accomplished.
My sincere gratitude and appreciation goes to Presidency for Turks Abroad and
Related Communities (Yurtdışı Türkler ve Akraba Topluluklar Başkanlığı: YTB) for
giving me the scholarship opportunity to study in one of the most prestigious
universities in Turkey, I will also acknowledge the effort of all my lecturers in the
Faculty of Theology, Istanbul University for their guide and support throughout my
Master’s program.
A special appreciation goes to my supervisor; Dr. Mahmut SALİHOĞLU for his
support and guide toward seeing the success of this research. I will forever be grateful
to Dr. Yakoob AHMED who supported me with his brotherly advice, motivations, and
knowledge by constantly answering my emails and messages without complaint
throughout this thesis.
I also have to acknowledge a number of wonderful people who are part of my life; my
parents, family and friends that helped me in one way or another toward seeing the
success of this research.

2022, Istanbul
v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................... ii
ÖZ .............................................................................................................................. iii
ACKNOWLEDGMENT ........................................................................................... iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................... v
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................. vii
INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 1
CHAPTER ONE
1. UNDERSTANDING ISLAM AND MODERNITY
1.1. Defining Islam ................................................................................................. 26
1.2. Defining Modernity ......................................................................................... 30
1.3. Relationship Between Islam and Modernity ................................................... 33
CHAPTER TWO
2. NIGERIA
2.1. NORTHERN NIGERIA IN HISTORY .......................................................... 42
2.1.1. Islam in Kanem-Bornu Empire ................................................................ 42
2.1.2. Islam in Hausa Land ................................................................................. 45
2.1.3. Sokoto Caliphate: The Islamic State of Northern Nigeria ........................ 48
2.2.4. Colonial Northern Nigeria and Early Changes in the Society .................. 52
2.2 POST-COLONIAL NORTHERN NIGERIA .................................................. 57
2.2.1 Northern Nigeria Under Balewa Years (1960-1966) ................................ 57
2.2.2 Northern Nigeria under Obasanjo Years (1999-2007) .............................. 60
CHAPTER THREE
3. IMPACT OF MODERNITY
3.1. Modern Nation State ........................................................................................ 62
3.2. Democracy ....................................................................................................... 66
3.3. Secularism ....................................................................................................... 70
3.4. Westernization ................................................................................................. 73
3.5. Advancement in Science and Technology ...................................................... 78
vi
CHAPTER FOUR
4. NEGOTIATING BALEWA AND OBASANJO YEARS OF MODERNITY
4.1 Balewa Years (1960 - 1966) of Modernity ...................................................... 81
4.2 Obasanjo Years (1999 - 2007) of Modernity ................................................... 85
4.3 Negotiating Modernity in Nigeria .................................................................... 87
CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................... 94
BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................... 99
vii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
AK Parti Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi
C.E. Common Era
Ed. Edited
Ibid Ibidem
ISIM International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World
JNI Jama’at Nasril Islam
N.d. No date
NCA Northern Christian Association
No. Number
OIC Organization of Islamic Cooperation
p. Page
pp. Pages
PBUH Peace Be Upon Him
Vol. Volume
YTB Yurtdışı Türkler ve Akraba Topluluklar Başkanlığı
1
INTRODUCTION
Since the beginning of the world, human beings have been creating different systems
that could change or dominate people’s worldviews. From the dawn of the seventeenth
century, a system that emerged associated with culture, intellectual movement and
affected the everyday life of individuals where religious and social horizons were
challenged is modernity. Modernity still takes effect in today’s world, at present, it is
creating drastic changes on people’s lives and impacts on societies. So, what is
modernity? By a normal dictionary meaning, the root word of modernity is “modern”
which is the quality of being contemporary or recent time and style. There might not
be a clear and comprehensive definition of modernity, because it is not easy to make
sense of what scholars and experts mean by modernity.1
Essentially, the concept of modernity here is defined with transformation of
time and social changes, driven by advancement in knowledge, human dynamism and
the idea of progress. Evidently, change is a natural phenomenon that can be identified
in different periods involving different civilizations, as time changes, so does human
understanding of other things and ways of doing things based on their experiences. So,
modernity is a dynamic phenomenon that impacts personal and intimate lives of people
from social, political, economic and religious institutions resulting from its time and
space distinction.2
The topic of modernity has been raised and continues to attract interest in
different parts of the Muslim and Western world, thus modernity as one of the most
pervasive global phenomena, that affect humans all over the world is what draw the
attention of this research to explore the impact of modernity on Northern Nigerian
Muslims. Though modernity affects social, cultural and religious institutions there are
still certain values that are consistent with the Islamic faith which many Nigerians are
1 See Chapter One: Understanding of Islam and Modernity, under the heading “Defining Modernity”
for more explanation on modernity.
2 Mashood Baderin, “Islam and Modernity: A Case Study of Yorubaland”, in Islam in Yorubaland:
History, Education and Culture, ed. Opeloye, M.O., et al, Lagos, University of Lagos Press and
Bookshop Ltd. (2018), pp. 187-205.
2
willing to retain even in the face of modernity. Northern Nigeria is predominantly
populated by Muslims and Islam is well established among the people before the
advent of colonial rule in the African continent. Islam had become a significant factor
that could not be detached from the social, political and educational life of the people
and till today, Islam continues to play an important role in the Northern Nigerian
structure. Over the past few decades however, there have been indications of social
changes among the people in the context of modernity and its challenges. In this
regard, there should be a clarity to the question of relationship between Islam and
modernity,3 whether Islam has been part of the social changes either by contributing,
challenging or adapting to modern changes.
Statement of the Problem
Modernity is considered a Western concept characterized by social
transformation and changes that some people perceive to be impacting negatively or
positively on people’s lives. Is that so? Rashid Menhas, et al, listed a number of
elements caused by modernity that have negative impacts on societies: changes in
religious beliefs, vanishment of cultural identity, languages and mode of dressing
becoming European, political instability, crime and unemployment rate increasing day
by day, family structure is changing and no cooperation among family members,
environment is becoming polluted thereby creating health problems, behavior and
attitude of people paved way for European culture in Islamic societies.4
It is beyond doubt that modernity brought advancement and development in
science and technology. Communication, transportation and industrial activities
became more efficient than ever before. In the field of medicine, cure to some
mysterious diseases were found, still, the effects of modernity on everyday life could
raise considerable questions. Many societies have been at the receiving end of modern
ideas, because of their attribute to the spread of Western values and norms. The
positive aspects of modernity are what many people could not emulate, which are not
3 See chapter One: Understanding Islam and modernity under the heading; Relationship between Islam
and modernity.
4 Rashid Menhas, et al, “Impact of Modernization on Religious Institutions: A Case Study of Khyber
Pakhtun Khwa, Pakistan'', European Review of Applied Sociology, Vol. 8, No. 10, (2015), pp. 23-28.
3
part of everyday life, but the negative aspects are what account for changes in people’s
worldview and assimilation of Western lifestyle. Modernity accounts for ideas of
progress that construct a secular outlook in shaping people’s lives.
Despite the spread and impact of modernity in the world, Muslims have their
own unique way of life and civilization.5 However, the growing influence of Western
culture is creating friction in the relationships that overlap between religion, culture,
politics and economic activities of a society. In most Islamic societies, these aspects
of life are part of their religion; so, a change in one of them can affect a change in their
religion on one side; and on the other side, their identity, beliefs, lifestyle, morals etc.
will also be affected. Although change is an inherent aspect of human lifestyle, the
impact of modernity has accounted for a series of changes that do not reflect on the
religion and culture of many Muslims. As indicated earlier, the attractiveness of the
topic of modernity drew the attention of the research to explore the impact of
modernity on Northern Nigerian Muslims thus, raising some questions.
● Can Islam and modernity be compatible in their relationship?
● How did Northern Nigerian fit into the discussion of modernity looking at
its history?
● What are the impacts of modernity on Northern Nigeria Muslims?
● Did Nigeria and (Northern) Nigerians accept or reject modernity?
Answers to the above questions will give focus to the research on the
experiences of Nigeria and their engagement with modernity. Studying the impact of
modernity in Nigeria will contribute to the study and discussion of Islam and
modernity in the Muslim world, because Nigeria is a country with the largest Muslim
population in the Africa. In this context, this will ensure the discussion of Islam and
modernity in Nigeria did not lose out from being able to contribute in shaping the
discussion of modernity and dealing with its challenges confronting the modern world.
5 Muslims have a unique way of life and civilization base on the fact that Islam does not belong to a
particular culture, and as a civilization, different cultures have a way to contributing to the development
of Islamic civilization. For a better understanding of Islam see: Ahmet Karamustafa, “Islam: A
Civilizational Project in Progress”, in Progressive Muslims: On Justice, Gender and Pluralism, ed.
Omid Safi, England, Oneworld Publications, (2003), pp. 98-110.
4
Significance of the Study
In recent times, many scholarly works have been documented on the discussion
of how modernity affected changes in especially Islamic societies, therefore, this work
is set to be a contribution to the broad literatures on Islam and social changes
particularly in Northern Nigeria, as a result of changes in identity and worldview of
the people. Muslim Modernity in postcolonial Nigeria: A Case Study of the Society for
the Removal of Innovation and Reinstatement of Tradition, by Ousman Kane is one of
the well-known works on the subject of Modernity in Nigeria. Kane examined the
activities of the Nigerian Islamic reform movement by addressing the subject of
modernity not limited to Western understanding.6
In another interesting work, although not particularly referenced to Northern
Nigeria, rather to Yorubaland of South-Western Nigeria is; Islam and Modernity: A
Case Study of Yorubaland, by Mashood A. Baderin. It is a book chapter that addresses
how the Yoruba people of Nigeria experienced social changes in the context of
modernity.7
This work aimed at contributing to the debates on the subject of Islam and
Modernity in Northern Nigeria, as it takes into consideration religious and social
changes.The theory of social change suggested that a change in one institution can also
affect a change in another institution8 which means religion, culture, politics,
economics and other aspects are inter-connected and could go through changes. To
some extent, modernity was introduced to Northern Nigeria through colonialism, and
so, this work will attempt to provide accounts of restructuring the Northern Nigeria
Islamic system of as a result of their contact with the Western world.
6 Ousmane Kane, Muslim Modernity in postcolonial Nigeria: A Study of the Society for the Removal of
Innovation and Resentment of Tradition, The Netherlands, Leiden: Brill, (2003). Ideas of Kane on the
subject of modernity will be further discussed in the literature review section of the research.
7 Baderin, M., pp. 187-205.
8 Nico Wilterdink & William Form, “Social Change”, Encyclopedia Britannica, November 16, 2020,
https://www.britannica.com/topic/social-change, [Access Date] December 02, 2020.
5
Scope and Purpose of the Study
One of the primary aims of this research is to design a scholarly work which
will present different aspects of history and present-day features of Northern Nigeria.
it will also show that without the so called modern Western ideas, Islam as a
comprehensive worldview had offered a lot to the development and advancement of
Islamic societies. Therefore, with the increasing concern and changes religion and the
society is going through, some of the objectives of this research are:
● To analyze the compatibility or incompatibility of Islam and modernity.
● To discuss the history of (Northern) Nigeria in order to determine how it fits
into the discussion of modernity .
● To ascertain the impact of modernity on Northern Nigerian Muslims.
● To investigate whether modernity is accepted or rejected by (Northern)
Nigerians.
Methodology
This research is determined to adopt a research method that will explicitly lay
a foundation in explaining the problems of the study. Different researchers apply
different methods in conducting their works, at some point, some apply similar
methods to other researches. Since this work is about actions and behaviours based on
norms and standards of people, especially Northern Nigerian Muslims and their
relation to modernity, a descriptive research method will be employed in the research.
In the case of data collection, the primary sources or data will be collected from audio
and video files of scholars such as Muhammad Auwal Albani Zaria, Ja’afar Mahmud
Adam (and others) to examine the impact of modernity in Northern Nigeria. Most of
the data will be collected in Hausa language which will require close interpretation
into English language. For secondary sources, the research will employ content
analysis as it will ensure close readings of previous scholarly works that were carried
out on related areas of study like; books, journal articles, Internet sources and other
necessary documents that will be evaluated in the course of the research. The research
will not lose sight of historical analysis as it will examine the past experience of
6
Northern Nigerians and use that experience to understand the contemporary reality in
relation to modernity.
Structure of the Study
Given the availability of resources and what is anticipated in many research
works, this project will be divided into different chapters and each chapter can have
different headings and subheadings, as it will help manage the efficiency and goal of
the research. The work will begin by providing an overview of the study. The first
chapter will explain what Islam and modernity are all about; to begin with defining
and understanding Islam then proceed to understanding of modernity. The chapter will
further provide debates or arguments regarding the relationship or compatibility of
Islam and modernity.
Chapter two discusses the early history of Northern Nigeria in particular, from
its early contact with Islam beginning with the history of Kanem-Bornu Empire, Islam
in Hausaland to the nineteenth century creation of the successful Sokoto caliphate. The
chapter will further address the twentieth century colonialism of British rule in the
region and how it brought transformation and changes in all aspects of life.
Furthermore, the postcolonial periods of Balewa (1960-1966) and Obasanjo (1999-
2007) shall be discussed, thereby identifying how (re)introduction of Shariah in
Nigeria faced obstacles of a modern nation State.
In the third chapter, through analyzing audio and video files lectures of some
scholars in Nigeria, the chapter will evaluate their ideas thereby providing accounts of
the impact of modernity on Northern Nigerian Muslims. Modernity introduced
changes and transformation in the political, economic, social and religious institutions
in Nigeria. The construction of Nigeria (in general) as a nation state and how it paved
the way for socio-religious and cultural transformation.
Chapter four will give an account of comparing the impact of modernity during
Balewa and Obasanjo years, it will then focus on negotiation of modernity through
evaluation and analyzing the experience of modernity within the paradigm of
(Northern) Nigerian state. The discussion will explain whether modernity is accepted
7
or rejected in the context of Nigeria. Lastly, the work will conclude by providing a
summary of the research.
Literature Review
Before any research work can be carried out, there are existing works in the
same or similar area of the study that researchers need to consult in order to make their
work efficient. Ideally, when writing about Muslims from any sphere of life and their
world view, the first literatures to consult are the first primary sources of Islamic
literatures: the Qur’an and Hadith; these two sources made the foundation of what a
Muslim is and ought to be, they are foundational as part of the discursive tradition,
cultural or geographical boundaries, some of the information that will be excerpted
from these sources when interpreted properly, will explain the lifestyle of Muslims in
the past, present and future. A number of expert researchers have done ample and
beneficial works on the subject of Islam and modernity, therefore, this research will
follow the path of those researchers in improving the area of study, and it will attempt
to address some gaps that other researchers did not identify in their works. Most of the
sources that could be used in this research might be considered out of date, this is due
to the scope of the study in comparing two different time frames.
Islam and Modernity: Key Issues and Debates.9 Is an outcome of a
workshop held at the International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World
(ISIM), in the Netherlands, where a series of scholarly literatures were collected on
various aspects and subjects related to Islam and Modernity. The book does not have
a single or corporate author(s), but each heading has its own contributor, but there are
three main editors to the book; Muhammad Khalid Masud, Armando Salvatore and
Martin Van Bruinessen. Modernity gave rise to different types of institutions and
Muslim societies have to underwent structural changes. The book focuses on bringing
out major debates and issues of recent times that “Islam appears to resist modernity”10
9 Muhammad Khalid Masud, et al, Islam and Modernity: Key Issues and Debates, Edinburg, Edinburg
University Press, (2009).
10 Ibid., p. vi.
8
or modernity is trying to marginalize Islam, thus there are series of thoughts while
addressing the connection of modernity with Islam and Muslim societies.
From the beginning of Islamic history, the Islamic world has been in contact
with the Western world; it could be hostile or peaceful contact. By the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries, engagements of Islam and the West took a new form, because of
modernity which had it source from the West. Modernity approached Muslim world
through different forms with different purposes: colonial encroachment; introducing
modern education and so Muslim student migrate to the West, postcolonial
experiences; creating modern-nation states as well as Muslim secular nationalists. In
a way subject to debate, one could argue that “modernity’s approach to Muslims
created conflict of identity in their lives”.11 As the book described the spread of
modernity, it started within Muslims living in the West as they began to adopt Western
lifestyle and later on spread to the rest of the world in the form of colonial enterprise.
The encounter between Islam and modernity is theological, philosophical,
political, social and cultural involving two different worldviews; one central to Islamic
doctrine of divine unity and prophetic message and the other based on the rationale of
progress, abolition of religion, materialism, secularism and liberalism. The difference
between Islam and Modernity created tension especially in recent times. There is the
rise of political Islam in response to modernity, which gave rise to Islamic modernists
and reformers. Theologians, as well as Muslim intellectuals, began to discuss on how
modernity could fit in within the Islamic tradition, yet Western scholars (and secular
Muslims) viewed “Islam as stagnant” despite transformations in social and political
institutions. The book has provided insight as to how modernity remains a subject of
discussion in the Muslim world as it is attempting to manipulate religious institutions
11 Ibid., p. 255. Nevertheless, in the same book, though chapters of the book were written by different
contributors, the information can be referenced as:
Muhammad Khalid Masud, “Islamic Modernism”, In Islam and Modernity: Key Issues and Debates,
ed. Muhammad Khalid Masud, et al, Edinburg, Edinburg University Press, (2009), pp. 237-260.
9
to source power.12 In theory, the book explained why modernity is still a concern in
present times.
Fazlur Rahman’s Islam and Modernity: Transformation of an Intellectual
Tradition13 presents a general analysis based on contemporary situations, that
something went wrong regarding the traditional Islamic method of acquiring
knowledge. Fazlur Rahman asserts that from medieval history to the modern ages,
Muslims became intellectually stagnant due to the fact that they adhere to their
traditions and if they continue on the same process, they might not be able to reconcile
Islamic teachings with the demands of the twenty-first century. Islam is not only a
religion that deals with theology, it is a civilization and a comprehensive worldview
of life. The teachings of the Qur'an, when interpreted properly, will fit into the lives of
Muslims in anytime and anywhere.
To argue that because of modernity, Western norms and values are forcing their
way into Islamic societies and indirectly making the Muslim world submissive or
inferior to the Western world is something contradictory. Fazlur Rahman believes that
the decline of the Muslim world did not begin with Western systems penetrating into
the Muslim world, but due to Muslims failure to develop an adequate methodology for
the interpretation of the Qur’an. A question that came to mind is; why are Muslim
societies backward and those of the West advanced? Some are of the believe that this
is because of the social, political, economic and military ascendency of the West over
non-Western and Muslim societies in the past two or three centuries. For Islamic
societies, issues such as banning of alcohol, casinos and requiring of women to cover
themselves as well as implementation of Shariah has been responsible for
backwardness of Muslim societies. The struggle over political Islam, some believe that
secularization and de-Islamization of Muslim societies can bring Islamic societies to
take a place in modern politics, economics, education and social relations.
12 Ibid., p. 37. Muhammad Khalid Masud & Armando Salvatore, “Western Scholars of Islam on the
Issue of Modernity”, In Islam and Modernity: Key Issues and Debates, ed. Muhammad Khalid Masud,
et al, Edinburg, Edinburg University Press, (2009), pp. 36-54.
13 Fazlur Rahman, Islam and Modernity: Transformation of an Intellectual Tradition, Chicago and
London, The University of Chicago Press, (1982).
10
Considering the state of modern Muslim scholarship, Fazlur Rahman endeavor
to construct a new Islamic methodology; both Islamic and scientific which will have
impact on the Muslim minds. Revival of original Islam and adopting the measures of
the first Muslims will bring Islamic societies more in line with the teachings of Islam.
According to Fazlur Rahman, what is causing distress to modern Muslim societies is
rooted in faulty Islamic methodology not in the secularization process. Islam as a
system of doctrine and practice in the world of today is genuine; the implementation
of the rules of the Qur’an to modern social changes will identify the underlying moral
values, that a specific verse of the Qur’an is designed to achieve. These Qur’anic
values are eternal and compatible with the social, political, economic and moral
context of every system and society.14
Politics created a situation where Muslim intellectuals played a role in
distancing Islamic principles from authority, they failed to maintain Islam as a
comprehensive world view which in turn made Islamic principles vulnerable to power
of politics. From the Abbasid period to the abolishment of the Ottoman Empire, some
scholars tend to make interpretations and commentaries of the Qur’an based on the
interest of the state, and at that point the society and the Qur’an became less significant
in the establishment of general principles regarding state institutions.15 In order to give
Islamic tradition relevance to modern societies while considering the trends of Today’s
world, Fazlur Rahman’s work deserves a close attention of (all) Muslim scholars. His
methodology strives to draw a clear understanding that Muslims must recognize the
essential features as revealed in the Qur’an, because it is not time or place specific and
Muslims have to be aware of the historical transformation and importance of Islamic
institutions.
Another approach to explore the compatibility or incompatibility of Islam and
Western modernity when it comes to scholarship is through Ali Zaidi’s book, Islam
14 Regarding the construction of a new Islamic methodology in the field of education, Fazlur Rahman
published a different book: Islamic Methodology in History, (1965). However, in chapter two of the
said book, he explained how analogical reasoning could be used to minimize differences and justify
intellectual sophistication.
15 Ibid., pp. 26-27.
11
Modernity and the Human Science.16 This book an attempt to analyze, within
scientific context the relationship between modern human science and Islamic social
thought, it presented scholarly dialogues focusing on interesting and complex subject
Islam and modernity. While developing debates and arguments surrounding the
tension between Islam and modernity, a question about the place of modern democracy
in Islam appears a new trend, a postcolonial experience that in some ways, Islam is
critical to its existence in Muslim societies.
Zaidi addresses issues relating to knowledge and scholarship from both
Western and Muslim context, when considering both Islam and modernity as
civilizations, they have made significant effort in the reconstruction of knowledge
through inter-cultural discourse and foundation of modern human science. To a certain
degree, modernity’s approach to reconstruction of knowledge created a shift in culture
and tradition and by so doing, culture and tradition underwent destruction by rejection
of Islamic thought and integrating science with modern conceptions.17 On the other
hand, Muslims’ attempt at reconstruction of knowledge was set upon a project:
“Islamization of Knowledge”; this project is a critical response to modernity’s
approach on interpreting modern science. Zaidi argued that from a Muslim point of
view, the proximity between human and religious science constitute the fundamental
basis of social order as revealed in the religious law.18 In terms of ethics, man must
attribute meaning to values and actions that are applicable to his worldview, thus Islam
as a religion is what set the foundation of Muslims’ lives.
What is interesting is how Zaidi made a comparison when highlighting
intellectual dialogues that formulate modern scholarship, from both Western and
Islamic scholars by examining their understanding of reconstruction of knowledge.
