An African Case Study of Political Islam: Nigeria

Since the early nineteenth century, when Uthman b. Fudi established an Islamic state in northern Nigeria, there has been a close symbiosis between religion and political power. Since independence in 1960, the issue of regional or ethnic power sharing in Nigeria has shifted to a contest between Muslims and Christians, with the part-Muslim, part-Christian Yoruba of the southwest helping to hold the balance. Since the 1960s, Saudi Arabia has promoted its own austere interpretation of Islam, to the discomfort of the Sufi groups. More recently, Iran has been a model for younger militant Muslims. Calls by Nigerian Muslims for an Islamic state, and wider application of shari`a law, as well as the question of Nigeria's membership in the Organization of Islamic Conference have aroused the antagonism of Christians. Religious issues were behind several outbreaks of violence in the 1980s, some of which threatened the integrity of the Nigerian state.