NIGERIA: TWO NORTHERN MUSLIM VIEWS ON SHARI'A'S

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 000890 SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/W, INR/AA BAGHDAD FOR DMCCULLOUGH E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/21/2019 TAGS: PGOV KIRF KWMN SOCI PINR PHUM PREL KISL NI SUBJECT: NIGERIA: TWO NORTHERN MUSLIM VIEWS ON SHARI'A'S IMPACT REF: A. ABUJA 0634 ¶B. 07 ABUJA 2230 ¶C. 07 ABUJA 0080 ¶D. 06 ABUJA 2135 ABUJA 00000890 001.2 OF 002 Classified By: Political Counselor Walter N.S. Pflaumer for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Summary: Visiting State Department Nigeria Desk Officer traveled with PolOff and PolSpecialist to Kano, Zaria, and Kaduna on May 10-13. During several meetings with academics, politicians, and civil society leaders, they discussed the impact of Shari'a law in Nigeria. Barrister Muzzamil Hanga, Secretary-General of the Council of Ulama of Nigeria, outlined the negative and positive outcomes resulting from the implementation of Shari'a law. Additionally, he discussed the Shari'a Commission of Kano's new endeavor to manage traffic law for the State. Unlike Hanga's optimistic perspective on Shari'a, Bilkisu Yusuf, founding member of the Federation of Muslim Women's Association of Nigeria (FOMWAN),said that the call for Shari'a was really a call for a welfare state. However, Yusuf said that politicians had merely used Shari'a as a political tool, and that in the end there have not been any significant changes in the lives of Northerners. Still, many Muslims will continue to support Shari'a because they can identify with the system, whereas common law is seen as a foreign imposition. Moreover, if the government continues to remain idle in addressing poverty and corruption, many Muslims will look to Shari'a again as a solution to the many socio-economic problems they face. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) Barrister Muzzamil Hanga, Secretary-General of the Council of the Ulama of Nigeria said that, in his opinion, the implementation of Shari'a law has resulted in the following consequences: 1) Over the last decade, the Nigerian public has lost confidence in Shari'a law because their expectations have not been met. 2) The various agencies responsible for the implementation of Shari'a law had proved to be weak. 3) The media had mobilized the public to form negative perspectives of Shari'a law. 4) Existing government agencies had misused Shari'a law. 5) Non-Muslim business establishments remained apprehensive about the effect Shari'a law will have on their livelihood. According to Hanga, the first of these is the biggest challenge Shari'a law must overcome. He said that many people hoped that the implementation of Shari'a law would make their problems vanish overnight, but he argued that the implementation of Shari'a law, as with any law, is a form of social re-engineering, which takes time to root itself. ¶3. (SBU) On the other hand, Hanga said that Shari'a law has the following positive results: 1) The existence of Shari'a shows that the Nigerian Constitution of 1999 was bold enough to allow communities to select their own system of law, and for the first time ordinary citizens demanded a change from their government and got it. 2) The Shari'a system created training opportunities and an estimated 9,600 jobs for Nigerians. 3) The government now consults regularly with Muslim scholars. 4) Within the Shari'a system laws are respected, as evidenced by the cases in Shari'a courts which were overturned on appeal. 5) Under the Shari'a system, women have hope and equity. Hanga challenged the officers to ask any woman if she was better off under the Shari'a system and said that he was sure that any Muslim woman would say her life was improved. ¶4. (C) Hanga said that the Shari'a Commission of Kano has been asked by the state government to take over the State's ABUJA 00000890 002.2 OF 002 road commission, substituting common law with Shari'a law in an effort to reduce the abundance of reckless driving in Kano. Hanga said that in accordance with Shari'a law, each part of the body has a price associated with it and drivers causing accidents will be responsible for paying for each injury they cause. In addition, he said that nine family members of a driver will also be held accountable for compensating victims. (Comment: Hanga left open the question of how such a system would work in a city where millions of those on the roads are non-Muslims. End comment.) ¶5. (C) According to Hanga, before Shari'a law was enforced in Kano a meeting was held with entertainment businesses to inform them of their obligations according to Shari'a law. He said the Commission gave business owners two years to prepare. Hanga admitted that at first Christian business owners were upset that alcohol could not be openly advertised or displayed for sale, and had understandably said that the onus was on Muslims to avoid alcohol. However, Hanga claimed that there was increased understanding from the Christian community after the Commission explained that according to Shari'a law temptations must be removed before obliging Muslims to comply. (Comment: Hanga's remarks reflect the general view of many northern Muslims, who often do not comprehend the point of view of non-Muslims that Shari'a infringes upon their rights. Notwithstanding Hanga's claim that Christians understand the need to remove things from society that may lead Muslims to commit offenses, most non-Muslims we have met in the North continue to believe the responsibility for Shari'a compliance should be on Muslim individuals, not of society at large. End comment.) ¶6. (C) Bilkisu Yusuf, founding member of the Federation of Muslim Women's Association of Nigeria (FOMWAN),columnist, editor, and a member of the Nigerian Inter-religious Council (NIREC),said that when Muslims had called for the implementation of Shari'a law what they really wanted was a welfare state, not Hudood (capital) punishments. She said that, "they dreamed of utopia" and wanted equality before the law, transparency, and accountability. However, Yusuf said that instead politicians took advantage of the public's discontent and used Shari'a as a political tool - using the call for Shari'a to help get themselves elected, then choosing the parts of Shari'a law that would have the least interruption in their own plans. She said that in the end these regulations have made no impact on people's education or morality. In addition, Yusuf said Shari'a has not made any difference at all in the lives of women, thus directly contradicting Hanga's claim that it has given women hope and improved their lives. ¶6. (C) Comment: Hanga's enthusiasm for using Shari'a law to regulate traffic reflects the strong support for Shari'a law that seems to come from Muslims who identify with the legal system as their own, and who see Common Law as a foreign system imposed upon them during colonial rule. Demands from within Muslim society for increasing the jurisdiction of Shari'a, and for its stricter interpretation, will likely increase over time as frustrations build over the government's inability to address poverty and corruption. As we have reported previously, the problems this may engender between Muslims and the large non-Muslim minorities in cities like Kano and Kaduna will likely also increase. End comment. ¶7. (U) This cable was coordinated with Consulate Lagos. SANDERS