Although the book does not have elaborate discussion on how modernity could
transform knowledge, some questions that could be asked are; can Islam and
modernity be reconciled in the scientific context? And, is it possible to integrate belief
with modern human science? Well, some Muslim reformers held that modern Western
16 Ali Zaidi, Islam, Modernity and the Human Science, New York, Palgrave Macmillan (2011).
17 Ibid., p. 135.
18 Ibid., p. 94.
12
values could easily be reconciled within Islam and on that process, modern human
science will find compatibility with Islamic worldview. This work is important in
understanding some of the problems of integrating religious and scientific worldviews,
Zaidi argued that it became a challenge to Muslims that there is inefficiency in their
struggle to integrate modern thoughts with Islamic thoughts.
The Consequences of Modernity19 by Anthony Giddens is a book that begins
with a simple, yet complex question; What is modernity? A question that is at the heart
of most people when discussing the subject of modernity. Different people from
different backgrounds have a different way of addressing the concept of modernity, it
might not be a comprehensive definition, but Giddens defined modernity as a mode of
social life or organization which emerged in Europe from about seventeenth century
onward and subsequently became more or less worldwide in their influence.20 To break
down Giddens’ definition, modernity can be attributed to “time and space” relating to
the present or contemporary ages and transformation of societies from pre-modern to
modern.
Identifying historical societies as “pre-modern” could mean societies from
seventeenth to late nineteenth century be identified as modern, thus the present period
as “post-modern”. Although Giddens did not often used the term pre-modern, he
frequently used the terms modern and post-modern, which raise a concern to present
in a debatable manner the concept of “post-modernity”. The nature of belief and
challenging questions people ask in the present times are formulated by resentment to
the concept of modernity, some believe that modern period is replaced by post-modern
period. Arguably, the system of modern and modernity is continuous, instead of
debating the idea of post-modernity, it is better to preserve the developmental projects
brought by modernity. Giddens added that “rather than entering a period of postmodernity,
we are moving into one in which the consequences of modernity are
becoming more radicalized and universalized than before”.21
19 Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, United Kingdom, Polity Press, (1990).
20 Ibid., p. 1.
21 Ibid., p. 3.
13
Even though Giddens did not criticize modernity directly, he asserts that
modernity is a “multidimensional institution” or a “force” which intends to dominate
and shape other institutions. Arguably, modernity is set to “separate modern social
institutions from traditional social order”,22 which is the destruction of “the social”,
resulting to the disintegration of societies where individuals create their own identities,
and societies becoming detraditionalized and decentralized with disagreements in
knowledge base and set of norms and values. To be precise, modernity is a destructive
force which rushes social changes and sets to crush those who resist changes.
Notwithstanding, as there is a strong connection between time and space, modernity
wants to have control of other institutions that have relation with social institutions.
Because of modernity, changes that affected social institutions also impacted
“the economic” and “the political” aspects of the society. Modernity created four basic
systems: as arranged by Giddens. The first system is “capitalism”, which paved the
way for changes in the social stratification, by creating class systems as well as unequal
distribution of wealth through private ownership of capital, property and commodity
production. The second system is “industrialism”, it is characterized by the use of
machinery and power sources to replace human labor; however, means of
communication and transportation became efficient relating to domestic life.
“Surveillance” as the third system allows control of information by observing and
supervising the activities of the subject population in the political sphere. The fourth
system is “military power”, it allows control of the means of violence by
industrialization of war; military force was used as an instrument of policy thereby
creating economic warfare then imperialism, especially in the nineteenth century.23
Giddens’ presentation of his own view about modernity is the characterization
of the distinctive problems modern societies are facing; decline of religious belief
(secularism), knowledge losing its privilege, detraditionalization and transformation
of historical societies, thus creating modern-nation states with unlimited power.
Giddens has done so much in providing appropriate mode of analysis to how
modernity affects social changes. However, while welcoming most of Giddens’ ideas,
22 Ibid., pp. 56-57.
23 Ibid., p. 59.
14
there is also a ground preserved to further the discussion of how modernity became a
concern to people in their private lives, especially Muslims whose way of life is totally
unfamiliar with modern-Western values.
Alev Çınar’s Modernity, Islam and Secularism in Turkey: Bodies, Places
and Time24 is a book that explore the role of Islam in the contemporary world. In
regards to how Muslim societies are changing from traditional societies to copying
European societies due to modernity, Çınar narrowed down the study to modern
Turkey; a state with predominant Muslim population, however adopted modernity and
secularism to construct social and political identity. On shedding new light about the
interaction between modernity and Islam, Çınar attempted a discourse about the
compatibility of Islamism,25 secularism and modernity, these concepts created a new
political ideology in the contemporary Muslim world: “Islamic Modernism”,26 it is an
attempt to address the effect of Western modern ideas in Muslim societies. Çınar’s
argument for Islamic modernity provides questions that are important for
understanding Islamism anywhere in the world.
When Çınar was developing debates and arguments about modernity and Islam
in Turkey, she was critical to Eurocentric ideology. Her focus is on two distinct
ideologies: “Islamism and Secularism”, this is because Islamists and secularists
compete over everyday construction of gendered national subjects (bodies), making of
national public spaces (places) and writing of national history (time). To invest in the
debate, Islamists offer an alternative modernity which can be made possible by
defamation of the present and seeking to transform the nation toward an alternative
future.27 Islamism in Turkey had a different project which is aiming to construct a
national ideology that is based on both Ottoman and Islamic ideals.
24 Alev Çınar, Modernity, Islam and Secularism in Turkey: Bodies, Places and Time, Minneapolis,
University of Minnesota Press, (2005).
25 Islamism in this regard is an ideology that is clearly and consistently anti-secular, anti-Western and
anti-modern.
26 In any place where “Islamic modernism” or “Islamic modernity” appears in this research, it should
be taken into consideration that such a term does not stand for (accepting or adopting) Western ideas.
Nevertheless, “Islamic” could mean different things, some of which might not be related to the true
practices of Islam but, something that became a tradition to Muslims.
27 Alev Çınar, p. 26.
15
In the early years of the Turkish republic, the premise that modernity
intervened in the public sphere are relating to bodies, places and time, through
secularizing the state was by implementing new policies. For instance, the female body
and dressing became one of the main battle grounds. Secularist governments with
power and authority placed a ban on headscarf and veiling: this is a deliberate move
not on the women who are wearing or not wearing headscarf but, an induce movement
against their Islamist rivals. Both Islamists and secularists designed different historical
events; like “the founding moment of the nation”: for Islamists, it is the 1453 conquest
of Istanbul, while for the secularists, it is the 1923 formation of the Turkish Republic.
They both have different political agendas.28
A more sustained analysis of Turkish cases with modern-Eurocentric ideas
would be important when rethinking their politics and political agencies. Çınar
elaborated how Islamism created an alternative modernity in Turkey. The AK Party
came to power in Turkey through means of attempting to balance traditional Islam and
modernity. Even though secularism is still a norm in the today’s Turkish public life,
there is still Islam and Islamic identity in modern Turkey.29 As recorded earlier,
Çınar’s argument for Islamic modernity provides questions that are important for
understanding Islamism anywhere in the world.
In the process of describing how Islamic societies underwent reform, and
experience transition to establish a relationship between Islam and modernity, Brain
Silverstein published a book Islam and Modernity in Turkey.30 Despite the Islamic
background Ottoman Empire had, Turkey, a product of Ottoman Empire is one of the
first Muslim countries to adopt secularism31 and modern Western values. Silverstein’s
work focuses on how modernity changes the thoughts of some (Turkish) people to
perceive Islam not as a comprehensive worldview, or a religion based on community
matter, rather a matter of personal choice in belief and practice. The Turkish republic
28 Ibid., pp. 151-156.
29 Ibid., pp. 10 and 85.
30 Brain Silverstein, Islam and Modernity in Turkey, New York, Palgrave Macmillan, (2011).
31 Secularism here in the Ottoman context does not mean total abandonment or rejection of religion but
replacing it with some private life matters of private life.
16
adopted a European way of thinking about the place of religion and its relationship
with the state and society.
Silverstein explores the history of the Ottoman Empire by discussing the role
of Islam in making the foundation of the Empire, which is why in the late Ottoman
periods, some leaders in authority and Muslim intellectuals played a significant role in
pushing Islamic institutions in order to protect the Empire. Islam and the empire
became so synonymous that when the Empire was abolished it was seen as an attack
on Islamic civilization itself.32 The successor state to the Ottomans which was Turkey
witnessed modernization process unlike most Muslim countries. Since the late
Ottoman periods, there was a secular attitude towards religion and politics, in this way,
secularization policies gained ground in form of modernizing the country. Despite
adopting Western liberal values of democracy, capitalism and secularism, Turkish
leaders needed new techniques and methods to govern their citizens according to
Islamic values, eventually, decades after creation of the Turkish Republic, Adalet ve
Kalkınma Partisi (AK Parti)33 government played an active role in that regard. Yet,
there is still the concern of whether AK Parti is conservative or liberal in their policies.
In any case, their perspective regarding Islam accounts for how religious institutions
developed.
Making connections between the late Ottoman period and the early Turkish
Republic’s effort at secularization, as well as the contemporary Turkish deeper
religious activities, gives it a unique form of constructing political liberalism, which is
why observant Muslims have not found transformation in Islamic practices, with all
the modernization processes in the country. Although Silverstein did not discuss in
detail the amount of changes modernity brought into Turkish socio-religious
institutions, he did attempt to make an analysis of what count as major transformation
in governing principles and political institutions. Even though Silverstein’s scope is
Turkey and this research is covering (Northern) Nigeria, it does not make a big
32 Brain Silverstein, p. 201.
33 Turkish: Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (AK Parti) is translated to “Justice and Development Party” it is
the party that has been in power since 2003, it has the support of most Islamists because of its
Islamization policies in Turkey.
17
difference in comparison, because the two countries share a lot in common. Both
countries are predominantly Muslim in population with rich Islamic history, and
despite formation of successful Islamic caliphates, they both took a diversion toward
modernity and secularism.
Olufemi Vaughan’s Religion and the Making of Nigeria34 is a reminder that
religious movements are of great influence in the making of modern states. Using
Nigeria as a case study, Vaughan discussed the role of religion in the development of
the country. Islam and Christianity; two of the world’s major religions shaped political
and social relations during colonial and postcolonial Nigeria. With all the divisions in
Nigeria; Islam and Christianity, North and South, it is important to understand the
evolution of modern Nigerian state, as Vaughan examined within the religions.
Religious instituions were competing in political interests and scholarship, as well as
creating necessary social and political institutions for state formation in the twentieth
century.
While discussing the role of religion in Nigeria, Vaughan uses a two century
historical analysis to demonstrate how religion and ethnicity shaped national identities.
Religion and ethnicity became two of the major reason geo-cultural movements in the
history of Nigeria, as well as the structure they provided for later state formation. From
the North, even after the collapse of the Sokoto caliphate, Islamic influence and
structure were integral to the application of indirect rule system in the region under
British colonial rule. The Muslim system of taxation, legal and judicial system,
centralize and appropriation of Islamic administrative system resulted to Northern
Muslim hegemony.35 From the South, Christians evangelical missionaries and
movements saw structural imbalance because of the differences in religion and
colonial rule. The two regions seemed separated, which in later years, the differences
gave rise to ethno-religious conflicts between Muslim-North and Christian-South.
34 Olufemi Vaughan, Religion and the Making of Nigeria, Durham and London, Duke University Press,
(2016).
35 Ibid., p. 21.
18
Vaughan pointed out that regional and religious differences resulted to
different attitudes toward Nigeria’s constitution and independence. On one hand,
Northern elites use religious legitimacy to influence the regional system of
governance, while preserving political power and hegemony. On the other hand,
Southern elites seek for a centralized government that would reduce the influence of
the Northern region. Struggles for state power and local interest in colonial and
postcolonial Nigeria are explored in the debate over “the place of Shariah in a modern
state”. In order to reduce religious tensions especially when drafting constitutions of
1946, 1948 and 1976; it was proposed that Northern states have Shariah and customary
courts of appeal in their legal and judicial systems, thus, this exploded during the
Shariah crises in 1999, where anti-Shariah advocates argued that a constitution should
be secular in nature.36
Vaughan analyzes how the conflict over Shariah in Nigeria, underlined the
structural imbalance between Northern Muslim and Southern Christian states, as well
as the ethno-religious and regional struggles. The Northern religious influence shows
the limit of secularism, which is fundamental to modern-Western democracy. In
postcolonial Nigeria, especially periods after 1999, there are numerous debates over
the role of Shariah in national life and centrality of religion in Nigeria. Although the
book’s central subject is not modernity, perhaps it gave attention to how religion
played a role in shaping the modern state. Vaughan does a commendable work on
reflecting how Islam and Christianity shaped political and social activities, as well as
the role of politics and religion in the formation of modern Nigeria, while maintaining
traditional structure, and modernity is still a struggle.
Muslim Modernity in postcolonial Nigeria: A Study of the Society for the
Removal of Innovation and Reinstatement of Tradition,37 is a book written by
Ousmane Kane. The book is essential for scholars on understanding Islam in present
day (Northern) Nigeria and Kane claimed the book to be a “contribution to the debate
on the formation of modernity in Muslim societies”. The central focus of Kane’s work
is an analysis of how religious circle is transforming, due to the emergence of an
36 Ibid., pp. 163-164
37 Ousmane Kane.
19
Islamic movement around 1970s; “The Society for the Removal of Innovation and
Reinstatement of Tradition” (‘Yan Izala),38 is one of the largest Islamic movements in
Nigeria (and West Africa at large). What is intriguing and somewhat confusing is that
Kane in one way or another referred to Izala as “Agents of Change” and advocating to
“Promote modernity” based on the argument that some Islamist are modern.39
Before addressing why Kane associates Izala with change and modernity,
Nigeria or West Africa in general is/was devoted to the expression of Sufi tradition
“Tariqa”, as it is known in Arabic and Hausa languages. The two main Sufi orders in
Northern Nigeria are Qadiriyya and Tijaniyya orders. Arguably, ‘Yan Izala sees the
practices and devotion of members of these Sufi orders as un-Islamic, and not in
accordance with the Prophetic Sunnah. There was also the issue of colonialism: After
the collapse of Sokoto Caliphate and Kanem-Bornu Empire, the colonial
administration changed Nigerian systems, especially replacing Islamic law (Shariah)
with positive law, and after independence, Nigeria inherited the colonial system. So,
to reinstate Muslim’s rights that were lost to colonialism, Izala functions like many
contemporary movements, they had transnational connection with Saudi Arabia,
Egypt and other Muslim countries which makes them “advocate of social and religious
reform40 along Wahabi lines”, Izala’s method of preaching and teaching criticize
different aspects of Sufi practices, which adherents of the Sufi orders felt under attack,
thus creating conflict of ideologies treating ‘Yan Izala as fundamentalists and
radicalists.
A question that should be raised is; how could Izala which claims to reinstate
tradition be associated with modernity? Kane associates Izala with change and
modernity, not in the way he defined modernity as a “civilization” fully influenced by
Western value systems, but modernity relating to time as what is current and
contemporary. ‘Yan Izala actively participate in the religious and political circles of
38 Izala: is the name of the Islamic movement, better known in Hausa Language. Nevertheless, they
coined their name from Arabic ”Jama’atu Izalatul Bidi’a wa Iqamatus Sunnah”. ‘Yan Izala: is the
name of the followers or supporters of the movement. Kane uses both Izala and ‘Yan Izala
interchangeably to refer to the movement or the followers.
39 Ousmane Kane, p. 2.
40 What Kane means by reform here does not refer to changing to modernity but, reestablishing orthodox
Islamic practices and casting away dogmatic doctrines of Sufi practices.
20
the society, they involved themselves in the areas of modern science and technology,
in terms of scholarship, they arguably believe in the possession of not only Islamic
education but modern system of education which will allow people to acquire degrees
and diplomas from universities and colleges.41 Their approach to the modern system
of education opened a window for all members of the society to seek education
including women, though years before 1970s not only women, some members of the
society were restricted to some level of education.
Although, Izala criticized the conservative Sufi practices, its agenda was a full
pledge to “re-traditionalized society”, their central aim is “abandonment of local
unIslamic practices and reform of pristine Islam”. This proves Izala to be conservative
and not associated to modernity. ‘Yan Izala accept modernity, yet their main objective
was “to mediate social change”, they want to incorporate modern changes into Islam
without sacrificing Islamic values. Kane’s book helps in understanding the changings
in religious and socio-political structure of Northern Nigeria, even though he restricted
the main focus of his study to Izala and Kano as a city/state in Nigeria.42 Nevertheless,
it can be discerned that the struggle of Islamic movements in Nigeria raised the topic
of re-introduction of Shariah in 1999 under Obasanjo’s presidency, because before
colonialism Sokoto Caliphate and Kanem-Bornu Empire were governed by Islamic
law.
Some people who advocate for modernity and modernization projects, claimed
that development and progress can only be achieved through Western secular and
modernization projects. Ibrahim Olatunde Uthman and Lateef Oluwole Abbas
published a journal article titled: Muslim/Christian Politics of Religion in Nigeria:
The Shariah Application and The Religious Foundation of Global Muslim
Engagement with Modernity.43 In this paper, they debunked modernism and
modernization projects. These authors affirm modernity as “comprehensive
secularism”, which intends to wholly detach religious teachings and practices from the
41 Ousmane Kane, p. 26.
42 Ibid., pp. 87-88.
43 Ibrahim Olatunde Uthman & Lateef Olawole Abbas, “Muslim/Christian Politics of Religion in
Nigeria: The Shariah Application and the Religious Foundation of Global Muslim Engagement with
Modernity”, International Journal of Sociology and Anthropology, Vol. 6, No. 5, (2014), pp. 169-197.
21
state, thus creating “a state that is irreligious”. This paper focused on how Muslims in
Nigeria engage in the relationship between religion and the state, and how they commit
to bringing progress and development without submitting to modernity.
These authors used the term “Islamic modernity”, in order to provide an
analysis of how Islam can contribute to modernization project, without having conflict
in recognizing the Islamic faith and its engagement with modernity in the
contemporary era. The authors gave examples with different Muslim countries and
how they approach modernity through intellectuality and politics, in most of those
countries, “modernity does not involve secularism”, they adopted Islam as the official
religion of the state. In the case of Nigeria, it is different, Nigeria can be considered a
Muslim country but, because of its multicultural and multireligious composition, it did
not have any state religion and “the Nigerian constitution does not declare the country
a secular state”.44 This can be a justification to why application of Shariah in Nigeria
is facing backlash.
Even though societal traditions may have fallen victim of modernization and
Westernization projects, most Muslims have not fallen to secularism; this explains
why secularism is not prevailing in Muslim societies. Muslims have to accept the fact
that “Islam is strong now” as it was centuries ago and, in many ways, “probably much
stronger” in the contemporary times. The authors asked a question: Why is Islam
resistant to secularism? This is because of its closeness to modernity due to
“universalism”.45 A Muslim community with an active political authority can engage
with citizenship rights and separation of power, which form the pillars of a political
component of modernity that naturally leads to liberalism. The Islamic model of
modernity supports development and progress through the provision of social justice,
regulating standards of living, as well as good governance, which guarantee religious
freedom and ensure improvement in the educational, health and economic sectors of a
44 Ibid., p. 172.
45 Universalism here does not mean the philosophical or theological concept that all soul can attain
salvation, rather, universalism that both Islam and modernity are not restricted to one community, they
have no space restriction and their impact is worldwide. Islam is growing day by day which by some
projection, Islam will become the number one religion in the world.
22
state.46 This paper is beneficial not only to Nigerian, but also to other Muslim societies,
as it recommends the application of Islamic model of modernity, which will provide
balance in the relationship between Muslims and Christians.
Akilu Aliyu Muhammad and Mu’azu Abdullahi Saulawa published a journal
article, titled; From Criticism to Extremism: An Analysis of Boko Haram’s
Approach to Modernism.47 In recent times, Nigeria witnessed different political and
ethno-religious conflicts from different groups for different reasons. This paper
focused on one of the most recent and dangerous groups; Boko Haram, they based
their struggle on religious and political grounds, claiming to establish an Islamic State
in Nigeria. Boko Haram strongly opposes Nigeria’s system of government by
considering it secular and a heritage of colonial imperialism. On their agenda for
establishing an Islamic state, they reject anything Western, thus becoming extreme by
creating chaos and waging war against Nigeria. The actions of groups like Boko
Haram made some people, especially from the Western world, to turn against Islam
and consider other Islamic groups and movements as fundamentalist or extremists.48
To criticize modernity, these two authors pointed out that “the root cause of
chaos…in the Muslim world” is as a result of “European penetration into Muslim
lands”, there by spreading “Western thoughts” and “modernism”. The two authors
further make a strong argument that, “without imperialism there would not be
modernism, and without modernism there would not have been fundamentalism,
extremism or Islamism”.49 Modernity could claim that creation of a nation-state (like
Nigeria), is an attempt to curtail or minimize violence, however modernity appears to
be linked to violence as these authors asserted that “pointing accusing fingers at and
direct challenge to Western modernism have been a global phenomenon today”.50
46 Ibrahim Olatunde Uthman and Lateef Olawole Abbas, pp. 193-194.
47 Akilu Aliyu Muhammad & Mu’azu Abdullahi Saulawa, “From Criticism to Extremism: An Analysis
Of Boko Haram’s Approach to Modernism”, Research on Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol. 5, No.
8. (2015).
48 Ibid., pp. 23-24.
49 Ibid., pp. 20-21.
50 Ibid., p. 20.
23
Although this work focused to explore Boko Haram’s objective of establishing an
Islamic state in Nigeria, the authors associate their violence to modernism.
Clifford Meesua Sibani’s Impact of Western Culture on Traditional
African Society: Problems and Prospects,51 is another important journal article that
discussed changes on African value systems and ways of life. Sibani began by
addressing that, “Western influence on African culture shows both good and bad
influence”.52 As a result of colonialism, many people from different nations came into
contact with a new way of life that is unfamiliar to theirs. It is a known fact that change
is an inherent aspect of culture, it could be a good thing that Africans allow their
culture to exist along with Western culture however, twenty-first century generation
of Africans are seeing African culture and traditions as old fashioned, they are
adopting Western norms and values, and at the same time abandoning African values,
which made the foundation of what they are. Europe could be responsible for bringing
modern education and technology to Africa however, Africans have lost their cultural
uniqueness and identities due to Western trend of modernity.53
Sibani pointed out that “deviation from the traditional politics” is one of the
consequences of Western influence on African culture. Back in the days, “authority
and power belong to the entire community” but, due to Western influence, “the
community confers the authority to one person”. Western influence created problems
in the politics of Africa, by creating political instability and politicians no longer
serving the community but themselves. Sibani added “the challenge of worship”;
though referring to traditional African religions, Western influence gave rise to
secularism. Sibani recommended “Africans should return back to their heritage”
instead of “Western pattern of worship” that was modernized. “Communication
barrier”, as Sibani added, has been a major concern that most people desperately want
to learn and speak European languages, in order to associate with Western modernity
and if care is not taken, local languages of the people will be completely lost to
51 Clifford Meesua Sibani, “Impact of Western Culture on Traditional African Society: Problems and
Prospects”, International Journal of Religion and Human Relation, Vol. 10, No. 1, (2018).
