Fourteenth International Conference on Religion & Spirituality in Society

Abstract

Ilorin is a border community between South and Northern Nigeria. It is one of the leading Islamic communities in the North and serves as a coordinating centre for Islamic activities in the South. The city is rich in Islamic heritage as one of the 19th-century Jihad camps in Nigeria. It was from Ilorin that scholars moved to various Yoruba settlements in the Southern part of the country. Sufism is one of the religious practices that brought prominence to the city through various activities in which Zawiyyah serves as the nerve centre. Ilorin hosts many Zawiyyah centres of different Sufi turuq (orders) and many of them have existed for over a century. It is, therefore, discovered that these Sufi centres have attracted not much attention from researchers in recent time. Thus, this study aims at assessing the socio-political, spiritual, intellectual and economic impacts of selected centres on the Muslims both within and outside the city. It also examines the modern developments in those centres and the effects of anti-Sufism trends in the country, as championed by Salafiyyah scholars on those centres. The historical and analytical methods were adopted in this study. It is discovered that most of the centres are still flourishing against all odds and have positively impacted not only Muslims but also non-Muslims.