Sharia law in Nigeria

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Status of Sharia law in Nigeria (2008):
  • Sharia fully applied, including criminal law
  • Sharia only applied to personal matters
  • No Sharia

    • In Nigeria , the Sharia is the basis of the legislature, the executive and the judiciary in twelve northern states. The reintroduction took place between 1999 and 2001 with reference to the freedom of religion enshrined in the Nigerian constitution and was linked to a conflict between various militant groups, representatives of religious groups and the Nigerian government. The conflict was sparked by calls on the Muslim side to introduce Sharia law as the main source of legislation across the country. Apart from the twelve northern states, however, no other state has met this requirement.

    The states in which Sharia law was introduced

    Sharia law has been introduced in the following 9 states:

    Sharia law applies to areas with a Muslim majority in the following states:

    background

    Religious graphics of Nigeria

    According to a demographic estimate in Nigeria, Muslims make up over 50% of the population. Most of them live in the northern part of the country. The majority of Nigerian Muslims are Sunnis . Christians are the second largest religious group, after which they make up about 40% of the population. They predominate in the center and south of the country, while followers of other religions make up about 10% of the population. The Pew Forum alone sees the Christians as a wafer-thin absolute majority with 50.8%.

    History of Islamic Law in Northern Nigeria

    The historical starting point for the Sharia conflict was the abolition of Islamic law in northern Nigeria by the Native Justice Ordinance of 1933 and the Penal Code of 1959, which was introduced in the northern parts of the country when Nigeria was granted independence in 1960. Only in the area of ​​civil status law was Islamic law retained. The introduction of the Penal Code, based on secular law, came in response to the concerns of the non-Muslim population of northern Nigeria, which had been raised by the Minorities Commission Report of 1956.

    Since the 1970s, Islamists, including the Izala movement, have been calling for the reintroduction of Sharia law . In response, nine Muslim-majority states and provinces of three Muslim states introduced Sharia law as a main part of civil and criminal law in 1999 .

    Sharia practice

    In 2002, the first Sharia execution took place in Katsina; Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International condemned the execution.

    In 2002, Amina Lawal , a single mother in Katsina , was charged with adultery and sentenced to death by stoning by a state Sharia court for “conceiving a child out of wedlock” . The father was released for lack of evidence. The verdict caused outrage in both Nigeria and the West. Many national and international NGOs and the Nigerian federal government wanted to annul the judgment. In 2004, the judgment was overturned by a Sharia appeals court.

    Sharia conflict

    Riots related to the introduction of Sharia law

    The riots of 1999, 2000 and 2001 were preceded by riots between Christians and Muslims in Jos over the appointment of the Muslim politician Alhaji Muktar Mohammed as local coordinator of a federal poverty reduction program. The clashes began on September 7th and lasted almost two weeks. They ended on September 17th. Over 1000 people were killed in the conflict.

    The central Nigerian province of Plateau is a focal point of the conflicts . In 2001 there were repeated clashes that cost the lives of more than 1,000 people. Erhard Kamphausen from the Mission Academy of the University of Hamburg spoke of “spiritual warfare” in core Muslim areas. The State Security Service also plays a role in the conflict. Bartholomäus Grill , on the other hand, pointed to the increasing missionary activity of fundamentalist Christians, especially in the north of the country, which also increased tensions. So far, 10,000 victims have been recorded.

    There were also numerous unrest over the implementation of Sharia law, which was implemented primarily against non-Muslim minorities. Another riot killed over 100 people in Kano State in October 2001.

    Later violent conflicts and attacks

    In January 2010 , several hundred people died in unrest in the provincial capital Jos , which erupted in the construction of a mosque.

    In March 2010 riots broke out again between members of the Fulani (Muslims) pastoral people against the Berom (Christians) villagers in Dogo Nahawa village, in which over 500 people died. A series of attacks on Christian churches on Boxing Day in 2011 killed at least 40 people and injured dozens more. The Islamist group Boko Haram , which calls itself the “Nigerian Taliban”, confessed to the attacks, which were condemned worldwide. In 2011 the group was found responsible for at least 510 murders. The Nigerian government reaffirmed its determination to fight Islamism.

    In several terrorist attacks by the Islamist group Boko Haram in Kano in northeast Nigeria on several police stations, government buildings and a school on January 20, 2012, 187 people died and 50 others were injured.

    literature

    Web links

     Wikinews: Riots in Nigeria kill nearly 400  - Message

    Individual evidence

    1. ^ Ostien & Dekker, 575 (25)
    2. ↑ Country information from the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs
    3. ↑ World Factbook Nigeria
    4. ↑ Fischer Weltalmanach 2009, page 353
    5. ↑ SPIEGEL Lexicon: Nigeria ( Memento from September 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
    6. ↑ Vatican on Nigeria ( Memento from April 28, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
    7. ↑ Encyclopaedia of Islam (article on Nigeria, VIII: 19b, 50% Muslims and 34% Christians)
    8. ^ Pew Forum : Global Christianity. A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Christian Population
    9. ↑ See Jonathan T. Reynolds: The Time of Politics (Zamanin Siyasa). Islam and the Politics of Legitimacy in Northern Nigeria 1950-1966 . San Francisco et al. a. 1999. p. 95 f.
    10. ↑ Cf. Ousmane Kane: Muslim modernity in postcolonial Nigeria: a Study of the Society of Removal of Innovation and Reinstatement of Tradition. Leiden 2003, p. 93.
    11. ↑ Nigeria: First Execution under Sharia Condemned , Human Rights Watch , Jan. 8, 2002.
    12. ↑ BBC News : Analysis: Behind Nigeria's violence , October 31, 2001.
    13. ↑ a b The combine harvesters of God , Zeit Online from May 27, 2004
    14. ↑ Analysis: Behind Nigeria's violence
    15. ↑ Focus : Clashes between Christians and Muslims , January 20, 2010.
    16. ↑ Tagesschau - Riots in Nigeria - More than 500 dead after massacre in Christian villages ( Memento from February 5, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (accessed on March 8, 2010)
    17. ↑ Terror sect Boko Haram: Christian hunters throw Nigeria into chaos - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - Politics . Website spiegel.de. Retrieved January 21, 2012.
    18. ↑ Nigeria's president visits city where bombings killed at least 157. In: CNN . January 23, 2012, accessed June 1, 2019 .
    19. ↑ Conflict of Religions - Terrorists kill more than 120 people in Nigeria. In: Der Spiegel . January 21, 2012. Retrieved January 21, 2012 .

    See also