52 Ibid., p. 57.
53 Ibid., pp. 66-67.
24
European languages. Sibani Further added “high rate of divorce”, because many
people have adopted Western model of marriage. In the African tradition, people do
not marry or divorce their spouses without the consent of their elders or parents;
however, due to cultural change, couples often make decisions on their own which
results in regrets. “Indecent sexual behavior” is what Sibani added, affecting the
dignity of Africans due to cultural changes. Sibani argued that “putting on sexy
cloths…leads to sexual harassment, raping, etc.”, and people are wearing clothes halfnaked
in the name of Western fashion and style. The last but not the least impact Sibani
brought is “the challenge of education and technology”, introduction of modern
facilities of industries, education and technology resulted to “stepping down the pace
of African local technological development and oral tradition”, and Africans do not
appreciate their locally made products, rather they have flare for Western dresses or
attire than their traditional African.54
Even though Sibani focused his scope of study on African societies, he limited
most of his examples to Nigeria. Ifeoma Odinye & Ifeanyi Odinye also published a
journal article that shared similar ideas with that of Sibani’s, titled: Western Influence
on Chinese and Nigerian Cultures.55 Their work clearly explained how due to
Western trend of modernity, traditions and customs are lost to modernization and
Western influence. In contemporary African society, Western values and influence
have affected almost every aspect of their lives, there have been different levels of
Western cultural domination and destruction of Africa’s local customs.56
Given the number of literatures reviewed in this chapter, this research focused
on filling some gaps that most of the literature did not cover, which is Northern
Nigeria. The fact that the scope of the research is Northern Nigeria, there are no or
limited resources that discuss the subject of modernity in the region so, this research
could be considered to be one of the few comprehensive works that covered the subject
of modernity in Northern Nigeria. This research will argue that the settlement of
54 Ibid., pp. 66-69.
55 Ifeoma Odinye & Ifeanyi Odinye, “Western Influence on Chinese and Nigerian Cultures”, Ogirisi: A
New Journal of African Studies, Vol. 9, (2012).
56 Ibid., p. 111.
25
colonial powers in Nigeria, arose the interaction of modernity with religion, sociopolitical
structure and culture in Northern Nigeria. Modernity set to replace and
disregard some traditional values, therefore, this work is not blinded by the negative
impact of modernity, because modernity is also responsible for the advancement of
some other things in Northern Nigeria.
26
CHAPTER ONE
1. UNDERSTANDING ISLAM AND MODERNITY
This chapter deals with the debate concerning the compatibility of Islam and
modernity, as debates have been taken place from various societies; Muslim and non-
Muslim societies. Therefore, while addressing the issue of relationship and
compatibility of Islam and modernity, this chapter focuses on three main Issues: firstly,
the chapter begin by conceptualizing Islam; although to many, the concept of Islam
might look simple regarding identifying and defining what Islam is, the concept is
surrounded by other concepts that needs clarity and could be seen while defining
Islam. Secondly, the chapter further explore modernity, a concept that is identified in
different ways. For the time being, modernity can be expressed as a social phenomenon
characterized by the transformation of human social and societal existence. Thirdly,
the discourse of the relationship between Islam and modernity, it is a discourse that
share different opinions in order to justify the compatibility or incompatibility of Islam
and modernity.
1.1. Defining Islam
Before moving into the discussion of the relationship between Islam and
modernity, there is the need to understand and define Islam, because Islam is likely to
be interpreted in a variety of different ways. To many, defining Islam is most likely to
start with understanding the Arabic word “Islam”, which is related to the concepts of
wholeness, submission, sincerity, safeness and peace. All these concepts are true,
depending on the distinct connotation in various occurrences and usage. However, I
find Ahmet Karamustafa’s conceptualisation helpful here arguing that, Islam is a
religion, Islam is a culture, or a set of cultures and Islam is a civilization.57 These
57 Ahmet Karamustafa, p. 98.
27
concepts might be simple or complicated depending on how someone understand
Islam.
Taking the first concept to define Islam as a religion still begs the question;
what is a religion? Religion is most commonly defined as the belief in supernatural
beings, however, there is no universally accepted or scholarly consensus over the
definition of religion. Arguably, religion can be defined as an organized system of
beliefs, rituals and practices, held by a group of people that reflect on their worldview
of life. There are different religions worldwide that may or may not contain elements
ranging from the divine, sacred things, faith, supernatural and so on, that aim to give
meaning to life. Some religions lack belief in the supernatural compared to most
monotheist religions. When it comes to Islam, it is a monotheistic religion with the
belief in One Creator, the sacred Books, the Prophets and so on.
Of course, Islam is a religion, by bringing forth what the followers of the
religion; Muslims believed to be the source of the religion; Qur’an and Hadith, could
help define Islam as a religion. There are multiple occasions where the Qur’an made
emphasis on Islam being a religion. For instance, in some verses of the Qur’an, Allah
says: “Surely, the (true) religion with Allah is Islam” (Q3:19). Also, “And whoever
desire a religion other than Islam, it shall not be accepted from him”. (Q3:85). Islam
is a monotheist religion based on the belief that Allah is the only God and Prophet
Muhammad (PBUH) is His Messenger; Islam is the total submission to the will of
Allah and his worship.58 While going this far, Karamustafa affirm that Islam is not
simply a religion but a way of life, and under these circumstances, defining Islam as
only a religion is unhelpful to the extent that it can give rise to false impression and
even misleading.59
58 Hadith. (Muslim: 8). Based on many Hadith, there are other information that help identify and define
Islam. To begin with the five pillars that the religion is built upon: 1. Testimony of faith that there is no
God but Allah and Muhammad is His messenger. 2. Observing five daily prayers. 3. Annual giving of
Zakat (Charity). 4. Fasting during the month of Ramadan. 5. Pilgrimage to Makkah. There are also the
Six articles of faith which are: 1. Belief in Allah. 2. Belief in His Angels. 3. Belief in His books. 4.
Belief in His Messengers. 5. Belief in the day of judgment and 6. Belief in divine destiny. This is a
summary of what Islam contains and how it could be identified. https://sunnah.com/.
59 Ahmet Karamustafa, pp. 99-100.
28
The concept of religion might not properly define Islam so, many might assume
Islam is identical to a culture, like Islam and Arab culture. Before relating Islam to a
particular culture, the concept of culture has to be defined. Culture is an entity that
incorporates the totality of people’s way of life, and the complex wholesome of man’s
acquisition of knowledge, beliefs, arts and technologies, which are shared from
generation to generation.60 In Dan Masanin Kano’s words:61
Culture is the identity of the people … Culture is the customs and costumes,
the characters and characteristics, the manners and mannerism, the philosophy
and ideology of a people, culture is the totality of a people’s experience, culture
is a way of life for the people.62
Culture is one of the most sensitive aspects of human existence, which helps
man relate with his environment in creating order, direction and harmony in life.
Culture helps in building societies and institutions through which civilizations
experience development in knowledge and understanding of ideas, values and purpose
of life.63
In essence, culture is related to a particular people or society; however, Islam
is connected to all people worldwide. Thus Karamustafa argued that Islam is seen as a
divine sanction placed upon all aspects of culture. Although, Muslims of different
cultures and nationalities around the world tend to value their indigenous cultures,
most Muslims today are associated with Islam in the first instance, and then their own
cultures second. Islam is primarily a supra-cultural package of values, practices and
resources that Muslims adapt to navigate their lives on earth. The existence of many
cultures that are associated or identified with Islam cannot be ignored. However,
identifying or specifying Islam to a culture is reducing or distorting it. Karamustafa
concluded that Islam cannot be viewed as a culture, nor can it be identified with any
60 Clifford Meesua Sibani, p. 63.
61 Dan Masanin Kano is a chieftaincy title given to Dr. Yusuf Maitama Sule. Dan Masanin Kano was
born on the 1st of October, 1929, he was an elderly statesman and a politician who held different political
positions during pre-independent and post-independent Nigeria. He was also a presidential candidate in
the Second Republic (1979). Dan Masani died on 2nd July, 2017.
62 This definition of culture by Dan Masanin Kano was extracted from a Television interview which can
be found on YouTube. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IB2V_efVROM.
63 Justina Aniefiok James, “Cultural Identity: Curbing the Effect of Modernity on the Nigerian Child
Through Theatre-in-Education”, American Association for Science and Technology (AASCIT) Journal
of Education, Vol. 4, No. 1, (2018), pp. 1-7.
29
particular culture, this is because, Islam is a transethnic, transnational, transracial
notion that people used to craft cultural identities for themselves.64
Understanding of Islam goes beyond defining it within the concepts of religion
and culture, this brings the third and final concept: civilization to define Islam. In an
attempt to identify Islam as a civilization, there should be a close understanding of the
concept of civilization. Throughout human history, there have been various narratives
of different civilizations (relating to the rise and fall of empires), like that of Sumerian,
Egypt, Indian, Chinese, Greek, Persian and so on.65 Karamustafa somehow shared the
same idea with Samuel P. Huntington in defining the concept of civilization; it is a
self-contained entities that come into existence, lived their stories and then
disappeared, leaving behind physical and mental traces on the stage of history.
Civilizations existed and somewhat continue to exist, yet none has proven permanent.
Therefore, a civilization is a combination of ideas and practices that a group of human
actors affirm as their own and use to develop their own sense of presence and agency
in the world.66 Like the two previous concepts; religion and culture, there is a
misconception held by both Muslims and non-Muslims in identifying Islam as a
civilization. that is why the concept of Islamic civilization has to be further clarified.
Islam was divinely introduced into this world through a Prophet, with a holy
book and divine laws, which gave Muslims an opportunity to shape their ideas and
practices peculiar from other cultures. Throughout history, Muslims flourished and
gained power when they preserve their culture, thereby rejecting cultural influence
from outside that could contaminate their core values through contact with other
civilizations. The religion and culture of Islam did not prevent Muslims from
borrowing of ideas from other civilizations. In fact, Muslims had opportunities to
influence or to be influences, and assimilate ideas from other civilizations like Greek
philosophy and scientific tradition, thus prompting translation of many philosophical
64 Ahmet Karamustafa, pp. 101-102.
65 Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, New York,
Simon & Schuster, (1996), p. 43.
66 Ahmet Karamustafa, pp. 103-104.
30
and scientific works from Greek to Arabic language.67 This might be where the idea
of Arab-Islamic civilization originated from because, Islam first appear among the
Arabs of the present-day Middle East. However, other cultures adopted Islam and
proceeded to incorporate Islamic values, there by improving the so-called Islamic
civilization. Karamustafa argued that placing Islam within the Arab Middle Eastern
culture or civilization is reducing Islam to a lower level and ignoring its religious and
cultural plurality and diversity among all Muslims worldwide.68 Therefore, Islamic
civilization is universal, which encompasses many cultures among which significant
interaction took place.
At this stage, the main objective of answering the question; what is Islam? is
yet to be accomplished. Although no standard definition among the concepts of
religion, culture and civilization is considered, Huntington believed that religion and
culture constitute major features of a civilization, also the greatest civilizations in
human history have been closely identified with the world’s major religions, as such,
a civilization is broader than a cultural entity.69 In an approach to formulate a definition
of Islam, it is essential to know that the three concepts of religion, culture and
civilization are embedded in and revolves around Islam. therefore, Islam is a
comprehensive worldview of life, because the three concepts all refer to an overall
way of life involving values, norms, beliefs, customs, institutions and structures to
which generations are attached to, and create some kind of co-existence among several
nations by bringing them into a particular which is Islam.
1.2. Defining Modernity
Defining modernity can come with its diversity and complexity, Anthony
Giddens explains modernity as a mode of social life, which emerged in Europe around
the seventeenth century and subsequently became worldwide in influence.70 Brain
Silverstein’s idea on modernity is one’s involvement in certain experiences which have
67 Ibid., p. 104. It is interesting how Karamustafa explained the idea of Islamic civilization to be more
than both religion and culture, it comprises of the two concepts.
68 Ibid., p. 105.
69 Samuel P. Huntington, pp. 45-46.
70 Anthony Giddens, p. 1.
31
relation to time.71 The concept of modernity accounts for a combination of changes in
lifestyle and time, which have influence and impact in reshaping the contemporary
world. Ousmane Kane argued that while defining modernity is attached to Western
European history, it is also connected to human history and not geographically
restricted. Modernity is generally characterized with a series of emergencies;
secularism, social order, nation state, capitalism, replacing religious beliefs and
deculturalization of societies. Kane further maintained that modernity was born in the
West, and exported to the rest of the world, as a result of European penetration into
other lands through military power.72
Associating modernity with time (and place) points out that people lived in
different ages, thus the period that could mean to be modern is open to debate. Modern
era is agreeable to have its root with the industrial revolution, that began in the
seventeenth century Great Britain and by the eighteenth century, it had expanded to
other parts of the world. Although modernity can be considered to be critical toward
religion and societies,73 some considered it as a system that brought about development
and advancement in science and technology, thereby improving material living
standards accompanied by philosophical trends of rejecting spiritual aspects of life. In
keeping with this view, Kane argued that modernity or modern “does not refer to what
is current'', rather a civilization74 developed in Europe, spreading negative and positive
impacts on societies. Giddens maintained the idea of modernity as the end of tradition
which has been radicalized through globalization and spread all over the world.75
In essence, conceptualization of modernity as presented by Dilip Parameshwar
Gaonkar is the theory of multiple modernities or alternative modernity; this can
emerge to capture variable ways in which modernity unfolds across time and space.
The theory that modernity has a European origin and expanded to the rest of the world
can be argumentative, because modernity does not appear identical everywhere.
71 Brain Silverstein, p. 4.
72 Ousmane Kane, pp. 1-6. Military power here is meant as colonial encroachment, however that is not
the only means that modernity spread to other places, globalization also play a role.
73 Brain Silverstein, p. 4.
74 Ousmane Kane, pp. 2-3.
75 Anthony Giddens, p. 11.
32
Modernity can appear in different forms depending on the structural formation of
institutions in different societies. For instance, modernity that is associated with time
conceptualized progress, that the present is better than the past. Thus, modernity will
also develop an attitude of questioning the present to instruct the future. This is why
Gaonkar started to explain the concept of modernity in the form of societal
modernization, which implies social transformation that include growth of scientific
consciousness, development of a secular outlook, doctrine of progress and
individualism and so on. Social transformation also involves the emergence and
institutionalization of market driven industrial economies, bureaucratically
administered states, mode of popular governments with the development of capitalism.
Societal modernization somewhat has a standard process of change, that if a society is
in a constant state of change, many sectors and institutions of the society have to set
free from constraints imposed by tradition. 76
With regards to multiple or alternative modernity that recognized more than
one way of being modern, Kane claimed that the formation of modernity involved
processes that brought about radical transformation affecting humans and societal
existence in modern societies. These processes affect different spheres which include
economic, social, political and cultural spheres,77 the processes might seem different,
but they are interrelated. Economic modernity gave birth to a market economy where
individuals control their own labor power. This is literally capitalism as it is a
fundamental aspect of economic modernity. The formation of economic modernity is
therefore, related to that of social modernity because both patterns of modernity imply
freedom. Social modernity is characterized by social order, whereby individuals are
free to have equal rights and duties, this pattern of modernity represents the birth of
modern democracy, which entails individual participation in social movements, that
are central to involvement in civil and political affairs of a society. As for political
modernity, its most important aspect is the emergence of the modern nation state as a
form of political community. Nation state has experience of transforming people or a
76 Dilip Parameshwar Gaonkar, “On Alternative Modernities”, in Alternative Modernities, ed. Dilip
Parameshwar Gaonkar, Durham & London, Duke University Press, (2001), pp. 1-6.
77 Ousmane Kane, p. 3.
33
way of creating citizens, giving them a sense of belonging, which differs from premodern
states. In this way, state subjects can observe their civil duties and exercise
their rights, yet political modernity is emulating Western notion of democracy, social
discipline, progress and development, which brings the notion of cultural modernity.
It explains the condition of everyday modern life. Cultural modernity is the cultivation
of attitude, norms and practices that arose in the Western world, marked by the decline
of religious belief and ideologies that are associated with Westernization.78 Each of
the four patterns of modernity specified a particular aspect of alternative modernity,
that is associated with either the rise of capitalism, secularism, modern nation state,
modern democracy, Westernism and so on, that dominate not only the Western world,
but spread all over the world; thus modernity came to spread through globalization.
The fact that the modern world allows interactive systems among different
cultures and nations in the name of globalization and creating modern societies, the
world has been changing such that, Western norms and values have negatively affected
especially Muslim societies. As modernity has changed societies, so as people’s
behaviors, they turned away from being religious and cultured, as well as the ideas and
institutions that shaped their lifestyle. Religion (especially Islam often) shaped
everything, so as modernity as a civilization, it is very clear in today’s world that there
is the appearance of Islam in every angle of the globe as well as modernity. However,
modernity is proving to be a rival to living a normal Islamic lifestyle, owing to
transformation in political and socio-economic aspects of a traditional Islamic society.
Lifestyle and worldview of people are changing from Islamic to European.
1.3. Relationship Between Islam and Modernity
Over the years, the debates arising from the questions of Islam and modernity,
provided different approaches in discussing the relationship between Islam and
modernity. Generally, there are three main approaches to how some people think Islam
should engage with modernity. The first approach advocates that modernity is a
negative phenomenon in relation to Islam, and for that, Islam should avoid and isolate
78 Ibid., pp. 3-4.
34
itself completely from modernity. This approach conceptualized modernity in the
position of Westernism, used as a tool of promoting values that are contrary to Islamic
teachings. The second approach is the opposite of the first approach, it is viewed from
a secular and Western perspective, advocating for Islam to abandon its values by
separating itself from its past; ways of the first Muslims. This approach is in a position
of distorting the understanding of Islam, as well as its principle values, thereby seeing
Westernism as the only way for social development and progress. The third approach
is somewhat the best approach that disregards the first two approaches, it facilitates
harmonious relationship between Islam and modernity. The approach advocates for a
necessary balance between Islam and modernity, by suggesting that Islam as a
comprehensive world view of life can be able to accommodate, adapt and reshape
changes introduce by modernity, while still maintaining its values.79 Therefore, this
gave rise to the debate whether Islam is compatible or incompatible with modernity.
Along the line of argument, modernity is somewhat viewed as a civilization
attached to the Western world, therefore, experiences of people vary toward
modernity. Muslims are faced with a dilemma on how to interact with modernity
without compromising their Islamic traditions. On one hand, some perceived that
Islam can enriched itself as it can be viewed as a civilization that inherited creativity,
combined with socio-cultural and political tradition that continue to exist in the
modern era. On the other hand, the fact that people live in a continually changing
world, some turned towards modernity for guidance and inspiration on development
and progress. Therefore, the new trend ranges from rejection of modernity or revisiting
the notion of compatibility.80
Like most debates, the engagement of Islam and modernity have been a product
of time. It is commonly acknowledged that the encounter of Islam and modernity
began around the nineteenth century or before that, due to Western colonial
encroachment. Muslims were concerned with colonial issues of education, progress
and advocacy for social reforms, that mainly drew attention from Western sphere of
79 Mashood Baderin, pp. 189.
80 Muhammad Khalid Masud, “Islamic Modernism”, in Islam and Modernity: Key Issues and Debates,
ed. Muhammad Khalid Masud, et al, Edinburg, Edinburg University Press, (2009), pp. 237-260.
35
cultural interest. Therefore, Muslims felt threatened by Western influence and
encroachment, that in turn, spark debate between groups of Muslims: On one hand,
conservative critics that argued incompatibility of Islam and modernity. On the other
hand, Muslim reformers who saw compatibility of Islam with modernity.81 One of the
first major issues that gave rise to the debate is the issue of gender as Deniz Kadiyoti
puts it, the “woman question”; the debate centered around women’s right, veiling and
polygamy. However, in the early times, both conservative and reformers thought of
gender issues as a cultural-ideological debate, not on modernization being equated to
Westernization and foreign contamination.82
Furthermore, modernization in the Muslim world advanced after the first world
war or the abolishment of the last Islamic caliphate; Ottoman empire. The demise of
the Ottoman empire, coupled with colonialism paved the way for Muslims to discuss
the idea of emancipation from Western influence, which gave rise to the idea of
nationalism and socialism. The wave of decolonization in many parts of the world led
to a variety of postcolonial nationalism, calling upon citizens on the idea of education,
enlightenment and family issues. Muslim women’s desire to participate in state affairs
gave rise to feminism, to justify interpretation of positions on gender relations and
women’s right.83 From another point of view, the period of decolonization witnessed
the rise of new forms of activism among Muslims, they addressed revivalism and
reforms: the call for revivalism is to affirm the religious practices of the first
generations of Muslims. Reform is the discussion of the twentieth century popularized
(in)compatibility of modernity with Islam, the reform discuss is generally designated
as Islamic modernism.84
Muhammad Khalid Masud began by identifying that Islamic modernism is
quiet problematic, because no Muslim thinker or scholar refer to themselves as Islamic
modernists.85 Hence, the idea of Islamic modernism revolves around the discourse of
81 Deniz Kandiyoti, “Islam, Modernity and Politics of Gender”, in Islam and Modernity: Key Issues and
Debates, ed. Muhammad Khalid Masud, et al, Edinburg, Edinburg University Press, (2009), pp. 91-
124.
82 Ibid., p. 91.
83 Ibid., p. 92.
84 Muhammad Khalid Masud, “Islamic Modernism”, pp. 237.
85 Ibid., p. 237.
36
reform that aims to root modernism into Islamic tradition. Before affirming that
modernity is compatible with Islam, a brief account of the development of Islamic
modernism shall be discussed. Decline of the Ottoman empire and colonial
encroachment, are two of the major factors that helped generate reform movement in
several Muslim societies, Islamic modernism is one of the reform movements that aim
to address the question of colonial rule, political and social system in the Muslim
world. Muslims were religiously bonded to oppose non-Muslim rule, because, most
Muslim perceived colonialism as modernity that aim to promote secularism and
Western values. However, Islamic modernism was set as a mechanism to respond to
the challenges of Western modernity
The discourse of Islamic modernism started gradually, which manifested into
reform in new education and new theology, Muslim youth that began their education
in modern institutions were often regarded as taken a step toward Westernization.
Therefore, the modern education system was considered as a threat to their religious
and cultural identity, until Islamic modernist found it necessary to intervene and
explain that modern education and modernity is not in conflict with Islam. Generally,
Jamaluddin al-Afghani (d. 1897) and Muhammad Abduh (d. 1905) are believed to be
the founders of Islamic modernism.86 These two scholars tried to convinced Muslims
that Islam needed religious reforms, especially in theology and jurisprudence. They
began to prove the doctrine of modern science and how it is in conformity with Islam,
by using the Qur’an to explain how a verse cannot be taken or translated into its literal
meaning, but it requires other meanings to explain the laws of nature.87
Due to rapid development in scientific discoveries and progress in knowledge,
Islamic modernism witnessed the rise of movements for national identity, it generated
political theology of nationalism with deeper examination of rights and governance.
