What's in the name?
by Salman Hameed
A couple of days ago I was listening to the morning news and NPR was talking about a bombing in Nigeria. It turns out that the bombing was carried out by a extremist group - Boko Haram - and it is roughly translated from Hausa language as "Western Education is Forbidden". Wow! Talk about specificity in names. This is not going back in time. This struggle is very much shaped by the modern world. But still, I wonder what was the discussion like when this Salafi group was thinking about their possible names? What were the other choices? How was the decision made about on this particular name?
Perhaps, this is the same sentiment in the bombings of schools by the Taliban - though, over there, the fight is also against government structures and schools are considered soft targets.
I'm in rainy rainy Portland, Oregon right now, visiting Lewis and Clark University. More later.
A couple of days ago I was listening to the morning news and NPR was talking about a bombing in Nigeria. It turns out that the bombing was carried out by a extremist group - Boko Haram - and it is roughly translated from Hausa language as "Western Education is Forbidden". Wow! Talk about specificity in names. This is not going back in time. This struggle is very much shaped by the modern world. But still, I wonder what was the discussion like when this Salafi group was thinking about their possible names? What were the other choices? How was the decision made about on this particular name?
Perhaps, this is the same sentiment in the bombings of schools by the Taliban - though, over there, the fight is also against government structures and schools are considered soft targets.
I'm in rainy rainy Portland, Oregon right now, visiting Lewis and Clark University. More later.
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