Ideology
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Boko Haram was founded upon the principles of Salafism which advocates strict adherence to
Sharia law. It developed into a Jihadist group in 2009. The movement is diffuse, and fighters who are associated with it follow the Salafi doctrine . Their beliefs tend to be centered on strict adherence to Wahabism , which is an extremely strict form of Sunni Islam that sees many other forms of Islam as idolatrous. The group has denounced the members of the Sufi and the Shiite sects as infidels. Boko Haram seeks the establishment of an Islamic state in Nigeria. It opposes the Westernization of Nigerian society and the concentration of the wealth of the country among members of a small political elite, mainly in the Christian south of the country. Nigeria is Africa's biggest economy, but 60% of its population of 173 million (as of 2013) live on less than $1 a day. The sharia law imposed by local authorities, beginning with Zamfara in January 2000 and covering 12 northern states by late 2002, may have promoted links between Boko Haram and political leaders, but was considered by the group to have been corrupted.
According to Borno Sufi Imam Sheik Fatahi, Yusuf was trained by Kano Salafi Izala Sheik Ja'afar Mahmud Adamu , who called him the "leader of young people"; the two split some time in 2002–2004. They both preached in Maiduguri 's Indimi Mosque, which was attended by the deputy governor of Borno. Many of the group were reportedly inspired by Mohammed Marwa, known as Maitatsine ("He who curses others"), a self-proclaimed prophet (annabi , a Hausa word usually used only to describe the founder of Islam) born in
Northern Cameroon who condemned the reading of books other than the Quran. In a 2009 BBC interview, Yusuf, described by analysts as being well-educated, reaffirmed his opposition to Western education. He rejected the theory of evolution, said that rain is not "an evaporation caused by the sun" but is instead created and sent down directly by God, and said that the Earth is not a sphere.
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