Prevalence of Exclusivist Theology in Postcolonial Northern Nigeria and Its Challenges to Effective Muslim-Christian Dialogue

Abstract

One of the biggest obstacles to a meaningful and lasting relationship between Christians and Muslims in northern Nigeria is what Philipp W. Hildmann describes as “blind fanaticism”¹ existing among Christians and Muslims. Both Christianity and Islam lay claim to the possession of absolute truths. Each sees itself normatively as the most superior religion on earth. The existing uncompromising competition between these two religions is worsened when both find themselves operating obsessively in the same space, as is the case in northern Nigeria. Hildmann poses a poignant and critical question that requires some soul-searching among Muslims and Christians. He asks, “What should be the end purpose of a dialogue between two revealed religions that are per se intolerant and each have their own claim to absoluteness, particularly considering the fact that both compete in their respective absolute, revealed and metaphysical religious truth with reference to revelation and salvation?”² This question brings us to the focus of this chapter, namely, the tendency toward exclusivism demonstrated pervasively by many Muslims and Christians in northern Nigeria.