SUFISM IN NORTHERN NIGERIA: FORCE FOR COUNTER-RADICALIZATION?

Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab’s recent failed
attempt to bring down Northwest Flight 253 as it came
into land in Detroit, Michigan, has placed the issue
of Islamic radicalism in West Africa squarely on the
international political agenda. Indeed, his actions and
close association with Al Qaeda have raised a number
of urgent questions. For instance, what are the chances
of further attacks against U.S. interests being planned
and launched from Nigeria? Is the country now the
latest battleground between Al Qaeda and those who
oppose it?
Dr. Jonathan Hill’s monograph goes some way to
addressing these questions by examining the political,
economic, social, and cultural conditions found in the
country’s Islamic heartland in the north. But it also
considers how the threat of Islamic radicalism might
be countered, and in particular, the role that the local
Sufi Brotherhoods might play in meeting it.