Prospects in retrospect for Muslims associations in Nigeria, Africa

Thousands of Islamic organisations are scattered across Africa with the sole mission of propagating the pristine values of Islam that will, ultimately, culminate into righteous acts and create a sane environment for humanity. This mission however remains a tall order as the united front required to pursue this lofty goal is lacking.

Having worked with various strategies since the late 19th and early 20th centuries when Muslims in Sub-Sahara Africa and in other parts of the Muslim world began to forge productive alliances that eventuated in the establishment of Muslim organisations and movements across the continent, the centenary anniversary of the Ansar-ud-Deen Society of Nigeria (ASN), this December, has provided opportunity for a critical introspection.

The introspection, according to the organisers of the international centenary conference on Islam, Muslim organisations and Islamic movements in Africa and beyond, became imperative to explore “the continuities and changes in the world of Islam since the 20th century with particular focus on challenges confronting Islamic movement and Muslim organisations across Africa and indeed in the wider world of Islam.”

Held at the University of Ibadan, Oyo State between December 17 and 20, 2023, consensus was reached on the need for a paradigm shift in the mode of transmitting the pristine values of Islam.

Specifically, the scholars stressed the need for establishment of a regional based Muslim organization for African nations. This, according to them, will serve as a united front for the Muslims in the continent to spread the message of peace.

They bemoaned the confrontational strategy of some organisations within the continent and described their conduct and activities as one of the greatest challenges confronting the Muslims in the contemporary period.

Former Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Dean, Faculty of Humanities Al-Hikmah University Ilorin, Nigeria, Prof. Abdullateef Oladimeji said the establishment of a regional based Muslim organization for African Nations may seem to be a huge task, but with the identification of apex bodies such as the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) in Nigeria and other African countries, this is realizable.

He also recommended robust and technically programmed seminars to be organized by the joint effort of the NSCIA and Jamatu Nasirul Islam (JNI) for Muslim organizations in Nigeria, adding that the centenary international conference should be replicated in other African countries for strategic planning purposes and implementation of resolutions.

Providing a divine basis for the evolution of organisation in Islam, he referenced Quranic verse of Chapter 3:104 where Allah says: “And let there arise from among you a nation inviting to all that is good, enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong, and those will be the Qur’an successful”.

According to Jameelah (1976), the 12th century A.H witnessed the disparity between the Muslims of the early times in terms of moral degeneration and concentration on inanities.

As a result, various scholars, reformist groups and Muslim youths began the formation of movement that later metamorphosed into vibrant Muslim organization especially in Africa and Asia.

Some of such individuals included: Muhammed bin Abdulwahab, Sayyid Ahmed Shahid, Muhammed Mahdi, Jamaludeen al-Afghani, Rashid Rida, Hassan al-Banna, Maulana Muhammed Ali Jauhar, Muhammed Iqbal, Muhammed Ilyas among others.

From the Sanusiyyah movement, to the activities of the Mahdi of Sudan; the Fara’idi movement, the Ikhwan Muaslimeen of Egypt; the pan-Islamic unity of Jamalud-Deen al-Afghani; the Maulana Ali Jauhar of India; the struggle of Maulana Muhammed Iqbal; the Sayyid Abul A’la Maududi; Muhammed Ilyas.

According to him, the achievement of these individuals and their movements were the emancipation, awareness and the presentation of Islamic teachings as exemplified by the high level of Islamic education and consciousness of Islamic teachings.

In Nigeria (according to Oloyede 2015), there is evidence of the contributions of Muslim organizations to the advancement of Islam in the past 100 years. This is a statement of fact when we consider the role played by the organizations in the area of dawah education, fostering of peace and security as well as inter and intra-religious co-existence in Nigeria and beyond.

Furthermore, we agree with the categorization of Muslim organizations in Nigeria, which Oloyede described as typology among which are the root, the umbrella, the personalized, the professional/specialized, the ideological and the independent or non-aligned. Let us add gender-based as another type of organization and lately the Islamic Non-Governmental Organization (NGOS).

Going by their aims and objectives, almost all Muslim organizations have the programme of dawah as their major assignment. The onslaught of Christian evangelism across Africa has necessitated the response by either groups or individuals to consider the formation of a body to checkmate the proselytization agenda.

