How Detained KSU Lecturer Described Boko Haram in His PhD Thesis

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Dr. Muhammad Nazeef Yunus, an assistant lecturer in the Department of Islamic Studies, Kogi State University, Ayingba who is being detained by the State Security Services (SSS) over alleged Boko Haram links, condemned the activities of the sect in his PhD thesis.

Yunus, who was paraded by the SSS on November 20, 2013 along with four other suspects, is accused of being the recruitment coordinator for the Boko Haram sect in Kogi State.

But in his thesis titled ‘An Analytical Study of Non Prophetic Stories in the Qur’an and their Influence on Arabic and Islamic Studies in Nigerian Society,’ Dr. Yunus repeatedly condemned the activities of the sect before his arrest and subsequent detention.

The PhD thesis, which was submitted to the Department of Islamic Studies, Kogi State University, Anyigba in February 2013, was written in Arabic. It was translated for Weekly Trust by a Sokoto-based Islamic scholar, Dr. Muhammad Mansur Sokoto, who is fluent in Arabic.

On pages 207, 208, 439 and 440, Dr .Yunus condemned the activities of the sect and described it as “a source of concern to all.”

Dr. Mansur Sokoto explained that “Dr Nazeef Yunus condemned the activities of some religious sect who use the name of Islam to cause havoc and he categorically mentioned the name of Boko Haram sect in pages 207 to 208 where he said ‘it later became manifest that a group by the name JAMA’ATU AHLIS SUNNAH LIDDA’AWATI WAL JIHAD popularly called Boko Haram. Their activities have become a source of concern for every facet of the society, because their approach to attaining their goal is through indiscriminate bombings of public places and killings. They show no difference between Muslims, Christians or tribes in their mode of attacks. To them, everyone is an enemy which is why they target market places, churches and mosques, police stations and other security posts, public roads as well as government establishments and offices.'”

The translated thesis further stated that “the situation has become worst with the knowledge that they have no specific address, but their identities are hidden within the societies which they operate. They secretly launch attacks on people at the least expected time except that most of their attacks are principally targeted at the government. Their leader Muhammad Yusuf was killed in 2009 in a severe clash with government authority, but the sect is still active.”

Pages 439 and 440 went further to include other religious sects that have existed such as the Maitatsine group in early 1980 and the group known as Darus Salam.

He said “no doubt there have been some Muslim groups in Nigeria that have used force to showcase their passion for the religion of Islam and in so doing over crossed limits. Because of this, lives and properties have been lost. Amongst these groups is the Maitatsine which manifested in the early 1980 and termed authorities as infidels and made interface confrontation with them. There is also the group JAMA’ATU AHLIS SUNNAH LID DA’AWATI WAL JIHAD known as Boko Haram and another group known as DARUS SALAM who isolated themselves and settled in a bush in Makwa Local Government Area of Niger State. All of such groups have gotten some negative influence from some of the stories in the glorious Qur’an, because they made mistakes in their understanding of the meaning of Hijra and the implementation of Shari’a.”

Weekly Trust reports that former military administrator of Kaduna State, retired Col. Abubakar Dangiwa Umar, last week expressed concern over the spate of arrests by the SSS, urging the service to take Dr Nazeef to court if they have evidence against him rather than detaining him indefinitely.

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