5 - The Cross or the Crescent, 1900–30

Summary

During the period 1900–1935 a zero-sum game operated in the minds of both missionaries and administrators such that every soul won for Christ was a soul lost for the Prophet Muhammad and vice versa. The question of whether “the Cross or the Crescent” would reign in Northern Nigeria, and beyond that in the region of Africa Europeans recognized as the Sudan, structured the thoughts of both groups of expatriates as this thinking pertained to Christian evangelization. “The Cross or the Crescent?” was actually a slogan the SUM put before the readers of its evangelical literature. Behind the slogan was a missionary dream of conversion of Muslims to Christianity. For the colonial government, however, it was perceived to be in the best interest of Britain not simply that Islam hold on to the territory it already claimed in the province, but that it expand on this base. It is thus impossible to make sense of efforts at Christian evangelization in Northern Nigeria without first having some idea of how these efforts were shaped by government constraints. Chapters 5 and 6 consider the efforts by Christian missions to establish a Christian presence in Northern Nigeria over this stretch of years.

Four Questions

As in the previous chapters, I make no pretense of offering a systematic survey in what follows. Rather, the discussion will be organized around responses to four questions. The first of these questions is: Why did the (Protestant) missions fixate on the proselytization of Muslims? Missions had plenty to do, what with helping and directing the traditionalist peoples who eventually did become Christians. It is valid then to ponder why the missions chose to focus so much time and effort on breaking through the ban on evangelizing Muslims proclaimed by the Northern government.

Missionaries arrived in the region with a preconception that Muslims held greater potential as converts than traditionalist groups. Thus, the answer to the above question may seem evident. But the push to break down the barriers to preaching to Muslims only gained momentum in the 1920s. Overly aggressive restrictions on mission initiatives by the government are one reason the issue seems to have taken off at that point. But these restrictions provided only a trigger. The true impetus behind the campaign to enter the emirates arose from missionary anxieties about the contours the campaign to evangelize traditionalists was assuming.