The Role Of Religion In Boko Haram

Methods One of the methods of analyzing the role of religion in the Boko Haram conflict in this paper is basing on the works of Emile Durkheim, the architect of modern sociology, who was convinced that "society has to be present within the individual." Durkheim understood the importance of religion and this led him to the study of that phenomenon – one of the forces that created a sense of moral obligation to adhere to society's demands in individuals. As Boko Haram is constantly socialising its members, Durkheim´s works have high explanatory value and are applicable understanding the overall situation in Nigeria. Durkheim was studying the functions of religion and the mechanisms that might serve to support a threatened social order.

Four major functions of religion are disciplinary, cohesive, vitalizing and euphoric forces. Religious rituals prepare men for social life by imposing self-discipline and a certain measure of asceticism. Religious ceremonies bring people together and thus serve to reaffirm their common bonds and to reinforce social solidarity. Religious observance maintains and revitalizes the social heritage of the group and helps transmit its enduring values to future generations. More than that religion has a euphoric function that serves to counteract feelings of frustration and loss of faith by reestablishing the believers' sense of well-being, their sense of the essential rightness of the moral world of which they are a part. By countering the sense of loss, which, as in the case of death, may be experienced on both the individual and the collective level, religion helps to re-establish the balance of private and public confidence. Finally, religion as a social institution serves to give meaning to man's existential predicaments by tying the individual to that supra-individual sphere of transcendent values (Durkheim

Boko Haram uses uneducated people to their purposes and does everything possible to maintain people uneducated. Adolf Hitler said in his magnum opus of Nazism „Mein Kampf“, that propaganda must not be rational and based on science, instead of that it should influence the feelings of the large amount of the frustrated individuals. If done right, it´s easy to get the attention and support of a large number of people ( Paul 2005, 112). Boko Haram uses methods described by Pakistani journalist Abdul Ala Maududi who was the first to create the theoretical framework for islamist terrorism. Maududi emphasized fear which the islamic values and tradition will extinct because of the western secular influence. The goal of Maududi was to mobilize all the islamic community for the propaganda war against the western civilization. Boko Haram says as Mawdudin suggests, that their ideology and political goals are the will of the God. EU, USA and United Nations are automatically their enemy bacause their laws support western philosophy, values and basic political rights. They often describe western society as a bordel and that the western countries deny the existence of God (Paul 2005,