Talking about BOKO HARAM: On January, 20, 2012 I posted the following here: No doubt that the group which calls itself, Jama’atu Ahlussunnah Lidda’awati Wal Jihad, and is popularly known as Boko Haram, sprang from among the Muslims in Northern Nigeria. Given the facts of history and linguistics the name Boko Haram means, “Western type of education is forbidden” to Muslims. Others may want to trace history and philologically understand the meaning of Boko to be, deceit, and argue that the naming of Western education, in the colonial era as Boko, meaning education of deceit, marked the origin of the idea of forbidden western education among Nigerian Muslims. This may not be untrue as the vehicle through which Western education came to Northern Nigeria was the missionaries that were helped by the colonialists who both expressed desire for the people to convert to Christianity. Historians are of the opinion that Lord Frederick Lugard, a British soldier, who spearheaded and completed the conquest of the largely Muslim Northern Nigeria in 1903 had befriended a British missionary called Dr. Walter Richard Samuel Miller, in 1901 and by 1902 Miller was in Zaria with the view of setting a Christian mission. Since he knew Arabic, oral tradition had it that Miller actually told the then Emir of Zazzau, Malam Muhammadu Lawal Kwasau and the people of Zaria that he was a North African and from a Sherifs, Sayyids bloodline ( Note that Sayyids are regarded as the decent of the prophet of Islam). So he was accepted and trusted with Muslim children(Ayandele E.A:1966). Miller and his friend Badgery won Zaria for the British with their spying activities. After the complete seizure of Zaria by the British, the people, oral tradition has it, were shocked to have seen the person they believed to be a Sheriff, a Sayyid was a truly Christian missionary establishing a school to convert their children to another faith. This essentially was why the first missionary school was termed makarantar boko, “school of deceit” and the education known as “karatun boko”, education of deceit. Here it is worth mentioning that some of our uncles like John Tafida Umaru, the author of the highly celebrated Hausa Novel, Jiki Magayi, was converted to Christianity after attending that school at tender age. Many of our uncles then suffered same fate! It should be understood here that Islam and the Muslim culture was never averse to learning and scholarship of any type, the naming of Western type of education as Boko was due to the circumstances of its introduction and history in northern Nigeria. But in the fullness of time the entire mission of converting children who pass through Western type of schools changed as a shift was recorded from the education given being religious to being secular and the mass of people who hitherto where opposed to its religious nature embraced it. It was in the year 1996 that a young man named Muhammad Yusuf started preaching, in Maiduguri, in Borno one of the north eastern states of Nigeria as an ordinary preacher who later in 2002 began to preach a strange ideology. By most account he has not had a formal education whether western or Islamic in any sense of the word but may have acquired some learning by keeping in the company of scholars. His ideology can be summarized under seven items: 1- That Democracy is infidelity that the SHARI’AH implementation under democratic system of government is not accepted and declared all politicians infidels. 2- That the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria is not to be accepted by all Muslims. 3- That western education is prohibited in Islam (Boko Haram) because it teaches evolution, it teaches Marxism, Leninism, and many other aspects that are in conflict with Islamic established truth. He also declared all students of western education infidels. 4- That working under government as a soldier, police, custom, immigration, civil defense is a form of idolatry. 5- That joining civil service is prohibited because the source of the money generated to pay one’s salaries is not purely halal it includes bank transactions, VAT from breweries etc. Many of their followers quit civil. 6- That Muslims have no excuse remaining under democratic system. 7- He doesnt believe in National ID card, voter’s card or driving license. - Ibraheem A. Waziri Much debate was generated from the post by good friends who believed it may have been short of some factual perfections. In the end it was my good friend Mal. Rabiu Isah Hassan, who a historian and currently works with Arewa House, ABU Zaria that came to the rescue with following 3 posts that settled the matter and got everybody convinced. He first disagreed with me on my my origin of Boko which even our highly respected scholar, Dr. Aliyu U. Tilde agreed with and corroborated:
Posted on: Mon, 01 Dec 2014 08:21:15 +0000