22. BNW: BiafraNigeriaWorld Writer's Block: Islam In Igboland: Lessons In History @ BNW Writer's Block, Nigeria, BiafraNigeria, Nigeria-Biafra, Biafra Nigeria, ICJ, Cameroon, Biafra, Igbo/Biafra, BiafraNigeriaWorld The Authority on BiafraNigeria authority on biafranigeriaworld http://writersblock.biafranigeriaworld.com/revnnorom/2003apr25.html |
BNW BNW Writer's Block SEARCH BNW ALSO AT BNW Current Headlines Biafra O'dua Arewa ... News Archive Islam in Igboland: Lessons in History Author: Rev. Fr. C. Aham Nnorom, Ph.D. Delivered at the International Conference on Igbo Studies A tribute to Simon Ottenberg, Cornell University Ithaca New York April 3-6, 2003 Igbo Proverb ÂThe bush fowl saw the chicken being carved up and laughed. The chicken told the bush fowl to stop laughing. For the same hands now carving up the chicken would be used to carve up the bush fowl Igbo Proverb Interpreted ABSTRACT: Many scholars, including those of Igbo extraction, have been concerned with the resurgence of militant Islam in the Sudan Indonesia Palestine , and in the northern states of Nigeria . An increase of academic interest in Islamism and terrorism is noticeable since the bombings of US embassies in Nairobi and Dares Salaam, of the US warship Cole, and most importantly, the attacks on the World Trade Center , the Pentagon, and the ongoing war against terrorism. In Nigeria, in particular, while most scholarly and media attention has been focused on Christian-Muslim dialogue, Sharia and the violence it incited, very little is known about the danger lurking within Igboland: the phenomenal increase in the number of Igbo Moslems and mosques, an incredible development unknown before the Nigeria-Biafra War. This paper examines a bitter historical irony: That while Ndigbo are being religiously, ethnically and economically cleansed from the predominantly Islamic states of Nigeria, Igbo Imams, Sheiks, Alahajis, Alhajas and mosques, once few and exotic, are now a common sight in one of the most homogeneous Christian regions in Africa. It argues that the quiet, secretive but aggressive Islamization and Arabization of AlaIgbo is a clear and present danger to Igbo interests and survival; and suggests countermeasures that would protect Igbo interests and assure the nationÂs survival. | |
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