Tainted Legacy: Islam, Colonialism and Slavery in Northern Nigeria

In recent years violent attacks by Muslims in Nigeria have left thousands of Christians dead. Much of the conflict has occurred in the Middle Belt, and also in the North where the Church is a small and vulnerable minority. Islamic sharia is the main source of law in the North, and some Islamists there are calling for the establishing of an Islamic state. In this important study Professor Yusufu Turaki traces the origins of the current crisis to the historical impact of Islam on Northern Nigerian society. He discusses the nature and significance of Islamic colonialism and slavery in West Africa, and how their malign influence was entrenched by the British colonial administration of the twentieth century. These practices, he argues, have bequeathed a tainted legacy of discrimination and cruelty to the Christians of Northern Nigeria.