Panel 5331-The Three Circles: Christianity, Islam & Traditional

Religion in Comparison and Interaction

J. D. Y. Peel’s Contribution to the Study of Religion in Africa

Re-Reading Peel’s Three Circles of Contesting Rapprochement: Islam, Christianity, and

Oriṣa in Yorubaland (Nigeria)

Amidu O. SANNILagos State University, Ọjọ Campus

Nigeriaamsanni@yahoo.co.uk

NIGERIA’S LINGUISTIC MAP

Chronology of Religious Traditions among the Yoruba

• Correcting John’s OrderIfa first, then Islam, and Christianity“Ile (aye) laba ifa ile(aye) laba imọle, ọsan gangan ni igbagbọ (wọle)de”. Quotidian Yoruba expressionTranslation: We met ifa at home (world), and Islam at home(world) too, Christianity came in mid-afternoon.

Century of Interplay: Islam and Christianity; Pentecostalism and Salafism• Markers of Interplay: COMPETITION and IMITATION- • Unnoted markers by Peel:COLLABORATION (from late 19thC–early 20thC)*Samuel Cole’s 1906 Yoruba Translation of the Qur’an. (Solihu 2015; Solihu and Abdulhameed 2015).• T. A. J. Ogunbiyi & Idrisu Animasawun’s 1911 translation of Q12 & Jacob’s Peitionary Prayer• T. A. J. Ogunbiyi & Alhaji M. Alimi 1911 translation of the “Lord’s Prayer” and “Ten

Commandments”. • COVERT HOSTILITY: Writing script for Yoruba: ajami from mid 19thC. (S. Johnson 2001; J. F.

Ade-Ajayi 1960

1911 Published Collaborative Work

19thC Islamic Verse in Yoruba ajami

Borrowings/Appropriations within Abrahamic Faith Traditions

• Geiger, Abraham, Was hat Mohammed aus dem Judenthume aufgenommen?, Bonn: Baaden, 1833. • Idel, Moshe, “Mysticism in the Abrahamic Religions” q.v. in Adam

Silverstein and Guy G. Stroumsa with the assistance of Moshe Bildstein, Eds. The Oxford Handbook of the Abrahamic Religions. Oxford: OUP 2015.• Reynolds, G. S., The Qur’an and its Biblical Subtext, London,

Routledge, 2010.

Unnoted markers (Contd)• COMPETITION FOR PUBLIC SPACE (Recent).

•Night Vigils at national stadia.• Campus rallies

Religious Contest for Public Space: W. F. Kumuyi’s DLCM “Crusade” 26 JUNE 2016 AT ABUJA

DLCM 2016 ABUJA“Crusade” (Provocative?)

PASTOR W. F. KUMUYI at 2016 ABUJA RED CARPET“CRUSADE”

Muslim Use of National Stadium:• https://youtu.be/W5AOaTenla4?t=83• For Onikijipa’s Zawiya al-Amani Laylatul Qadr. Friday, July 1, 2016

Zawiyat Amani Laylatul Qadr (National Stadium)

Muslim Students’ Campus Jihad Rally 2016

MSS Jihad Rally 2016

Jihadist Rally 2016

White Garment Students on Campus Rally 2016

On-Campus Rally 2016

KUMUYI LED CAMPUS NIGHT OF DIVINE FREEDOM

LEADING THE WAY of CAMPUS PRAYER VIGIL

Faces of SalafismBinary image of Muslims: “rabid fundamentalists” vs “enlightened liberals”-mystics (Cf : R. R. Corbett 2015).•Purist (theo-revivalism)- Izala (See Amara 2011)•Political (theo-activism)- Al-Zakzaky IMN. See Abubakar, Aminu 2016. “Shia in Nigeria: Deliberate Violence or Mistaken Intent?” www.tonyblairfaithfoundation.org•Jihadi Salafism (militant and milleniarist trends) (Boko Haram, Ansaru (See Sanni (forthcoming); Thurston, Alexander 2016. Salafism in Nigeria. Islam, Preaching and Politics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.•; M. J. Smith 2016. Boko Haram. Inside Nigeria’s Unholy War, London, Hurst).•NGOism- sidestepped when not securitized (Sanni 2015 IAHR).

References on Salafism• Thurston, Alexander 2016. Salafism in Nigeria. Islam, Preaching and Politics,

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.• Lauziere, Henri, The Making of Salafism. Islamic Reform in the Twentieth Century,

New York: Columbia University, 2016.• Loimeier, Roman, Islamic Reform in Twentieth-Century Africa, Edinburgh: EUP,

2016.• Maher, Shiraz, Salafi-Jihadism. The History of an Idea, London, Hurst 2016.• Østebø, Terje, “African Salafism: Religious Purity and the Politicization of Purity”,

Islamic Africa, 6 (2015), 1-29. • Petersen, Marie Juul, For Humanity or for the Umma? Aid and Islam in

Transnational Muslim NGOs, London, Hurst, 2016

Untapped Sources on Peel• Forewords to published works, for instance, the one he wrote to Professor Elebute’s

book in which he explains how a goldsmith guild prayer group, Egbe Okuta Iyebiye (The Diamond Society) founded in the late 19thC by J. B. Sadare, a goldsmith of Ijebu Ode, became one of the earliest springs of the Aladura movement.

• critiques• reviews, for instance of Olayiwola’s history of Islam in Nigeria• public lectures in Nigeria- LASU, UNILAG (J. F. Ade-Ajayi’s Birthday, Abeokuta (2014)

etc.• Letters from Liberia.

Acknowledgements• Stephanie KITCHEN• Marloes JANSON• Royal Asiatic Society - Dorian Addison, Gemma Haxby and Lizzie Orekoya - ASAUK and Centre for African Studies (Cambridge) - Yusuf Olatokunbo Sanni

APPRECIATION

THANK YOU