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THE IMPACT OF COLONIAL
EDUCATION AD CULTURE ON THE
MUSLIMS OF NIGERIA
BY
A. O. OMOTOSHO
Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies
April/May 1998, pp. 52-61.
Introduction
The Colonization of Africa by the
Europeans which lasted about a century
has come and gone but its impacts linger
on many decades after. While some of
these impacts are good and desirable,
some are in conflict with the African
culture and are not desirable. This
second aspect of colonial impacts on
Africa especially as it affects the
Nigerian Muslim is the focus of this
article. It will examine how colonial
education has affected the mentality of
Nigerians especially the Muslim,
towards their fellow Nigerians, their
religion and above all themselves. The
ultimate objective of the work is to
broaden our knowledge of the past so
that we can use it to enlighten our future.
This has become necessary in view of
moral decadence and general indiscipline
that have become the order of the day in
our society, especially among the youth.
Most of the ills are often identified as
side effects of Western Education and
Western Influence in general. Otonti
Nduka was probably right when he said:
Nigeria in the eagerness to acquire
Western Cultural innovations and
because of some of the exigencies of the
culture contact, Nigerians often grapple
with ideas and practices they understood
and whose underlying assumptions they
would have repudiated if they had
understood them1.
Perhaps Nduka’s assumption explains
why Nigerians and indeed the Muslims
in particular have abandoned the
teaching of their religion and their
culture in favour of alien ideas which
later changed their lifestyle and landed
them in misery.
Morality and the Colonial Educational
System
When the colonialists came to Nigeria
in the 19th century, together with
Christian Missionaries, they discovered
that Islam had firmly established itself in
most parts of the North and in some parts
of the West of the country2. Apparently,
they would have preferred to replace
Islam with their own religion. The
educational system was virtually in the
hands of the Missionaries who ensured
that the learning process in schools
encouraged and in some cases demand
the conversion of beneficiaries of the
system into Christianity. Although they
did not quite succeed in converting
everybody who went through the system
into their own religion, the effect of their
attempt left a lasting impact on the
mentality of the muslims.
This is
because Muslims were only able to resist
conversion into the colonial religion,
they were not able to resist the system of
education. As a result, the colonial
system of education which is largely
based on their culture and social values
remains behind (after their departure) to
do what their religion would have done.
Unlike the Islamic system of education
which takes every aspect of life into
consideration, Western religion and its
education appear to have concentrated
most of its teaching on the spiritual and
2
some aspects of social life. It lays little
or no emphasis on other crucial aspects
of human life, such as interpersonal
morality and the control of societal
norms. This particular lapse in the
colonial religion has a great impact on
their system of education.
Their concept of religion lays more
emphasis on belief than practice. In
other words, once you belief in God, in
fact Jesus, you will enter paradise.3 On
the general side of education you only
need to have literary education.
Less
attention is paid to the moral or
traditional education as other people
prefer to call it.
Adewumi Fajana
explains
the
difference
between
colonialist and traditional education. He
oobserves that while the traditional
system of education made it possible for
children to learn both moral and other
forms of education at the same time the
colonialist system which involves
boarding accommodation deprived them
of such opportunity.
Besides, the
missionaries were concerned mainly
with formal training of mind.4 In his
conclusion, Fajana maintains that
because of the training (which is material
oriented only) the children missed other
forms of training available outside the
school. They could not offer their
parents service which were often needed
and accepted as a necessary part of their
preparation for future life.5 This
explanation shows clearly the lapses
between the literary and the traditional in
the colonial education system. This
particular weakness together with other
considerations
such
as
political,
ideological and economic interests
inclulcated into educational programme
are the genesis of the “Legacy” which
both Muslim and non-Muslim now
inherited from the colonial education.
Moral teaching is the only aspect of
education that handles the acceptable
and unacceptable ways of life and law
only condifies them. The absence of it in
any society allows fiction and caprice to
rule, because the absence of law and
moral guidance leads only to disorder or
anarchy. Initially, people thought that all
what was required in life was to work
hard and acquire material gain, because
that was the main emphasis of colonial
education. Later it was discovered that
infact life requires more than material
gain.
New Norms, Values and Attitudes.
