Boko Haram: The History of an African Jihadist Movement

by Alexander Thurston

Overview

A comprehensive history of one of the world's deadliest jihadist groups

Boko Haram is one of the world’s deadliest jihadist groups. It has killed more than twenty thousand people and displaced more than two million in a campaign of terror that began in Nigeria but has since spread to Chad, Niger, and Cameroon as well. This is the first book to tell the full story of this West African affiliate of the Islamic State, from its beginnings in the early 2000s to its most infamous violence, including the 2014 kidnapping of 276 Nigerian schoolgirls.

Drawing on sources in Arabic and Hausa, rare documents, propaganda videos, press reports, and interviews with experts in Nigeria, Cameroon, and Niger, Alexander Thurston sheds new light on Boko Haram’s development. He shows that the group, far from being a simple or static terrorist organization, has evolved in its worldview and ideology in reaction to events. Chief among these has been Boko Haram’s escalating war with the Nigerian state and civilian vigilantes.

The book closely examines both the behavior and beliefs that are the keys to understanding Boko Haram. Putting the group’s violence in the context of the complex religious and political environment of Nigeria and the Lake Chad region, the book examines how Boko Haram relates to states, politicians, Salafis, Sufis, Muslim civilians, and Christians. It also probes Boko Haram’s international connections, including its loose former ties to al-Qaida and its 2015 pledge of allegiance to ISIS.

An in-depth account of a group that is menacing Africa’s most populous and richest country, the book also illuminates the dynamics of civil war in Africa and jihadist movements in other parts of the world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691172248
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	11/14/2017
Series:	Princeton Studies in Muslim Politics , #65
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.80(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Alexander Thurston is visiting assistant professor of political science and comparative religion at Miami University, and the author of Salafism in Nigeria: Islam, Preaching, and Politics.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction 1

1 The Lifeworld of Muhammad Yusuf 34

2 Preaching Exclusivism, Playing Politics 83

3 “Chaos Is Worse Than Killing” 142

4 Total War in Northeastern Nigeria 197

5 Same War, New Actors 241

Conclusion 300

Selected Bibliography 307

Index 329

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Alexander Thurston has written the definitive history of Boko Haram. By weaving a complex tapestry of politics and religion, he explains the peculiarity and potency of one of the world's most lethal jihadist insurgencies. A violent and secretive sect that was impenetrable even to experts is now laid bare."—William McCants, author of The ISIS Apocalypse

"This is an extremely important book, not just for the light it sheds on a movement that has confounded many but also for the approach it takes in attempting to make sense of seemingly senseless violence based on religious ideology. Students of other such movements around the world will have much to learn from this rich and careful account of Boko Haram's origins and transformation."—Leonardo Villalón, University of Florida

"A work of serious scholarship, especially on Islamic matters, this book shows an impressive depth of understanding."—Murray Last, University College London

"Alexander Thurston provides a well-argued and richly documented account of Boko Haram. This book will be useful to scholars, students, policy makers, and the larger public eager to learn more about the group."—Ousmane Oumar Kane, Harvard Divinity School

Editorial Reviews

"A highly useful, timely, illuminating work about a little-understood terrorist group."

Kirkus

2017-09-14
A diagnostic study of the ultraconservative "mobile jihadist gang" from Nigeria that has taken a violent toll on government and civilians alike.In 2014, the kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls from the Nigerian town of Chibok brought worldwide attention to this terrorist group whose name derives in Hausa-Arabic from "Western-style education" (boko) and "forbidden" (haram). Thurston (Salafism in Nigeria: Islam, Preaching, and Politics, 2016) systematically examines the movement's origins as a religious study group in 2002 in the Nigerian city of Maiduguri, led by the charismatic preacher Muhammad Yusuf, through subsequent chronological phases: a decisive turn to violence by 2009, uprising (and death of Yusuf) followed by government suppression, and re-emergence in 2010 as a terrorist group linked to al-Qaida. In the first chapter, "The Lifeworld of Muhammad Yusuf," the author provides a solid overview of the fluctuating society in northeastern Nigeria from the 1970s, when Yusuf was born and the north of the country lagged in development compared to the south, through the 1990s, when disruptive urbanization and globalization pushed people into migration, poverty, and illiteracy. Western schools, a remnant of British colonialism—Nigeria became independent in 1960—were seen as highly suspect places. As Thurston writes, "Western-educated politicians and technocrats have presided over a system that has stolen much of Nigeria's wealth, leaving much of the population poor." With Christian-Muslim tensions rising, ultraconservative Salafi teachings became more popular. The author delves deeply into what Yusuf was actually teaching: a core doctrine of religious exclusivism that clearly demonized anyone thinking otherwise, with a focus on the Quranic slogan, "Chaos is worse than killing." Thurston also weighs the mostly ineffectual government responses and urges a "long-term, fine-grained approach to understanding the Boko Haram crisis." This book is a good starting point.Though the author sets aside "Boko Haram's treatment of women" due to "reasons of space," he offers a highly useful, timely, illuminating work about a little-understood terrorist group.

Kirkus Reviews

One of Foreign Affairs' Picks for Best of Books 2018

From the Publisher