Cross Culturalism of Yoruba Cultures and Muslim Practices in South West, Nigeria

Abstract

Nigeria consists of many ethnic groups and tribes but the major tribes are Yoruba,Hausa andIgbo. The trio have their culture and cultural values. Particular reference is made to Yorubatribe which has its socio religious, political and economic milieus. The penetration of Islamand Christianity into what is known as Yoruba land toda y met the existence of AfricanTraditional Religion with its cultural settings and peculiarities. Although the two religionscould be foreign to them in terms of their culture and practices especially Islam, however, theinclination or idea of embracing a uniquely cultural point of view which is tantamount tocross culturalism is a common phenomenon among the religions. The study is based onanalytical and historical approaches. It discovers that there was and still some culturalinterpolations on the act ivities and practices of some Muslims in South West Nigeria. Theimportance of this paper lies in the fact that there are large percentage of Yoruba Muslimswhose cultural backgrounds are still reflecting in their professed Islamic faith. The worktheref ore draws attention to these areas of cultural influences with a view to establish the factthat not all Muslims in South West Nigeria have completely keyed into the Islamic cultureand that culture is not static but dynamic.