Sharia Reforms, Hisbah, and the Economy of Moral Policing in Nigeria
Main Article Content
Keywords
Sharia reforms, Hisbah, moral policing, moral economy, Nigeria
Abstract
This article examines the ambiguous values that guide and sustain livelihood practices and everyday struggles of different classes of people in the context of contemporary Sharia reforms, introduced in Nigeria at the turn of the 21st century. It specifically analyzes the economic impact of the Yan Hisbah (moral police) in Kano in Nigeria, who enforce Islamic moral values in the economy. While the Sharia reformers promise economic prosperity in the face of allegedly failed secular government and economic systems, their interventions come under sustained criticism. Muslim subjects argue that the activities of the Yan Hisbah are limiting economic opportunities and development. They also criticize the Yan Hisba Sharia moral project as an economy thriving in an ‘immoral’ economy that it seeks to correct. The essay shows that moral economies in the context of state, religious reform, and capitalism are not easy to implement.
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References
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De Sardan, J.P.O. 1999. A moral economy of corruption in Africa? The Journal of Modern African Studies 37, 1: 25-52.
Onyekwere, J. 2022. Lawyer sues FG, 12 northern states for sharing in VAT realised from sale of alcohol. Guardian. May 25, 2022. Available at: https://guardian.ng/news/lawyer-sues-fg-12-northern-states-for-sha-ring-in-vat-realised-from-sale-of-alcohol/?fbclid=IwAR2vxIAWT6j C8ToGibKFa-tTXaXO2zVTBk3xh4iukHkjrT8mHwDSoFbY6Xc. (Accessed on July 6, 2022.)
Orinmo, N. 2021. Nigeria’s Kano state moves to ban mannequin heads on Islamic grounds. BBC News. August 16, 2021. Available at: https:// www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-58175709. (Accessed on September 20, 2022.) Ostein, P. 2007. Sharia implementation in Northern Nigeria 1999-2006: A source book. Vol. 1. Bayreuth: University of Bayreuth. Palomera, J. & T. Vetta 2016. Moral economy: Rethinking a radical concept. Anthropological Theory 16, 4: 413-432. doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/ 1463499616678097
Sahara Reporters. 2016. Buhari stops proposed Kano film village to appease hardline clerics. Sahara Reporters. July 25, 2016. Available at https:// saharareporters.com/2016/07/25/buhari-stops-proposed-kano-film-village-appease-hardline-clerics. (Accessed on October 24, 2022.)
Shaykh Harun ibn Sina. June 30, 2021. Press conference in Kano. Shuaibu, I. 2020. Kano government destroys bottles of beer worth $523,000. Arise TV News. February 9, 2020. Available at: https://www.arise.tv/ kano-government-destroys-bottles-of-beer-worth-523000/. (Accessed on July 3, 2022.)
Tripp, C. 2006. Islam and the moral economy: The challenge of capitalism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Vanguard News Nigeria. 2022. Hisbah Board destroys 3.8 million bottles of beer in Kano. Vanguard. February 9, 2022. Available at: https://www. vanguardngr.com/2022/02/hisbah-board-destroys-3-8-million-bottles-of-beer-in-kano/. (Accessed on July 3, 2022.) Weiss, H. 2002. Social welfare in Muslim societies in Africa. Uppsala: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet. Yusufari, M.L. 2004. Sharia implementation in Kano state. Paper delivered at International Conference on the Implementation of Sharia in a Democracy: The Nigerian experience, Abuja, Nigeria.
Adebayo, A. 2019. Report: Nigeria earned $2.29bn through beer sales in 2019. Arise TV. March 4, 2022. Available at: https://www.arise.tv/ re-port-nigeria-earned-2-29bn-through-beer-sales-in-2019-2/. (Accessed on July 6, 2022.) Ahmed, E.R., S.B. Yahya, H. Haron, & D.H. Mohamed 2020. Operational definition for doubtful activities (Shubuhat) based on Islamic finance perspective. Journal of Islamic Marketing 12, 5: 1025-1042. doi: https://doi.org/10.1108/JIMA-04-2019-0072
Baker, B. 2008. Multi-choice policing in Africa. Uppsala: Nordiska Afri-kainstitutet.
