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For rural or urbanrebels, the reerence torevolutionary Islam andviolence is above all away to get spiritual powerand protest the governingelite, whether Christian orMuslim.
 
Cnversin  Islam an Merniy inNigeria: A View frm he Unerwrl
Mac-A P  Mc
Since September 11, conversions to Islam have worried stra-
tegic analysts, as neophytes are usually considered to be more
extremist than traditional Muslims. From Asia to Arica, the issue is now a question that deserves commentary. We haveto distinguish (1) conversion rom one religion to another,(2) “internal” conversion (a “born-again” phenomenon orChristians), and (3) the discovery o God, especially or ani-
mists in Africa or atheists and agnostics in the West. When weconsider these types together, the expansion of Islam in Africa
 remains mysterious, not only because its appeal would need urther investigation to be ully understood, but also because it raises doubts on the reality o its growth. Hence this paperchallenges common assumptions. We have no scientifc mea-surement o the progression o Islam in Arica. Nigeria, themost populous country on the continent, is an interestingcase-study in this regard, because it has experienced many  religious conrontations between Muslims in the North andChristians in the South. In the frst part o this article, weshow that there are no rational proos about the growth o 
Islam, only clues. In the second part, we question the develop-
ment o Islam among non-Muslim societies, as compared tothe rapid propagation o Christianity in the Middle Belt. Inthe third part, we study political conversions to Islam in theSouth, where Muslims constitute a minority o the popula-tion. By studying Asari Dokubo and his Niger Delta People’sVolunteer Force, we attempt to understand the attraction o Islam or gangsters or warlords who oppose a Christian elite.
Their conversion seems quite paradoxical because it can
 repulse their non-Muslim ollowers. And one wonders what is radical in such a process: Islam or the converted?
As the war against terrorism carries on, the so-called “clash o civilization”between the Muslim and the Christian worlds has become an easy—yetunsatisactory—way to explain complex conicts. In such a context, many
 
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wonder what attracts people to Islam. The question raises many issues, andthis article does not intend to answer all o them. A single case-study givesclues toward understanding only why some Christian individuals adhere toIslam. I not a global trend, the pattern worries strategists, as neophytes areusually eared to be more extremist than traditional Muslims. From Asiato Arica, conversions are now a burning topic, and too oten their analysishardly avoids conusion between the use o terrorist violence, “internal”jihad, and the expansion o Islam.
Since September 11, Islamic revival has dramatically changed in thisregard, but the novelty o the orm or
 
the substance opposes specialists likeGilles Kepel and François Burgat in France (
Libération
2005). The ormerbelieves that al-Qaida is radically new: extensive propaganda on Internet andterrorist attacks on the Twin Towers are a novelty indeed. Yet many o itsorganizational aspects have been seen beore,
1
and the latter considers thatIslamism is frst and oremost a violent political reaction to Muslim authori-tarian regimes and their allies in the West: in this view, the use o religion asa protest movement is certainly an old phenomenon. Some authors even arguethat Islam is deeply entrenched in politics. Historically, writes George Bataille(1949:115, my translation), it is “dierent rom Christianity and Buddhismbecause its teaching quickly extended beyond the local community where itwas born: on the contrary, it built a new society rom its teaching.”
2
So what do we mean by an expansion o Islam? Are we talking aboutthe orm—a spatial and demographic development through globalization,the Internet, Muslim diaspora(s), and international migrations? Or are wetalking about the substance—the radicalization and the politicization o areligion?Marred by requent religious conrontations between Muslims in theNorth and Christians in the South, Nigeria, the most populous countryon the continent, is an interesting case-study in this regard. The growth o
Islam ater Nigeria achieved independence is questionable. The specter o an
Islamic invasion relies mainly on ears and conspiracy theories about Shariaand the so-called “Kaduna Mafa,” a ghost Muslim government located inthe ormer administrative headquarters o the Northern Region. From aspatial and demographic point o view, the spread o Islam was much moredramatic two centuries ago, during the jihad o Usman dan Fodio, especiallytoward Ilorin and the Oyo Empire in Yorubaland (Montclos 2005). Today,the development o Islam among non-Muslim societies has to be comparedto the rapid propagation o Christianity in the Middle Belt. Is one more“eicient” than the other? More “sustainable?” Or more “artifcial?” In theNorth, anthropologists show that some peasants adhere to Islam essentiallyto have access to Hausa trading networks (Last 1979). In the South, where
Muslims constitute a minority o the population, we fnd evidence o “oppor-
tunist” political conversions o rebels. The point, here, is not to challengethe validity and the motivation or such conversions; the aim, rather, is toargue that militant Islam stems rom local roots and is dierent rom theplanetary threat that some people imagine.
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