Ustaz Mohammed Yusuf

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Ustaz Mohammed Yusuf (* 1970 in Girgir , Jakusko Local Government Area , Yobe ; † July 30, 2009 in Maiduguri , Borno ) was a Nigerian preacher and sect leader . Until his violent death he was the head of the Islamist group Boko Haram .

Life

Mohammed Yusuf was born in 1970 in the small village of Girgir in northeast Nigeria. Almost nothing is known about his early years. It is likely that he received extensive training as he was later described as highly educated. However, Mohammed Yusuf denied having ever attended a Western school. For this he studied theology at the University of Medina in Saudi Arabia . After studying in Saudi Arabia, he was called Ustādh , which means “Lord, Professor” in Arabic. As a traveling preacher he gained local fame and gathered a crowd of Koran students and followers around him.

He became known to a wider public in late 2003 when his supporters first clashed with Nigerian security forces. After the police stormed the camp of Yusuf's supporters, killing several of them, Yusuf's students took revenge with the first raids on police stations. The followers of Yusufs ahl al-sunna wa-l-jama'a wa-l-hijra (roughly: community of the followers of the Sunna or the Sunnis who follow the hijra or emigration from pagan areas) called themselves in the Nigerian In contrast, they became known to the media as Yusufiyya , Nigerian Taliban (from the Arabic word Talib for Koran students and in a comparative allusion to the Afghan Taliban ) and finally as Boko Haram.

The aims of Boko Haram were the introduction of Sharia law in all of Nigeria, including the Christian south, as well as the prohibition of Western education and culture. Although the vast majority of Nigerian Muslims were opposed to his ideas and in some cases denied him access to the mosques , Mohammed Yusuf gained numerous followers, especially among young people, including many dissatisfied students. In 2004, Boko Haram became known in the western world when it was discovered that the group had set up a training camp called “Afghanistan” on the Niger border .

Yusuf was arrested on November 13, 2008, but released on bail on January 20, 2009. The Nigerian military intelligence service DDI had compiled 21 reports on Yusuf and the Boko Haram by mid-July.

On June 11, 2009, police fired at a funeral procession of Boko Haram supporters, killing 17 of them; Mohammed Yusuf then announced revenge. At the end of July 2009 riots broke out in Bauchi , which quickly spread to neighboring provinces. Hundreds of people died in skirmishes between security forces and Mohammed Yusuf's supporters. The Nigerian government then launched a military offensive against Boko Haram. After a week of fighting, the group's headquarters in Maiduguri were stormed and Yusuf, who was hiding in his father-in-law's goat pen, was arrested. A confession was videotaped while in police custody . A short time later the police announced his death; his body was put on public display. According to the police, Ustaz Mohammed Yusuf was shot while trying to escape, and human rights organizations speak of an extrajudicial execution .

Mohammed Yusuf had four wives and twelve children.

Web links

swell

  1. ↑ a b c d Alain Vicky: The Monster of Nigeria. In: Le Monde diplomatique . April 13, 2012, accessed January 3, 2019 .
  2. ^ Roman Loimeier: Boko Haram: The Development of a Militant Religious Movement in Nigeria . In: Africa Spectrum . tape 47 , no. 2-3 , 2012, p. 137–155 , here pp. 148-150 ( uni-hamburg.de ).
  3. ↑ a b c Nigeria sect head dies in custody (English) . In: BBC News , July 31, 2009. Retrieved September 30, 2013. 
personal data
SURNAME Yusuf, Ustaz Mohammed
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Nigerian preacher and sect leader
DATE OF BIRTH 1970
PLACE OF BIRTH Girgir , Jakusko Local Government Area , Yobe
DATE OF DEATH July 30, 2009
Place of death Maiduguri , Borno