For example, the Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria (MSSN) established in April 18, 1954. As at the period of Nigerian Independence in 1960, the Society has grown from an association of secondary school students to an active organization present in any institution of learning Muslim students were found.

The MSSN specifically organized its members in such a way that the Christians felt and continue to feel their impacts. For instance, the society encouraged the propagation programmes on comparative religion where the Quran and the Bible are used with the exposure of the lies and fabrications in the latter (Oloyede 2015).

However, he noted that the colonialism had severe impact on Muslims organisations in Nigeria, as the British and French made frantic efforts to whittle down the efforts of Muslim organization in many African countries including Nigeria.

He highlighted the cases of The Mahdi of Sudan; Jamalud-din al Afghani in Egypt and India; Ikhwanu Muslim of Egypt; Jama‘atul Nasrul Islam of Nigeria; The Islamic Education Trust (IET) among others.

“Today, Nigerian education system in many African countries still consists of traces of colonialism. The idea of converting Muslim students into Christianity is one of such examples. Culturally, Muslims are still battling with the mission of colonial masters and their insistence on the imposition of western ideologies on Africa. The Issues of hijab in our schools is a good example. Despite court cases and the favourable rulings in favour of hijab as a fundamental right of a girl-child, Muslim girls are still being victimized on the wearing of hijab,” he stated.

Oladimeji said various Islamic movements and Muslim organizations have been established in Africa as positive response to the call for propagation and sustenance of Islamic traditions and cultures. He said there are prospects as well as challenges for these organizations, but the groups should make a paradigm shift from the traditional mode of da’wah to the current trends.

“From different African countries especially Nigeria, there is ever increase in the establishment of Muslim organizations. However, not all of them are well equipped and prepared for the modern challenges,” he stated.

The Registrar and Chief Executive Officer, Joint Admissions And Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof Is-Haq Oloyede, shares the same view with Oladimeji, saying: “One of the greatest threats Islam, Muslim associations and Islamic movements are facing today comes from those who consider themselves the best of us all.”

He said the intra-Muslim challenges where some organisations are regarding the acts of others as bid’ah (unwarranted innovation) created a huge setback.

“Lack of agreement among Muslims in the West over what their stance should be either as settlers or citizens of Western countries remain a very big source of controversy. In the West, as it is in other parts of the Muslim world, the question still being asked is whether Muslims should participate in politics or avoid it altogether.

“Among some Muslim associations, the question being asked is: should our focus be transnational or nationalist? If the peaceful method did not earn the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and the FIS in Algeria political, if ISIS and Boko Haram have both failed despite their deployment of violence as weapon of proselytization, exactly what could be the most effective weapon and approach that can assist Muslims across the world achieve their divine mission of being Khalifah of Allah on earth? How can Muslim organizations forge more productive alliances as weapon with which they can confront the multifarious challenges facing the Ummah in the contemporary period? How can Muslim organizations work together to rescue Muslim youths from the dis-ease of modernity- the dis-ease of drug addiction, betting, immorality, and desecration of eternal values of Islam?” he queried.

Islamic Movements And Muslim Organizations In the Beginning
According to Oloyede, it is common knowledge that the late 19th and early 20th centuries were indeed very trying times for the peoples of Africa and Asia. The period witnessed the scramble for and the violent annexation of Muslim lands by Europeans and the systematic introduction of colonialism.

For example, while Nigeria and Sudan came under British rule, Egypt suffered double colonialism- first by the French and later by the British; while Muslim nations in Asia came under the imperial authorities of her majesty, the Queen of England, Senegal, Tunisia, Algeria and Mali among other Muslim countries came under French assimilation agenda.

The late 19th and early 20th centuries were circumscribed by the notion that all nations apart from Europe were not fit to be on earth; that the only way by which Muslims countries in Asia and Africa could purge themselves of their ‘primordial’ inferiority as a race was through colonization and denegrification.

“Inscribed into the colonial agenda was Christian evangelism. In other words, while the British came into Nigeria and other parts of Africa and Asia with the mission to ‘civilize’ the uncivilized Afro-Asiatic races, it was equally their view and indeed that of the French that the process of civilization would not complete unless Arab-Muslim parts of Africa and Asia were christianized.