Most political modernists did not oppose the harmony between the Qur’an and science,
but advocate for the separation of religion from politics. This created different
86 In somw scholarly literatures and internet sources, al-Afghani and Muhammad Abduh are identified
as the founders of Islamic modernism, however, like Masud claimed, even these two scholars did no
identified themselves as Islamic modernists.
87 Muhammad Khalid Masud, “Islamic Modernism”, pp. 240-244.
37
response on the basis of public interest, concerning constitutional governments: some
saw the principle of democracy as a solution to crucial political problem in most
Muslim societies, because Ottoman empire could not be preserved. Others saw the
supremacy of Shariah and sovereignty of Allah against secularism and democracy.
Islamic modernism was not properly understood, because of the secular elements of
modernity.88 However, many reformist Muslims find compatibility between Islam and
modernity by focusing on social issues and institutions that guaranteed freedom, social
progress and development of people.
Reformist Muslim scholars who find compatibility between Islam and
modernity advocates that; Muslims should copy or adopt some modern trends, as long
as they are not against Islamic principles. Concerning politics and governance, they
argued that Islam is not against modern democracy and democratic institutions.
Although some reformist based their arguments that the Islam preached by the Prophet
(PBUH) was more concerned with religious matters of the people, not necessarily their
worldly and political matters. They somehow ignored the fact that the Prophet (PBUH)
was both religious and political leader, in the sense that, he was the one who created
an Islamic government in Madinah. Nevertheless, reformist Muslims further argued
that, adoption and acceptance of democracy by Muslims as a means of governing and
running their societies, has nothing to do with the fundamental principles of Islam.
They also contended that the concept of “Shura” as projected in Islam, is in conformity
with modern democracy, the two are both based on the political principle of
consultation and popular will or choice of the people. The concepts of Shura and
democracy are central to consideration of collective deliberation, which is more likely
to lead to a fair and sound result for social good and individual reference. 89
Another discussion that is related to that of democracy, is the issue of social
justice and human rights. Some reformist scholars saw the need to rethink and revisit
interpretation of Shariah, with regards to social justice and human rights issues. They
88 Ibid., pp. 246-252.
89 Musa Yusuf Owoyemi & Muhammad Mumtaz Ali, “The Compatibility of Islam with Modernity: A
Brief Discourse on Muslim Reformist Response”, Journal of Islam in Asia SPL, No. 2, (2011), pp. 317-
336. These authors here mostly used the opinion of two Egyptian reformist scholars: Ali Abdulrazak
and Muhammad Ahmad Khalafallah.
38
saw the Shariah as limiting the rights of people, especially non-Muslims and Muslim
women living in Muslim societies under Islamic Shariah. To them, the Shariah is not
relevant in today’s modern world, for that, they suggested the adoption of United
Nation’s charter of human right and Muslim nations should accept it like Western
nations did. They based their arguments that some Muslims use Shariah to establish
discriminations on grounds of religion and gender which can cause conflict, because
of this, the Shariah somewhat advocates inequality between Muslims and non-
Muslims, men and women. Reformist scholars further argued that, in modern Western
societies for instance, if women were given rights to work and compete with men in
all spheres of life, Islamic Shariah also enjoins similar rights to women. They
concluded that neither the Qur’an nor the Hadith biased against women rather,
patriarchal interpretation of the texts by Muslim males.90 It is not Islam that make the
difference, the differences come from man-made laws. Modern principles of social
justice and human rights are in line with Islamic principles of Shariah.
In addition, while Muslims continue to glorify their historical achievements in
the field of education, Muslim reformists hold that, there is the need for Muslim
societies to catchup with modern Western societies, whose education and knowledge
have taken them to greater achievements today. Although there was the call for
Islamization of modern education by revivalist Muslims, reformist Muslims called for
a complete adoption of modern Western education. The separation of civil education
and religious education can increase the idea of independence among youth and
innovative thinking, thus leading to solving social problems. Reformist Muslims
argued that Islam encouraged seeking for education and modernity is in possession of
education and knowledge desired by Muslims. Islam and modernity seem to be
compatible here, because time has changed, and the new type of education is fashioned
on the pattern of the modern Western education.91
To understand the compatibility between Islam and modernity, reformist
Muslims concluded that, Muslims should be able to differentiate between
Westernization, Christianization and modernization. Reformists are of the opinion that
90 Ibid., pp. 324-328.
91 Ibid, pp. 328-335.
39
most Muslims hold European encroachment as an excuse to reject modernity. Islam
and modernity are compatible ,as long as the religious practices are not interfered with,
Islam has nothing to lose if modernity is accepted as a tool of modern invention,
development and progress. However, some important question in this regard that will
further debates are: could Islam borrow from modernity without Islamizing what is
borrowed? And could there be modernization without secularization through
modernity? Until these questions are properly answered, the debate in regard to the
relationship between Islam and modernity still remains.
40
CHAPTER TWO
2. NIGERIA
Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria is geographically located on
the eastern part of the West African region, Nigeria shares its borders with Cameroon
from the east, Chad from the northeast, Niger from the north, Benin from the West and
Atlantic Ocean from the south, it covered a total land area of 923,768 square
kilometers. In the African continent, Nigeria is the most populous country with an
estimated number of about 208 million people, making it the seventh in the world,
Nigeria is otherwise referred to as “the Giant of Africa”, because of its large population
and economy. Nigeria as a Federal Republic has 36 states and 1 Federal Capital
Territory. Nigeria is divided into 6 geopolitical zones: North West, North East, North
Central, South West, South South and South East.92 These zones were created between
states with similar ethnic groups and common political history, yet a major
denomination is the division between Northern and Southern Nigeria.
Years before 1900, there was no or less contact between Northern and Southern
Nigeria, because of their differences in religion, culture and politics, it was after the
conquest of Sokoto Caliphate by the British colonialists, that in 1914 Lord Fredrick
Lugard, the then governor of Protectorate of Northern Nigeria and the Colony and
Protectorate of Southern Nigeria, amalgamated the two protectorate to become present
day Nigeria. Northern Nigeria’s population is predominantly Muslim, and Hausa-
Fulani is the dominant ethnic group, thus other religions like ancient (pre-Islamic)
religions and minor ethnic groups still exist. Northern Nigeria covered almost Two-
Third of the country's land area and out of the 36 states, 19 with the Federal Capital
Territory lies in the Northern region of the country.93
92 Ruby Bell-Gam & David Uru Iyam, Nigeria World Bibliographical Series, Vol. 100; Revised Edition,
Oxford, California, Colorado. ABC-CLIO (1999).
93 Ibid.
41
In this chapter, the focus will be on how Northern Nigeria did not experience
a close contact with the Western world until the early twentieth century. Therefore,
this chapter will take a look at the history of Northern Nigeria, beginning with the
appearance of Islam in the region, in order to have a clear understanding of the
worldview and lifestyle of the people, before coming in contact with Europe through
colonization. The chapter will further focus on two different years: Balewa and
Obasanjo years; Balewa years started immediately after Nigeria’s independence 1960,
where Sir, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa became the first prime minister of Nigeria, until
a coup that ended both his life and administration in 1966. Moreover, Obasanjo years
are decades after independence, when Chief Olusegun Obasanjo became the president
of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007. The coming of Obasanjo to power in 1999 is marked as
a shift in the political structure of Nigeria, it is a shift, because Obasanjo is a Christian
president who took over from a Muslim head of state at a time when the Northern
Nigerian region was trying to implement Shariah.
Figure 1: Map of Nigeria illustrating 36 states and Federal Capital Territory, Abuja
42
Figure 2: Map of Nigeria illustrating 19 Northern Nigerian states
2.1. NORTHERN NIGERIA IN HISTORY
2.1.1. Islam in Kanem-Bornu Empire
Some sources suggested that immediately after the death of the Prophet
(PBUH), and during the reign of the second caliph Umar bin Khattab, the expedition
of the first Muslim to North Africa, under the leadership of Uqba bin Nafi’, Islam came
to present day Northern Nigeria; the old Kanem-Bornu Empire. This is because,
economic and political relations between the people of North Africa, Central Africa
and Arabia pre-dated the coming of Islam. However, there is no evidence that the
people of Kanem-Bornu Empire accepted Islam at the time. Kanem-Bornu Empire was
formed around 700 C.E and encompasses land areas covering present day Chad
Republic, Southern Libya, Eastern Niger Republic, Northeastern Nigeria and Northern
Cameroon. The Empire’s capital first centered in Kanem (Western Chad), and at
around 1308 the capital moved to Borno (Northeastern Nigeria). The Empire grew
43
influence and became powerful in history due to the spread of Islam, however the early
Kings of the Empire did not accept Islam until around eleventh century94
To understand the emergence of Islam in the Kanem-Bornu Empire, it is
attached to the coming of Sayfawa as rulers of the Empire. Sayfawa are the
descendants of Saif ibn Dhi Yazan of Himyar, who was believed to have ruled Yemen,
but his sons and grandsons ruled Kanem-Bornu Empire.95 Mai96 Humai Jilme (1085-
1097 C.E), the first Muslim King of the Sayfawa dynasty was believed to set the
foundation of the spread of Islam in the Empire. The appearance of a Muslim Scholar
Muhammad ibn Mani at Humai’s court, was an important factor in spreading orthodox
Sunni teachings of Islam at the time. During Humai’s reign, the Empire faced threats
from external and internal forces: there was the North African Fatimid rulers of Egypt,
with their expansionist policy, and there was internal instability of opposing Islam
from the Berber pagans. In spite of that, the Muslim community and the King were
determined to establish the powerful Islamic Sayfawa dynasty.97
For a considerable amount of time, Islam was confined to some parts of the
Empire’s royal court and commercial centers, however after given Islam serious
recognition and introducing some aspects of Islamic laws, Humai himself embark on
the propagation of Islam and sometimes waging holy wars against non-Muslim within
his domain,98 which is believed to be an obligation of a Muslim ruler. Humai is
believed to be one of the first Kanem-Bornu rulers to have perform pilgrimage to
Mecca, and also began to wear the same style of dress as the Muslim rulers of North
Africa due to his contact with Egypt.99 Islam appeared stronger during the reign of Mai
Dunama Humemi (1108-1163 C.E) son and successor of Humai Jilme, to the extent
that the Empire became a strong Islamic state and made known to the Islamic world.100
94 Muhammad Nur Alkali, Kanem-Borno Under the Sayfawa: A Study of the Origin, Growth and
Collapse of a Dynasty (891-1846), Maiduguri, University of Maiduguri, (2013).
95 Ibid., pp. 11-16.
96 Mai: is the title of Kanem-Bornu Empire rulers, especially those of the Sayfawa dynasty. Therefore,
in this work, the title; Mai and King could be used interchangeably.
97 Peter B. Clarke, West Africa and Islam: A Study of Religious Development from 8th to the 20th Century,
London, Edward Arnold. (1982).
98 Muhammad Nur Alkali, pp. 42-47.
99 Peter B. Clarke, p. 68.
100 Muhammad Nur Alkali, pp. 47-48.
44
A further development of Islam in Kanem-Bornu Empire was during and after
the reign of Mai Dunama Dibbalemi (1221-1259 C.E), who surrounded himself with
experts in Islamic law; this was a process of Islamization of the court and an important
way of safeguarding the Islamic law. Islam established itself within the political
dimension of the state, and Ulama (intellectuals) played a role in building the state and
transformation of the society. The Ulama were given privileges of exemption from
military services and taxation, and their properties not to be interfered with. The
political system of the empire was reformed to adopt Islamic titles in official positions
like: Wazir, Qadi, Talib etc. In a way of harmonizing Islamic political system in their
system of governance, while introducing new Islamic structures, they did not destroy
their traditional structures which was a significant factor of stability and long period
in power.101
In an effort to expand their influence and contact to other parts of the world,
Kanem-Bornu rulers were committed to performing regular pilgrimages to Mecca,
they opened a hostel for students and pilgrims in Cairo. The scholars of the Empire
were successful in establishing an influential position in Egypt and Arabia. By the
second half of the thirteenth century, the Ulama of the Empire developed an academic
tradition, which most African scholars of present day derived their ways of learning
entirely dis-similar to that of the Western world.102 By late sixteenth century, the
Empire extended its contact to other Muslim States. Mai Idris Alooma (1570-1602
C.E) was said to have been recognized by one of the Ottoman Sultans, namely, Sultan
Murad III (1574-1595 C.E), they had official dealings of exchanging diplomats and
messages.103 Due to the contact of Kanem-Bornu rulers with North Africa, Arabia and
other Muslim states, they adopted Arabic language as a medium of writing
administrative directives to provincial governors, they used it for diplomatic purposes
and as the language of learning, Arabic Language became widely used in the empire.
101 Ibid., pp. 49-55.
102 Ibid., pp. 47-55. This way of learning developed by Kanem-Bornu Ulama is related to the Qur’anic
system.
103 To have a clear picture of the contacts and relationships between Mai Idris Alooma and Sultan Murad
III, it can be seen from the Masters thesis of Sebastien Flynn submitted to the Department of History,
İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent University, Ankara. 2015. The title of the thesis is, The Relationship Between
the Ottoman Empire and Kanem-Bornu During the Reign of Sultan Murad III.
45
Islam played an important role in the intellectual, political and cultural life of Kanem-
Bornu people.104
Upholding to Islamic practices is one of the major factors that helped Kanem-
Bornu empire to reach the peak of their consolidation by witnessing development in
intellectual, political and military organization of the state. However, by the late
seventeenth century, they began to experience decline due to weak succession or
inexperienced rulers, the Empire faced administrative disorganization, and internal
conflict paved the way for rival empires to invade the Empire. Due to the proximity of
Kanem-Bornu to the Hausa land, in 1808, during the Fulani jihad of Usman dan Fodio,
places like Gazargamo were captured and brought under Sokoto rule.105 Although
Kanem-Bornu was gradually declining, they continued to exist until the early twentieth
century, they were absorbed by the British colonial administration that eventually
created the present day Nigeria.
2.1.2. Islam in Hausa Land
Long after Islam spread and had impact throughout Kanem-Bornu Empire, it
then came to the present day Northwestern region of Nigeria: the Hausa Land. Hausa
is the name, language and ethnicity of the inhabitants of the Hausa states. Opinion
varies regarding the origin or emergence of the Hausa states, although Kano as a citystate
was said to be founded over a thousand years ago. Moreover, some are of the
opinion that the Hausa states emerged around twelfth century. Notwithstanding, it was
believed that the Hausa states became prosperous from the middle of fifteenth
century.106 As recorded in “The Kano Chronicles”, H. R. Palmer indicated that before
1000 C.E, the Hausa people especially from Kano developed a strong primitive
religion of worshiping a deity “Tsumburbura” at Dala hill, which they believe to be
their center of power. At that time, Barbushe was the chief priest and leader of the
people, who prophesied the coming of Bagauda that will conquer and destroy
104 Peter B. Clarke, pp. 70-72.
105 Muhammad Nur Alkali, pp. 293-331.
106 Toyin Falola & Matthew M. Heaton, A History of Nigeria, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press,
(2008), p. 28.
46
paganism.107 Even though there was pagan and traditional religion before Islam, Islam
acted upon traditional religion and changed the culture of the Hausa people.
There might not be certainty to when exactly Islam came to Kano yet, there is
the application of Muslim/Islamic names among the early chiefs of Kano. The first
king of Kano Bagauda son of Bawo (999-1063 C.E), whose name was Daud had a
chief named Isah. Bagauda was the one who first conquered the Pagans and the
struggle continued with his descendants. Although the influence of Islam in the
formation of Kano as a city-state was less recorded, there were claims that Sarki108
Usmanu Zamnagawa (1343-1349 C.E), accepted Islam as his personal religion.109 It
was assumed that Islam came to Kano during the reign of Yaji son of Tsamiya whose
name was Ali (1349-1385 C.E). Coming of Islam at that time was linked to the
Wangarawa merchants who came from Mali, while conducting their business
activities, they brought along their religion. Propagation of Islam might be one of the
reasons that brought Wangarawa to Kano, but the Economic activities of the city was
one of the Major factors that brought them to the city. Their leader was Abdurrahman
Zaite, others were Mandawari, Jujin Yallabu, Madatai and others, which makes them
about 40 in number. Sarki Yaji commanded the people to pray and built mosques, from
among Wangarawa, Abdurrahman Zaite was appointed the Qadi (Judge) and
Mandawari as the chief Imam of Kano.110
By late fourteenth century, there was an established Muslim Community in
Kano yet, Islam made a little progress in influencing and impacting lives of the people,
due to the old pagan practices that existed. Nevertheless, the consolidation of Islam as
a state religion was during the reign of Sarki Muhammadu Rumfa (1463-1499 C.E).
With the increasing number of Muslim population at the time, Muhammadu Rumfa
took on projects of establishing schools and mosques; he was said to have built the
107 H. R. Palmer, “The Kano Chronicle”, The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great
Britain and Ireland, Vol. 38, (1908), pp. 58-98.
108 Sarki: is the title given to Hausa kings or emirs. Therefore, there is the possibility of seeing these
terms; “sarki”, “king” or “emir” interchangeably.
109 Ibrahim Ado-Kurawa, “Islam in Kano” Kano Emirate, 2008,
http://www.kanoemirate.org/index12c1.html?option=com_content&view=article&id=47&Itemid=57
&showall=1 [Accessed March 25, 2021].
110 H. R. Palmer, pp. 70-71.
47
Kano central mosque.111 The consolidation of Islam and establishing it as a state
religion increased the political authority of Muhammadu Rumfa in Kano, and as well
paved way for Kano’s involvement in international trade. Towards the end of the
fifteenth century, Muhammadu Rumfa welcomed an Islamic scholar Abu Abdullah
Muhammad ibn Abdulkarim al-Maghili to Kano. According to some narrations, al-
Maghili came to Kano with no physical copy of the Qur’an, which he had to write in
Kano, and then he taught the people along with some aspects of Islamic law. Al-
Maghili wrote a treatise on politics for the guidance of Muhammadu Rumfa as a
Muslim ruler titled: “The Crown of Religion Concerning the Obligations of
Princes”.112 Al-Maghili played a significant role in the development of Islam in Kano,
because he grew influence in the court of Sarki Muhammadu Rumfa.
Kano is not the only city-state in Hausa land, but more famous than others.
Other city-states like Katsina, Gobir and Zaria also witnessed the presence and impact
of Islam, due to the effect of Wangarawa Traders and al-Maghili in Kano. In Katsina
for Example, Sarki Muhammadu Korau (1466-1493 C.E) ,was said to be the first
Muslim ruler, with the support of Muslim scholars and traders, Muhammadu Korau
pursued the policy of Islamization by introducing Islamic law on wide scale, for
instance, the people who abstain from five daily prayers faced the punishment of
imprisonment. Katsina rulers were said not to have changed the traditional system of
government to Islamic for that reason; therefore, they did not face much resistance
from non-Muslim population on how Islam was spreading. With respect to Gobir
kingdom, there was a little evidence regarding the coming of Islam there. However,
by the sixteenth century, some Gobir rulers were believed to accept Islam, because of
some Muslim traders who visited and settled within the territory. With all the
proximity of Kano and Katsina to Zaria, the Zazzau kingdom did not have a Muslim
ruler until the seventeenth century. Islam made changes to the traditional Hausa land,
in order for the Muslim rulers to increase their political as well as religious authority,
they introduced Islamic system of governance, thereby bringing Muslim scholars as
111 Muhammad Sani Zahraden, “The Palace of Mosques in the History of Kano”, in Studies in the
History of Kano, ed. Bawuro M. Barkindo, Kano, Department of History, Bayero University, Kano,
(1983), pp. 57-68.
112 Peter B. Clarke, pp. 60-64.
48
advisors and councilors in their courts. Islamic education was established and achieved
great success in training scholars and officials for administration of the government.113
Toyin Falola and Matthew M. Heaton argued that the coming of Islam to Hausa
land and Kanem-Bornu Empire, brought intellectual, political and economic
advantages to the rulers of the states by connecting them to the larger Islamic world.
Because of how Islamic traders and traveling scholars established relationships with
the rulers of Hausa land and Kanem-Bornu Empire, Islamic scholarship was
developed, as advance schools of Qur’anic learning and theology were established and
through those schools, students were trained to become part of the learned and
powerful class of magistrates, scribes, administrators and intellectuals. The regular
pilgrimages to Mecca undertook by Hausa and Kanem-Bornu rulers (though spiritual
and one of the five pillars of Islam), was another way of expressing their wealth and
power to other Islamic nations. These pilgrimages strengthened their political relations
and presented a major opportunity for commercial activities. The fact that Hausa and
Kanem-Bornu people originally developed strong primitive religious practices,
Islamic practices remained superficial, to the extent that some rulers were believed to
be nominal Muslims, as they needed to connect with their people who practice
indigenous beliefs.114 That is one of the major factors that resulted to the Sokoto Jihad,
and creation of the Islamic state.
2.1.3. Sokoto Caliphate: The Islamic State of Northern Nigeria
By the late eighteenth century, the Hausa states appeared to be entering a
critical period of disturbance, rival empires; like Borno and Songhai were aggressive
toward the Hausa states and there was also series of civil wars, which served as
coincidence that prompted the 1804 C.E Fulani jihad. Some prefer the official version
of the history of Islam in Northern Nigeria to be that of the Fulani Jihad, however, the
Jihad was lunched not with the aim of establishing (new) Islam, but the reformation
and reviving of orthodox Islam, on the account that the Hausa state governments were
unjust and un-Islamic, and that the people were merging pagan practices and Islamic
113 Ibid., pp. 64-66.
114 Toyin Falola & Matthew M. Heaton, pp. 29-32.
49
practices. These were some of the major reasons that prompted the Jihad of reforming
Islam to the orthodox practices in Northern Nigeria. One thing that is crucial to
understanding the Fulani Jihad is through knowing the struggle of Shehu Usman dan
Fodio (1754-1817 C.E), who was the leader in establishing an Islamic caliphate that
lasted for about a century.
