The group’s official name translates to People Committed to Propagation of the Prophet’s Teachings and Jihad but the name Boko Haram was given by people based on the group’s lifestyle and teachings.
The literal meaningIn the local Hausa dialect, which is spoken by people of the northern part of Nigeria of Boko Haram is ‘western education is prohibited’, and it propagates making it ‘haram’ (forbidden) for Muslims to take part in any political or social activity related to the western society.
The state of Borno (in the northeast of Nigeria), from where the Boko Haram currently operates, was once a part of the Borno empire that ruled parts of a few other neighboring African countries as well.
The majority of the population under the empire were Muslims and the rulership ran as per the teachings of Islamic Prophet Muhammad.
The British then brought together the Borno state and various areas to form colonial Nigeria.
British invested heavily in the southern part of Nigeria for mining, while the north was mostly confined to exploitative agriculture and neglected.
This created a huge economic divide between the northern and southern parts of Nigeria, which still shows in form of education, poverty rates, health issues, etc. between the two parts.
British rule ended in 1960, and for the most part since 1966, Nigeria was ruled by dictators until the advent of democracy in 1999.
North, under these regimes, continued to be neglected, creating discontent among its people towards the elite, the government, and the Christians, who mostly live in the relatively prosperous southern areas.
Now, the religion mix when the new colonial Nigeria was formed by the British is said to have been 26% Muslims, 1% Christian, and 73% traditional religions.
Many people were converted to Christianity over the years and today Christianity is the 2nd biggest religion (47%) after Islam (52%), while traditional religions are under 2%.
The northern people increasingly believed that the moral deterioration of the Islamic society is responsible for their bad condition.
The concept of western education & values became a huge issue and the Muslim population called for the strengthening of traditional Islamic practices.
While this was happening, Muhammed Yusuf, who founded Boko Haram in 2002, was gaining followers and giving fiery orations in mosques about getting rid of the ‘western moral corruption’.
Initially, Boko Haram was a non-violent group, which also helped people but in 2009, they attacked government buildings and the government then killed hundreds of Boko Haram supporters, including Yusuf (killed in the police custody), and the group was thought to have been eliminated.
His deputy, Abubakar Shekau, who was thought to have also been killed, resurrected the group and turned it into a jihadist terrorist organization.
The group claims to receive support from other Jihadist organisations and wants 4 things: A) Nigeria should follow Sharia Law, B) End to western education, C) Killing of all non-believers, and D) End of the rule of the current government.
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