For Hajia Kamran Jepmu, pursuing her academic career and helping others do the same against the expectations of her husband’s existing family was an achievement against the odds. But despite the fact that the income provided by herself and the fourth wife is now indispensable to her married family, her status as a Muslim wife from a non-Muslim background still singles her out. She told me that “... sometimes, when you talk, they tell you that you reason so because you are not a real70 Muslim. And that makes you wonder how very little people understand religion.” She summarised her in-between position succinctly by explaining:
Right now I am in middle, because the entire area where the Christians are, they will still say, I am carrying their secrets to the Muslims. And if I am home in the Muslim side, they will still say I am carrying their secrets to the Christian side
69 Hajia Kamran Jepmu’s husband later died in an accident. She and the junior wife are working and ensuring they provide for all the family and the other wives.
70 Since a true Bahaushe- Hausa Man, is a Muslim, thers might refer to such converts as Muslim with a tribe. The Hausa ethnic identity is a complex of variables involving not only language, but also religion and descent. See Khalid, (2002).
or my people. So you see right now I am in the middle and it is such a painful position to be.
Most women in Hajia Kamran Jepmu’s difficult situation can become discouraged and helpless because this perception of women limits their ability to get some degree of acceptance. Hajia MS also noted that many people in Jos see religion as something they had from birth, that is, something they were born with rather than an individual choice, the result of learning or a personal encounter with God. She explained that religion was often treated as a form of natural identity which could not really be changed, and similarly the subordinate position of women in religion is a reality that cannot be changed. As a result, religious zealots like many in society use this argument to subdue women. According to her, despite her attempts to practice her new religion (her husband’s religion) faithfully and correctly she was treated as though she was not a proper Muslim. This attitude is reflected in the use of the term “original” or “real” to describe Muslims with a long history of descent (original followers of Usman Dan Fodio;
the Fulani and Hausa) from other Muslims (who are Yan derika; Muslims who are from other ethnic groups aside Hausa Fulani) – as is the case in Jos. As a convert, Hajia Kamran Jepmu was often seen and treated as a false Muslim while Christians viewed her as a treacherous individual who should not be trusted. She explained:
Being a Muslim definitely finds people looking at you and then they see your own religion as unreal, they look at your own as if it is not even original. And so the things they do to you or the way they see you is just like, no she cannot be.
But I knew when I became a Muslim, that there was nothing I left unturned, I made sure I studied very well Islamically, I knew the basic things I needed to
know in the five pillars of Islam and then performing Hajj which was one of them, I did wholeheartedly.
It is clear from these few examples that in the religiously divided society of Jos, a convert not only elicits little trust but is seen as someone who sets out to deceive others. This also affects converts more generally, as the experience of Hajia Reprem Mishmut 71 a Christian-Muslim convert who works as a teacher illustrates. Her father converted to Islam when she was a young girl, and she followed him into the religion and later married a Muslim man. Even though her immediate family was Muslim, she experienced insults about her Christian origin in many everyday situations especially amongst the Christians. She explained that “at times when you are passing, they will be throwing words at you, like: hey hypocrite! Look at them, pretending to be Muslims, meanwhile they are hypocrites.” She explained further: “the situation is the same even within your own Christian family, you are referred to as hypocrite.” The next section discusses the challenges associated with notion that women are hypocrites.
4.4.1 Women’s In-betweenness as a Form of Hypocrisy
The notion of religious hypocrisy is used widely to criticise women, whether in religious matters or not. This is illustrated by Hajia Reprem Mishmut’s story of how an innocent encounter led to an abuse of her person:
71 Hajia Reprem Mishmut is a teacher in one of the Primary schools in Jos. She converted to Islam from childhood, along with her father and her siblings. She is a widow. Interviewed in Jos. 8/2/2013.
There was a day that we went to greet the Gbong Gwom,72 so they put it on the news. So when my neighbours [Muslim community members] saw me on the television they said to me: “so this woman they say is knowledgeable, how come she is visiting the Gbong Gwom? [a Christian and Traditional ruler]. Such women are the affronts and the hypocrites that carry stories from the Muslim community and go and give it to them (the Christians)... So at the end of the discussion, they said to me: “Bari Allah yahada mu da ita.”73
Implicit in the abuse of converts as hypocrites is the notion that religion is not an expression of individual faith and expression but of communal belonging, and that conversion or inter-marriage is a betrayal both of one’s community of origin and of the new community to which one seeks access. In this way, it clearly affects both male and female converts. Mrs Sharki Sharfina reported that her husband suffered when she recently returned to Christianity after 20 years as a Muslim. She noted that, “My husband ... told me that ... I am ashamed; I cannot freely walk amongst my people anymore, they are mocking me that my wife is now gone back to Christianity.” Here the implicit accusation that Mrs Sharki Sharfina’s husband was unable to assert proper control over his wife is clearly linked to gendered notions of husbandly authority.
This reference to ideal husbandly control over their wives being linked to the general expectation that women should take on their husband’s religion upon marriage shows that the mistrust of those from other backgrounds is strongly gendered. These gendered expectations imply that in a society where interreligious marriage was, until
72 The Gbong Gwom is the paramount ruler of Jos and Head of the Plateau State Traditional Council.
He is a Berom man from Du District.
73 My interpretation: “God will make it possible for us to get at her someday.”
recently, widespread, there are likely to be many more female than male converts.
These numbers are boosted by an ethnic component, especially the many marriages between Muslims of different backgrounds particularly those between Muslims from indigenous and migrant (usually Hausa-speaking) groups, which are increasingly divided by the conflicts.
But more importantly, my interviews suggest that the men in inter-religious marriages are much less affected by the suspicion of duplicity. Even though they are not immune from criticism they seem to suffer much less from criticism by family members and community members, partly because as men they do not acquire another family after marriage and therefore are not automatically suspected of deception and dishonesty.
The reason why women are affected to a much stronger degree by such suspicions is that they already hold a position of in-betweenness between their natal families and their in-laws. Knowing the inner workings of two families, women are widely recognised not only as mediators but also as potential “enemies within” as they are regarded as being in the perfect position to play off one group against another.
Recognising this perception – and fear – of women, many women try to be as quiet and as gentle as possible in order to be seen as “responsible.” The less a woman’s voice is heard the more responsible she is seen to be. This is illustrated by Hajia Mat Gungwen who told me in our interview that when she got married:
I promised myself just to be a shadow and support behind him [my husband]
and the children. Just offering my prayer and support for them at all times. I have never wanted to be a public person.
Given these worries about, and expectations of women, the suspicion directed at them on the basis of religion and ethnic origin is not the only direct form of distrust they suffer, even though it is clearly linked to the growing impact of ethno-religious clashes.
As communal boundaries have hardened, women’s lives have become ever more subject to control and threats, until in some cases they seem almost impossibly isolated and lonely. This isolation will be discussed in the next section.