The Igbo area east of the Niger River is the most populous ethnic group in south-eastern Nigeria, formerly known as the Eastern Region. Igboland, which includes the states of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo, was designated as the southeast geopolitical zone in 1999. ‘
South-eastern Nigeria in general, and Igboland in particular, have been identified as a largely Christian region on several occasions. Columba Nnorom, a Catholic priest and academic, referred to Igboland as one of Africa’s homogeneous Christian areas until a few years ago.
Conversions to Islam began in the late 1930s in the Igbo area of south-east Nigeria, amid assumptions of a hegemonic Igbo Christian identity – the only region in the country unaffected by the nineteenth-century Islamic jihad and later efforts to extend the frontiers of Islam in Nigeria.
Four decades after Islam’s arrival in the Igbo homeland, and with the mixed benefits of a civil war, Igboland began to show obvious signs of the indigenous Muslim presence.
Igboland was the last section of the country to be conquered by Islam. This was due to the fact that the majority of the people there were either Christians or practitioners of African traditional faiths.
Regardless, Islam expanded to the region in the eighteenth century and has since gained new supporters among the locals. However, there has been no systematic study of the religion’s distribution, growth, and evolution among the Igbo people; these believers are a minority for whom the religion is alien
Igbo conversions to Islam began in the late 1930s. Garba Oheme, from Enugu Ezike in northern Igboland’s former Nsukka Division, converted to Islam at the age of 29 in 1937 at Calabar (in the Efik homeland) in the current south-south geopolitical zone.
Muslim elders in Igboland unanimously recognize Oheme as the first Igbo conversion to Islam. With Oheme’s conversion, the ancient Nsukka Division became Igboland’s first indigenous Muslims.
It is a prevalent fallacy that all Muslims in the East are Hausa. This appears to be incorrect thinking, yet it is widespread and rapidly growing. The Ndigbo believe that only the Hausa people may be Muslims.
When an Igbo guy sees a Yoruba Muslim, he refers to him as a Hausa man. When he sees an Igbo who is a Muslim, he refers to him as a Hausa guy. When he sees other non-Hausa Muslims, he will refer to them as Hausa.
In Igboland, Islam is seen as a weird and foreign faith. Any Muslim there is considered to be going through an existential battle, which is usually rejected on many fronts. Life only keeps growing more and more complicated for Igbo Muslims since the ordinary Igbo man does not believe in their existence.
The stigmatization and seclusion endured by Igbo Muslims whose presence has gone unacknowledged are unparalleled. Igbo and Hausa are tribes, but Islam is a religion, and religion should not be tribalized in any manner.
It is past time for people to ponder tolerating those who live among us who are different from us.
