On April 9th, 2021 the Center for African Studies, the Islam in Africa Working Group, the Center for Global Islamic Studies, the Department of Religion, and the Henry Luce Foundation presented: A Baraza with Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah. The title of the Talk was “Christian-Muslim Encounters: The Nigerian Experience”
Matthew Hassan Kukah is the bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sokoto. In December 2020, Pope Francis appointed him as a member of the Dicastery on Integral Human Development. He has a Ph.D. from the School of Oriental and African Studies and has also served as a member of the Nigerian Investigation Commission of Human Rights Violations.
Bishop Kukah spoke about the deep inequalities across Africa, but even more so in Nigeria, where there are areas with the most negative indices of development. When you talk about Christians and Muslims in northern Nigeria it is not the same, as when we hear about the relationship between Christians and Muslims in the Southwest of Nigeria. His argument was about the way politics has manipulated religion. The ways in which this manipulation has committed a sense of suspicion among ordinary people. Bishop Kukah states it is because people have become hostages to ignorance. The fact that people still remain suspicious is why Nigeria is dealing with a situation in which in northern Nigeria today, many children are not in school, and that it is even worse with the girls.
Colonialism’s impact and legacy in exacerbating the breakdown of politics, which has opened up many of the communities to some of the prejudices that should have been abandoned when the British left. Yet these Injustices still persist between Christians and Muslims in Nigeria. Bishop Kukah spoke about the history of Islam in Nigeria. As well as the growth of Pentecostalism and the tensions and prejudices present. He shared stories about this conflicting violence that has risen due to these tensions in Nigeria. He spoke about the devastation of it all, arguing that this is literally the result of the breakdown of politics, the breakdown of the System.
Bishop Kukah shared his insights about the patterns of identity within the Christian community and Muslim community. He noted that while quite a good number of Catholics and Anglicans go to mass in the morning on Sunday, they may also go to the mosque. Similarly, there are Muslims attending church as well as going to the mosque. This is common, Bishop Kukah stated, where you find people crossing these boundaries by all kinds of social functions. From funerals, weddings, naming ceremonies, graduation ceremonies and so on. Interestingly, these social trends are at odds with the kind of conflict present now within Nigeria.
Bishop Kukah presented the critical question: Why are people in the Church on Sunday together as Christians and Muslims? Why are there political parties together as a system? The politicians cross these boundaries on a daily basis because they believe have powers to help them win elections. This is witnessing a sort of transactional politics with religion at different levels.
Bishop Kukah argued that in effect, there are opportunities for Christians and Muslims to do great things for one another, in part because there are great platforms. There is the possibility for them to create better networks and to seek to expand the procedures of collaboration, seen in politics and in northern Nigeria. Bishop Kukah argued that collaboration between Christians and Muslims is necessary because the region is falling behind, where millions of young girls and young boys–the future leaders of the nation–are receiving little education. Bishop Kukah shared that honesty is needed, because the truth of the matter is that 90% of the political and economic elite in northern Nigeria are sending their children to missionary schools outside their immediate areas of location, meaning that they know what is good for their own children. The tragedy is that these elites have not been able to allow these values to cascade.
The talk ended with these statements from Bishop Kukah: as long as people continue in the name of religion to say that we will not allow our children to marry those they want to marry, we will still remain hostages, because there is no guarantee that the happiness of the child with the young couple is based on the fact that both of them are the same religion and both of them are the same. In Section 15, subsection 2B, the Constitution of Nigeria says very clearly that for national integration to be achieved, it must encourage intermarriage among persons from different places of origin or different religious, ethnic or linguistic associations.
The test, so the challenge for us is this.
Written By: Karen Awura-Adjoa Ronke Coker