Boko Haram insurgency insurgency spread to neighboring Cameroon, Chad, and Niger thus becoming a major regional conflict. In 2015, a coalition offensive forced Boko Haram to retreat into the Sambisa Forest. The insurgency took place within the context of long-standing issues of religious violence between Nigeria's Muslim and Christian communities. Boko Haram has been called the world's deadliest terrorist group, in terms of the number of people it has killed. Nigeria was amalgamated both the Northern and Southern protectorate in 1914, only about a decade after the defeat of the Sokoto Caliphate and other Islamic states by the British which were to constitute
Haram of halal and haram are used in a number of cultural phrases, most notably "ibn" (boy) "al-halal" and "bint" (girl) "al-halal". These phrases are often used to refer to appropriate spouses in marriage, and stand in contrast to "ibn al-haram" or "bint al-haram," which are used as insults. In this case, the term "haram" is used to mean ill-mannered or indecent, instead of strictly meaning 'unlawful'. Halal and haram are also used in regards to money "(mal)". "Mal al-haram" means ill-gotten money, and brings destruction on those who make their living through such means. These cultural interpretations of what is