JORAS - Nigerian Journal of Religion and Society

The paper aims to highlight the significance of peace building through articulate and in-depth analysis of religious themes like Islamic Jihad and how such can foster harmony in a religiously diverse society. The development and spread of religion has been characterised by exclusion, conflicts, violence, schisms, persecutions, crusades, jihad and war as evident in the history of both Christianity and Islam. Religion as a powerful impulse in human existence continue to shape and define the socio-political, economic, ethnic, cultural and spiritual lives of people; at times with devastating consequences. Exclusive claims to the truth, radical religious strife, poor interpretation of religious text (s) and tradition, the quest for more converts, political relevance/ dominance, mutual discrimination and the desire to conquer more territories has brought about bitter experience of painful-suffering, untold hardships, rivalry, destruction of life and property, and seeming endless gruesome murders, all in the Name of God, Religion and or ideology? This paper focuses on the classical understanding and or misunderstanding of Islamic Jihad and how such perception forms, informs and affect relations with non- Muslims in Northern Nigeria.

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