Boko Haram’s roots go back to Kano, Nigeria, to a radical Muslim preacher in the 1970s known as Maitatsine (“the one who damns”). He preached that reading any book other than the Quran was sinful and a sign of paganism. He led an uprising from 1979-82, attempting to overthrow the Nigerian government and to implement Sharia law. A government crackdown ended the uprising and left 4,000 dead.

It was in this context of growing agitation for a return to Muslim rule and Sharia law in northern Nigeria that Boko Haram (“western education is forbidden”) was founded in 2002 by a group of Muslim clerics led by Muhammad Yusuf. Their goals were to create an Islamic state and impose Sharia law throughout all of Nigeria.

Mohammed Yusuf had studied in Saudi Arabia at the University of Medina, where he adopted Wahhabi theology. Before his turn to violence, he had an estimated 280,000 followers in Nigeria, Niger, Chad, and Cameroon. Yusuf’s anti-Western and anti-education ideology appealed to those Muslims who felt they were losing their Muslim identity and were being forced to live in a corrupt, Westernizing society.

fter Yusuf was killed in 2009, Boko Haram’s new leader, Abubaker Shekau, increasingly turned to terrorist tactics. Since then, Boko Haram has become more and more violent. At one point, Boko Haram terrorized the north by using chainsaws to behead truck drivers who passed through their territory.

Boko Haram has had connections with various regional and global jihadist groups, including Al-Qaeda and its North African branch, AQIM. In 2015, Boko Haram pledged allegiance to Islamic State and renamed itself “The Islamic State of West Africa.” Seventeen months later, a major faction broke off under Abubaker Shekau. He continues to lead a slightly smaller Boko Haram.

While Boko Haram attacked mostly Christians and churches in the beginning, since 2015 they have attacked far more mosques than churches. Since 2014 the preferred method of attack has become suicide bombers, especially employing women bombers.

The number of people killed as a result of Boko Haram’s terror in Nigeria, Niger, Chad, and Cameroon exceeds 27,000. According to the UN, the violence has also displaced more than 2.5 million people and put more than seven million at risk of starvation.

Despite the massive amount of violence Boko Haram has carried out, “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but…against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Eph 6:12). This is a spiritual battle against our adversary, the devil, who “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Pet 5:8).

We hate the darkness and underlying evil. We grieve the resulting bloodshed and pain. Yet Jesus still says, “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt 5:44). God’s love reaches not only those suffering under this oppression, but it reaches even into the ranks of Al Qaeda. It can be hard to pray for people who carry out such evil but Just as God transformed Saul into Paul through an encounter with Jesus, so can He transform today’s persecutors into tomorrow’s evangelists. And He is doing just that.