2017 CONFERENCE ON ISLAM IN NIGERIA

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    Rethinking Islamic Unity: A Focus on Mosque Sharing and Ownership Issue in ‘Oke-magba’ Communities (Download)

    Author(s):
    OMOTAYO Kolawole Charles, charlesomotayo@yahoo.com,

    Abstract: In Nigeria, the centrality of literature on religious conflicts has mostly been on inter- religious conflicts among the three religions; Islam, Christianity and African Traditional Religion.Studies on religious conflict have concentrated on inter-religious conflicts (Ṣirā‘āt) while intra-faith conflicts and disagreements (Ikhtilāfāt) among Muslims have not be given much attention which has invariably created a vacuum in the discourse and historiography of religious conflict. This paper focuses on the conflict that was generated over mosque sharing and ownership in-“Oke-magba”- a cognomen used in describing eleven communities, comprising Ibonwon, Ilara, Igboye, Odoayan, Odogbawojo, Odosiwola, Odoragunsin, Eredo, Odoroga, Odoyangunsen and Odoajogunin the Eredo Local Council Development Area of EpeLocal Area Government of Lagos State. Thisconflict, whichbedeviled these communities over the control of the Central Mosque in Ibonwon created a schism that permanently divided the communities into blocs. In a bid tooutwit each other, the blocs began to find support and align with both the traditional and political authorities. It is on this premise that thispaper is set to interrogate the causes of disunity that emerged over the control and relocation of the Oke-magba Central Mosque established in 1905. It discusses the history of Islam in Okemagba and explores the effects of the contestation. The study adopts simple historical survey as its methodology and uses both primary and secondary sources to justify its argument