Salafiyyah Practice in South-West Nigeria, 2000-2020

In South-West Nigeria, Salafiyyah takes a new dimension which calls for investigation in academic milieu. The mode of preaching of the movement has generated different notions. The salafists are being tagged as New Muslim Movement. Two factors led to the emergence of salafiyyah in the southwest. The internal factor was caused by some Muslims, who perceived that the practice of Islam in Nigeria has been adulterated by western ideologies. They advocated that the only mechanism to revive it is to separate the seeds from chaffs. They argued that Muslims must practise Islam as it was done during the prophetic and his immediate companions' eras. Nigerian graduates from Asian nations are the second factor. The methods of reviving Islam are not alien in Nigeria. However, that of the salafiyyah brought missed-perceptions on what is salafiyyah, what is Madkhaliyyah and what are salafis preaching. There are also divisions among the salafis. The activities of the practitioners are tagged as the extremism while the propagators are regarded as modern extremist Muslims. Muslims in Nigeria are divided into Salafis and Muslims. The salafis labelled non-salafis a number of hate names and vice-versa.