In 2014, the Islamic State proclaimed a caliphate from Mosul; in Nigeria, ISWAP still calls itself one of its "provinces". These movements did not have to invent a doctrine: they quote one. Quran 9:111 says God has bought the believers' lives in exchange for Paradise: "they kill and are killed". Verse 9:29 orders war on the People of the Book until they pay the jizya, humbled, and 8:39 calls for fighting until religion belongs entirely to God. In Sahih al-Bukhari (25) and Sahih Muslim (22), Muhammad says he was ordered to fight people until they profess Islam. On these texts, classical jurists built a world divided between the abode of Islam and the abode of war. Today's jihadists claim to do no more than take them at their word.
Since June, Abuja has reportedly been observing a secret truce with Boko Haram, sealed after an alleged five-billion-naira payment that the government denies making. In Adamawa, gunmen described as Boko Haram fighters spent seven hours killing twelve villagers and abducting a ten-year-old girl. Soldiers arrived twenty hours later. Discretion, at least, was assured.
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