An internal war between the Hausa and another tribe called the Yoruba resulted in 300 deaths. More recently tribes called the Tiv and the Jukun have executed tribal raids. In fact, between the successful election of a civilian President in May of 1999 and the end of 2001, over 10,000 Nigerians died in regional conflicts based on religious/and/or tribal differences. The Islamic belief in Shari'a, including the idea that religion and state government should be one, contributes to these problems.
In fact the animosity between Christians and Muslims is quite strong in Nigeria. The province adopting Shari'a, Zamfara, uses Islamic courts to try criminals. The Christians who live in the south do not agree that Zamfara should use a religiously-based legal system. This disagreement demonstrates that the country is divided on multiple levels. It is the Zamfara regional government that made the practice of praise-singing a crime (Tsai, PAGE).
Most people would agree that a sovereign country should be allowed choose the form of government it prefers. Saudi Arabia is a Moslem state that combines religion and law in the form of Shari'a. One problem with Africa in this regard is that borders between countries were often drawn by European colonists without regard for the allegiances of the local people. Both tribes and religions cross state...
Nigeria is one example of an African country whose borders do not reflect its population. It seems likely that the dominant government in Zafara would like to see the entire country ruled by the principles of Shari'a, and it is certain that Christians in the southern part of the country would not tolerate such a change.
Bibliography
Clark, Andrew F. "Imperialism, Independence, and Islam in Senegal and Mali." Africa Today, June 1999.
Gausset, Quentin. " Islam or Christianity? The Choices of the Wawa and the Kwanja of Cameroon." Africa, Vol. 69, 1999.
Miles, William F.S. "Shari'a as de-Africanization: evidence from Hausaland." Africa Today, March 2003.
Roach, Ronald. "Translating the African past: the Islamic heritage of sub-Saharan Africa - Special report: international education." Black Issues in Higher Education. May 9, 2002.
Trimingham, J. Spencer. Islam in West Africa. 1970: Oxford, Clarendon Press.
Tsai, Thomas. "Africa's Contradiction: Nigeria on the Path to Democracy." Harvard International Review, Vol, 24, 2002.
Wikipedia. "Sharia." Accessed via the Internet 6/4/05. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharia
