Kenyan Muslims Debate Anti-Terror Law
by Alex Thurston AMOK turns the logic of the law’s critics around: the bill will not target Muslims but protect them, and represents not outsiders’ agendas but a response to local problems.
Bad Sudanese? A “Marginal Revolt” is Underway
by Alex Thurston Should Sudan’s protesters topple President Omar al Bashir, I believe the media would get excited, but until they do, the Sudanese will remain, for the media, “marginal Arabs” or, as el Dahshan argues, Arab “villains.”
Rethinking Mali’s Political Culture
by Alex Thurston The MNLA and Ansar al Din have dominated the headlines about Mali this spring and summer. But how have other Malian Muslims reacted to the crisis in the north, and to the partial “Islamization” of the conflict by Ansar al Din?
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Who's the Enemy? The Catholic Church. Chicago Cardinal Francis George is unhappy that the gay pride parade will pass a local parish on the final Sunday in June--and that the Catholic leadership was not consulted about the new parade route. Today on Fox Chicago News the Cardinal compared gay "rhetoric" to that of the...
Nigeria’s Islamiyya Schools: Global Project, Local Target
By Alex Thurston
This is the fourth post in a series on Islamic education in Northern Nigeria. The first post gave an overview of the series, the second discussed Qur’anic schools, and the third talked about “traditional” advanced Islamic education, noting that traditions change over time.
This post examines “Islamiyya” schools,...
Schooling Muslims in Northern Nigeria: Politics, Policies and Conclusions
by Alex Thurston Government-run Islamic schools, then, are to be a source of “counter-radicalization” as well as a means of moving almajirai into more “productive” schools. But the policy is unlikely to succeed.
Ahbash Rising: Religious Freedom in Ethiopia, Part 1
In the first of two posts on the deterioration of religious freedom for Ethiopia's Muslims, Alex Thurston looks at Ethiopia's relationship with the U.S. and the "Global War on Terror"
Shifting Politics in the World’s Newest Nation
By Alex Thurston
South Sudan, though less than six months old as an independent nation, already faces challenges to its political and cultural unity: rebels abound, opposition groups denounce the ruling party, and ethnic tensions simmer. Christianity has provided a powerful platform for political mobilization in the region’s past, and churches continue to represent the strongest...
After the Referendum:Sudan Negotiates National and Religious Identity in the North
By Alex Thurston
The secession of South Sudan in July 2011 posed an existential question for (North) Sudan: what will be the political and cultural basis of the nation, which is in some ways a new country itself?
In December 2010, shortly before the referendum on Southern secession, President Omar al Bashir gave his answer:
“We’ll change...
Boko Haram in National Perspective
By Alex Thurston
Violence by Boko Haram, a rebel sect in Northern Nigeria that claims to be waging an Islamic jihad against the Nigerian state, has killed over 900 people since 2009, including over 250 in 2012 alone. Domestic and international analysts...Of Shrines and Syncretists
by Alex Thurston Teju Cole analyzes the destruction of the shrines by analogy: Mali is premodern Europe; Mali is Afghanistan under the Taliban...Then comes the interesting analogy: Timbuktu is Mecca at the time of its conquest by the forces of the Prophet...
Identity, Crisis: Shari’a Law in Nigerian Politics
by Alex Thurston
In 1999, Nigeria made global headlines when Northern states began re-implementing “full shari’a,” i.e. Islamic law codes that included criminal penalties for acts like theft, adultery, and drinking alcohol. The shari’a project in Northern Nigeria caused further controversy when...
