HERMENEUTICAL APPROACH TO RESOLVING RELIGIOUSORIENTED INSURGENCE AND TERRORISM IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The very factors that fuel religious-oriented insurgence, radicalization and terrorism are rooted in the injunctions in the sacred books of the religious faiths. Such injunctions include; “Fight against those who (1) believe not in Allah, (2) nor in the Last Day, (3) nor forbid that which has been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger (Muhammad), (4) and those who acknowledge not the religion of truth (i.e. Islam) among the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians) until they pay the Jizyah (tax) with willing submission, and feel themselves subduedâ€; (Surah 9:29, the Noble Quran). Similar segregative and instigating injunctions are also prevalent in the sacred books of other faiths; for instance; “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers; for, what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?... Come out from among them and be ye separate†(2 Cor. 6:14-17); and “Do not permit a witch to live†(Exod. 22:18). However, in these religions that are less prone to insurgence and terrorist activities, it is because these texts are interpreted in such ways that dissuade the believers against taking up arms against fellow human beings. Hermeneutics is the art of textual interpretation. What religious adherents believe about a sacred text and how they act in response to it is dependent on the perspective advanced by the hermeneutical models used. This paper examines the ways in which the hermeneutical perspectives adopted in interpreting religious texts end up fuelling religious-based insurgence and terrorism, and strongly asserts that it is the duty of the interpreters of the religious texts to interpret such texts to their followers in such a manner that will strongly discourage them from insurgence and terrorist activities, but instead promote greater tolerance of people to diverse religious convictions.