Islam in Nigeria: Simmering tensions

President Obasanjo likes to refer to Nigeria as a 'multi-religious' country, with a constitution that, whilst reflecting the expectations of the different faiths, remains essentially secular.

There are roughly the same number of Muslims and Christians in a country of 120 million people, which means that Nigeria has one of the largest communities of Muslims anywhere in the world.

Although the majority of the population of Nigeria's northern states are Muslim, there are many Christians living there as well.

Perceptions of the daily lives of ordinary Muslims in Nigeria tend to be overshadowed by the media reports of conflict and crisis between Muslim and Christian communities in some northern cities.

But the vast majority of Nigeria's Muslims are devout and law abiding. Passionate views are held on events in the Middle East, often anti-American in sentiment, but it cannot be said that Nigeria is a country of Muslims radicalised by recent world events.

Religious tensions

However, over the past few years, relations between members of the two faiths have been severely strained, with sporadic outbreaks of violence related to the introduction of Islamic criminal punishments across northern Nigeria.

In the worst such incident in the city of Kaduna three years ago, more than 2,000 people died in street protests eventually brought under control by the army.

It's estimated that during President Obasanjo's first four years in office (from 1999-2003), well over 10,000 people died in clashes between the country's Muslim and Christian communities.

Many observers see this unrest not as a result of the spontaneous eruption of religious tensions, but as being provoked by marginalized politicians, using cultural divisions and misunderstandings to destabilise parts of the country for their own ends.

There is convincing evidence that opponents of Mr Obasanjo's government sought to undermine the country's stability during his first term in office.

It is also noteworthy that following the elections in April 2003 in which Mr Obasanjo won a second four year term, inter-religious violence has largely abated.

This is perhaps a reflection of the fact that many of the political aspirations of northern Muslim leaders have been met, or at least that compromises have been made that has reduced communal tensions for the time being.

Historical roots of Islam

There have been Muslims in Nigeria as far back as the 12th Century - scholars from northern Africa making their way across the trade routes of the Sahara desert, bringing with them Islamic culture and learning.

Over the subsequent centuries waves of Islamic 'jihads' swept through the dry semi-desert regions of West Africa, from what is now Senegal across to northern Nigeria.

These were in many ways wars of colonisation, great armies on horseback establishing powerful feudal empires, and firmly establishing the religion of Islam.

The most recent of these jihads were in the 19th Century, with religious leaders like Usman dan Fodio reinforcing the great Islamic caliphates of Sokoto, Borno and others in what is now northern Nigeria.

When the British arrived in northern Nigeria towards the end of the 19th Century, first as traders and then as colonial administrators, they established a system of indirect rule, allowing traditional Muslim rulers to continue to govern, reinforcing their positions under the loose administration of the British, and firmly establishing an extremely powerful Muslim elite.

This structure has proved immensely resilient throughout the later colonial period and then after independence in 1960, although more recently, the traditional rulers have ceded much of their powers to the northern Muslim politicians and power brokers.

It is in this context that many of the recent political moves towards the strengthening of Islam in the north, such as the extension of Sharia laws, can be understood - as a way of securing popular support by harnessing deep cultural and religious values developed over the centuries.

The impact of Sharia

Although some aspects of Islamic civil law had been integrated into the legal system in northern Nigeria since the early colonial period more than 100 years ago, it was the recent extension of these laws in the north to include harsh criminal punishments that has generated such controversy.

These Sharia punishments include stoning to death for the crime of adultery, amputation of limbs for theft, and flogging for the possession of alcohol.

Although non-Muslims in the these states are not governed by such laws, there is a strong feeling among Christians that the new laws represent an increasing Islamisation of the region, and with it, an intolerance of other faiths.

Many ordinary Muslims in Nigeria initially welcomed the new Sharia laws, believing that they would provide a more 'just' moral code by which to govern their lives.

This is because during the decades of harsh military rule, they had witnessed a corrupt and bureaucratic legal system, favouring the rich, and failing to bring justice to the poor.

But what has emerged within the new Sharia court system is, to many, worse than what they experienced before. Not only do the rich and well-connected continue to escape prosecution, but for the ordinary Muslim to challenge the workings of the Sharia courts is seen as directly questioning Islam and the will of Allah.

Not surprisingly, across northern Nigeria many Muslims are becoming increasingly sceptical about a system that has brought them little benefit and has served well the interests of the established political elite.

The overwhelming desire of the vast majority of Nigeria's Muslims is that they can continue to practice their religion peacefully, and that justice - whether Islamic or otherwise - will bring about a more equitable society.

However, in reality the economic and social divisions within Nigerian society remain as wide as ever, providing fertile ground for future tensions and unrest.