An Islamic Social Movement In Contemporary West Africa: NASFAT Of Nigeria

Abstract

Much recent scholarship about Islam among youth has tended to privilege so-called political Islam or Islamism and the radicalization of Muslim youth. In this chapter, I shift the focus away from such objects of study to consider a new Islamic organization in Nigeria called NASFAT (Nasr Allah al-Fatih Society of Nigeria) that exhibits some features of a social movement. NASFAT also clearly illustrates the influence of Pentecostalism on Muslim religious practice with some even referring to the organization as 'Islamic Pentecostalism'. NASFAT's founders intended the organization to be both non-sectarian and non-political. Like some other modern Islamic movements, NASFAT has focused on questions of piety and ethics and has been very active in social and economic activities. However, NASFAT's development of business activities, which it has sought to explicitly link with Islam, has been rather distinctive, helping to define it as an Islamic social movement. Given the limited attention to such contemporary Islamic organizations and social movements, which challenge some conventional terms and categories of analysis of Islam, Muslim youth and social movements, the chapter is a preliminary attempt to trace

Crossing borders: the case of NASFAT or ‘Pentecostal Islam’ in Southwest Nigeria

“…The driving force behind the group was Alhaji Abdul‐Lateef Olasupo, now retired as a senior manager with one of Nigeria’s largest banks and chairman of NASFAT’s Board of Trustees. He and his fellows named the prayer group NASFAT, an acronym of Nasrul‐Lahi‐il Fathi Society of Nigeria, which translates as ‘There is no help except from Allah’ (Soares 2009; Peel 2016a: 186–91). In less than two decades, NASFAT has become hugely successful: it claims to have over 300 branches in Nigeria and other African countries, Europe and the USA, and a membership exceeding 1.2 million.…”

“…NASFAT may thus be interpreted as a direct response to Pentecostalism, adopting strategies and practices from it, thereby affirming Obadare’s argument that ‘Christian resurgence, epitomized by Pentecostalism, has provided an impetus for Muslim revivalism and charismatisation’ (2018: 26). Consequently, many Nigerians (Christians and Muslims alike) refer to NASFAT in terms of ‘Islamic Pentecostalism’ (Sanni 2004; Soares 2009: 183‐4; 2016) or ‘Muslim born‐agains’ (Peel 2016a: 187).…”

The spiritual highway: religious world making in megacity Lagos (Nigeria)

“…Notwithstanding some recent initiatives to explore mutual influences and interactions between born-again Christians and revivalist Muslims (Larkin and Meyer 2006, Soares 2009, Peel 2011, there is a persistent tendency to study Christianity and Islam as bounded traditions. The conventional conception of religion as distinct is problematic in south-western Nigeria, a region called "Yorubaland" which is traversed by the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.…”

The Muslim response to the Pentecostal surge in Nigeria: Prayer and the rise of charismatic Islam

“…Secondly, although I offer NASFAT as an institutional epitome of the emergence of Charismatic Islam, mine is in no way an in-depth study of the organization (for more on NASFAT, see for instance Adetona 2012, Ogungbile 2012, Sanni 2012, Soares 2009). On the contrary, NASFAT is used as an entrée into a theologically various religious community in which there is continuous contention, not just over the appropriate Muslim response to the Pentecostal challenge, but also over issues like gender, mode of dressing, day of prayer, strategies of inter-faith engagement, devotional protocols, and what forms of innovation are allowed or forbidden/un-Islamic.…”