“Curiously however, the late 19th and early 20th centuries also marked the beginning of global Islamic awakening and renaissance that led to the formation of Islamic movements and the establishment of Muslim organizations in Sub-Sahara Africa and in other parts of the Muslim world. The colonized Muslim natives began to forge productive alliances that sought not only to interrogate the theologies of the colonial enterprise as a whole but also question the epistemologies of imperialism. The overarching goal was that of setting Muslim lands free of foreign domination and rescuing the Muslim world from the stranglehold of imperialism and Christian evangelism. Thus, for example, in South Africa in 1903, the South African Muslim Association was founded. Less than a decade thereafter, the Ahmadiyyah Muslim movement was introduced into Nigeria. In the year 1923, the Ansar-deen Society of Nigeria (ASN) was established. In 1928, the Muslim Brotherhood was also founded in Egypt.

“In Central and Southeast Asia (Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia etc), the formation of Islamic movements and organizations dates as far back as the mid-1890s. There organizations, as it is the case in Indonesia, such as Jam’iyyah al-Islah al-Islamiyyah (founded in 1914) and al-Aishiyyah (founded in 1917) among others also sought to fill existing gaps in Muslims daily life, empower the Muslim populace and negotiate their identity under the imperial hegemony of the British. Thus, the question therefore continues to be urgent: what drove the birth of Islamic movements and Muslim organizations in continental Africa and in Asia.

“In other words, in addition to the necessity to engage colonialism and rescue the Muslim populace from its stranglehold, at least five other existential factors may be instigated for the formation and establishment of Islamic movements and Muslim associations in the Afro-Asiatic world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. For example, in Yorubaland, precisely Lagos, the impetus for the formation of Muslim organization was educational in nature. It was accentuated by the awareness of Muslims in Lagos of, according to Stefan Reichmuth, their disadvantaged position in relation to Christians who, having had the privilege of obtaining educational qualifications now occupied reputable positions within the British colonial system.

“Closely linked to this was the tradition among the Yoruba of forming socio-cultural platforms known as ‘Egbe’ upon which they usually sought to further their personal and communal agenda. Based on that precedent or tradition, the formation of associations that would promote the welfare of Muslims in the region ordinarily had no opposition.

“Further, relevant to be mentioned here is the role of the global Islamic alliances and the dispersal of Islamic movement from one continent to the other. Here, the Ahmadiyyah movement, which had earlier gained traction in India finds mention. The first Indian Missionary of the Ahmadiyya (of Qadiyan), ‘Abdu r-Rahim Nayyar, came to Nigeria in 1921 at the request of the newly established local branch. His modernised form of open-air preaching had a strong impact on the Muslims in Lagos. His Islamic sermons were held in English, seconded by a Yoruba translator. Apart from gaining adherents and sympathizers among young Muslims with a newly acquired western education who were apparently looking for a new expression of their Muslim identity, Nayyar was also able to win over a Muslim sect in Lagos, the Quranic People (Alalukurani) who collectively joined the Ahmadiyya in 1921. With the financial support of a rapidly growing community, a first Ahmadiyya primary school was opened within a year in 1922. This eventually provided a veritable background for the formation and establishment of the ASN,” he stated.
Establishment of Ansar-Deen Society of Nigeria (ASN) in 1923

Oloyede went down the memory lane: “On the 21st of December 1923, a society known as the Young Ansar-deen was founded in Lagos. Initially comprising 42 members, otherwise known as “Committee of Gentlemen”, the ASN set for itself the objectives of preaching, practicing and defending Islam particularly under the extremely unfriendly British colonial hegemony.