In its efforts to lay basic foundation for
hard work and material gain the colonial
authorities introduced various means
which in their view were the only way to
survival. This leads us to the impact of
colonial education on the colonized
people.
Among the vestiges of the colonial
education are therefore materialism and
individualism. Both are the main roots
from which many ideas originated.
Nduka observes that the greatest legacy
from the colonial past is Western
Materialism. According to him, the most
striking difference, at least as it appeared
to the indigenous Nigerian, between the
indigenous cultures and dominant.
Western culture was the wealth and
power associated with the latter as
compared with the material poverty and
the weakness of the former.
He
concluded that it was neither the science,
philosophy nor even religion of the West
which impressed mostly the natives; it
was the material wealth, together with
the power which was associated with it
that caught their imagination.6 To take
Nduka’ argument further, one could add
that Islamic education offers quite a
contrast. It has been in the areas later
known as Nigeria long before
colonialism and its education. It has
provided even more comprehensive
education. While it does not forbid its
adherents from possessing what they
basically need to make life easy, it
frowns at excessive interest in
materialism. Infact, Islam makes it clear
that all what is obtainable on earth was
created for the betterment of mankind
and that those that were made for other
purposes are the forbidden ones. Qur’an
says: “He has subjected to you as from
Him all that is in the heaven and the
earth, behold in that are signs indeed for
those who reflect”7 Islam however
cautions its followers that excessive
acquisition of material wealth is a sign of
deep interest in worldly life which
should be less desirable. Qur’an says
further.
“Wealth and sons are
allurements of the life of this world but
the enduring good deeds are best in the
sight of your Lord as reward and best as
(the foundation for) hopes!8
Similarly the Prophet is reported to
have cautioned Muslims: “Live in the
world as if you are a stranger or a passer
by”.9
All these explain the position of Islam
towards acquisition of material wealth in
life. The lifestyle of the Muslims in Precolonial Nigeria seems to have reflected
this doctrine long before the introduction
of colonial education and that is
probably why many adult Muslim at that
time especially in the North were not
impressed by the colonial education.
Their simple way of life was maintained
without jeopardizing their interest in
education which Islam has since its
inception advocated.
The advent of colonial education could
be said to be have opened the eyes of
Muslims to various ideas different from
what they were used to. These later
resulted into changes in their lifestyle.
For instance, it was the colonial
education that facilitated various means
of communication, transportation, and
other things such as radio, television,
telephone, musical equipments and
motor vehicle, just to mention a few.
While Islam does not prohibit the use of
any or these “material conveniences, it
discourages too much emphasis on their
acquisition. Infact, it regards those who
run absolutely after them as less
spiritually
committed
and
weak
10
Muslim .
On the contrary, Western education
created a dichotomy in the status of the
people. The difference between the rich
and the poor became clear. The rich are
those who are able to acquire all these
material things and the poor are those
who
could
not
afford
them.
Unfortunately, the colonial system of
education seems to have been designed
in such a way that an educated person
will not have any other priorities but to
work hard and acquire all these because
much importance has been attached to
their acquisition as they are recognized
as status symbol and the only means of
enjoying life.
Individualism
is
an
important
consequence of colonial education on
Muslims. This particular one seems to
be the root cause of many ideas. It has
resulted in callousness towards other
individual as Nduka has pointed out.11 It
has also led to over emphasized claim of
freedom by every individual. In fact, the
notion of individualism and the idea that
everybody should be responsible for
himself and his way of life and that
religion should be a private affair
between the individual and his God were
excessively invoked to influence
Muslims against their religion. They
were used on the one hand to discourage
those who used to volunteer themselves
to wake the conscience of other Muslims
towards their religious duty. On the
other hand they were used to create false
sense of unvetted freedom among the
worshippers. As a result of this, many
educated elitist Muslims became
unapproachable particularly on matters
of religion. Muslim youths appear to
have been seriously affected. They
became easy target because of their little
experience which was yet to give them
the ability to make fine discrimination
between good and bad.
The over emphasized idea of freedom
seems to have been responsible for the
inability of many parents to control their
educated children and form many
husbands having little or no control over
their wives. It has also given birth to
several kinds of bad habits which have
now become rampant in many modern
societies.
