Sure thing. Just holla when you get in.
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Religion is a problem. Europe tore itself up because of it, the middle east has been the center of religious warfare before Islam was even founded. It is worth noting that Alexander and the Mongols, the 2 most successful conquerors didn’t try to spread religion, and the more economically advanced countries ain’t overtly religious, a few outliers like Italy but the point stands.
Avoid generalizations, they just make you look like an angst-ridden teenager.
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I agree with you. Moreover if it boils down to tagging tech hubs. one can say lagos = south, while Abuja = North. I hope that is fair enough
Moreover if it boils down to tagging tech hubs. one can say lagos = south, while Abuja = North. I hope that is fair enough
Having lived in the north for a good part of my life and having roots there as well; it amazes me the misconception about the North in this part of Nigeria. Somehow you’ve been able to capture my thoughts and some things I wish people understood and put them out clearly. Thank you.
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Yeah, and the Islamic Golden Age never existed. We never saw advances in Mathematics, Medicine and the Sciences. There weren’t agricultural advancements, cultural assimilation and urban development. Right.
8th-13th century saw advancements in all those fields. What’s more outstanding is, it was motivated by religion and state-sponsored.
Now, I’m not naive. I know that “religion can be a problem”. However, I believe the problem is people’s interpretation of the religion. If the 8th-13th century taught us anything, it’s that religion can be a force for good.
IMHO, a religion is only as good as the practitioners. But then, this isn’t a theological class.
EDIT
But I hear you brother. We have a religion problem.
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Hmnnn…is religion really the problem?
I guess the problem is cultural, because if you say religion is the problem, you have to see how that has not affected Yoruba Muslims.
Therefore in a way, we can posit that Religion is not the root cause of the problem.
But on the other hand, since religion forms part of the fabric of behavioral culture and way of life in the North, one can clearly extrapolate that Religion might have contributed to the backwardness of the North, in this instance, it is not due to religion as a religion, it is due to religion as the defacto behavioral cultural expression of the Hausa-Fulani in Northern Nigeria, and since it is so ingrained in their culture, they have difficulty in separating their way of life from religion, which leads to things like almajiri and BH.
But within the confines of Islam, the religion actually mandates the gaining of knowledge as a prerequisite to worship, This means that Ignorance and Islam cannot exist together, the existence of Islam and abject Ignorance in the north is the root cause for its backwardness.
Iqra Bi’isma rabika…Read…!!..this is the first revelation to the prophet, therefore If the Culture in the North does not encourage education and the gaining of Knowledge, the fatwa is still undecided whether they can be said to be true Muslims or not.
So, basically what we are contending with here is a system of culturally promoted ignorance, masked with religion.
The problem of the North is basically ignorance. When you now add the defensiveness of that poor sort of culture by its adherents, which can only be a result of pride or arrogance, you get a generation of stupid people.
Ignorance plus arrogance equals stupidity. This is why the average northerner will kill without second thought somebody that ‘‘insults’’ their religion.
Literacy has no effect on this kind of situation, it is only the very few that are educated that rise above this sort of culturally ingrained ignorance mixed with arrogance.
Therefore the only way out for the North is to promote the education of its teeming masses, not only their literacy.
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I agree with the general sentiment of your post, but I think this is stretching it. 
You might probably be right. But the problems of the north is more or less political.
One does get carried away, especially when the subject is religion as a political tool.
The golden age happened after there were no more resistance to Islamic expansion in the Mediterranean and their expansion into Christian Europe was checked at the battle of Tours. That age will end with the coming of the Mongol horde.
Fun fact: Baghdad has only been successfully invaded and occupied twice, by Hulagu Khan in 1258 and by US forces in 2003.
During the crusades, monks got men to fight in the holy land by claiming that their sins would be forgiven. Millions have lived and died under the illusion that God will look kindly on them if they can just kill that pesky neighbor. Just look at how easy it is to get a Sunni to kill a Shi’a, or an Arab, a Jew. The north is no different.