At his meeting-house on an industrial estate in Kano, northern Nigeria’s largest city, Sheikh Ibrahim Khalil laments his country’s sporadic uprisings in the name of Islam.”I don’t know why this change has come,” says the 57-year-old Muslim preacher. “Twenty years ago we never used to have this. Everyone got along.”
Outside his vine-covered house, silence prevails on the Sharada estate. Most of the factories that once helped Kano honour its state slogan, “Centre of Commerce”, are shells. The economic slump worries the Americans, especially since it has strengthened the hand of the more militant of northern Nigeria’s Muslim leaders, who are rattling the mild-mannered sheikh.
The role of Islam in Nigeria is in the spotlight, especially in America, since Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to blow up an aircraft landing at Detroit on Christmas Day. The young Nigerian’s failed attack has since been claimed by al-Qaeda, fuelling long-held fears that the jihadist group, already present in north Africa, could win recruits among Africa’s most populous country with some 150m people.
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The Economist on Northern Nigeria–Stagnation stirs everything up
At his meeting-house on an industrial estate in Kano, northern Nigeria’s largest city, Sheikh Ibrahim Khalil laments his country’s sporadic uprisings in the name of Islam.”I don’t know why this change has come,” says the 57-year-old Muslim preacher. “Twenty years ago we never used to have this. Everyone got along.”
Outside his vine-covered house, silence prevails on the Sharada estate. Most of the factories that once helped Kano honour its state slogan, “Centre of Commerce”, are shells. The economic slump worries the Americans, especially since it has strengthened the hand of the more militant of northern Nigeria’s Muslim leaders, who are rattling the mild-mannered sheikh.
The role of Islam in Nigeria is in the spotlight, especially in America, since Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to blow up an aircraft landing at Detroit on Christmas Day. The young Nigerian’s failed attack has since been claimed by al-Qaeda, fuelling long-held fears that the jihadist group, already present in north Africa, could win recruits among Africa’s most populous country with some 150m people.
Read it all.