Religious and Cultural Studies

ABSTRACT
The advent of Christianity (Colonialism) to Africa and Nigeria in particular released a bomb which has affected the totality of the peoples existence. The changes that has occurred, are as a result of the way or manner the indigenous traditional adherents gave into the Packages of the new religion in their environment. Thus, the packages of the new religion had a romance with the existing religion of the people which resulted to social changes.
It is worthy to mention that although the new religion (ie Christianity) shook the foundation of the traditional religion, it also brought in new methods of approaching issues and events in our traditional society which has altered or modified the existing cultural packages of the African traditional religion, its institutions, customs and values.

In Nigeria, politicians seek refuge in religion as security measure to ward off the evil eye and machination of sorcery and witchcraft that stand on their way to success. Since Churchmen and women arrogate to themselves the ability to protect political office seekers by covering them with the blood of Christ, there is a guaranteed security for political aspirants. It is this religious posturing that turns political campaigns into a rite of passage aimed at consolidating politics of the belly and the occult and giving lee way to corruption and impoverishment of the nation through wasteful spending. This paper holds that the posture of Nigeria as a secular state should be streamlined and politicians who use religion to foster their political fortunes should be sanctioned with appropriate laws put in place. If religious leaders play their prophetic roles in society, then they will serve as conscience of the nation.

The relationship between culture, heritage, the environment and tourism is very important. It is the culture and heritage that separate the people of the world. We need to create stronger links between historic sites and monuments, indigenous people in the host community. Culture and heritage sums up a community's beliefs and values-shared behaviour acquired as the result of living within a group and a defined geographic area. Cultural heritage linked with tourism could be an important sustainability tool. There should be increased tourism development, with full participation, management and ownership of indigenous people and without having negative impacts on indigenous peoples and other local communities and ecosystems of which they are a part. In the year 1987, Brundtland report outlined the concept of sustainability which involves "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Tourism is recognized as one of the world's largest industries and continues to expand at a rapid rate. Over 922 million people travelled in 2008 and it is estimated international tourism will increase to 1.1 billion by 2020. So, economic development cannot stop, but it must change course to fit within the planet's ecological limits. Tourism is based on interaction, interaction prompts dialogue and dialogue builds mutual understanding and peace. Thus, we can look forward to nourishing the balance of universe through tourism and culture.

The relationship between culture, heritage, the environment and tourism is very important. It is the culture and heritage that separate the people of the world. We need to create stronger links between historic sites and monuments, indigenous people in the host community. Culture and heritage sums up a community's beliefs and values-shared behaviour acquired as the result of living within a group and a defined geographic area. Cultural heritage linked with tourism could be an important sustainability tool. There should be increased tourism development, with full participation, management and ownership of indigenous people and without having negative impacts on indigenous peoples and other local communities and ecosystems of which they are a part. In the year 1987, Brundtland report outlined the concept of sustainability which involves "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Tourism is recognized as one of the world's largest industries and continues to expand at a rapid rate. Over 922 million people travelled in 2008 and it is estimated international tourism will increase to 1.1 billion by 2020. So, economic development cannot stop, but it must change course to fit within the planet's ecological limits. Tourism is based on interaction, interaction prompts dialogue and dialogue builds mutual understanding and peace. Thus, we can look forward to nourishing the balance of universe through tourism and culture.

In Nigeria, politicians seek refuge in religion as security measure to ward off the evil eye and machination of sorcery and witchcraft that stand on their way to success. Since Churchmen and women arrogate to themselves the ability to protect political office seekers by covering them with the blood of Christ, there is a guaranteed security for political aspirants. It is this religious posturing that turns political campaigns into a rite of passage aimed at consolidating politics of the belly and the occult and giving lee way to corruption and impoverishment of the nation through wasteful spending. This paper holds that the posture of Nigeria as a secular state should be streamlined and politicians who use religion to foster their political fortunes should be sanctioned with appropriate laws put in place. If religious leaders play their prophetic roles in society, then they will serve as conscience of the nation.

