Jihad Discourse and Its Reception among Sermon Listeners in Northern Nigeria

Abstract

ABSTRACT:In the past two decades, religious extremism and its consequences have assumed a wide-reaching dimension in northern Nigeria. Although this trend has been the object of many studies in recent years, many of the efforts have been spent on understanding the role of structural factors in relation to the crisis. While not downplaying the importance of structural factors to the issue, this study focuses on jihad discourse and its implications on religious extremism in the region. Using jihad sermons delivered by two prominent Sunni clerics in northern Nigeria (Shaykhs Jafar Mahmud Adam and Dahiru Usman Bauchi) as its database, the article shows that the sermons contain certain discursive strategies entangled in the religious politics of contemporary Nigeria. The research finds that in addition to preparing a manual on when and how to use violence to counter perceived religious violence from the "religious others in contemporary Nigeria," the discursive strategies in those sermons are also deemed capable of inviting their consumers to internalize violence and become potential recruits for violent religious groups, even though the speakers are not known as members of such groups.