These include gambling,
drinking of alcohol, smoking of all types
and so on.
Complexes and Pretences
On the basis of their attitude towards
the idea of religion being a private affair
between the individual and his God, as
informed by the doctrine of individual
freedom, educated Muslims could be
divided to four groups as follows:
Those who are less affected by the
wave of colonialism. These set of
people are those who still observe their
religious duties regularly as much as
they can and in the way it was expected
to be observed.
The second category are those who
still maintain and practice their religious
belief though in unorthodox ways, due to
serious impact of modernization on
them. Many things are done not in the
way they are supposed to be done but in
the way they feel about them.
The third category are those who
simply remain nominal Muslims. They
observe their religious rites not regularly
but only when they remember and feel
like doing so.
The fourth category are those who
have completely abandoned the religion.
They do no want to be identified as
Muslims nor do they want to be talked to
about any matter of religion. They have
refused to be governed in any way by
Islamic codes of conduct.
Inferiority complex crept in as a result
of the establishment of colonial
education which has destroyed normal
way of thinking of Muslims and nonMuslims alike. Unlike other factors, this
feeling seems to be deliberately forstered
in the minds of colonized people,
probably for two reasons. (i) to uphold
the supremacy of the colonial race; (ii) to
protect particular economic interests.
The colonial administration designed
their educational system in such a way
that anybody at the receiving end will
have no other choice but to believe that
that (the colonial power) are the
champions of everything and that
without them nothing good could be
achieved. Besides that, they also leave
the recipient with the impression that he
is naturally incapable of achieving
anything tangible on his own, so that he
should not worry himself to achieve
much. Thus the colonizes people were
left without any other option than to
depend on them. The latter idea was
motivated by economic reasons.
The inferiority complex campaign was
also used to propagate religion. This
was done by covering up good aspects of
other religions and by creating negate e
image for them.
Islam seems to be
particularly intended for the smearing
campaign and Nigerian Muslim Youths
especially in the South were the main
target. Islam was painted in such a way
that unless one is deeply rooted in it, he
would not like to be associated with it. It
was branded as a religion that is anti
secular education for progress and
development, whose laws are primitive.
They were ignorant of the facts that
most of the so-called Western education
cum civilization owed a lot to Islam in
their origin and development.12 It is a
common knowledge that most of the
ideas later attributed to Europeans were
invented and developed by the Muslims.
Fafunwa, maintains that it was Islam that
revived the human science and that it
was through the Arabs and not that
Romans that the modern world achieve
light and power through science.
Fafunwa goes further that in the nineth
and twenty centuries Muslims compiled
great
lexicons
and
developed
philosophical
learning
in
Islam.
Muhammad V University in Morocco,
according to him, had valuable
collections of some of these early works.
Fafunwa submits that at least a century
before the Western World thought of
establishing higher centres of learning,
the Muslims had established such
Institutions In Basra, Kufa, Baghdad,
Cairo and Cordova in Spain. Fafunwa’s
view corroborates that of William
Montgomery Watt14 who admits that
many European scholars are prejudiced
against the Arabs when they talk about
their (Arabs) achievements in science
and philosophy. He quoted Baron Carra
de Vauz, who said that they Arabs had
really achieved great things in Science.
They taught the use of a cipher (Arabic
numerals), although they did not invent
them and thus became the founders of
the arithmetic of everyday life. They
made algebra an exact science and
developed it considerably and laid the
foundation of analytical geometry. They
were undisputably the founders of the
plan and spherical trigonometry which
properly speaking, did not exist among
the Greeks. In astronomy there were a
number of valuable observations Watt
specifically referred to Ibn sina
(Avicena) and Ibn Rushid (Averros) both
of whom he described as the great
Islamic
philosophers
who
had
contributed to the development of
philosophy, Medicine and Law, long
before the Europeans knew of these
Sciences15.
The inferiority complex syndrome as a
psychological war vigorously mounted
during the colonial time explains why
many educated Muslims particularly
those who were not from deeply
religious families felt shy to identify
themselves with Islam at that time and
long after independence. It was out of
fear of being looked down upon as
belonging to an uncivilized community.