The greatest security threat to the sovereignty of Nigeria today is the Boko Haram insurgency. The terrorist have carried their campaign of terror up to the police force headquarters. These developments led to the belief in many circles that Islam and terrorism are synonymous. The paper in its attempt to capture the issue of National security in Islam describes the Qur'anic schools that intend to produce self-disciplined citizens socially integrated in their community. The Qur'anic education is not an activity separated from other aspects of society. Success was of course, important, but failure did not turn the individual into a useless burden on society. It was the British administration that labeled the system of education they brought as Western education, while the other one was identified as religious education. Thus in attempt to resist the cultural invasion Muslim leaders clustered around the Qur'anic schools, this explains the reason why the vast majority of Muslims remained hostile to western education. The paper however, holds that 'fasa'd' used in the Qur'an is very comprehensive in its context. Thus Islam does not only condemn 'fasa'd' in all forms, but prescribes appropriate punishments for all acts of terrorism. The paper concludes that 'terrorism' applies to acts of terror, attempts to cause bomb explosions, etc. and to all excess restrictive and punitive measures taken by a government to suppress oppositions as well. Islam does not provide any cover or justification for acts of terrorism, be it committed by an individual, a group or a government.

This paper argues that the word Jihad is commonly translated into English as "the holy war" and for a long while now the word has been interpreted so that it has become synonymous with a mania of religion. But the word Jihad does not mean "holy war." The concept of "holy war" does not occur in the term Jihād, which in Arabic would be al-ħarb al-muqaddasah ‫المقدست‬ ‫.الحرب‬ Thus the Arabic word "Jihad' has neither the connotation of ''holy'' nor that of ''war''. Islam simply put an end to the wars of aggression and permitted only defensive war under certain conditions after all effort to keep the peace has failed and enemy impose was on the Muslim State. Such defensive war is permitted in order to restore the condition of peace, but not to disturb the peace. Islam does not advocate "the law of the jungle and does not give Muslims any right to take life of others. Jihad is not terrorism; terrorism is under no circumstances permissible in Islam. But It is apparent that the understanding of Jihad as a concept is dismally blurred and employed by the extremists, and the only way to dispel the false notions of Jihad put forth by the extremists, who are massively funded by external sources, is an equally strong effort put forth by Muslim governments in re-education of their populations, in particular the youth, with a correct understanding of this term.

Critical examination of the causes of the political violence in Nigeria revealed that the immediate causes of the phenomenon in the country include the imposition of candidates on party members. The Others are, lack of democratic institutions and culture; the prevailing political mind of-set of do -or die and winner takes-all; partisanship of law enforcement agencies; lack of prompt judicial response to the cases of electoral offences, the general socioeconomic downturn that has rather remained unaddressed over the years. This leads to key question: Is there a role and message that religion brings which can help to achieve a safer and more peaceful world? This is the burden of this paper. The paper is of the opinion that Islam advocates a system of representative government and sets down capacity and integrity as the only conditions that should govern the election to the offices. According to Islam the privilege to rule is a trust, not rights; Islam teaches equality and balance such that society should not allow itself to become polarised; Islam therefore enjoins upon the rulers to remain always impartial judges between the citizens. Islam believes that conflicts often stem from inequality and injustice. The paper concludes that if the government was to adopt and take care of the principles of equality and justice for all, and ensure that no party is allowed to become deprived or lose hope, this would ultimately restore the social and political peace into the country.

It is generally believed that Islam and politics seem inseparable. The Extremists believe that a true Muslim cannot subscribe to any system of government other than Islamic lawthe Shari`ahthat this requires an Islamic state and that to establish and protect the state may require fighting (Jihad). On the other hand some Muslims have argued that Islam is compatible with democracy. The paper contends that from the definition of politics the prophet of Islam was the best politician that made a practical demonstration of religion and politics with neither hindering each other. The paper proves that while Islam does not prescribe any particular name for country form of government, it robustly provides for the political system of administration, economic systems, social order and means of peaceful co-existence by residents of any country. It further provides guidance and prescriptions on the values the government should conform with and seek to establish. The paper further argues that when Muslims established their rule in any territory they never imposed shari`ah on non-Muslims. According to the true teachings of Islam, Muslims should live peacefully under any state that provides freedom of religion. The paper thus concludes that politics in Islam is not do or die affairs, that politicians should carry out their duties with strict impartiality and absolute justice.

