It is amazing how people dive into argument about an issue without defining the concept. The trendy debate about Islamic conservativism triggered by the Emir of Kano Muhammadu Sanusi II has further widened the gap between the world of pro-orthodox Islam and the ‘progressive Muslim’recently dubbed ‘Yan Boko Aqida’ First, There is need to define the term conservativism and unravel its shades of meaning in relation to Islam. Conservatism means "commitment to traditional values and unwilling to accept change".
Now, this word often collocates with Islam in occurrences like ‘Conservative Islam’’ or ‘Islamic conservatism’. Since conservatism entails ‘unwillingness to accept change’’ then we are left with a question "which change?" Does it mean change in the fundamental precepts of religion? If it means such in the eyes of the western world which coined the concept, then I am a proud conservative but if if turns out to mean unwilling to conform with social and developmental dynamics in the same way exemplified by extremists like ISIS and Boko Haram, then I reject the label "conservative Muslim" because Islam is Allah's Deen and Allah is well aware of the changing world. In fact, He is the Ultimate Controller of time and modernities.
Some people have even started concocting statements and attributing them to the Emir Sanusi II on fake Instagram account. One of such statements is ‘The majority of technicians in Kano are from the South while untrained indigenes beg. How does that make sense? Why is it that conservative Muslims who claim to be against scientific progress enter aeroplanes and fly to perform the Hajj in Mecca rather than using camels to cross the desert!’.
It is not possible for a man of prestigious and intellectual caliber like the Emir to narrow the concept of conservatism in such a way as to equate conservatism to Boko-Haramic ideology which rejects the developmental variables of the 21st century, unless he is addressing the terrorist themselves. However, the context of the statement falsely attributed to him mentions Kano as a cited example.
So, the dangling question is; which shade of meaning can we infer from Emir SLS's use of the expression ''conservative Muslims'' as supported by the context of his address?
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