This nurtured sense of inferiority has
also led many Muslims especially those
who came from the highly educated
areas such as Lagos, Abeokuta, Ijebu and
other places in the South to prefer
traditional names to Islamic ones. Many
of them who retained their Muslim
names “modernized” them, so that they
would sound like European names. For
example, Abdul Ra’uf became Rufus or
roy. To worsen the situation, many
Christian missionaries especially in the
South west during and after the colonial
era refused to admit child with muslim
name into their schools. This also
explains why many parents who valued
colonial education turned blind eyes to
their children who changed their muslim
names16.
The most damaging impact of colonial
education is more obvious on women’s
(including muslim women) mentality.
They seem to have been affected than
men. This is because al the above
mentioned phenomena did not exclude
them as member of the society. In
addition, there were other things which
are peculiar to them as women and
which colonial educationists used as
means of penetration into their mentality.
For instance, both Islam and the African
culture before it seem to have
recognized, that man is man and women
is women and both have assigned
appropriate duties and behavours to each
of them. These include the type of work,
dress and the way they should talk.
Besides, both cultures made other sexes
to see themselves as man and woman
respectively.
However, this balance appears to have
been over-turned with the appearance of
Western Education which introduced
liberation of woman on the pretext of
equality. As a result of this, educated
women in particular begin too see
themselves as equal to men in every
aspect of life. The wear the same dress
as men, they talk the same way as men.
Some even go to the extreme by taking
up jobs which should not have been
taken at all by the women, such as
Police, Soldiers, construction engineer,
just to mention a few. Nevertheless,
inferiority complex led the women to the
believe that they have to “beautify”
themselves by European standards. As a
result, the women condemned the
traditional African body care methods
and resort to unorthodox means such as
bleaching of their skin and dying of their
hair I order to look like white women.
These practices are now given medical
experts a concern, because of various
diseases that are now coming out of
them.
Dr. (Mrs.) T. Odutola, a
Consultant Physician and Nephrologists,
in her article entitle: Effect of Beaching
on the Kidney says:
In bleaching soaps, creams
and lotions, such substances
called heavy metals or
compounds are additives.
These substances can be
absorbed through the skin
particularly in hot humid
climate as occurs in Nigeria.
If these substances are
absorbed over a period of say
more than 1-2 years they can
damage the kidneys.
She concluded:
“From the foregoing, one can
see the damages that can be
done in the name of ‘Beauty’
‘Sophistication’ I have seen
two young people lose their
lives due to skin bleaching” 18.
Islam looks at the issue from a
perspective different from that of the
West. Islam believes that both man and
woman are really of different species
with distinctive functions and roles.
None of them can adequately replace the
other in their major areas of differences
but can only complement each other.
Man cannot survive on his own nor the
woman can survive without man.
Qur’an chapter 34 explains Islamic
position:
And in no wise covet those
things in which God hath
bestowed.
It’s gifts more
freely on some of you than o
others: to men is allotted what
they earn and women what they
earn but ask God of His bounty
for God hath full knowledge of
things. Men are the protectors
and maintainers of women
because God has given the one
more strength that the other and
because they support them
(women) from their means” 19
These
Qur’anic
explanations
categorically disproved the idea of one
sex being inferior to the other. If that be
the case, the colonial power only
resorted to their campaign of liberation
ad equality in order to uphold their
culture and create confusion among
adherents of other faiths.
This is how the colonial education was
able to influence the thinking of Muslims
in every aspects and changed their
lifestyle from a simple, decent, honest
and confident one, to the one in which
materialism, callousness ad confusion,
are major features.
Conclusion
In concluding this work, one can
comfortably establish the following:
Although the colonial education made
some positive contributions to the
development of Muslims, it also came
with various types of undesirable
influences which on the long run affect
their way of life and their attitude
towards their religion.
It has become clear from this study, that
various means were deliberately and
directly employed by the colonial
authority in order to achieve their
religious and economic objectives.
These methods include among other
things: mis-information, blackmailing,
and cultural invasion.
Experience in the Western part of
Nigeria shows that Muslims there, were
more seriously affected than the
Muslims in the Northern part. Perhaps
because Islamic influence particularly
education was already strong in the
North than in the South by the time the
colonial authorities come to Nigeria.
