Islamization of Nigeria: Implications for Sustainable Peace

Abstract

This paper discusses Islamization of Nigeria and its implications for sustainable peace. Islamization agenda means the articulated methods which Muslims softly or subtly apply to win new members or the programs they aggressively or violently follow in order to conquer or coerce people into the Islamic faith. Missionary enterprise such as Islamization is not a strange phenomenon in all religions. This is because each one makes some efforts to get new converts. In fact, it is a proper and natural activity which characterizes all faiths. Therefore Islamization, Christianization or traditional-religionization shows the noble characteristic inherent in these religions. Nigeria has religious pluralism as one critical expression of her diversity. Christianity, African Traditional Religion and Islam are the three major religions in the country. When the multiplicity of faiths found to exist simultaneously within a place celebrates inclusivity, it shows the beauty of her strength. But if on the contrary, it takes on the features of intolerance, then the necessary consequence becomes religious terrorism. The findings of this paper reveal, among other things, that Islam has multi-dimensional approaches to ensuring that Nigeria becomes an Islamic state. Islamization is a conscious and pious fulfillment of Islamic obligations. It also discovered with some rude shocks that Islam identifies every non-muslim as an infidel who is good only to be wasted by torture and gruesome death. This means that peace is compromised variously in the enterprise of Islamization. The methodology employed in this work is historic-descriptive which means that the schemes of Islamization were carefully studied and interpreted using the multi-variant peace values as frames of reference.