Although the movement or struggle for the reformation of Islam in the Hausa
land could be said to have initiated by a scholar: Jibril dan Umaru, a mentor and teacher
to Usman dan Fodio, however, he was unsuccessful, but his efforts were not wasted,
because, his student; Usman dan Fodio carried on with the struggle.115 Usman dan
Fodio came from a Fulani tribe of scholarly lineage, and he engaged himself in search
of Islamic scholarship from scholars of different specialties; that made him became a
respected Islamic scholar. He preached and wrote extensively regarding Islam in
Hausa land, on how Islam required purification due to the widespread reconciliation
of pagan practices and Islam. Dan Fodio also criticized Hausa rulers, accusing them
of corruption and tyranny. At first, Dan Fodio’s aim was not a Jihad movement, his
aim was eliminating social and religious vices, he wanted a decent society with
effective political administration. In line with that, he attracted many followers; most
of them Fulani, who were a minority group of the society. The growing number of
followers made Dan Fodio a threat to the ruling class.116
At some point, Dan Fodio faced challenges from the scholars who supported
the injustice and tyranny of the rulers. Both the scholars and the rulers tried to
undermine his mission, questioning the legitimacy and method of his teaching fort he
reason that he was going for their throne. Some even plotted on killing him, which
they failed.117 In order to restrict the influence of Dan Fodio, the rulers laid out some
conditions that: only Dan Fodio was allowed to preach, but none of his followers;
conversion to Islam was prohibited, and those who were not born Muslims should
return to their ancestors’ religions, and wearing of turban by men or veil by women is
115 Joseph p. Smaldone, Warfare in the Sokoto Caliphate: Historical and Sociological Perspectives,
Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1997.
116 Abba Idris Adamu, “Re-Inventing Islamic Civilization in the Sudanic Belt: The Role of Sheikh
Usman Dan Fodio”, Journal of Modern Education Review, Vol. 4, No. 6, (2014), pp. 457-465.
117 Ibid., pp. 459-461.
50
illegal. Beside these conditions, there were attacks on Dan Fodio and his followers
which forced them to migrate from Degel to Gudu. It was at that point that the
followers of Dan Fodio proclaimed him as Amir al-Muminin (commander of the
faithful), and they prepared to take up arms and defend themselves.118
The number of people Dan Fodio gathered at Gudu alarmed Gobir ruler: Yunfa
(1801-1808 C.E), who ordered to take them captive, persecute and kill them. However,
the readiness of the people to defend themselves gave them courage to ambush and
kill Yunfa’s forces, Yunfa considered that as a rebellion and launched several attacks
on them.119 By the June of 1804, the first grand clash between Yunfa’s forces and Dan
Fodio’s forces took place at the battle of Tabkin Kwatto, the number of Dan Fodio’s
forces were less than Yunfa’s forces yet, Dan Fodio’s forces were able to came out
victorious, due to superior morale and determination in establishing Islam. Although,
Dan Fodio faced some setbacks at the battle of Tsuntsuwa, where he lost about 2000
fighters, by 1805, they were able to capture a number of towns like Kebbi, Zamfara
and by 1808, Dan Fodio’s forces gained considerable strength by capturing Alkalawa;
the capital of Gobir. Notwithstanding, at that time, all major Hausa state had fallen,
Kano, Katsina, Daura, Bauchi and as far as Ilorin and Nupe lands, as well as some part
of Borno empire were brought under Dan Fodio’s dominion, and the Sokoto Caliphate
began to take form.120
With the success of the Jihad and establishment of the Sokoto caliphate, Shehu
Usman dan Fodio who held the title of Amir al-Muninin, held overall responsibility of
the Caliphate. In order to ensure the survival of the state, they established institutions
that nurtured the Caliphate to became an Islamic state, and center of gravity for Islam
in West Africa and beyond.121 The state was established with extensive autonomous
kingdoms who recognized the centrality and authority of the caliph as the Sultan of
Sokoto. The state developed its political, economic and other activities based on
Islamic rules of law. Years after the Islamic state had been consolidated, around 1815,
118 Peter B. Clarke, pp. 113.
119 Abba Idris Adamu, p. 463.
120 Peter B. Clarke, pp. 115.
121 Abba Idris Adamu, p. 464.
51
Dan Fodio stepped down from running the administration of the state to focus on
scholarly activities. Dan Fodio died in 1817, but before then, he divided the state into
two parts; the Western part administered by his brother, Abdullahi bin Fodio at
Gwandu, and the Eastern part administered by Dan Fodio’s son; Muhammad Bello
who undertook the title of Sultan and administration of the Caliphate.122
The early sultans of the Caliphate came up with strategic moves of replacing
previous structure of the Hausa Kingdoms, with a state structure based on Islamic
principles, they brought the Hausa land under one single government, and by so doing,
the people were culturally and socially identified as Muslims before citizens. The early
Sultans expanded their territories and at the same time, brought stability which gave
them an opportunity for economic activities to develop, they embarked on
international trade of locally made products, to the extent that, farmers and women had
opportunities of improving their social and economic status. One can argue that the
Jihad is ethno-centric, because most of the leaders and followers are from the Fulani
tribe, however the state was ethnically mixed of Hausa, Fulani and other tribes.
Furthermore, islamic ideals of the Jihad cannot be denied, as it left behind lasting
imprints of cultural, social, political and economic impacts in the name of Islam.123
Establishment of the Sokoto caliphate was able to make remarkable
achievements in Hausa land. In the legal affairs of the state, a chief Judge (Qadi), was
appointed to supervise the administration of justice system. Shariah became the basis
of jurisprudence across the caliphate, thus some traditional Hausa legal customs were
retained; for instance, the cases of conflict resolution, marriage and other issues were
integrated into Islamic system. In terms of security, since the Hausa states were built
with fortresses and city gates, Sultan Muhammad Bello developed a system of
improving communication between the central government and the provincial
kingdoms, he developed the Kofa124 system, each kingdom was assigned a Kofa, that
served as a means of collecting and sharing legal verdicts and taxation. The fact that
the Jihad leaders were renown scholars, they improve the educational sphere of the
122 Toyin Falola & Matthew M. Heaton, p. 65.
123 Ibid., pp. 65-84.
124 Kofa: is a Hausa word, meaning door but, in this context, it means “City Gate”.
52
state, women and children were encouraged to go to school, and primary education in
some communities were left in the hands of elderly women. Nana Asma’u daughter of
Usman dan Fodio was known to have played a significant role in the development of
women education. Schools were established and Arabic language became the language
of Islamic scholarship, and people became acquainted with the actual text of the
Qur’an, Islamic history and Islamic science. Muslim scholars took point in preaching
morals of religion in towns and villages, which helped in transforming the attitude and
style of living of the people.125
The early Sultans of Sokoto caliphate have achieved their goal of establishing
an Islamic state, but that does not mean the state has been stable throughout history.
There were problems arising from administration, succession dispute, internal revolts
and external aggressions. By the end of 1890s, the state began to disintegrate due to
internal rivalry, which presented an opportunity for European powers with colonial
encroachment. By 1903, the caliphate collapsed and fell under British colonial
administration, which they controlled about Eighty percent of the affairs of the state,
thus the Sultan remained a ceremonial ruler. Sokoto caliphate left heritage that many
people continued to be inspired with, like the ideals of the Jihad, in present day
Northern Nigeria, there still exist some systems and structures of Sokoto caliphate as
established by the early reformers.126
2.2.4. Colonial Northern Nigeria and Early Changes in the Society
Colonization of Nigeria was a long process, that took over half a century to be
accomplished. The presence of European powers in Nigeria began with the visit of
European explorers in 1820s, followed by the establishment of British Consulate of
Lokoja in 1860, at the confluence of River Niger and River Benue, then the Royal
Niger Company was chartered in 1882, which was instrumental to the formation of
colonial Nigeria. By 1900, Britain controlled territories below Lokoja to the coastal
areas, making it the protectorate of Southern Nigeria.127 Britain was concerned with
125 Peter B. Clarke, pp. 118-123.
126 Ibid., pp. 123, 147-149.
127 Olufemi Vaughan, pp. 39-40.
53
the existence of the Sokoto caliphate in the North, as it posed a threat to their colonial
administration, because the influence of the Sultan would undermine their authority,
and they wanted to prevent France from expanding their colonial territories. By 1903,
Britain had conquered the Sokoto caliphate and by 1904, Borno which had retained its
independence from Sokoto caliphate was also occupied by British forces. The
territories were incorporated into the protectorate of Northern Nigeria. The conquest
of Sokoto marked the colonization of Nigeria and setting boundaries of the British
Protectorate of Northern and Southern Nigeria which were amalgamated in 1914.128
British authorities became obsessed with maintaining order in the society, they
devised strategies of monitoring people who were claimed to be anti-colonial rule. In
the early years of colonial conquest, many people continued to resist British rule, many
of the ruling elites of the Sokoto caliphate decided to migrate to neigboring territories,
they once ruled, rather than come under alien power. From Borno provinces, there was
the revival of “Mahdism”, due to a colonial policy that transformed their pre-existing
political order. Some threatened local Muslim rulers that succumbed to colonial rule,
and resulted to the use of violence against colonial powers. Colonial authorities had
good reasons to place the resistance under surveillance, because for years they
threatened colonial order. However, in the end, as a result of superior military power
and willingness to use violence to achieve their end, Britain succeeded in establishing
colonial rule.129
After the colonial conquest, British colonial officers brought many changes to
the Nigerian society, with the thought of promoting progress and civilization, because
the people were considered inferior and backward. However, the changes imposed
were to alter customs, traditions and institutions of Nigerian society, to favor British
colonial administration. In the need to adopt a system that they could govern the people
following the imposition of colonial rule: in Northern Nigeria, because of the
centralized Hausa-Fulani administrative structure, they adopted the indirect rule
system: ruling through traditional rulers to govern the populace. Traditional rulers
maintained their power at the command of colonial officers, who made sure colonial
128 Toyin Falola & Matthew M. Heaton, pp. 104-109.
129 Olufemi Vaughan, pp. 42-45.
54
directives were enforced at all times.130 Indirect rule system created a dilemma that
confronted the political institutions. It created a troubled relationship between
traditional rulers and colonial officers on one hand, and the traditional rulers and
populace on the other hand. 131 For instance, in the course of revenue generation, if the
traditional rulers moved aggressively on collection of taxes or fines in the midst of
poverty, they risked losing their respect from the populace, which sometimes provoked
protests against their power. And if they act sympathetic to the people, they became
vulnerable to British charge of incompetency and faced disposition by the state.
The implementation of the indirect rule system favored reforms in the Northern
Nigerian legal system, British authorities reviewed the Islamic courts operated by
Sokoto caliphate, modified them to comply with British conception of law and justice.
Shariah was subjugated to colonial law, some aspects of Shariah were transformed to
favor non-Muslim laws, like; punishments for murder, theft, adultery, etc., all crimes
punishable by death were treated as lesser crimes under English common law.
Notwithstanding, from the British side of ensuring that Jurists and Judges exercise
some authority in reviewing criminal cases, police and medical reports were used as
evidence, testimony of non-Muslims were also accepted, despite objections from some
scholars. Shariah was further weakened, as the Judicial council was created to serve
as Islamic court of appeal, and it was merged with customary law, regulating personal
and family matters. Although, Islamic law was denied recognition as a system, Islam
grew with the modernization process that accompanied colonialism.132
British colonial rule also affected the Nigerian economy by instituting a cash
economy based on British currency, there by forcing many people into waged labor,
which paved the way for capitalism in the society. The fact that Northern Nigeria has
no direct access to the coast in the South, the colonial economy depended on
exportation of agricultural and mineral products, that required transportation to the
coast for shipment to Europe, Northern Nigerian became vulnerable to high revenue.
130 Toyin Falola & Matthew M. Heaton, pp. 110-111.
131 Moses E. Ochonu, Colonial Meltdown: Northern Nigeria in the Great Depression, Athens and Ohio,
Ohio University Press, 2009.
132 Olufemi Vaughan, pp. 47-50.
55
Farmers were subjected to paying high tax, thus threatened the continuity of
agricultural produce, as farmers needed to raise cash for tax payment and other needs.
The society used to embark on small-scale agricultural cultivation for households, but
because of taxes, prices of commodities in the market and hiring of labor increased,
which led to capitalist farming in Northern Nigeria, only wealthy farmers were able to
continue with agricultural production.133
Owing to the high tax that local farmers had to pay, it reduced the productivity
of agriculture in the rural areas, and the need for people to cope with the economic
hardship of the time resulted in urbanization. Industries and companies were
established in the cities (especially in Southern Nigeria), as well as constructions of
railroads, these reasons made many people to move to the cities in search of jobs, some
moved to the cities to become self-employed. Urban population increased rapidly as
people are moving to the cities at an unprecedented rate and in turn agricultural
production was negatively affected.134 Nevertheless, as early as 1930s, some
companies collapsed resulting to dismissing workers, thereby creating a class of
unemployed and semi-educated Northerners, another thing that contributed to the
increased number of unemployed people was the closing down of railroad
construction, those people could not return to rural areas for farming or became
liability to their families. The unemployed people set up camps at different places, thus
the increased number of unemployed people started attracting attention from the
authorities, as they started to engage in criminal activities; thefts were attributed to
unemployed laborers, which became a social problem in Nigeria. Crime began to
manifest throughout Northern Nigeria in the form of cruelty, yet the increase in crime
and unemployment rate can be as a result of economic hardship.135
Another major change brought by colonial rule was the growth of Westerneducated
Nigerians, who became instrumental in the establishment of Christian
missions in (Northern) Nigeria. Many Nigerians were opposing the expansion of
Christian missionaries, as they saw Christianity a threat to their traditional way of life,
133 Moses E. Ochonu, pp. 49-51.
134 Toyin Falola & Matthew M. Heaton, pp. 125-126.
135 Moses E. Ochonu, pp. 71-76.
56
as well as traditional political and economic institutions. It is believed that Christian
missionaries were agents of British imperialism. Colonial authorities saw an
opportunity, using modern social orientation to introduce Western education through
missionary schools. These schools offer the ability to read and write in English, take
part in civil service positions or find a job as a clerk, teacher etc., through those
schools, Christian missions expanded in the North, thereby creating Christian
communities in some of the major Northern cities. Western education had its effects
on the behaviors and beliefs of many people who received it, shaping them into
Nigerians in heritage, but Europeans in taste and value; their lifestyle became foreign,
importing European mode of dressing, European style of homes and so on. Even
though educated Nigerians understood that they had gained much from colonial rule,
they started to develop a sense of belonging, they began to challenge and question
some activities of colonial authorities, to the extent that anti-colonial activities were
emerging and fighting for Independence of Nigeria from British rule.136
By 1950, Nigerians began preparing for decolonization and independence, the
colonial government collaborated with Western-educated elites to develop a system of
gradual self-government, through developing different constitutions to grant Nigerians
their own governance. The fact that Nigeria is geographically, politically,
economically and culturally diverse, the constitutions were developed with the idea of
regionalism: Northern, Western and Eastern regions. The 3 regions were somewhat
autonomous and controlled by a central government. Northern region was a product
of a collapsed Islamic state. From the onset of the decolonization process, Northern
elites embarked on Islamization project, starting with expressing misgiving about the
subordination of Shariah to English common law, they tried to establish a fully
functioning modern legal system based on Shariah. However, at the eve of
independence, there were tensions and debates concerning the place of Shariah in the
modern Nigerian state.137
The British colonial system could be successful in removing some aspects of
pre-colonial norms and values of Northern Nigerian Muslims and establishing their
136 Toyin Falola & Matthew M. Heaton, pp. 126-135.
137 Olufemi Vaughan, pp. 90-111.
57
system, with no or less intention of preserving the Islamic way of life. The growing
population of Christian minorities in the North, gave rise to Christian communities,
which after colonial rule, played a role in the religio-political activities of the region.
That later resulted into confrontations and tensions between Muslims and Christians
in the modern Nigerian state. Although Nigeria gained independence from Britain in
1960, it still inherited many principles and structures from the British systems, which
challenged the history, religion and culture of the people.138
2.2 POST-COLONIAL NORTHERN NIGERIA
2.2.1 Northern Nigeria Under Balewa Years (1960-1966)
Nigeria formally achieved its independence from Britain on October 1, 1960,
Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was appointed the prime minister (Head of Government) of
the federation of Nigeria. Although the country became independent in 1960, it then
became a republic on October 1, 1963, so, the Federal Republic of Nigeria was
established. The period between October 1, 1960 and January 15, 1966 is generally
referred to as the “First Republic”. The First Republic ended due to a military coup
that took place in 1966, where Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa was deposed and killed.
At independence, Nigeria found itself within the dictates of colonial legacies, the
postcolonial society mediates between various contending structures of social
formations, the forces that shaped colonial Nigeria continued to shape the postcolonial
society; first was the capitalist economy, second was the demarcation of regional
boundaries and third, most of the Western-educated elites wanted to continue with
colonial oriented administration of the country.
Nigeria as a country was created based on colonial legacy: “a modern state”, a
country of both Muslim and Christian population, a number of people, including
Western-educated Muslim, are characterized with materialism and secularism, who
believed in separation of religion and politics for the operation and function of the
state, having lack of interest in Islam, and inspired by Western-European ideas by
ignoring their Islamic heritage and identity. Although, there was the establishment of
138 Ibrahim Olatunde Uthman & Lateef Olawole Abbas, pp. 170-172.
58
an Islamic state in Northern Nigeria; the Sokoto Caliphate that was administered based
on Shariah, during colonial rule, the system and structure of the state was reviewed
and after independence, the country’s constitution does not recognize any state religion
which somewhat makes the country a secular state. However, with majority of the
population being Muslims and Christians, there is freedom of religion and the
constitution allows propagation of religion yet, the country is secular, and Islam had
to compete with its social justice and democratic principles.139
When Nigeria became independent, in many ways, it was a state without a
nation. In the course of building a nation which was divided in different levels;
regionalism and ethnicism became a problem of developing national identity. Nigeria
holds hundreds of ethnic groups, but just three comprises about two-third of the
population: Hausa-Fulani from North, Yoruba from West and Igbo from East. The
challenges posed by ethno-religious identities was a factor in social and political
conflicts in the country. In the East, Christianity was dominant among the Igbos and
from the West, the Yoruba were divided between Islam and Christianity, thus, in the
Southern region, Islam does not function in constructing inter-ethnic identity. Within
the Northern region, Islam provided a trans-ethnic identity, for most Northerners,
Islam have been in their history and culture, religious identity have taken over ethnic
and tribal identities, that they see themselves primarily as Muslims. Nigeria being
multi-ethnic and multi-religious country, as well as the question of the secular position
of the country, prompted the Northern government on the agenda of reviving their
Islamic heritage by Islamization of the Northern region.140
On perusing Islamization policies to ensure the development of Northern
Nigeria, the premier of the Northern region; sir, Ahmadu Bello, Sardauna of Sokoto,
became committed with the responsibility of looking into the possibility of creating
institutions, through which Islam could interact with the current system. Sardauna
initiated a committee to collect census on the existing number of Qur’anic and Islamic
139 A. Rashid Motin, “Political Dynamism of Islam in Nigeria”, Islamic Studies, Vol. 26, No. 2, (1987),
pp. 179-189.
140 Larry Diamond, Class, Ethnicity and Democracy in Nigeria: The Failure of the First Republic,
London, The Macmillan Press Ltd, 1988, pp. 26-30.
59
schools, so they could be improved, and meet the needs and standards of the modern
age. Through those schools, people became educated and responsible for the
propagation and spread of Islam, as well as coordinating Islamic activities in Nigeria.
On the course of propagating Islam and improving Muslim welfare, Sardauna visited
Ansarul Islam Society’s headquarter in Ilorin, he was impressed by the activities of
the Society and resolved to establishing a similar organization in the North. in 1961/2,
Sardauna together with Sheikh Abubakar Mahmud Gumi; a famous Islamic scholar
and then acting grand khadi of Northern Nigeria, went for pilgrimage to Mecca, where
they made contact with Muslims from different parts of the world, coupled with the
idea of Ansarul Islam society, they decided to create Jama’at Nasril Islam (JNI): an
organization through which the image and interest of Islam could be protected
throughout Nigeria. Through JNI, Nigeria created links with other Islamic countries
and in subsequent years, despite the secular nature of the country, Nigeria became a
member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in 1986. JNI became an
umbrella which all Islamic organizations in Nigeria rally around.141
With Tafawa Balewa as the prime minister of Nigeria, the Muslim North had
interest for the recognition of Shariah in their legislative panel, but competition in
politics and the ethno-religious division of the country made it impossible. The
progress of Islam was slower and less smooth, even with the support of Sardauna.
Christians reaction to the development of Islam in Northern Nigeria was expected,
through missionary activities, churches were organized to play a part in the politics of
the region. Individual efforts of Northern-Christians elites resulted in the creation of
Northern Christian Association (NCA), in 1964; a religious and political rival to JNI.
Growing population and influence of Christianity seemed unfavorable to the Muslim
North, thus sparking subsequent disagreements between Muslim and Christians in the
country. The commitment of Muslim north to Islamize the country in the first republic
period, faced backlash due to the military coup of 1966 that lead to the assassination
141 Sulaiman Sheu Adua, “An Appraisal of the Contribution of Jama’at Nasril Islam to hte Spread of
Islam in Northern Nigeria”, International Journal of Humanities, Social Sciences and Education
(IJHSSE), Vol. 2, No. 12, (2015), pp. 69-72.
60
of Tafawa Balewa and Ahmadu Bello however, the religious motivated politics in the
country still continue.142
2.2.2 Northern Nigeria under Obasanjo Years (1999-2007)
Over the course of 1960s and 1990s, Nigeria went through different civilian
rules and military regimes, and by 1999, Nigeria returned to a civilian democratic
government, which is referred to as the “Fourth Republic”. In 1999, a presidential
election marked a shift in power from the North to Southwestern region of the country,
Olusegun Obasanjo; a Christian from the South, became the president, pushing prodemocracy
agenda, while the continuous effort of Northern Muslim elites on reviving
the Shariah, resulted to national (and international) controversy, over the place of
Shariah in a modern secular state. Debates and tension over the place of Shariah cannot
be ignored in the context of Northern Nigeria, because decades after independence,
the Nigerian political elites failed to create a true national identity among the people,
corruption and absence of social safety increased the struggle for the discourse of
Shariah in Northern Nigeria.143
During the electioneering campaigns of 1999, Ahmad Sani Yariman Bakura,
promised to implement Shariah in Northern Nigeria’s Zamfara state. The news was
welcomed in a friendly manner by many Muslims, with a sigh of relief. Muslims were
tired with the state of corruption, lawlessness and lack of security that engulfed the
country. Since the fall of the Sokoto caliphate in 1903, Western modern administration
was implemented, but failed to bring relief to the country, and Northern Nigerian
Muslims were forced to accept Western democratic systems. By October 1999, a few
months after swearing-in to office, Governor Ahmad Sani declared Zamfara a Shariah
compliant state. From 1903 to 1999, barely four years to a century, Northern Nigeria
welcomed the return of a system that illuminates the minds and the hearts of the people.
Few months after Zamfara state announced the implementation of Shariah, other states
142 Marinus C. Iwuchukwu, Muslim-Christian Dialogue in postcolonial Northern Nigeria: The
Challenges of Inclusive Cultural and Religious Pluralism, New York, Palgrave Macmillan, (2013), pp.
41-49.
143 Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, “Politics and Shariah in Northern Nigeria”, in Islam and Muslim Politics in
Africa, ed. Benjamin F Soares and René Otayek, New York, Palgrave Macmillan, (2007), pp. 177-188.
61
from the North, began to follow the same approach: Sokoto, Katsina, Kano, Jigawa,
Kebbi, Niger, Kaduna, Bauchi, Gombe, Yobe and Borno embraced the expansion of
Sharia.144
The declaration of Shariah by the Northern governors is not with the intention
of establishing an Islamic state, rather a gesture for good governance. Many Muslims
were concerned with the affairs of the state, that Islam was frowned upon despite the
long history it has, thus the declaration of Shariah is a turning point in the history of
Nigeria. The expanded Shariah system enabled Muslims to fully exercise their
religious freedom and obligations, without violating the religious freedom of the non-
Muslims in the Shariah compliant states. Through development and establishment of
State Council of Ulama, Shariah Commission, Departments of Religious Affairs and
monitoring committees (Hisbah) to promote Shariah implementation, the states
prescribed sub-Federal courts, to promote the efficiency and accessibility of the
criminal justice sector. Agencies like the Supreme council for Shariah in Nigeria was
established, which indicates that, Shariah promotes Federalism and legal plurality in
Nigeria. Nevertheless, Shariah implementation attracted different opinions, especially
from non-Muslims, alleging that it is part of an agenda for gradual Islamization of the
country. There were subsequent outbreaks of religious conflicts directly or indirectly
related to Shariah implementation between Muslims and Christians, which became a
major factor for federal management or mediation of Shariah in Nigeria.145
144 Olufemi Vaughan, pp. 158-159.
Twelve (12) out of the Nineteen (19) Northern states took the effort of Shariah reintroduction.
145 Rotimi Suberu, “The Shariah Challenge: Revisiting the Travails of the Secular State”, in
Encountering the Nigerian State, ed. Wale Adebanwi & Ebenezer Obadare, New York, Palgrave
Macmillan, (2010), pp. 225-226.
62
CHAPTER THREE
3. IMPACT OF MODERNITY
When revisiting the concept of modernity, it is similar to the invocation of
notions such as: modern nation state, modern democracy, secularism, westernization
and so on. Modernity is one of the major phenomena that affects every aspect of human
life, it impacts religion, culture, politics, economic and social traditions, as well as
institutions. In the last few decades, Northern Nigerians witnessed widespread impact
of modernity on their traditions and institutions. The fact that modernity is attached to
European history, its spread in Northern Nigeria is directly or indirectly due to the
actions of colonial powers. From colonial to postcolonial eras, new techniques and
cultural models were introduced to accelerate the pace of modernization, thus, the
Northern Nigerian modernization project could be considered a colonial legacy.
3.1. Modern Nation State
The colonial history of Nigeria is essential in the creation of the Modern
Nigerian State. British assertion of political control and institution in Nigeria lasted
for about sixty years, despite numerous local resistances, Britain was successful in
creating colonial modernity. Even after independence, the Nigerian political system
within itself, had residual impact of British control through constitutional
development. In the present days, Britain’s influence continues to shape power
relations, in the form of modernization projects, through Western standards of progress
and development. The notion of progress and development centered around the ideas
of good governance or modern democracy, which will enable citizens to access
resources and build a better livelihood. Post-independent Nigeria is to a large extent a
product of religious and ethnic conflict, and by the time of the fourth republic, the
Issue of Shariah exploded the conflict around Nigeria’s multi-religious identities, and
the constitutional principle of secularism.
63
The centralization of Nigeria since the colonial era, triggered the question of
establishing Shariah in a secular society, based on Western-democratic value systems.
In the Nigerian setting, the relationship between the state governments and religion,
contributed to the transformation of Shariah from regional to national issue. From precolonial
eras to the period of the first republic, for instance, the establishment of
Shariah was left to the regions (North in particular), due to the population of the people
is Muslim majority. Shariah did not feature in the constitutions of other regions, and
was not a federal issue, until post military era to the Fourth republic, due to the
politicization of religion. In the need for Northern political elites to incorporate and
balance Shariah to the diverse ethnic, regional and religious structures of the Nigerian
state, they have to mediate Shariah with modern democracy. Although Islam alone
could cut across ethnic and regional divisions, yet modern democratic rules in Nigeria
heated the debate over the (re)introduction Shariah in Northern Nigeria.146
The consequence of modernity is what caused most of the debates over the
place of Shariah in Northern Nigeria, despite the history and the Muslim population of
the region. As discussed previously, that modernity began in Europe, so the coming of
Europeans and colonization of Nigeria, can be attributed to the unprecedented cause
and spread of modernity in Northern Nigeria. Britain came along with Western values
and was responsible for the creation of a modern state, that tended to decentralize and
disintegrate traditional social institutions, and promote modern social institutions. To
effect what Giddens has characterized as the problems of a modern societies,
detraditionalization and transformation of historical structures of a society147 is
promoting secularism. Nigerian society for almost a century has been experimenting
a secular system, ranging from colonial administration to the return of democratic
federalism of the Fourth republic.
The Nigerian state is a very good example of what Wael B. Hallaq titles his
book; “The Impossible State”.148 The implementation of Shariah in a modern nation
146 Rotimi Suberu, pp. 217-219.
147 Anthony Giddens, pp. 4-5.
148 Wael B. Hallaq, The Impossible State: Islam, Politics and Modernity’s Moral Predicaments, New
York, Columbia University Press, (2013).
64
state is somewhat impossible. The attempts for the implementation of Shariah under a
secular system by a modern state may differ. In the (Northern) Nigerian experience,
majority of the people rejoiced the 1999 (re)introduction of Shariah by some governors
of the Northern states. The fact that Nigeria as a country had a taste of colonial
administration, decades after independence, there still remains some European
systems of changing the structure of the legal system, and in the Muslim majority
Northern region, there is a debate on the place of Shariah in the system. Hallaq asked
an intriguing question that can be asked in the Northern Nigerian context: “how did
Muslims rule themselves during the twelve centuries of precolonial history?”.149
Although Hallaq might be referring to the Prophetic government in Madinah, and
subsequent Islamic governments that followed, thus in the pre-colonial Northern
Nigeria, the Sokoto caliphate could be an answer to Hallaq’s question.
Arguably, (re)introduction of Shariah in Northern Nigeria is not with the
intention of establishing an Islamic state, rather, a gesture of good governance, let’s
say “Islamic governance”. Hallaq used substantial terms “paradigmatic Islamic
governance” and “paradigmatic modern state”.150 In a modern state, there is what is
expected to be promotion of public interest, rule of law, freedom and equal opportunity
for all, which at some point, might be compatible with Islamic governance. However,
Hallaq believed the two concepts to be “inherently self-contradictory”.151 Nigeria is a
modern nation state, and the system of a modern nation state can politically dismantle
Shariah from the system of its governance.
The debates between implementation of Shariah or constitution is continuous,
to prevent the trouble of modernity, both paradigms of governance have to involve in
what Hallaq referred to as; “discursive negotiation”,152 this will contribute to the
agreements between parties, as it involve the political affairs of state and generate new
approach to success of the state, each side will have to submit to a shift; Northern
Nigerian governors are not aiming to archive an Islamic state but, aspiring for Islamic
149 Ibid., p.3.
150 Ibid., p. xii.
151 Ibid., p. xi.
152 Ibid., p. 168.
65
governance, thus their motives is clear and can be compatible with the political
construct of Nigerian constitution, and in turn the Nigeria constitution can agree to
their historical experience of Islamic state and accept a structural shift in the essence
of good (or Islamic) Governance.
In many discussions of religion and politics in Nigeria, since the inception of
democratic federalism under the Fourth republic, Nigeria remains a secular society,
and the issue of balancing Shariah into the country’s constitution have been a debate.
Critiques and anti-Shariah might think of the Shariah as an approach to destabilize the
country, however, the constitution is limiting the jurisdiction of the Shariah. Suberu
made a point that the Shariah is being implemented by democratically and
constitutionally elected governors at the state level. The governors adopted Shariah to
maintain democratic legitimacy in their Muslim majority societies, and their strategy
was not to subordinate the democratic constitution to the Shariah. Notwithstanding,
Shariah compliant states have respected the country’s constitutional prohibition of
religion, by preserving the secular, political and judicial institutions, as well as
excluding non-Muslims from application of Islamic law, which means Shariah
practicing is regulated by the constitution.
Shariah implementation does not violate the neutrality and plurality of the
federal government, yet the states are not autonomous or independent enough for
Shariah implementation. Although federalism allows distribution of power between
the Nigerian federal government and the state governments or regions, Nigerian
federalism have been a powerful mediation factor on Shariah implementation.153 This
is in line with why Hallaq brought the idea of “central and peripheral/secondary
domains”.154 In a modern state, if there is the presence of Shariah, it seems to have
little or no attention; Shariah here has become a peripheral/secondary domain, and the
state became the central domain, that can shape politics, legal and other institutions of
the state. In Nigeria for instance, the Federal government controls the police, the courts
and the prisons, so enforcement of Shariah is contained.
153 Ibid., pp. 227-229.
154 Ibid., p. 8.
66
With the way Hallaq portrayed a modern state, there is a tension between the
modern state and Shariah, as it was practiced and understood in history, this leaves
Muslims in a difficult position. Northern Nigerian Muslims are living in a modern state
with an effort to live according to Islamic principles; in keeping their lives as Muslims,
they engage with some unspecified form of governance and lifestyle, that is designed
to ensure individuals Muslims and society live in accordance with the idea and
approach that operate in the contemporary world. Hallaq referred to the modern state
as “an anathema to any form of Islamic governance”,155 to set this argument straight,
the modern state is a self-centered society, that seek supremacy of politics and any
other structure that shape the essence of a state, that is why the attempts to support and
institute Shariah in Northern Nigeria is failing.
3.2. Democracy
It was made clear previously that Nigeria as a modern nation state, have been
practicing democratic system of governance, since the time of colonialism to the
contemporary times. However, many considered modern democracy as a system of
governance incapable of favoring the Nigerian people. Among many scholars, Mal.
Jaafar Mahmud Adam,156 suggested an Islamic system of governance, as it is a system
with a unique pattern of governance, sourced from the Qur’an and Hadith. In one of
Mal. Jaafar’s lectures, that was organized at a College of Science and Technology,
Kaduna State, in the year 1423/2002, with the title “Leadership and Trustworthiness”:
Mal. Jaafar began by enumerating Islamic approach of electing leadership, before
assessing the fault of modern democracy, Islamic approach of electing a leader, is an
approach that differs from that of modern democracy. According to Mal. Jaafar, In
Islam, a leader is provided in one of three ways: two are established, while the third is
not an arranged approach of providing leadership.157
155 Ibid., p. 28.
156 Mal. Jaafar Mahmud Adam was one of the most famous Islamic scholars in Northern Nigeria, he
died in the year 2007. In most cases, while making reference with individuals, their surname is mostly
used. However, in this case, instead of using the surname, Mal. Jaafar as his first name (and title) will
be used frequently.
157 The whole lecture was conducted by Mal. Jaafar was uploaded on YouTube, and it can be accessed
via the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqMvaJnEfIw.
67
The first approach of electing a leader in Islam, is the responsibility of “Ahlul
Halli Wal-Aqdi” (the people of loosing and binding) to select a leader. These are a set
of people chosen as the representatives of the people, based on their qualities of
intelligence, knowledge, trustworthiness, responsibility, experience and so on.158 For
these people to select a leader, candidates will be presented to them, where they will
consider the candidates’ history, education, life experience, trustworthiness and other
qualities of being a good leader. Therefore, when they select a candidate among
themselves, the people will accept and approve such a candidate as their leader. The
significance of this is that, the Ahlul Halli Wal-Aqdi will reflect on their qualities to
consider someone with similar qualities as the leader of the people.159
The second approach of providing a leader is related to the first approach in
such a way that; a leader that was chosen by Ahlul Halli Wal-Aqdi, could nominate a
successor. While a leader is reigning, he could investigate among his subjects; either
from his cabinet or the locals, that leader will investigate who among the people is
superior in knowledge, trustworthiness, experience and possesses all the qualities of
being a good leader, then that person will be nominated to succeed the current leader.
In these two approaches, a leader that is chosen based on the first approach, then
follows a similar way of nominating his successor, after his death, the people will
accept the nominated leader without confrontation.
The third approach which is not arranged but, if leadership happened to be
established by chance, people have to accept and obey, because of necessity and to
live peacefully. This is an instance of overthrowing an established leadership. If such
case happen, even if the new leader lack some qualities of being a good leader, with
high percentage of people supporting his leadership, accepting such leadership is one
of the best options, because if some people think of resisting, it could resolve into
158 These are a set of people that are qualified to appoint or depose a leader on behalf of the people. This
is literally based on the concept of the “Shura Council” that was practiced during the period of the
companions. The Qur’an gave an insight of the Shura council to the Prophet in some verses like: “…
pardon them therefore and ask pardon for them, and you take counsel with them in the affairs; so when
you have decided then place your trust in Allah; surely Allah love those who trust.” (Q3: 159) in another
verse; “And those who respond to their lord and keep up prayer, and their rule is to take counsel among
themselves…” (Q42:38). These two verses command Muslims to deliberate on societal issues regarding
leadership and governance.
159 See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqMvaJnEfIw.
68
conflict, and loss of lives and properties could be unthinkable, which is against the
objectives of the Shariah.160
The above three approaches differ from how leadership is founded in the case
of modern democracy. The essence of democracy is majority rule, which means the
making of binding decisions by a vote of more than half of all people, who participate
in an elections. Mal. Jaafar viewed democracy in this case as lopsided, in the sense
that, it is a system where votes are the main consideration. One of the criticism to
modern democracy is that, there is no difference between the vote of a religious leader
and the vote of a prostitute. The idea of making all votes to be equal, is what makes
democracy to be lopsided, because, a politician that is campaigning for election can
treat a religious leader and a prostitute in the same manner as he is seeking for their
individual votes.
There are scholars who perceived the concept of Ahlul Halli Wal-Aqdi as a
model of Islamic democracy, therefore this gave rise to the notion that some consider
Western democracy as a system that could be approved by all people.161 There could
be an argument that, if the approach of Ahlul Halli Wal-Aqdi as trusted representative
of the people, would be responsible for electing a leader for the people, it seems like
people are forced to accept a leadership, based on the opinion of few not majority.
Therefore, Western democratic concept of majority rule appeared favorable. To
counteract such an argument, Mal. Jaafar claimed the approach of Ahlul Halli Wal-
Aqdi is superior and the best option of electing a leader. He further argued that since
the beginning of the world, in every generation, wherever there is majority (when
making decisions), that is where ignorance, irresponsibility and inexperience lies.
Ignorant people have always been more in number than intelligent people. Mal. Jaafar
used the Qur’an to prove that the majority does not receive praise, rather the minority
160 Although, Mal. Jaafar explained three approaches of providing a leader in Islam, this research also
identified the three approaches. However, the main focus of this is the discussion of how modern
democracy differs from the concept of Ahlul Halli Wal-Aqdi.
161 Hasanuddin, “How the People of Aceh Perceive Western and Islamic Democracy (A Study Based
on Political Market Approach)”, The 7th Annual International Conference (AIC) Syiah Kuala University
and the 6th International Conference on Multidisciplinary Research (ICMR) in Conjunction with the
International Conference on Electrical Engineering and Informatics (ICELTICs), University of Syiah
Kuala. Banda Aceh, Indonesia, (2017), pp. 550-558.
69
receive praise. In different Verses of the Qur’an, Allah says: “… but must people do
not know”.162 Another verse was also brought forward to indicate that fewer numbers
of people can overpower larger numbers of people: “… how many times has a small
force vanquished a mighty army by the will of Allah, and Allah is always with the
steadfast” (Q2:249). Mal. Jaafar affirmed that democracy is definitely not the
favorable system of governance, however it is accepted and established based on
necessity.163
Mal. Jaafar continues to assess the fault of modern democracy, as a system that
claims to advocate for social justice and human rights, it seems to be unfeasible. For
instance, in the case of an election, if the concept of majority rule is applied, while
selecting a leader, the minority are not favored, because it is more likely the minority
are not fond of the elected leader. Fairness should have been recognized for both
parties, not just the majority. One could still argue that the approach of Ahlul Halli
Wal-Aqdi shows the superiority of some people over the majority. However, taking a
look at a democratic constitution; it is a document that is created to describe how a
state or country should be governed, a constitution is written by few people, and for
that, some people are excluded in a democratic system of governance. Therefor, in an
Islamic system, a state or a country is governed by a unique pattern of governance
which is sourced from the Qur’an and Hadith.164
After considering modern democracy as a system incapable of favoring all
people, Mal. Jaafar suggested the application of Islamic system of governance in
(Northern) Nigeria, thereby posing a rhetorical question. When documenting the 1999
constitution of Nigeria, how many people participated or represented each of the
Nigerian states? Only a few people represented the whole population of the country
when documenting the constitution. Assuming each of the Nigerian states will provide
one thousand representatives in writing the constitution, there are different people with
different needs, and it is impossible for all people to have representation while
162 Such a statement was made in different verses of the Qur’an. See. https://quran.com/.
163 See the YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqMvaJnEfIw.
164 Arguments of Mal. Jaafar is that modern democracy is not feasible to (Northern) Nigeria.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqMvaJnEfIw.
70
documenting a constitution, this makes a democratic constitution exclusive.165 A
written constitution somewhat proves that democratic system is based on a few
individuals governing the majority. Mal. Jaafar also affirms that if a people submit to
an Islamic system of governance, it is not based on the ideas of a few individuals rather
what the Qur’an and Hadith regulated for the people.166 There is no doubt that the
Qur’an and Hadith provided space, policies and practices of equal access and
opportunity for all people, who are otherwise excluded or marginalized by modern
democracy.
3.3. Secularism
Modernity is involved in the project of separation of religion from the public
sphere; such a view is regarded as secularism. The concept of secularism does not
necessarily mean abandonment of religion; however, in a secular society, people can
express their opposition to religious beliefs. Modern Western society has adopted
secularism, which has made it distinct from other parts of the world. Because of
modernity, secularism is spreading to other parts of the world. In the Nigerian context,
the people were adherent followers of religion, the Muslims of Northern Nigeria were
able to establish an Islamic government in the past: the Sokoto caliphate, that applied
Islamic system of governance, ensure all sphere of Muslims lives are govern in
accordance to the teachings of Islam, as set out in the Qur’an and Hadith. However,
due to British colonization of Nigeria, the country became a modern nation state,
thereby adopting democratic system of governance that promotes secularism.
The West viewed religion as a hindrance to modernization projects, which is
why they challenged religious practices, to keep separating religion from the public
sphere and everyday life of individuals. Modernity is not the first phenomenon that
challenged religion; specifically, Islam. Since the beginning of the history of Islam,
there had been different encounters between Muslims and the followers of other
165 Mal. Jaafar assesses the exclusivity of a constitution based on differences in people; there are some
with physical and mental challenges, there are some who belong to a minority ethnic group, there are
people of different low income professions like laborers, plumbers, tailors and many more. There is no
way that all these groups of people provided representation while documenting the constitution.
166 See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqMvaJnEfIw.
71
religions; Jews, Christians and pagans. The followers of other religions tried to bring
an end to Islam through military warfare or other means, however, did not succeeded.
The effort to damage Islam and Muslims by their rivals still continue to modern times.
Sheikh Muhammad Auwal Adam (Albani Zaria)167 discussed secularism in
Nigeria, in one of his lectures titlee: “Woman: a mother of a nation”, organized by
Form One Association and Women in Da’awah, in 1429/2008, at Sultan Bello
Mosque, Kaduna State. Albani began reaffirming the argument that; the rivals of Islam
have been trying to damage Islam and Muslims, since the beginning of history to
present times. Although the approach to disrupt Islam in the beginning was mostly
through military warfare, the modern approach employed by the West to disrupt
Muslims and their civilization is intellectual warfare.168 By definition, intellectual
warfare is the deliberate and systematic destruction of a group’s mind, with the
ultimate objective of being the extirpation of that group. Essentially, intellectual
warfare means the destruction of the minds of African people and hijacking of classical
African civilization by Europeans. Intellectual warfare is not like military warfare of
using weapons or attacks in the battlefield; rather, it is a war of ideas that create clash
and disagreement of opposing ideals, ideologies and concepts through which Europe
uses as a strategy to promote their interest in secularism. 169
Albani indicated that through intellectual warfare, a Muslim can turn away
from Islam, without using force, a Muslim can stop going to a mosque or even stop
praying, fasting and reading the Qur’an. From that onward, a Muslim can completely
became a non-Muslim in taste and style. At the time of Albani’s lecture, it was during
Ramadan, he argued that there were a number of youths from major Northern Nigerian
167 Muhammad Auwal Adam (Albani Zaria) was a Northern Nigerian Islamic scholar who earned the
title “Albani” due to his specialization in the field of Hadith. He was also an expert in
telecommunication engineering and ICT. He died in 2014. In order to identify him better, his title
“Albani” will be used more often, because that is how he is best known in Nigeria.
168 The lecture can be accessed via a YouTube link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB4Csk_ktNc.
169 Josef Ben Levi, “The Intellectual Warfare of Dr. Jacob H. Carruthers and The Battle for Ancient
Nubia as a Fundamental Paradigm in Africana Studies: Thoughts And Reflections”, The Journal of
Pan-African Studies, Vol. 5, No. 4, (2012), pp. 178-195.
Jacob H. Carruthers Published a book “Intellectual Warfare”, in 1999, to uncover the problems that
Western education posed a challenge to the people of African descent. He indicated that Europe poses
a threat to African civilization, heritage, ideas and spirituality.
72
states, who were neither praying nor fasting, there were less youth who were striving
to read or memorize the Qur’an. All that happened without anyone forcing them not
to pray rather, it happened through intellectual warfare that secularism advocates;
freedom of religion and individuals have the rights to be free from religion. The system
of secularism and intellectual warfare created conflict of identity in young Muslims.
On one hand, Muslims who are adherent to Islamic practices, and on the other hand,
those who are not adhering to Islamic practices. In this case, the former would view
the latter as a vain or worthless Muslim (that is if he even sees him as a Muslim), while
the latter will view the former as a religious fanatic or extremist. This conflicting view
between these two groups of Muslims will then give rise to a clash or disagreement,
that might lead to violence in the Muslim community.170
Modernity creates division among people through secularism, some divisions
are as a result of groups and organizations that created conflict of identity through
tribalism, regionalism or even differences in religious views. Albani further gave
examples of groups that were created to facilitate division among the people, such
groups are: Association of Katsina residents in Kaduna, or Sokoto residents in Kano
and so on. In essence, Northern Nigerian people were one people irrespective of tribe
or religion, Dan Masanin Kano proved this when Sardauna was the Premier of the
Northern region, it was one of Sardauna’s greatest achievement that under his
leadership, he had all Northern Nigerians, all the tribes of Northern Nigeria united,
there was no question of tribe or religion or status. Dan Masani said: “in those days,
people in the North did not call themselves by the names of their tribes or religion,
they were all (‘Yan Arewa) Northerners”.171 Albani continued to suggest that all
Northern Nigerian should be one people, in fact all Muslims should be one community
all over the world, as the Prophet (PBUH) referred to the relationship between
believers as human body,172 or building.173 If a particular Muslim society is suffering,
170 Albani made consistent arguments about secularism affecting Muslims throughout his lecture:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB4Csk_ktNc.
