Beyond syncretism : traditional conservation practices in Hausa Muslim communities and their role in climate resilience

Abstract

This thesis examines traditional conservation practices in Hausa Muslim communities of northern Nigeria and their role in climate resilience, focusing on the veneration and protection of sacred trees, particularly Kuka (Adansonia digitata) and Tsamiya (Tamarindus indica). Moving beyond the framework of syncretism, it argues that the taboos, charms, and narratives of unseen spiritual presence (aljanu, iskoki) surrounding these trees are not a fossilized blend of Islam and pre-Islamic religion, but a living Islamic moral and ecological tradition that communities actively negotiate, defend, and contest. Drawing on Talal Asad's conception of Islam as a discursive tradition, theories of indigenous spiritual agency, and Islamic ecotheology (mīzān and amānah), the study analyzes how cosmology, religious authority, and ecological knowledge collectively shape environmental behavior. Methodologically, it employs a qualitative, multi-sited environmental ethnography across two contrasting settings: rural Jigawa, where Sahelian conditions intensify ecological vulnerability, and urban Zaria, where urbanization and reformist discourse are redefining sacred landscapes. The study combines semi-structured interviews, mobile ecological ethnography, and the author's insider knowledge with fieldwork carried out by a trained local research assistant. The findings document a coherent cosmology in which ancient trees are understood as dwelling places for spirits and are safeguarded through custodianship and taboo, while simultaneously providing tangible ecological benefits including shade, soil stabilization, moisture retention, biodiversity, and food and medicine. These protective practices are increasingly challenged by reformist critiques that label them bidʿah, as well as by urban expansion, the charcoal trade, and generational change. At the same time, emerging framings such as Ṣadaqah Jāriyah (perpetual charity) are re-grounding tree preservation within Islamic ethical discourse. The study advances the concept of the ""survival tree,"" a tree sustained by overlapping spiritual, customary, economic, institutional, and ethical rationales, and argues that these practices function as a form of informal ecological governance with direct relevance to climate adaptation in the Sahel.