On a more general note, the negative
impact of colonial education and culture.
Recommendations
Nigerians like other nations who have
suffered from colonial invasion have had
lifestyle from a simple, decent, honest
and confident one, to the one in which
materialism, callousness and confusion,
are major features.
It is not confined to the Muslims alone.
The Christians and adherents of other
faiths in the country also have their own
share of them, in the sense that the
Western religion and values are
completely alien to Africans and their
culture. On the contrary, Islam and
African culture share many things in
common. For example, African way of
dressing with little or without
modification falls within the preference
of Islam. Islam did not recommend any
type of dressing for the lawyer or clergy
man other than what his people consider
as decent dress. While Islam also shares
the belief in the concept of Freedom and
individual right. It put a limit to it to
ensure that divine guidance take
supremacy over man’s life and his
activities.
Furthermore, the impact of colonial
education and culture seems to be more
reflected on women and youngsters
possibly in line with what I have already
said earlier on their peculiarities due to
their weak nature and immaturity
respectively.
Their way of life changed as a result of
colonial influence and long association
with that influence. However, all hope is
not lost if the Muslims can prevent their
children form falling into the same trap.
To that end, I would like to offer the
following suggestions:
Muslims should strive to learn more
about their faith and its teachings. A
deep knowledge of an idea increases
commitment
and
protects
that
commitment against external influences.
Muslims should also strive to practice
their faith as regular practice becomes
habit and habit is always difficult to part
with. It will also generate love for the
religion.
Muslims should always insist that their
children be given proper Islamic
education right from childhood to the
adulthood age.
They should be
concerned about who teaches their
children to ensure that a qualified and
right person is in charge.
Muslims should try as much as
possible to have their own schools where
they will have control over the affairs of
the school. When that proves difficult,
they should be more active in the way
the public school is being run to ensure
that their interest is not jeopardized.
Above all, Muslims should be more
active in the governance of the country
through
regular
and
sufficient
participation, so that they can be part of
decision making as most of what is being
taught in the school are decided by the
government.
Muslims should give their children
good Islamic names and make the
believe in it and insist that they use
them.
This is because name is an indication of
who you are and what you belong to or
believe in. It is also capable of serving
as deterrent against wrong doing. It is
worth noting that name is one of many
methods employed by other religions to
wage intellectual war against Islam. If
name is not important why should some
schools insist that a child should change
his name before he is admitted into their
school?
NOTES AND REFERENCES
1. O. Nduka, Western Education and Nigerian Cultural Background. Ibadan, Oxford University
Pdress London, 1975 p. 85
2. A. B. Fafunwa, History in Nigeria, Ibadan, Oxford University Press, 1974, p. 57.
3. Rev. Philip King of the City Church: A Special sermon broadcast on N.T.A. Jos on
November 29, 1997.
4. A. Fajan Education in Nigeria 1842-1939 ( A Historical Analysis) Ibadan, Longman, 1978 p.
30-31
5. Ibid.
6. O. Nduka Op. Cit. p. 98
7. Qur’an 45.13
8. Qur’an 18:46
9. Abu Zakarya, Yahaya b. sharaf An-Nawawi, Riyad as Salihim, Damascus, N.P. 227. Also see
Muhammed b. Imail Al-Kahallan; as-Sana’ani, Subul As-salam, Beirut, 1974, Vol. 4 p. 174.
Dar ihya’ Turahth al-Arabi
10. See Qur’an 2:24
11. O. Nduka op. cit p. 96
12. A. B. Fafunwa op cit p. 96
13. Ibid.
14. M. W. Watt. The Influence of Islam on Medieval Europe, Edinburgh, University of Edimburgh
press, 1972, p. 30
15. Ibid p. 30-35
16. Dr. Abdulkadir Windokun of Oyo State Health Management Board narrated to me how he
was asked to change his Muslim name either to traditional or Christian name before he could
get admission into secondary school in the middle 1940s. This interview took place on
Arugust 19, 1988.
17. Odutola: See special package on beauty (part I) in the Punch Newspaper, December 20, 1991,
p. 9.
18. Ibid.
19. Qura’an 4: 32-34