Muslim-Christian relations expert will discuss Nigeria's Shari'ah controversy

Lamin Sanneh, Yale University professor of history and an internationally recognized authority on Muslim-Christian relations, will present a lecture Monday, April 15, on the Cornell campus.

Sanneh's lecture, "Does Religion Need a Political Alibi: The Shari'ah Debate and Public Policy," will be at 4:30 p.m. in the Warren Hall auditorium (B45). It is free and open to the public.

A dozen of Nigeria's 36 states have adopted the Islamic law (Shari'ah) as the law of their territory. As usual, there were solid reasons to adopt a code of behavior stricter than had been in place: widespread corruption, unreliable military and rampant crime. Neverthless, harsh penalties for such crimes as theft and adultery have brought widespread protest, and the uneasy relationship between Muslims and Christians has become much more volatile. Most recently, international attention was focused on a sentence of death by stoning for a woman convicted of having a child out of wedlock; the conviction was eventually overturned. In the religiously mixed state of Kaduna, where thousands were killed in riots after the state's leaders said they were considering enacting the Shari'ah, Christians have gravitated to the south and Muslims to the north.

Many have charged that Muslim leaders have politicized the Shari'ah, while Christian leaders have used it to inspire fear among their followers and stoke separatist sentiments. This has created concern over the potential for Nigeria to become a new Afghanistan or a new Somalia. The effect of such a transformation would be potentially far greater, as Nigeria has more than 120 million people and has vast oil resources.

Sanneh, a Gambian by birth, was educated on four continents. After completing an undergraduate degree in history in the United States, he spent several years working with churches in Africa and with international organizations concerned with inter-faith and cross-cultural issues. He studied classical Arabic and Islam for his M.A. and subsequently received his Ph.D. in Islamic history at the University of London. He was a professor at Harvard University for eight years before moving to Yale in 1989 as the D. Willis James Professor of Missions and World Christianity, with a concurrent courtesy appointment as professor of history. He is honorary research professor in the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, a life member of Clare Hall, Cambridge University, and he was chair of Yale's Council on African Studies. His books include The Crown and the Turban: Muslims and West African Pluralism (1997), Piety and Power: Muslims and Christians in West Africa (1996) and Abolitionists Abroad: American Blacks and the Making of Modern West Africa (2000).

The lecture is co-sponsored at Cornell by the Institute for African Development, Comparative Muslim Societies Committee, J.H. Newman Society, the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies, the Peace Studies Program, Cornell Catholic Community and InterVarsity Christian Fellowship Graduate and Faculty Ministries. Major funding for the event was provided by the Christian Scholars Program of the Pew Charitable Trusts.