Islamic Revivalism and the Struggle for Cultural Hegemony in Yorubaland

Abstract

The Yoruba are reputed for their rich and robust cultural heritage that has survived over the years. However, the Islamic incursion into  Yorubaland led to a conflict of culture whereby the Islamic cultural and religious practices struggled to supplant the Yoruba way of life.  Islamic revivalism refers to the avowed commitment by individuals or groups to re-new, recreate or return the practice of Islam to its  pristine form even in their new abode. Revivalism is an attempt to redirect or change the way of life of a people in conformity to Islamic  precepts, which are characterized by the desire for sharia based legal reforms, greater individual and collective piety as well as the  increasing imposition of Islamic cultural values on the people. The objective of the paper is to examine the struggle for Islamic cultural  hegemony in Yorubaland. In a historical and analytical manner, the paper examines the contact of Islam with Yorubaland and observes that the Islamic faith was voluntarily accepted and practised by Muslim faithful sometimes alongside their indigenous traditional beliefs.  It argues that despite the attempt by the revivalists to enthrone an Islamic cultural hegemony in Yorubaland, the Yoruba culture has  remained elastic and shown commendable resilience to Islamic infiltrations. While the paper recommends the virtue of religious  tolerance and accommodation amongst religious adherents in the interest of harmonious coexistence in Yorubaland, it concludes that  the Yoruba culture of accommodation, tolerance and perseverance should not be misinterpreted as an erosion or loss of its cultural  hegemony in its domain.