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Boko Haram militia (File picture)

 Allan Martin Mugabe
At the end of his recent enlightening article “Islamic wave,” the prolific writer, Saul Gwakuba Ndlovu, asks a very important question: “could it be that Islam as a religion has been hijacked by some self-seeking criminals who want to achieve positions of worldly power and material comfort by deliberately distorting the Koran, at least some its precepts?”

In the middle of the first millennium there were many advantages for the ruling classes in membership of a powerful universal religion. These included access to literature, making use of powerful universal religion and trade was also easier. This opened the way for Arab imperialism in some regions, for example in the Maghreb (Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia), with Islam as the ideology.

The Islamic state in its wide context is beyond the confines of our thesis therefore let us examine the Boko Haram.

Boko Haram is not the first to wage war in the name of Islam. In the 739 AD the Berbers of the Maghreb region used an orthodox form of Islam known as khatjite, as their ideology to revolt against Arab supremacy. The oppressors were of the conventional Sunni Islam. Whereas Boko Haram fighting an unjust war, the Berbers struggle was nationalistic. They were fighting Arab colonialism and its attendant oppression. From 1147AD TO 1270AD there was political unity under the Almohad dynasty, encompassing the whole Maghreb region.

Boko Haram has sunk to the lowest rung of degeneracy. It is spiritually and mentally dead. These terrorists are spiritually and mentally dead firstly because they have stopped thinking. They are not interested in the new thought and new methods especially in the ideas of the government.

The concept of democracy is unacceptable to them. In natural science, biological diversity is necessary for ecological sustainability, so too is interaction between people of different backgrounds important for the sake of human progress.

Secondly, they are spiritually and mentally dead because they have stopped feeling. They have no compassion. They are insensitive and merciless. They are the opposite of what the Islamic Holy Book, the Qur’an teaches. This writer obtained a free copy of the Holy Qur’an from the council of Islamic scholars (Majlisul Ulama Zimbabwe). The book places high value on women life whether Muslim or of any faith. Ch 5:32 reads “we ordained for the children of Israel that if any one slew a person unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land, it would be as if he slew the whole of humanity”.

Ch 5:8 forbids injustice even in times of conflict “Oh you believe! Stand out firmly for Allah, for Allah is well acquainted with all that you do” Ch 21:107 deals with mercy. This was written many centuries before the Geneva Convention. To obtain proper perspective of how Boko Haram has managed to maintain this insurgency we must make a scientific observation and have a historical explanation. It has no problem with armaments and logistics because it was robbing banks and overrunning military garrisons and police posts. What about the apparently large pool of recruits.

The region in which it operates has a very poor population and the Muslims there refuse to send their children to government-run “western schools”. Before the advent of European colonialism, the Caliph of Sokoto was the overlord of what is now Northern Nigeria, Southern Cameron and Niger. In 1903, the region came under British rule and from that time when the caliphate fell some of the Muslims have resented western education.

Social scientists Michael Haralambas and Martin Holborn have this to say about sects and marginality: “Max Weber provided one of the earliest explanations for the growth of sects. He argued that they were likely to arise within groups that were marginal in society. Members of the group outside the main stream of social life often feel they are not receiving the prestige and or the economic rewards they deserve. One solution is based on religious explanation and justification. Such sects contain an explanation for the dispriviledged of their members and promise them a “sense of humour” either in the “afterlife” or in a future “new world” on earth.

Bryan Wilson has pointed out that a variety of situations could lead to the marginalisation of groups in the society. These situations include defeat in war, natural disaster or economic collapse. Radical and undesirable changes such as these are not the only circumstances.

The ground was fertile for Muslim cleric, Mohammed Yusuf, to form Boko Haram in Maiduguri in 2002. He built an Islamic school and a mosque and there was no shortage of students. They came from poor families in Nigeria and neighbouring countries. Obviously indoctrination and military training were carried out at the school.

Former army General Muhammad Buhari won the general elections after promising to deal with Boko Haram once and for all. He is a man of action, being a soldier. The exercise of power is not new to him since this will be the second time as head of state. He is Muslim and a northerner which should help him understand the problem in the troublesome region.

While reducing poverty, the government of Buhari would do well to devise an education system that is not only modern but also acceptable to the Muslims of that region.

We have a West African community in Zimbabwe. They mind their own business, literally and in the metaphorical sense. Let us be in solidarity with them instead of having a commuter omnibus written Boko Haram on the rear windscreen. We only have to look across the Limpopo to see what misguided elements are capable of.