The arrival of Christianity and Islam to Africa has bred a phenomenon which is unfamiliar to adherents of African Indigenous Religions - religiously inspired violence. Africans, like people everywhere, have often fought against each other. However, such fighting have hardly been based on metaphysical or religious ideas. The struggle for natural resources has often been primary in African conflicts. With Christianity and Islam, however, things have been different. Adherents of these religions have often found metaphysical or religious reasons for violence against Africans. Central to this is the idea that Africans are/were pagans, that is, not Christians or Muslims. Thus, they needed to be made Christians or Muslims by all means necessary. Better for Africans to be made Christians or Muslims through violence than for their souls to perish in the fire of hell, they have claimed. A primary reason why European Christians supported the enslavement of Africans, which resulted in their transportation to the New World, was that enslaving Africans would expose them to Christianity and so save them from eternal damnation in hell. Apartheid in South Africa was defended on grounds that it is God's will that people live separately (which is the meaning of apartheid). These religiously sanctioned worldviews exposed Africans to unspeakable suffering.
Islam first came to Africa riding on the back of violence, as violent jihad was waged against Egyptians, the first people to become Muslim in Africa. Egyptians who did not become Muslims were made to pay more in taxes. The Berbers of the Maghreb became Muslims under duress. Even though Islam came to West Africa through trading routes, the expansion of Islam in Africa, especially in what is called Nigeria today, was based on violence. Usman dan Fodio established what is the spiritual center of Nigerian Muslims today, the Sokoto Caliphate, through a violent jihad. This violence continues today with Boko Haram, whose explicit intension is to overthrow the Nigerian government and establish an Islamic state in Nigeria. Boko Haram's contemporary activities are in line with the vision of Usman dan Fodio. Thus, the first thing Boko Haram did when it kidnapped the Nigerian girls was to convert them to Islam.
Perhaps there is something inherently violent in totalizing worldviews that can only make peace with the Other by converting them.
Islam first came to Africa riding on the back of violence, as violent jihad was waged against Egyptians, the first people to become Muslim in Africa. Egyptians who did not become Muslims were made to pay more in taxes. The Berbers of the Maghreb became Muslims under duress. Even though Islam came to West Africa through trading routes, the expansion of Islam in Africa, especially in what is called Nigeria today, was based on violence. Usman dan Fodio established what is the spiritual center of Nigerian Muslims today, the Sokoto Caliphate, through a violent jihad. This violence continues today with Boko Haram, whose explicit intension is to overthrow the Nigerian government and establish an Islamic state in Nigeria. Boko Haram's contemporary activities are in line with the vision of Usman dan Fodio. Thus, the first thing Boko Haram did when it kidnapped the Nigerian girls was to convert them to Islam.
Perhaps there is something inherently violent in totalizing worldviews that can only make peace with the Other by converting them.
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