“Like the Ahmadis that preceded them in the field, ASN equally made establishment of schools a cardinal principle of its educational activities. Its membership, majority of whom had gone through the furnace of colonial oppression and encountered Christian evangelism came together to revolutionize Muslims’ educational landscape during the colonial period. History would therefore forever be grateful to people like Alhajis J. Martin, L.B. Agusto, Y.K. Gbajabiamila, Hussein Carew, Nurainy Abu-Bakrin and Yesufu Tairu. Mention may also be made of Alhaji A.S. Alawiye, Muhammad as-Sanusi Alawiye, the educationist Alhaj Hafiz Abu, Alhaj M.A. Okunnu, B. Ade Mumuni, L.B. Olokodana, Imam Mustafa Kasumu Ekemode, who was a member of the family of the Imams of Ebute Meta and later became Imam himself among many others.

“It is interesting to note that right from onset, ASN was run like a professional organization. It was structured in such a way that would facilitate the realization of its educational projects and its reformist agenda. The first Executive of 1923 established the offices of a President, Vice-President, Secretary, Assistant Secretary, and Treasurer. Together with a number of un-official members, they constituted a central governing body, the Executive Committee which came to be elected on a biennial base by the members. The first constitution of the Society was approved in 1926, and on the 16th of August 1927, the Young Ansar-Ud-Deen was officially registered as a non-sectarian and non-political Muslim organisation.

“Membership of the society was made open to all Muslims, men and women, who, after being sponsored by two members, were prepared to sign the Society’s Declaration of Pledge by which they undertook to lead “a sincere and steadfast Muslim life” and to “support the cause, aims and objectives of the Society under all circumstances”.

“The finance of the rapidly growing organisation was mainly based on a monthly subscription paid by the members and on contributions and collections at lecture meetings and religious celebrations. The declared objectives of the society covered the fields of: a) ‘Education,’ b) ‘Reformation,’ and c) ‘Propagation and Defence of Islam.’ Education, which up to now takes the first place among the aims defined in the constitution included the foundation and maintenance of educational institutions, but also the general encouragement of literacy and intellectual pursuits among the members.

“The objectives of ‘Reformation’ combined the reformist impetus to ‘eradicate all forms of evil and corruption that have crept into Islam’ with an even stronger emphasis on the ‘religious, moral and social advancement of the Muslim community’ and the fostering of  ‘feelings of brotherhood’ among all of its members. The ASN also made the distribution of the Quran and other Islamic literatures to Muslims as well as non-Muslims as part of the society’s ‘Propagation and Defence of Islam’.

“The religious activities of the society were coordinated by a Mission Board which was set up as early as 1926. M.K. Ekemode (1927-35) and later M.A. Okunnu (1936-39, 1943) were its most prominent secretaries. They organized open-air preaching and the celebration of important religious occasions such as Laylat al-Qadr and Mawlid an-Nabiyy which became highly important elements of public Islamic propaganda as well as crucial fund-raising activities. Within the society a programme of religious adult evening classes was developed. One of the main tasks of the Mission Board, however, was that of conducting religious ceremonies.

“The reformist attitude of the society found its expression in a set of modernized rituals for child-naming, marriage, and funeral. The written order of religious ceremonies which was published and re-issued several times added prayers for special Islamic occasions like ‘Ashura’ or Nisf Sha’ban, but also for typical middle-class events like the opening of a new house or the retirement of a member of the society from Civil Service. For marriage, western elements like the exchange of rings, the cutting of a wedding cake and issuance of marriage certificates usually feature.

“The educated youth was only one of the target groups of the Young Ansar-Ud-Deen. As in the case of the Ahmadiyya, a main source of support came from Muslim women in Lagos. Their regular and large attendance at the religious programmes and their monetary contributions to the General Fund of the society. Sometime in 1931 the Board ruled against the seclusion of women, describing it as a custom of non-Islamic origin which ‘had through sheer ignorance been incorporated with the noble doctrines of that Prophet Muhammad.

“For all their religious reforms and their social activities, the main commitment of the Young Ansar-Ud-Deen was to education and to the establishment of schools. Their first project was a primary school in Alakoro, Lagos that was established on a site that had been granted to the Lagos Muslim Community in 1917. The Alakoro primary school opened for admission in 1931 and was officially opened two years later by the Governor of Nigeria who publicly acknowledged the educational efforts of the society. After a second primary school was finally opened in Okepopo in 1942, the Young Ansar-Ud-Deen set up a Ten-Year Educational Programme which envisaged the development of a Muslim Teacher Training College and a Secondary Grammar School for Muslim boys and girls.

