‘Islam Does Not Belong to Them’: Ethnic and Religious Identities Among Male Igbo Converts in Hausaland

Abstract

Before the civil war, conversion to Islam for Igbo men resident in the predominantly Hausa city of Kano in northern Nigeria usually meant becoming Hausa. More recent converts, however, have retained their Igbo identity and created an organisation, the Igbo Muslim Community. Three case studies from the first group detail the process and criteria of becoming Hausa, including immersion in Hausa economic and social networks; three case studies from the second group demonstrate that, while Hausa-centred networks remain important, converts have worked to construct new, Igbo-centred support structures. The watershed in the changing relationship between religious and ethnic affiliation for Igbo converts is the end of the war in 1970 and resultant changes in Igbo perceptions of Muslims, and changes in Igbo community structures.

The Racialization of Muslim Converts in Britain and Their Experiences of Islamophobia

“…In other countries, Muslims are racialized quite differently. For example, in Malaysia, Muslims are racialized as Malay (Brown, 2010;Szajkowski et al, 1996: 27-8); in Nigeria, Muslims are racialized as Hausa (Anthony, 2000;Uchendu, 2010); in the USA, Muslims are racialized as Arab (Salaita, 2006); in Germany, Muslims are racialized as Turkish (Allen, 2005: 63;Nielsen, 1995: ix); and in France, Muslims are racialized as Maghrebian (Allen, 2005: 63;Nielsen, 1995: ix). Clearly, Muslims are racialized in different ways depending on the context because '[s]pecific ethnicities become associated with particular religions in distinct locations' (Franks, 2000: 924-5).…”