In Search of the Origin of Boko Haram’s Denunciation of Western Education

Abstract

Boko Haram's (BH) denunciation of Western education (WE) is an aspect of the movement that is widely known and which BH employed as a significant point of differentiation for advancing its cause and in attracting attention domestically and internationally. Despite its significance to BH's ideology, there is inadequate explanation of its origin and how BH adopted it. The aim of this paper is to explain the origin of BH's denunciation of WE and how BH finds it conveniently useful for advancing its cause. To achieve the objective of the paper, a reflexive thematic analysis approach was employed to analyze literatures on the history of WE in colonial days within the Muslim world and videos produced by BH. The paper argues that BH's denunciation of WE can be traced back to the Muslim world's colonial experience, its perception of WE and the responses WE's imposition elicited among the Muslims. Muslim's attitude is broadly classified into three: assimilation, adaptation, and rejection. Northern Nigerian Muslims initially rejected WE but eventually adapted it. This article shows that not only that BH exploited this earlier history of rejection but the rejection also evolved overtime from partial to total rejection. The rejection was precipitated by the personality of BH leaders, secular Nigerian system's systemic exclusion of those educated under Islamic system. Nigeria's government and relevant stakeholders should therefore focus on blending Western and Islamic education particularly in the North and create employment opportunities for the educated.