Nigerian Arabic and Islamic Drama and the Promotion of Peace and Conflict Resolution among the Muslims: Finding Meaning in Alabi’s Al-A’qidatul-haditha (The Modern Creed)

Abstract

Drama has been widely acclaimed as a positive medium for mirroring the society. It is a representation of life. It entertains, educate and inform. Drama has been employed by playwrights over the years to make constructive social commentaries on issues and happenings in the society. It is not new in Nigeria today that most of the social conflict and disunity among the people especially the Muslims are ascribed to the method of tackling religious issues. Lack of good admonition and application of wisdom has caused so many conflicts among the people. This paper therefore analyses one of Abdulganiy Adebayo Alabi’s play texts, Al-a’qidatul Haditha (The modern creed). The play is written in Arabic language with a view to educate the society especially the Muslim youths on method of propagating religious activities with moral approach. The paper therefore draws some valuable lessons that could be learned from the play text which can serve as means of promoting peace and conflict resolution. The researchers adopts the content analysis of qualitative research method The research findings shows that if propagation of religion is not carefully done with wisdom and good admonition as instructed by Allah and His Messenger (SAW) can lead to hatred, conflict, misconception, insecurity and disorderliness among the citizens. The study recommends that more plays should be written by Arabic and Islamic Scholars to educate and promote peace and security. The paper therefore, concludes that Arabo-Islamic drama is a vital medium for the propagation of peace, conflict resolution and real Islamic culture in Nigeria.