171 Ibid.
172 Hadith: The similitude of believer in regard to mutual love, affection, fellow-feeling is that of one
body, when any limb of it aches, the whole-body aches, because of sleeplessness and fever. (Muslim:
2586), https://sunnah.com/.
173 Hadith: A believer to another believer is like a building whose different parts enforce each other.
(Bukhari 2446), https://sunnah.com/.
73
it is like the whole Ummah is affected, and if one society is triumphing, the whole
Ummah is succeeding. Division among people does not only breed tribalism,
regionalism or differences in religions, it also created conflict of identity among
Muslim.174
3.4. Westernization
Modernity emerged as a project that has strong association with the West. The
strong connection of modernity and the West, made so many people to equate the
concept of modernity to the concept of Westernization. Although the concepts of
modernity and Westernization are different, it is widely accepted that Westernization
is a sub-process of modernity. Westernization is the process of imitating Western
countries, whereby non-Western societies came to adopt Western cultures, norms and
values. Essentially, Westernization is the accepting and adopting the modern style and
ideas in areas of education, politics, economics, culture, tradition, mentality, language,
clothing, diet, perception, lifestyle and philosophy. In short, Westernization is the
adoption of Western values.175
Western modernity was arguably introduced to Northern Nigeria during the
colonial period, and it has continued to have substantial impact on the postcolonial
Islamic structures, that were already established among the Muslim communities.
Traditionally, Northern Nigerian Muslims are religious and devotional people, so with
all the challenges that modernity pose to their religion; Islam, modernity cannot change
the essence and principle of Islamic acts of worship, thus, modernity has challenged
religious beliefs in many ways like; science, philosophy and politics, seeking to push
religion away from the public and private spheres of life, through promotion of
secularism. Therefore, modernity needed to accommodate relevant Western ideas to
raise some controversies among the Muslims to look more modern.
174 See the lecture on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB4Csk_ktNc.
175 Tubah Shah, Understanding Modernization and Westernization, “Greater Kashmir”
https://www.greaterkashmir.com/todays-paper/understanding-modernisation-and-Westernization,
October 26th, 2015. Accessed date [August 28th, 2021].
74
As Islam is a religion that values education, since the colonial period, the
introduction of Western oriented (secular) education, challenged, the traditional
Islamic education system. Despite introduction of Western education, most Muslims
maintained seeking knowledge of the Qur’an and Arabic language. After the collapse
of the Islamic state of the Sokoto caliphate, with the support of Western educated
elites, the colonial power was successful in dismantling the political structure of the
Caliphate, then other institutions. They started with the creation of a modern state
which in many ways, has led to the subordination of the Shariah to a positive law and
till today, implementation of Shariah in (Northern) Nigeria is a debate. Under the
present political dispensation, modernity advocates that democracy is the effective
system of ensuring good governance, as it provides inclusiveness in government
participation and accountability. In Nigeria Today, democratic governance has proved
not to be in conformity with the people, as it has materialized into a system with
corruption and bad governance.
Since colonialism, Nigeria was integrated into the modern capitalist economic
system of the world, through pinning the idea of development and progress. Nigeria in
general is now operating under capitalist economy. That made Northern Nigeria to
moved from producers of especially agricultural produce, to consumers and dependent
imported products. Not only on political and economic structures, Western modernity
continued to pose different perceivable challenges, within the context of cultiral norms
and values Northern Nigerians. There is no doubt that Northern Nigerian culture has
been challenged by modernity, and at the same time trying to be relevant, no matter
what changes happen in a society, some traditions and values still remain. People get
affected by changes easily, when youth attract current trends, especially when it has to
do with Western lifestyle, since the youth are expected to assume leadership of their
societies in the future. Even when people are accepting beneficial changes, they should
be cautious not to abandon their cultural heritage and traditional values.
One of the most sensitive aspects of people’s existence is their culture. As a
result of its prominent role in societies, it provides people with platforms to relate with
their environment, as they attempt to create order, direction and harmony for
75
themselves and the people around them.176 Through culture, people build societies and
institute a process of achieving a civilization. A society is said to be civilized, when
the members are open to new and current ways of doing things, that can be in
conformity with their belief system and socio-behavioral codes that shape individuals.
In spite of that, in order for people to determine who they are, they have to distinguish
themselves from other cultures and features, that undermine their cultural identity.
Despite the role of culture in shaping the identity of a people, it could be understood
from historical events, especially the colonial period in Nigeria that .Northern Nigerian
culture has been altered, to the extent that in contemporary times, most of the youth
seems to place values on foreign cultures, especially Western culture, rather than their
indigenous culture. Some cultural habits in Northern Nigeria are neither the original
cultures nor a replication of Western culture, due to modernity or Westernization,
attitudes and practices of Northern Nigerian are becoming Western in style.177
Cultural alterations are noticeable in all spheres of life, as Dan Masanin Kano
pointed out during an interview, that the Northern Nigeria of the olden days are no
longer the same with the Northern Nigeria of Today. He said:
“Today, we are no longer what we were, what is happening Today is not in
our character, the norms and values left by Sardauna and our founding fathers
are no longer with us… Today as I have often described the situation; the
institution of family have broken down, respect for elders and constituted
authority, which used to be our cardinal principle in our society, is now at its
lowest ebb, honesty where it does not pay has become meaningless,
symptoms of revolt grew large in the horizon. In short, there is
meaninglessness in philosophy, insecurity in polity, chaos in politics,
immorality in society, corruption in economy, prostration in art and lack of
creativity in literature. This is not what the North used to be or Nigeria as a
whole, ours was a decent country whose leaders respected one another as part
of their political differences, ours was a society that was morally sound, it
was a society in which all of us were brothers keepers. It is not the same
Today.
Perhaps, some people said we have been brainwashed by our elsewise
colonial masters; it is true to a certain extent, but we are to a very large extent
176 Justina Aniefiok James, p. 2.
177 Ibid., p. 2.
76
to blame… Today, as I have said… our cultural values have been thrown
overboard, Today, we are trying to abandon our culture”.178
This picture of Northern Nigeria that Dan Masanin Kano painted is a reflection
of the contemporary situation. The fact that majority of Northern Nigerian are
Muslims, the region is considered a Muslim community and the culture of the people
has become a part of Islam, therefore, most of their cultural practices are according to
the Shariah. Through addressing some cultural practices of Northern Nigeria, it could
help understand where modernity is penetrating the culture, and where the culture is
resisting modern changes, it could also help understand if both the culture and
modernity are intersecting.
The impact of modernity on Northern Nigerians’ culture is far reaching, it is
starting to shape and transform traditional social relations, like in the West, modernity
is affecting marriage and family institutions. In a traditional Northern Nigerian family,
parents or close relatives arranged marriages between intending couples, although both
men and women have the right to choose who they want to marry, with the approval
of their parents; thus, a thorough investigation into the family background of the bride
and the groom is done, to ascertain to credibility of the families. Polygamy is
commonly practiced, and extended family is an integral part of the Northern Nigerian
society. Hence, modernity is altering the marriage and family institutions; polygamy
practice is frown upon, thereby gradually decreasing.179 The extended family structure
that was valued in the past is giving way to nuclear family, there by copying the
Western-individualistic family system.180
In the modern marriage system, some people are not willing to know or
investigate things about the family they are getting married into, as long as they meet
their financial expectations.181 Those marriages often resulted in regrets between the
couples, and divorce has become common leading to children with single parents, that
178 This was extracted from a Television interview which can be found on YouTube. Here is the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IB2V_efVROM.
179 Tim Curry, “Nigeria”, Countries and their Cultures, https://www.everyculture.com/Ma-
Ni/Nigeria.html, (n.d), [Access Date] May 11, 2021.
180 Ibrahim S. Bitrus, “Globalizing Impact of Modernity in Africa”, Journal of Globalization Studies,
Vol. 8, No. 2, (2017), pp. 74-76.
181 This is an argument that indicates materialism is embedded many practices in Today’s world.
77
is also leading to children having lack of respect for elders. In the olden days, children
could not make eye contact with their parents, while having conversations, but Today,
some children even go as far as insulting their parents.182 Therefore, at this point some
believed that the parents are to blame for exposing their children to Western lifestyle.
Breaking down of family institutions led to the increase of individualism in the
society, some families became independent, tending to care only for their immediate
family, and at the same time, losing both their extended family and community
network, as a result, orphans and widows are left alone in hardship. Because of
individualism, modernity is somewhat leading to collapse in family institution, some
young men and women do not value the culture of marriage,183 which the idea of being
modern, is exposing a number of young men and women to engage in all sorts of
premarital sexual activities, and as a result, unwanted pregnancies are becoming
rampant, leading to alarming rate of abortion.184 In traditional Northern Nigeria,
people place great values on sexual purity, and most people keep themselves sexually
pure before marriage.
Another culture that is losing to modernity is fashion, it is now a common
practice to find youth dressed up in clothes that are Western. Although most people in
Northern Nigeria patronize the local attire, more than the Western imported fashion
wears, in the quest of becoming civilized and modern, some people, especially young
women, put on cloth which makes them almost naked. 185 Indecency in dressing is one
of the major factors that leads to increase rape cases. The fact that fashion is losing to
modernity, food culture is also losing, in today’s Northern Nigerian societies, food and
feeding culture is also suffering from the effect of modernity. The influx of fast food
centers are taking over locally homemade dishes. Local dishes have better nutritional
182 T.O. Ebhomienlen, “Negative Attitude of Modern Youth on African Ethical Values: Its Detrimental
Blow on the Esan Nation of Nigeria”, IJASOS-International E-Journal of Advance Social Sciences, Vol.
3, No. 8, (2017), p. 696.
183 Ibrahim S. Bitrus, p. 76.
184 T.O. Ebhomienlen, p. 696.
185 Justina Aniefiok James, pp. 3-4
78
values, but they are rarely found in modern homes, for reasons like modern families
do not have time or the knowledge of preparing them.186
Language, which is a great feature that gives people cultural identity, is under
the threat of modernity. Since colonial times, Nigerians have been compelled to adopt
English as their official language. In Northern Nigeria, Hausa language is the widely
spoken language, before colonialism, the language was written in Arabic script,
however, it was later changed to Latin alphabets, which was introduced in the 1930s,
by the colonial power. The negative impact of adopting English in today’s Northern
Nigeria is that, some people think it is uncivilized to communicate in the local
language.187 Some parents are not teaching their children their native language, as a
result of that, there are young people growing up that, neither fully know their native
language nor fluent in English, and without fluency in a language, one finds it difficult
to construct their life narrative.188
3.5. Advancement in Science and Technology
As modernity continues to spread around the world, its impacts could be seen
on everyday life of individuals, modernity impacts aspects of society ranging from
religion, culture, politics, economics and so on. The growing influence of modernity
somewhat raised a question; is modernity in its totality a threat to traditional societies?
Modernity is not always linked with negativity; modernity is associated with some
positivity in its way. There are some aspects of modernity that could make life better.
With the progress of modern education, science and technology seeks to improve the
living condition of people. Therefore, scientific and technological aspects of
modernity can be accommodated in peoples’ lives regardless of culture, religion or
social orientation.
One of the positive impacts of modernity was discussed earlier, that during the
colonial era, due to the educational system in that was introduced in form of Western
186 Tim Curry, https://www.everyculture.com/Ma-Ni/Nigeria.html.
187 Ibid.
188 Ibrahim S. Bitrus, p. 78.
79
education in Nigeria, despite the challenges and transformation the traditional-Islamic
system of education, modernity has in turn improved the quality and possibility of
education, that Muslims were able to accommodate and use it positively. Modern
schools were established; ranging from schools of elementary learning to schools of
higher learning. Through those schools, many people acquire diplomas and degrees in
different fields, and in the end, developed a career and become professionals. Not only
that, most people learn English through those schools, despite Hausa being a standard
language for the Northerners, this makes many people bilingual or multilingual and it
is an added advantage for the people to interact with different languages.
A positive impact of modernity is the advancement in science and technology,
it brought hope to people, seeking to improve their living condition. Science might
seem to offer solution to some problems; like in the field of medicine: before the
advent of modern medicine, people had traditional medicine, doctors or healers uses
herbs to cure various diseases. Although the traditional healthcare system is still in
practice today, people trust the modern health care system.189 Due to advancement in
modern medicine, mysterious diseases like cancer, heart, lungs, liver and kidney
diseases, that were not curable in the past, today, if diagnosed in their early stages, are
likely to be cured. Nevertheless, development of biotechnology has an impact on
morality, for instance, research in genetics, cloning and reproduction in the laboratory,
is exposing scientists to want to act as gods, and this is affecting religion and ethics,
thus modern medicine is filled with ethical issues. Technology has changed the world
today, means of industrial production and transportation are becaming easy everyday,
due to the invention of machines. Modernity has also manifested itself in displaying
major transformation in the area of communication. Technology has exposed many
people to access information easily through mass media, not like before that people
had to use drums, bells or fire to call the attention of people before passing
189 Ibid., p. 79.
80
information.190 Today, the internet and social media are the new trend in fast
communication through which knowledge and information can be spread.
190 Pamela Eze-Uzomaka & John Akintunde Oloidi, “Modernization and its Effect on the Cultural
Heritage in South-Western Nigeria”, International Journal of Art and Humanities (IJAH) Bahir Dar-
Ethiopia, Vol. 6 (2), No. 21. (2017), pp. 88.
81
CHAPTER FOUR
4. NEGOTIATING BALEWA AND OBASANJO YEARS
OF MODERNITY
It is impossible to imagine independent Nigeria without modernity, although
an insight of how or what (Northern) Nigeria is, during the Balewa (1960-1966) and
Obasanjo (1999-2007) years, was discussed in the chapter two of this research, this
chapter aimed at addressing two main issues: firstly, it is set to offer a comparative
study on the experience of modernity between the two different postcolonial periods
in the Northern Nigerian history: Balewa (1960-1966) and Obasanjo (1999-2007)
years. Despite the discontinuity of time between the Balewa and Obasanjo years, both
the periods are postcolonial periods, and the discussion is on Northern Nigeria, which
gives the two different time frames a similarity of period and region. However, there
is still a space for discussing (similarities and) differences, in the experience of
modernity within these two different time frames, which will be done separately.
Secondly, the chapter will further address negotiation of modernity in Northern
Nigeria, which will beg the question; whether Northern Nigerians accept or reject
modernity? Compared to some countries, Nigeria appeared to be accepting and
rejecting modernity in a less prospective way, due to the people’s frequent claims to
their culture and religion.
4.1 Balewa Years (1960 - 1966) of Modernity
Balewa years of 1960 - 1966 were short to learn something about Nigerian
modernity, due to the virtual continuation of colonialism after decades of British
colonial rule. What is explored in the period of the First Republic is that, Nigeria and
Nigerians were still struggling for decolonization from British colonial rule. At
independence, the postcolonial Nigerian state found itself, within the dictates of
institutionalizing practices that were rooted from colonial legacy. The state, in its
postcolonial form, mediates between various contending segments of indigenous
82
interests and colonial social formation. The forces that shaped colonial Nigeria,
continue to shape independent Nigeria, especially its religious formation and the sociopolitical
situations, that emerged at the time of Nigeria’s independence in 1960.
Despite independence, colonial experiences remained, due to the long experience of
colonialism, some political elites were afraid of losing the political power granted to
them by the British. In an attempt to maintain a relationship with Britain, to enjoy
privileges and power, those in political positions often apply British policies in public
institutions, thus rendering the Nigerian state weak with unstable policies, leading to
Britain to regulate the country.191 Nigeria’s colonial history is vital to the discussion
of postcolonial modernity, because colonialism is to a large extent responsible for the
impact of modernity in Nigeria.
The development of Nigeria at independence was faced with some challenges;
at one hand, Nigeria was faced with the challenges of (re)negotiating and reviving its
history and culture. On the other hand, there was the challenge of imitating Europe,
through their encounters and colonialism. Nigerian structure at independence was very
much Western-oriented, because, in addition to the colonial legacy, the political elites
were those that had a special relationship and connection with Britain. Hence, Prime
Minister Balewa noted in one of his speeches that; “Britain will not become a foreign
country to us”. Beyond the reflection of culture and history, some political elites
negotiated their personal positions to the Western claim that, African culture is inferior
to Western culture. Before and after independence, many Nigerians that attended
(modern) Western schools, colleges or universities, ended up learning European
culture, therefore, they became familiar with the idea of creating people who wanted
to reform their culture, and became Westernized. The widely educated Nigerians
dominated the civil service and political arm of the state, which is a legacy of a colonial
state, there by resulting in uneven demarcation of political power. Many of the Western
educated elites came from the Southern region of the country, and that made the
191 Chris Hall, “Colonial Modernity: Progress, Development and Modernism in Nigeria”, UFAHAMU:
A Journal of African Studies, Vol. 42, No. 1, (2020), pp. 49-52. Chris Hall argued that “Britain used to
regulate the nation” and at present, people are just pretending that colonialism in Nigeria simply
disappeared in 1960. Colonialism continues to shape Nigeria’s present due to the ongoing exploitation
of the general population.
83
Northern elites to feel unfair, that the South held dominance over the North. The
struggle for power became based on ethno-religious interests, that set the stage for
religion to take a political dimension, because both regions, wanted to have their
members in the position of power, hence, the struggle for power led to the
politicization of religion.192
In Northern Nigeria, Tafawa Balewa, as the Prime Minister of Nigeria, was a
passionate advocate of Northern interest, he was joined by the Northern political elites
to promote Islamization policy, in order to unify the people, because of their shared
Islamic identity. The politicization of Islam was an approach to extend Islam and
political acceptance beyond the Northern region. Through political Islam, the Northern
politicians were able to create an Islamic civil society; JNI, which served as an
umbrella for all Muslim in Nigeria, to advance their political, social and economic
interest. Politicization of Islam was used to legitimize political agenda and
Islamization of (Northern) Nigeria, politicians like Sardauna relate to Usman dan
Fodio, to cultivate the support of the people. During the politics of the first republic,
especially in Northern Nigeria, there was less separation between religion and
politics,193 which means, there was less secularism.
The period of 1960-1966, is basically copying the form of European tradition
in Nigeria. The 1960s was a period of postcolonial modernity, the events of Nigeria’s
independence, gave an appearance of the dawn of a modern-nation state, although it
was more of a carry-over from colonialism. Since the colonial times to the periods of
independence, Nigeria found itself in the world of capitalist economy. In the First
Republic period, Nigeria accepted democracy, but it was inappropriate as a political
practice, because Nigeria was not able to come out of colonial experience, and the
people lacked the political culture to sustain democracy. The standard of Nigerian lives
was visible in the facet of British life-style, Nigeria inherited the British socio-political
system and life-style, which is a perfect example to direct modernization. The notion
of progress and development in the period of the First Republic, was influenced by
192 Iheanyi M. Enwerem, A Dangerous awakening: The Politicization of Religion in Nigeria. Ibadan,
IFRA-Nigeria, (1995), pp. 45-46.
193 Ibid, pp. 50-52.
84
Western Eurocentric ideals of creating political elites, with consciousness of local
identity; however, they developed a sense of assembling a community with European
values.194 Enaruna Edosa put it that, in the early years of Nigeria’s independence, the
concepts of development, progress and modernization were not distinguished. Those
concepts connote a society being creative, stable and equipped with industrialization,
therefore, there is an involvement of complex changes in institutions and society.195
So far, to make a clear point about changes in institutions and society, it is a situation
of Nigeria simply imitating the West in order to develop and modernize.
In the period of the First Republic, Nigerians somewhat failed to play a system,
that would support the establishment of a Modern Nigeria, hence they resorted to a
regional system, where political power depended on regional affiliations, which
became a problem for unification of the country. Since colonial times, there have been
efforts to unify the Nigerian state, however, constant competition for political power,
access to economic resources and regional differences of ethnicity and religion made
it impossible. At independence, Nigeria had the aspiration of a unified nation-state, it
had a federal constitution that guaranteed autonomy to the three regions. However,
Nigeria's appeal to regional identity of ethnicity and religion, became the main
challenge, therefore, Nigeria became polarized into a competition between different
opposing political allies, which became a problem for democratization of the country.
In relation to the challenges of unifying Nigeria, there were several political
movements formed by minority groups, to press their demand for a separate state, these
minority groups normally aligned themselves with a major party, that supported their
demand, which enabled them to extend their influence.196 The challenges of unifying
Nigeria was to some extent responsible for the end of the First Republic period, as a
result of a military coup in 1966.
194 Chris Hall, pp. 54-59.
195 Enaruna Edosa, “Nigeria: Between Development and Modernization – A Rhetorical Discussion”, An
International Multidisciplinary Journal, Ethiopia, Vol 8 (3), No. 34, (2014), pp. 250-260.
196 Helen Chapin Metz, ed. Nigeria: A Country Study, Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress,
(1991), http://countrystudies.us/nigeria/.
85
4.2 Obasanjo Years (1999 - 2007) of Modernity
Nigeria is a country that experienced dictatorship before and after
independence; before independence, it was the British colonialist, and after
independence, it was the military on and off coups and interventions in Nigerian
politics. The period of 1999 – 2007 or the early period of the Fourth Republic, is no
different from the period of the First Republic, although the First Republic only lasted
for about 6 years, while the Fourth Republic is still in continuity. Both the periods are
postcolonial periods, but the Fourth republic is a post-independence period. Over the
years, discussions have continued to revolve around different functions of modernity,
in the understanding of contemporary Nigeria. Regardless of arguments, it is evident
that modernity is playing a significant role in helping to understand the contemporary
Nigerian state. The trend of modernization in Nigeria, particularly in the Fourth
Republic, in the name of creating a modern society has opened a way for Western
norms and values to take over Nigerian values and cultures. The impact of Western
civilization in Nigeria has led to cultural dualism, thus Nigerian experience with
modernity is confronted with tension at every level of the social setting.197
Modernity or modernization process in Nigeria is strictly linked with its history
of political development; beginning from colonial period, postcolonial period and
post-independence period. There is no doubt that the initiatives for modernity and
modernization were limited in the first two periods, owing to the social organization
of the country, yet the period of post-independence, especially 1999 – 2007 has
witnessed a growing impact of modernity, which were marked with challenges and
inherent contradictions. In the post-independence period, after decades of
experiencing on and off military rule and dictatorship, in 1999, Nigeria witnessed the
return of democracy, by electing Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, a Christian from the South,
and a retired army general as the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. In
today’s world, modernity advocates that, democracy is the most effective system of
ensuring good governance, as it promotes inclusiveness through participation and
197 To understand the impact of modernity on the culture of Northern Nigerians, see chapter three
under the section “Westernization”.
