Islam and Cultural Interferences in the Lives of the Nigerian Women

Abstract

The belief among non-Africans is that no matter how committed an average African is to his religion (Islam or Christianity) he is still loyal to his culture and tradition sometimes at the expense of his faith.  In other words, an indication shows that people’s customary beliefs under their cultural and traditional ethos tend to have a strong control over them. In addition, experience has shown that the day to day practices of Islam in Nigeria have been influenced by cultural practices in different areas of women lives. Such areas include: belief in Islam, economic pursuit, political participation, acculturation, marriage and matrimonial relations, widowhood rites, child birth and so on. These cultural practices among others are responsible for physical and psychological underdevelopment of women and girl child and that in turn affects their input in the development of their nation.   This paper discusses the negative cultural practices on the girl child, marriage, traditional birth practices and widowhood rites and their implications on the health and development of the Nigerian Muslim women in the 21^st century.  The methodology adopted in this research includes library research work, field research and academic analysis. These cultural practices unfortunately are mostly found in the rural areas where they are more severe than the urban areas. This is attributed to the relatively high level of education and modernity in the urban areas. Hence, the paper examines and brings out the relevant Shari’ah position on such cultural practices which cut across ethnic diversities in Nigeria.