That corruption is regarded with a permissive attitude or winked at in Nigeria is no secret. The basic problem for analysis here is the unedifying glorification of corruption by condemning it with one corner of the mouth and tries to justify it with another, despite moral and religious condemnation of corruption in all forms. The contention of this paper is that Islam does not only claim panacea for corruptions plaguing human society, indeed it has guidance which will help to tackle the problems. Unfortunately the religious influence on moral behavior is fast being lost in society; a strong urge for liberation from religious obligations is in motion and gaining momentum almost everywhere in the World. The paper thus concludes that, there are many areas of crime control or prevention which can be borrowed from the Islamic legal, social and political system to save any country from the menace of corruption. Nigerians have drifted far from our creator, felt non chalet in worshipping Him but resorted to worship on mammon. Unless we repent, change and amend our evil ways, it is then that our conditions can improve and be better

The process of wage determination is central to economic analysis. The process under the capitalist tradition has resulted in enormous economic inequalities. This paper uses the prohibition of interest to examine the global financial crisis vis-à-vis crisis in Nigeria. The paper argues that the consequence of the global financial meltdown on Nigeria is immediate contagion impact on the financial markets of USA and Europe. The consequence has been depreciation in market capitalization and slash in the values of investments held by Nigerians. Because Nigeria economy is based on capitalism many of the successive regimes and governments policies, programmes and behaviours had led to increased poverty and deprivation among Nigerians. Thus, the solution to the capitalism crisis in Nigeria lies in abolition of interest based economy. Though, this is an Islamic approach, but based on Allah's injunctions which are quite consistent.

Islam's first contact with Africa was with Ethiopia rather than Egypt and the rest of North Africa. After the initial military phase in North Africa, Islam spread through the population movements and trade. Another factor that helps the spread of Islam in Africa is its adaptability culture where the customs and usages of a society are accommodated to some extent. The paper argues that Africans before the colonial had established Qur'anic schools throughout the continent and some of their languages like Hausa and Fulfulde were being written with Arabic alphabets. The paper further states that Islam had been introduced in the Hausa states as early as 14th century, but by the early 19th century it had little influence on the life of most of the inhabitants. The ruling class who would not want to see their power and authority curtailed by the Shari’ah vigorously opposed the reform of Shehu Uthman and this led to combatant Jihad and subsequent establishment of the Sokoto Caliphate. The system worked vine for a while but the degeneration later set in. The remnant of the degenerated caliphate was what the British had fought with and conquered. The paper concludes that Islam though less widely distributed geographically, but the main political and social forces in the whole continent. Today Islam is probably the fastest growing religion on the African continent, and the proselytization is undertaken by the African Muslims themselves and through peaceful means. Their Jihad is not terrorism; terrorism is under no circumstances permissible in Islam.

states. In the decades that followed independence, many new nation-states codified Islamic law especially in the area of personal law based on the rules of the classical jurists, which were heavily influenced by medieval socio-cultural norms! Family is the basic unit of human society. According to Shari"ah, in marriage the spouse"s mutual consent is essential. There are measures to make the marital bond possible. Besides guardianship, Shari"ah gives authority to relatives to save the family from social disgrace. Islam takes a realistic view and makes provisions for unexpected events. When serious difference or obstacles arise in the way, the contact has to be terminated with conservation of the rights of the parties. Paper holds that Shariah disfavour unmarried life and prescribed polygyny as the only alternative to control the excessive number of unmarried women. The paper concludes that, solutions to marital problems are in the Shari"ah. However, reexamination of the legal thought in the modern context is needed. Suppression of the Shari"ah cannot harm Shari"ah but will only help the politicians to spark off awareness and vitalism and revivalist spirit among those who committed to it.

This paper argues that the word Jihad is commonly translated into English as "the holy war" and for a long while now the word has been interpreted so that it has become synonymous with a mania of religion. But the word Jihad does not mean "holy war." The concept of "holy war" does not occur in the term Jihād, which in Arabic would be al-ħarb al-muqaddasah ‫المقدست‬ ‫.الحرب‬ Thus the Arabic word "Jihad' has neither the connotation of ''holy'' nor that of ''war''. Islam simply put an end to the wars of aggression and permitted only defensive war under certain conditions after all effort to keep the peace has failed and enemy impose was on the Muslim State. Such defensive war is permitted in order to restore the condition of peace, but not to disturb the peace. Islam does not advocate "the law of the jungle and does not give Muslims any right to take life of others. Jihad is not terrorism; terrorism is under no circumstances permissible in Islam. But It is apparent that the understanding of Jihad as a concept is dismally blurred and employed by the extremists, and the only way to dispel the false notions of Jihad put forth by the extremists, who are massively funded by external sources, is an equally strong effort put forth by Muslim governments in re-education of their populations, in particular the youth, with a correct understanding of this term.

| http://medcraveonline.com ''Culture'' is the customs, beliefs, art, music and all the other products of human thought made by a particular group of people at a particular time. 4 This definition implies that; the culture of a people or community comprises how they live, what they believe, what they cherish (arts), their social values, political system, what they eat, wear and so on. 5 2 Saqi, Sarah. An introduction to Islam.