“The Teacher Training College started in Ota (near Lagos) in the year 1946 with students sponsored by various Muslim organisations, from the Colony and the Western Provinces, and was formally opened in 1948. The first Secondary Grammar School, for boys and girls, was established in Isolo, Lagos, in 1953. The need for the Teacher Training College had been felt for a long time among the Muslim population in these areas. The lack of qualified Muslim teachers, however, still was to remain a major problem for the Young Ansar-Ud-Deen, and the employment of Christian teaching staff became very common from the beginning. Strong emphasis on ‘western’ subjects and a large proportion of Christian teachers made the Ansar-Ud-Deen Schools quite similar to their Christian.”
Some achievements and landmarks recorded by ASN

ASN is that organization that, as at 1967, controlled almost half of the educational institutions run by Muslim Voluntary Agencies (254 out of 509) in Yorubaland. Oloyede said ASN, it was, that influenced the establishment of what came to be known as the second largest Muslim group in Yorubaland, namely the Young Nawair-deen in 1939 in Abeokuta; it was ASN that also gave impetus to the formation of Ansarul Islam Society that was founded in Ilorin in 1943 by Shaykh Kamaludeen al-Adabi.

“In politics, Muslims who were connected with the ASN and indeed the Ahmadiyyah movement were visible and active to the extent that they were the ones calling the shots in the Action Group, a party established by the late Pa Obafemi Awolowo. The journalist Lateef Jakande, son of an old warrior family in Lagos, later became one of the closest associates of the AG leader, and his forays into public life eventually led to his election as governor of Lagos State in 1979.

“While the ASN was busy marching on with its laudable programmes, Nigeria witnessed the establishment, in 1962 of Jamaatu Nasr al-Islam (JNI) by the late Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello. The JNI was conceived at its inception to be an umbrella body of Muslims in Nigeria. It has since been headquartered at Kaduna. But about a decade thereafter, precisely in 1973, the Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) was established to ‘cater for, preserve, protect, promote and advance the interest of Islam and Muslims throughout the country’.

“The NSCIA has since then been responsible for forging a unified Ummah in this country. It is recognised by the Nigerian Federal and State Governments as the coordinating body for Islam and Muslim affairs in Nigeria.

“But despite these developments in the area of Islamic propagation in the country, gaps still existed in Islamic propagation especially in women empowerment. Eventually, a women-centred organization known as Federation of Muslim Women’s Associations in Nigeria (FOMWAN), a non-profit making and non-governmental organization was established in the country.

“Registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission in 1985, FOMWAN currently has over 550 affiliate groups and over 80,000 registered members. The Association has delivered, to a large extent, on its vision and mission to propagate the religion of Islam in Nigeria through Da’awah (propagation), establishment of educational institutions, engage in other outreach activities; improve the socio-economic status of the populace; especially women, youths and children through training, provision of qualitative education, health and humanitarian services, micro-enterprise scheme and advocacy. Part of the successes recorded by FOMWAN include the formation of similar organization in Ghana known as Federation of Muslim Women Organizations in Ghana (FOMWAG).

“The activities of FOMWAG in Tamale and Zongo areas of Ghana have contributed in improving ‘Muslim’ women’s capacities and presence in the largely Christian Ghanaian society. There are very little differences between the programme of activities of FOMWAN and FOMWAG in comparison to the Sahiba Sisters of Tanzania, nor al-Aishiyah of Indonesia.

“The Sahiba Sisters, for example, was established as a trust in 1997, with the mission to enhance the leadership and organizational capacity of women and youths community actors, as individuals or in groups in order to facilitate their informed engagement in civil society’. Muslim women organizations across the Muslim world are working towards removing the obstacles preventing women from accessing maternal health service.

“They collaborate with international organizations in promoting women’s rights and in enhancing their economic potentials. It must be noted that despite the huge task they set for themselves including that investing in education as a critical factor in securing the future of the youths (Oloyede, 2020), these organizations have relied, in the main, on the pacifist method in the pursuit of their socio-political and economic agenda. They have remained what they sought to be at their conception, Muslim organizations, not Islamic movements,” Oloyede concluded.