Not much of substance has been published on Northern Nigeria or Islam in Nigeria since Muhammad Sani Umar's Islam and Colonialism, published by Brill in 2006, with the exception of a few outstanding articles by Murray Last, Muhammad Sani Umar, Andrea Brigaglia and Adam Higazi as well as an edited volume on the Boko Haram movement by Marc-Antoine Pérouse de Montclos in 2015. Abdul Raufu Mustapha's edited volume Sects & Social Disorder is most welcome, considering the escalation of conflict in Northern Nigeria in recent years and the fact that a plethora of crises has triggered a tsunami of analysis of variegated quality – often not based on sound empirical fieldwork and plagued by factual errors, shallow analysis and unsupported speculation as well as wild generalizations, in particular when looking at the body of publications on the Boko Haram insurgency. Overcoming many of the shortcomings of the current literature, it fills a major gap in research and analysis.
The volume is organized into seven chapters. In an introductory chapter, A. R. Mustapha sets the frame for the volume and gives an overview of the spectrum of Islamic movements in contemporary Northern Nigeria. In the second chapter, Murray Last presents a historical overview over the emergence and development of Islamic reformist movements in Northern Nigeria since the late eighteenth century and speaks to the dynamics of dissent and dissidence among Muslims in Northern Nigeria. In particular, he analyses sites and symbols of dissent and dissidence, such as mosques, and the organization of times and rituals, dress and body styles, as well as the dynamics of protest as manifested in acts of re-location. His illuminating chapter mirrors more than fifty years of research and reflection on Northern Nigerian history and justifies the acquisition of the volume on its own.
The third chapter by A. R. Mustapha and M. U. Bunza builds on the introduction and presents an enlarged and comprehensive overview of Northern Nigeria's different Muslim movements, such as the Qadiriyya and Tijaniyya Sufi orders, the ‘Yan Izala and the different dissident groups that emerged from a ‘Yan Izala background since the mid-1980s, such as the Ahl al-Sunna movement. The chapter equally introduces the Shi‘i movement (Islamic Movement of Nigeria) as led by Ibrahim al-Zakzaki and its offshoot, the Jama‘at Tajdid al-Islam, as well as a plethora of Yoruba ethnic Muslim associations and ‘marginal’ groups such as Maitatsine, Darul Islam, Boko Haram, the ‘Yan Hakika and the Qur'aniyyun. A most valuable component of this chapter is the discussion of Boko Haram's doctrinal positions as presented in a short but concise debate of Muhammad Yusuf's programmatic text ‘hadhihi ‘aqidatuna wa-manhaj da‘watina’ (‘this is our creed and the programme of our cause’). The chapter concludes with a presentation of Northern Nigeria's ‘non-sectarian clerics’ as well as the Muslim Women's Associations such as FOMWAN.
Hannah Hoechner's fourth chapter focuses on the life of almajirai (Qur'an students) in Kano. Her chapter is again based on extended fieldwork in Kano and debunks convincingly the imaginary of the almajirai as the social basis for Islamic radicalism. Hoechner shows that Kano's almajirai are rather driven by their endeavours to minimize the risks of everyday life and their struggle for food and shelter. At the same time, they see themselves as urban and world-wise youth who yearn for Western (boko) education and consumer goods.
In Chapter 5, Yahaya Hashim and Judith-Ann Walker give an account of ethnic and religious clashes in Kano and present a fascinating view of Muslim ethnic minorities in Kano, mostly Muslim Yoruba and Igbo who are not part of the dominant Hausa–Fulani ethnic majority in Kano and equally comprise a minority with respect to the mostly non-Muslim Yoruba or Igbo diasporic communities in Kano's Sabon Gari quarters. Due to their position as ‘double minorities’, these Muslim groups have the potential to act as bridge builders between ethnic and religious blocks, but are equally affected most in times of crisis as ethnic and religious scapegoats.
Chapter 6, by A. R. Mustapha, delves systematically into the history of Boko Haram. It analyses the different stages of development of this movement and presents an overview of a vast array of conspiracy theories linked to Boko Haram. The chapter concludes with an analysis of Boko Haram's expansion in recent years and identifies poverty, inequality and poor governance as major reasons for this. The conclusion (Chapter 7) provides a final résumé.
It would be perfectly possible to conclude this review with Muhammad Sani Umar's words, taken from his excellent foreword: namely, that the present volume ‘stands apart by its sustained and thorough engagement with the different disciplinary orientations, thereby enriching its contributions and enhancing the analytical basis for its policy recommendations’. In sum, Abdul Raufu Mustapha's volume represents a most readable and refreshing contribution to the study of Islam in Northern Nigeria and deserves to become a point of reference for further debate, due to the outstanding quality of its contributions.