86
accountability. Democracy has been adopted and practiced in Nigeria. While the
system might relatively work in the Western countries, it is the opposite in the case of
Nigeria. During both First and Fourth Republic, Nigeria adopted democracy, however,
the people lack the culture and experience to sustain democracy. The democratic
system in Nigeria, has not yet transformed into a system of good governance; rather,
the system is ridden with corruption and bad governance at different levels.198 In
Northern Nigeria, the democratic practices or governance made some people,
especially the Islamic scholars, to express their views that, democratic governance is
not Islamic. Although democracy can (or cannot) be contrary to Islam, Muslims can
participate in the Western model of democratic system out of necessity, in order to
bring Islamic social values into the system, to make it work better for the Muslim
North.199
Modernity in Nigeria made secularism engage with politics, as a way to
separate religion from the state. In the politics of the Nigerian First Republic, there
was little or no separation of religion from politics, especially in the North. Religion
played a significant role in mobilizing support of the people, which gave rise to
politicization of Islam or Islamization policy in Northern Nigerian First Republic.
Religion has always been manipulated for political ends in Nigeria, besides ethnic and
regional considerations, the two major religions; Islam and Christianity, dominated the
political and cultural scene in Nigeria, yet, the constitution of the country does not give
reference to any of the dominating religions. Although the Northern Nigerian society
is portrayed as a religious or Muslim society, the secularity of Nigeria became a
challenge for Shariah (re)introduction in the 1999-2000 years of the Fourth Republic.
As at least 12 of the 19 Northern states adopted Shariah as their legal system, the
Obasanjo administration declared that; it was unconstitutional for any state
government to adopt a state religion. The adoption of Shariah in the North was meant
to ensure good governance, checking the growth of Christianity, as well as slowing
198 Mashood A. Baderin, pp. 200-201.
199 As discussed in the chapter three of this work, “Impact of Modernity, under the section of
democracy”, Mal. Jaafar criticized modern democracy and explained how it is not compatible with
Muslim Northern Nigeria especially looking at the history of Islam and the history of the Sokoto
caliphate. Out of necessity, Muslims participation in the Nigerian democratic system of 1999 resulted
in the (re)introduction of Shariah in Northern Nigeria.
87
down the loss of identity in Muslims, however, (Northern) Nigeria still remains a
secular state.200
Over the years of Nigeria’s experience with modernity, in the spheres of
politics, economics, social and religious aspects of life, modernity has manifested itself
in areas which display major differences, that explains how Northern Nigerians
experience their contemporary moments. From colonial times to the present, Nigeria
was compelled to adopt European traditions, thus modernity seemed as an unfavorable
experience, that brought about different forms of foreign influences. The pace of
modernity in Nigeria is progressing, and modernity is continuing to shape the Nigerian
society. There is no perfect modernity in Nigeria, therefore, Nigerians are left with the
choice of accepting or rejecting modernity.
4.3 Negotiating Modernity in Nigeria
The discussion of modernity in the case of most Muslim countries seems
unending. Apart from debates, the close connection between Islam and modernity, lead
to the construction of a new identity among Muslims; modernist Muslims. This set of
Muslims, took the discussion of a modern Islam, due to the wake of European
(colonial) encroachment in the past centuries, in the Muslim world. Different countries
have different experiences of modernity, different societies acquired modernity in
relation to their history and culture, therefore, modernization process in various
societies is not the same. However, modernity is responsible for changing societies.
The issue of negotiating modernity are cases that present changing notions of norms,
related to religion and social reality, the complicated form of negotiation can be from
the rejection or acceptance of modernity by some Muslims. It is a fact that, the idea of
modernity gave rise to a new practice of social and political Islam or Islamism;
promoted by modernist Muslims, to encourage the negotiation of modernity. Despite
modernity’s impacts of secularism and Westernization, implementing modernity can
be an alternative solution to a new form of development. However, it became clear
200 John Olushola Magbadelo, “The Politics of Religion in Nigeria”, World Affairs: The Journal of
International Issues, Vol. 7, No. 2, (2003), pp. 64-88.
88
that, modernity came with terms of social changes that impacted the religion and
culture of Muslims.201
In most Muslim countries, whenever modern-democratic space opened the
discussion of modernity, some people often come up with ideas to recognize their
religion and culture. The idea of “Islamism”, is somewhat viewed as an alternative
way of blending modernity and Islam. In contemporary times, there is an assumption
that culture and religion might soon disappear in the face of modern societies, this is
because, most Muslims are not upholding their cultures, and religious practices in
everyday life are declining, thus, increasing visibility of perception of Western way of
life. The modern nation state system in Muslim majority countries, created a direct
link to separating religion from public space. The eventual decline or death of religion,
is because of secularism and Westernization; both secularism and Westernization
came to formulate a theory that; religion is a hindrance to modern development. From
the moment Muslim societies became modern nation states, they began to directly or
indirectly replicate the secular notion of keeping religion confined, as well as not
reflecting on the cultural particularities of their societies.202
Like most Muslim countries, the history of Nigeria is characterized with
colonialism at the hands of Britain. In most Muslim countries, colonialism could be
argued to be the primary experience of modernity. While focusing on the condition of
modernity in Nigeria and on Nigerians, especially during colonization, modernity was
constructed through brutal force, due to unequal power relations from the British. In
fact, the modern Nigerian state is a product of violence: ethno-religious violence has
been an ongoing issue, since the amalgamation of the country in 1914. Despite having
independence and escaping from direct British rule, coloniality seems to continue in a
different shape in Nigeria due to the residual impact of colonial modernity.203
201 Olga Bialostocka, “Choosing Heaven: Negotiating Modernity in Diverse Social Orders”, Africa
Development, Vol. 45, No. 3, (2020), pp. 121-154.
202 Lailufar Yasmin, Crisis of Modernity and Secularism: The Case of Egypt, Turkey and Bangladesh.
In, Open Democracy, https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/crisis-of-modernity-and-secularism-casesof-
egypt-turkey-and-bangladesh/, (17th August, 2013), Accessed Date: 10th October, 2021.
203 Chris Hall, pp. 43-66.
89
The experience of modernity in Nigeria is captured by and large as an essential
element of colonial projects. During colonial times, Nigeria was expected to adopt
European models of modernity as the standard way of life. However, in the case of
Northern Nigeria, due to the fact that, colonialism was attached with the spread of
Christianity, the people from the North found it difficult to accept modernity, thereby,
using Islam as an agency to distant themselves from colonial modernity. There have
been many attempts to come to terms with modernity and how it shaped Nigerian
social reality. The attempts can be understood from both rejecting and accepting the
concept of modernity. While on one hand, some believe in the rejection of modernity
to save the culture and tradition of the people, on the other hand, some emphasized on
modernization project which were particularly current in the Muslim world.
Modernization project gained waves in Nigeria, especially after independence, and it
brought a wide range of perspectives to negotiating modernity in Nigeria.
In the context of those who believed in the modernization project, they saw
modernity as a necessary force of Nigeria’s evolution. Accepting modernity at some
point, might create tension between tradition and modernity, however, the challenges
facing the current Nigerian society is overcoming tradition in order to gain access to
the benefits of the modern world. Modernity or modernization project is believed to
have introduced industrialization and globalization, which in turn gave rise to the
concepts of capitalism, modern nation-state, modern democracy, individualism and so
on. The absence of these values in a society account for backwardness204 in the view
of modernization theorists.205 Modernization theory is a description and explanation
of the process of transformation, from traditional or underdeveloped societies to
modern societies. Modernization is a process of change towards those types of social,
economic and political systems, practiced in Western Europe and North America.
Primary attention of modernization has focused on ways, in which past and present
204 Elísio Macamo, “Negotiating Modernity: From Colonialism to Globalization”, in, Negotiating
Modernity: Africa’s Ambivalent Experience, ed. Eliesio Salvado Macamo, London, Zed Books Ltd,
(2005), pp. 1-16.
205 In this regard, modernization theory had to be understood. However, the focus is not on
modernization theory, just an explanation to understand what modernization theorists mean by gaining
access to the benefits of modernity in societies like Nigeria.
90
traditional societies become modern (or Westernized), through the process of
economic growth and change in social structure.206
For those who rejected modernity, they began by critiquing the British colonial
establishment in Nigeria. Colonialism was viewed as a way of exploiting Nigeria’s
human and natural resources, during the British colonial rule, they integrated Nigeria
into the world of capitalist labor market, which somewhat created difficulties and
economic hardship in colonial Nigeria. Colonialism also brought changes that allowed
people to abandon their culture and tradition, and embrace Western cultural values.207
Critiques of modernity paved by colonialism, have tended to stress the resistance of
Nigerians to modernity, as well as a selective appropriation of modernity. Nigerians
have been resisting modernity, because of the experience of colonialism. However, the
past few decades suggest that, Nigerians are negotiating their ways into producing
their own social reality in relation to modernity.
During the early times of colonization, Nigerians especially from the North
resisted the concept of colonialism from British rule, which makes it hard for most
people to accept modernity even in contemporary times. However, after independence,
Nigerians embraced the continuity of a modern nation-state which effectively changed
their social situation. The concept of a nation state is characterized by reforming
religion. Nigeria is a secular nation, which sees the importance of moving beyond the
construction of modern separation of politics and religion. Nigeria was a critical
postcolonial country that adopted the concept of modern nation-state after
independence, despite its regional differences in religion and culture, between the
North and South. Nigeria’s history as a nation state has been characterized with ethnoreligious
conflicts, as well as attempts for secession, by the South-Eastern region of
the country. For Muslims of the North, the notion of a nation state is a critical case,
due to the construction of a nation state, based on the Eurocentric idea of modern
understanding; which is the separation of the state and religion. That is a secular
206 J. Michael Armer & John Katsillis, Modernization Theory, Encyclopedia.com
https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-andmaps/
modernization-theory, (n.d), [Access Date] October 22, 2021.
207 Elísio Macamo, pp. 2-3.
91
understanding, which failed to recognize the historical and cultural features that
construct pre-colonial Northern Nigeria.208
While Nigeria adopted the concept of a nation state, the country had been
practicing on and off democracy since colonial times, in the present days, democracy
is shaping the state legal and political system, as well as the narrative about Nigeria’s
modernization projects. Nigeria’s practice of democracy is by fact a colonial legacy,
which is why some people argued for its incompatibility in a country like Nigeria. The
fact that Nigeria is a modern nation-state that practices democracy, that gave
secularism a space to operate in the country. Furthermore, the country’s diversity in
region, religion and culture etc., as well as modernity served as a barrier for Shariah
(re)introduction in Northern Nigeria. However, although Nigerians accepted the
appropriation of the concepts of nation-state and democracy in the context of
modernity, the concept of secularism is still not accepted in Northern Nigeria. This is
because, majority of the people in the North are Muslim and they initiate political
Islam to challenge modernity209 in such a context.
One of the greatest aspects of modernity to Negotiate in Nigeria is
Westernization. In today’s world, modernity is spreading faster in the form of
Westernization. The adoption or acceptance of Westernization in most societies like
Nigeria, is through the introduction of modern facilities of education, technology and
industries, through these, people will begin to adopt Western values of politics,
religion and lifestyle, to the detriment of their traditional values. Many societies have
lost their cultural uniqueness due to Western trend of modernity. In the context of
Nigeria, there is no doubt that some traditional values in the society are declining, due
to the spread of modernity or Western values.210 However, in Northern Nigeria, there
are a lot of traditional and cultural values that still remains, even under the condition
of modernity, it is because, the people made the foundation of their lives based on
208 Máiréad Dunne, et al, “Beyond the Modern: Muslim Youth Imagnaries of Nation in Northern
Nigeria”, Sociology, Vol. 54, No. 6, (2020), pp. 1122-1140.
209 Olu Awofeso, “Political Islam and Democracy in Nigeria: Compatibility or Incompatibility?”,
International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research Method, Vol. 3, No. 3, (2016), pp. 24-33.
210 See chapter three “Impact of Modernity”, under the heading “Westernization” to understand how
Western values are influencing traditional (Northern) Nigerian values.
92
Islamic values, therefore, Islam resonate with their practices and also gave Northern
Nigerians a sense of identity for their culture.211
The realities of changes in time, meet up with the challenges of modernity that
operates in social order of Muslims’ lives. However, Muslims use Islam as their guide
to navigate their lives, through the different challenges of time. While considering
negotiation of modernity, Muslims normally engage with social principles, that are
applicable within the Islamic rules on social acts, and change in accordance with
change in time and modernity. The case of negotiating modernity in Nigeria, is similar
to the experience of modernity in most Muslim countries. Despite the significant social
changes and impact of modernity in Nigeria, Islam have been adapting to challenge
modernity in Nigeria. Islam have become part of Northern Nigeria, and it is well
established to the indigenous culture and tradition of the people, Islam became a
significant factor that could not be dissociated from the social, political and
educational institutions of Northern Nigeria. Today, Islam continues to play an
important role in the general social order of Muslim’s lives in Nigeria.
While discussing the relationship between Islam and modernity in the first
chapter of this work; three approaches were highlighted to help understand the
perspective of people in relation to modernity.212 For Nigerians, the fact that modernity
is underpinned by Western civilization, it poses different perceivable challenges to
their culture and religion. However, in their effort to negotiate modernity, they took
the necessary approach that could maintain balance between Islam and modernity, for
most Northern Nigerians, they maintain their Islamic and cultural values, and at the
same time, meeting the realities of the ever-changing world. Islam flourished
effectively within the different transformations of the modern world, which allow
Muslims to hold on to their values, without losing out from the advancement of
211 Adeyi Emmanuel Ola, “Perspective on the Impact of Modern Society on the Indigenous/Traditional
society of Nigeria”, IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science (IOSR-JHSS), Vol. 20, No. 4,
(2015), pp. 73-74.
212 The discussion here is about negotiating modernity in Nigeria however, for a clear understanding of
the three approaches to the relationship between Islam and modernity, see chapter one.
93
modernity and its benefits. Islam is striving in Nigeria and in most parts of the world,
Islam demonstrate its relevance in dealing with different challenges of modernity.213
Modernity has penetrated Northern Nigeria through multiple dimensions
which are related to each other: the first is, socio-political dimension that accounts for
the appearance of a centralized government, which facilitated modernization projects
in public institutions. The second dimension is economic and technological dimension,
the idea of a stable modern-capitalist economic system is facilitated by
industrialization, that gravitates the population to urbanization, thereby changing the
social stratification. The third dimension is the value system, which has to do with
Westernization and secularism; to insert the idea of development and progress in the
people, hence, disconnecting them from their religion and tradition. Despite the
formidable challenges modernity is placing on Northern Nigerian Muslims, Islam have
been framed in the culture of the people, and it is impossible to disconnect Islam form
certain traditional practices, that maintained correlation between Islam and culture. In
short, Northern Nigerian Muslims’ culture have a way of resisting modernity, which
is Islam, because they place great values upon harmonizing Islam and their culture,
which at present, become necessary for preservation of their worldview.
The widespread of modernity in Northern Nigeria was inevitable, due to the
colonization of the country, therefore, the growing influence of modernity in Northern
Nigeria, the people and their institutions still find a way to disengage them from
becoming inferior to modernity. There are two sides to almost every situation,
modernity has its negative and positive sides: the positive sides of modernity are things
that are not an integral part of everyday life, but they add value at some point in
people’s lives. As for the negative side of modernity, they are things that challenge
religion, politics, economics, culture and other traditional values, therefore, some
approaches need to be put in place to curtail further spread of negative modern values.
213 Mashood Baderin, pp. 187-192
94
CONCLUSION
This research came up to address the impact of modernity on Northern
Nigerian Muslims. Someone could ask a question of; how Nigeria fit into the
discussion of modernity? Well, looking at the introductory section of the research, it
somewhat explained why the study of modernity in Nigeria is of significance, because
the study of modernity in relation to Nigeria is limited, thus the experience of
modernity, particularly in Northern Nigeria is not different from the experience of
other societies that experienced modernity, yet Nigeria is somehow understudied.
Nigeria is the most populous African country, and the great majority of the people in
the North are Muslims.
It is somewhat impossible or difficult to discuss about Muslims without
relating to Islam, that is why the first chapter of this work addressed the understanding
of Islam and modernity. The chapter discussed on debates that pointed to areas of
tension and possible friction between different worldviews. The debates over the
relationship or compatibility and incompatibility of Islam and modernity needed
discussion, because Islam and modernity are two different world views, that contribute
to shaping the modern world. Those debates tilted the balance of political power, as
well as the balance between competing religious traditions. Considering the Western
world as the source of modernity, there had been ongoing engagements between the
Muslim world and the West. Figuratively, the debates of Islam and modernity could
be viewed as the clash of civilizations.
Addressing the history of Northern Nigeria is to a large extend important, as it
helped gave an overview of the situation in Northern Nigeria, and the people’s
relationship with modernity. The second chapter addressed the history of Northern
Nigeria, which served to explain the strong place of Islam in the construction of
identities in the region. The society of Northern Nigeria, particularly between the
nineteenth and twentieth century, was the coming together of so many people, under a
single political authority, bounded by a common ideology rooted in Islam. The
political and administrative structure of Northern Nigeria was operated, based on the
95
Shariah system under the guidance of the Sokoto Caliphate. However, despite the
development of Islam in the region, in the early 1900s, the British colonialists took
over the political and administrative control of Nigeria, there by bringing changes to
the per-colonial cultural value system, which somewhat marked as the early spread of
modernity in form of colonial modernity in Northern Nigeria.
While discussing the impact of modernity, in the third chapter, beyond
objective factors, the situation is one society simply imitating the systems of another
society. Northern Nigerian or Nigeria in general was simply copying from the West,
in order to change for progress and develop modernization. The impacts of modernity
are related to political, economic, social and cultural impacts, which are based on
beliefs, values and practices, that were rooted into Nigeria based on European
worldviews. In the contemporary Nigerian system, there are multiple faces or
dimensions to modernity. The political dimension of modernity in Nigeria, produced
the concepts of modern nation-state and democracy; these transformed the historical
and traditional Nigerian society to accommodate Western modernity. Economic
modernity produces capitalism; a complex economic situation that resulted in
individualism. The social and cultural dimension of modernity, represented secularism
and Westernization. Secularism restricted religion from being a separate entity from
politics, as well as making it a personal affair rather than public. Westernization
accounted for altering the Nigerian cultural practices and values, to replicate the
Western culture. Nevertheless, modernity did account for welcoming development,
especially in science and technology, despite the initiative of societal changes.
In the fourth and final chapter of the research, despite the ambiguity of
modernity in Nigeria, the chapter analyzed how contemporary Nigerian society
negotiates with the idea of modernity. Muslim’s encounter with modernity left behind
a debate of acceptance or rejection of modernity, despite different perspectives to
understanding the relationship or compatibility and incompatibility of Islam and
modernity. The debate on negotiating modernity is prevailing in Nigeria, modernity
can be a complicated phenomenon, which might not be clear to many Nigerians.
Therefore, Negotiation of modernity in Nigeria is the constant attempts to negotiate
between secularism and faith, Nigerian culture and Westernization. It is important to
96
understand that modernity is a phenomenon that will continue to evolve even in the
future. However, Islam is indeed ahead or in the forefront of modernity in the Muslim
world, and Northern Nigeria in particular.
From the outcome of this research, it can be considered to be part of the few
comprehensive works on the subject of modernity in Nigeria. The fact that modernity
is a universal phenomenon, the trend of modernity in Nigeria became inevitable,
Nigeria as a developing country is aspiring for progress and development, in the name
of creating a modern society. So far, this research brings the reflection of Nigeria’s
social reality, which provides insights into the experience of modernity in Nigeria.
Northern Nigerian society is experiencing a series of changes, in the institutions that
make up the social system. Modernity is by fact, one of the main forces behind the
construction of Nigerian society over the past century.
As many people can agree, modernity is a controversial subject. On one hand,
it has some positive impacts that people can cope with, at some point in their lives,
and on the other hand, it has some negative impacts, that result to changes in the
worldviews, norms and values of people and societies. No one can deny the effect of
modernity, it triggered different changes related to progressive societies, and as people
start to feel that they have control of their lives, they tend to transform their
worldviews, religion, culture and other aspects of their lives. Notwithstanding, even in
the absence of Western model of modernity, people and societies can experience
changes, due to the passage of time, which can also result in both positive and negative
outcomes. Meanwhile, the Western model of modernity resulted in rapid changes, that
maintained the shift from traditional to modern. Thus, if modernity can be positive and
progressive in some aspects of people’s lives, it also presents more critical and
negative experiences in people's daily lives.
Modernity is known for detraditionalization of society, and spreading Western
norms and values to other cultures, despite the changes modernity influenced on
traditional-cultural practices, people can still control how modernity affects them, as
Dan Masanin Kano once quoted Winston S. Churchill: “We are masters of our faith,
97
we should be captains of our souls”.214 In order to counter the negative effects of
modernity, it is important for traditional cultural practices to appear stronger, people
should be capable of protecting their culture, against Western civilization, because
showing cultural inferiority or assimilating Western values, can be a gateway for
Western cultural domination. In the postindependent days of Nigeria, Sardauna
adhered to the culture of the North, by organizing annual cultural festivals, to remind
people of their cultural heritage, as pointed out by Dan Masanin Kano, he further
believed that people can also get away from the influence of Western norms and
values. He said:
“I believe, if we can revive the glory of the past, by reminding us of the
good achievements, the success of the Sardauna and his likes, if we
recall what the Sardauna did and emulate his examples, we can certainly
revive the glory of the past”.215
So, in relation to Dan masanin Kano, the spread of modernity can be curtail, if
the people could interact with other cultures, people can cultivate the culture of
interacting with non-Western cultures, and as Muslims, they can be interested in
collaborating with cultures that stood against un-Islamic cultures, thereby showing
significance to Islamic values and practices. For instance, collaborating with Arab
cultures, that have longer history with Islam, and in this form, they might have the
chance of exchanging cultural values; like languages or costumes etc., thus, boosting
economic and diplomatic relations.
The impacts of modernity can also be curtailed through effective increase in
knowledge and understanding of the culture of the people. While devising the modern
education system, a platform can be provided to promote awareness to the people
concerning their culture, for instance, starting from elementary schools, children can
be educated on the importance of their culture by engaging them in games, stories of
the past, learning and embracing local language, studying indigenous technology, and
informing them on the importance of restoring and preserving ancient material.
214 This was extracted from a Television interview which can be found on YouTube. Here is the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IB2V_efVROM.
215 Ibid.
98
Preparing children from early ages will help build confidence, and place great values
on engaging and accepting culture. The use of modern technology can also help people
embrace their culture, by introducing cultural activities to the mass media, in this case,
both young and adults, would be aware of cultural importance. The government can
also get involved in curtailing the spread of modernity, through creating cultural
institutions, and by so doing, even in the face of modernization, people can still retain
their cultural effectiveness.
99
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