BBC News. 2022. Nigeria’s Sharia police bulldoze four million bottles of beer in Kano. BBC News. February 10, 2022. Available at: https:// www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-60335189. (Accessed on July 3, 2022.)
Bourdieu, P. 1986. The forms of capital. In Richardson, J. (ed.): Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education. New York: Greenwood Press.
Daurawa, A.I. 2022. My command in the Hisbah board. Kano: Lumsah Print-ing House. Fassin, D. 2009. Moral economies revisited. Annales: Histoire, Sciences So-ciales 64, 6: 1235-1266. doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S03952649 00027499 Hajnal, Z. 2021. Moral economics – a theoretical basis for building the next economic system. In Róna, P., L. Zsolnai, & A. Wincewicz-Price (eds.): Words, objects and events in economics: The making of economic theory. Cham: Springer. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52673-3_5 Ibrahim, M. 2017. Conflict and violence at the crossroad of religion and ‘new’ media: Periscoping faith-based crisis through the eyes of camera in the Sharia-age of Northern Nigeria. Journal for the Study of the Religions of Africa and its Diaspora 3, 1: 91-109. Ibrahim, M. 2018. Contemporary ‘non-culamā’ Hausa women and Islamic discourses on television screens. Journal for Islamic Studies 37, 1: 101-119. Ibrahim, M. 2020. Islam and visual culture: Sharia implementation and cine-ma as visual management in Nigeria. African Studies Review 63, 4: 719-742. doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/asr.2019.88 Ibrahim, M. 2022. Being Muslim at the intersection of Islam and popular cultures in Nigeria. Journal of African Cultural Studies 34, 2: 205-222. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/13696815.2022.2060193 Ibrahim, M.M. 2019. Kannywood: Creating a new film industry. Journal of African Films and Diaspora Studies 2, 1: 81-94. doi: https://doi.org/ 10.31920/2516-2713/2019/2n1a5 Ibrahim, S.U. 2021. Hisbah: We’ll soon invite Shatu Garko’s parents over her participation in Miss Nigeria contest. Daily Trust. December 22, 2021. Available at: https://dailytrust.com/hisbah-well-soon-invite-shatu-gar-kos-parents-over-her-participation-in-miss-nigeria-contest?fbclid= IwAR3n-OxZO_lV30hpwYDhI_63fBK8sD67QUSqr7OVNb_ xfxVjRJt_seELS08. (Accessed on September 23, 2021.)
Interview with Abdul-Aziz Ezet. March 3, 2017. Kano.
Interview with a fashion designer. December 15, 2021. Kano.
Interview with Aminu Bala Mai-lalle. November 24, 2014. Kano.
Interview with Aminu Saira. June 28, 2015. Kano.
Interview with Nasiru Isa. November 25, 2014. Kano.
Interview with Shaykh Abdullahi Danazumi. October 2020. Kano.
Interview with Shaykh Aminu Daurawa. November 25, 2015. Kano.
Interview with Shaykh Yusuf Ali. June 29, 2015. Kano. Jedlowski, A. 2011. When the Nigerian video film industry became ‘Nolly-wood’: Naming, branding and the videos’ transnational mobility. Estu-dos Afro-Asiaticos 33, 1-3: 225-251. Langegger, S. 2016. After the ban: The moral economy of property. Antipode 48, 3: 645-664. Lere, M. 2016. Kannywood: Nigeria to establish world-class film village in Kano. Available at https://www.premiumtimesng.com/entertainment/ 206947-kannywood-nigeria-establish-world-class-film-village-kano. html. Premium Times Nigeria. July 15, 2016. (Accessed on October 24, 2022.) McCain, C. 2012. Kannywood, the growth of a Nigerian language industry. Nigerians Talk 9. 7 pages. URL: https://www.academia.edu/4441850/ Kannywood_the_Growth_of_a_Nigerian_Language_Industry. McCain, C. 2013. Nollywood, Kannywood, and a decade of Hausa film censorship in Nigeria. In Biltereyst, D. & R. Vande Winkel (eds.): Silencing cinema: Film censorship around the world. New York: Palgrave MacMillan. doi: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137061980_14
Nigeria. 1999. Constitute: Nigeria’s Constitution of 1999. Available at: https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Nigeria_1999.pdf. (Accessed on June 22, 2022.) Olaniyi, R.O. 2009. Sharia, vigilantes and the state in metropolitan Kano, Nigeria: The battle for social control. In Bénit-Gbaffou, C., S. Fabiyi, & E. Peyroux (eds.): The privatisation of security in Sub-Saharan Afri-can cities: Urban dynamics and new forms of governance. Paris: Kar-thala. Olaniyi, R.O. 2011. Hisbah and Sharia law enforcement in metropolitan Ka-no. Africa Today 57, 4: 71-96. doi: https://doi.org/10.2979/africatoday. 57.4.71
De Sardan, J.P.O. 1999. A moral economy of corruption in Africa? The Journal of Modern African Studies 37, 1: 25-52.
Onyekwere, J. 2022. Lawyer sues FG, 12 northern states for sharing in VAT realised from sale of alcohol. Guardian. May 25, 2022. Available at: https://guardian.ng/news/lawyer-sues-fg-12-northern-states-for-sha-ring-in-vat-realised-from-sale-of-alcohol/?fbclid=IwAR2vxIAWT6j C8ToGibKFa-tTXaXO2zVTBk3xh4iukHkjrT8mHwDSoFbY6Xc. (Accessed on July 6, 2022.)
Orinmo, N. 2021. Nigeria’s Kano state moves to ban mannequin heads on Islamic grounds. BBC News. August 16, 2021. Available at: https:// www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-58175709. (Accessed on September 20, 2022.) Ostein, P. 2007. Sharia implementation in Northern Nigeria 1999-2006: A source book. Vol. 1. Bayreuth: University of Bayreuth. Palomera, J. & T. Vetta 2016. Moral economy: Rethinking a radical concept. Anthropological Theory 16, 4: 413-432. doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/ 1463499616678097
Sahara Reporters. 2016. Buhari stops proposed Kano film village to appease hardline clerics. Sahara Reporters. July 25, 2016. Available at https:// saharareporters.com/2016/07/25/buhari-stops-proposed-kano-film-village-appease-hardline-clerics. (Accessed on October 24, 2022.)
Shaykh Harun ibn Sina. June 30, 2021. Press conference in Kano. Shuaibu, I. 2020. Kano government destroys bottles of beer worth $523,000. Arise TV News. February 9, 2020. Available at: https://www.arise.tv/ kano-government-destroys-bottles-of-beer-worth-523000/. (Accessed on July 3, 2022.)
Tripp, C. 2006. Islam and the moral economy: The challenge of capitalism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Vanguard News Nigeria. 2022. Hisbah Board destroys 3.8 million bottles of beer in Kano. Vanguard. February 9, 2022. Available at: https://www. vanguardngr.com/2022/02/hisbah-board-destroys-3-8-million-bottles-of-beer-in-kano/. (Accessed on July 3, 2022.) Weiss, H. 2002. Social welfare in Muslim societies in Africa. Uppsala: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet. Yusufari, M.L. 2004. Sharia implementation in Kano state. Paper delivered at International Conference on the Implementation of Sharia in a Democracy: The Nigerian experience, Abuja, Nigeria.
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Dec 13, 2022
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Sharia Reforms, Hisbah, and the Economy of Moral Policing in Nigeria. (2022). Journal for the Study of Religion , 35(2). https://doi.org/10.17159/2413-3027/2022/v35n2a2
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How to Cite
Sharia Reforms, Hisbah, and the Economy of Moral Policing in Nigeria. (2022). Journal for the Study of Religion , 35(2). https://doi.org/10.17159/2413-3027/2022/v35n2a2