Day-by-day, one violent crime after another, human life is becoming more and more worthless in the country. Nigerians now tolerate criminality more than ever before. There’s no day in which the sun rises and sets that lives are not lost in violent attacks against fellow humans; most of them for flimsy reasons. Ironically, the incidents are becoming too frequent in our “Dane-gun countries” (or better said, bow and arrow republics) than they occur in nuclear-powered nations.
A 29-year-old man, Monday Ajasco, recently stabbed his friend, Abdulrazak Ibrahim, to death for allegedly refusing to buy him beer (alcoholic drink) in Bagel village, Dass Local Government Area of Bauchi State. The Bauchi State Command of the Nigeria Police confirmed the incident in a statement released on Monday, November 28, 2022 by the spokesperson of the command, SP Ahmed Mohammad Wakil. The suspect, according to investigations, asked Abdulrazak (now deceased) to buy him a bottle of beer which the latter refused.
Abdulrazak’s poor response did not go down well with the suspect. After a while, both of them left the bar and returned to their houses. A friend of the victim who heard the latter screaming ran to scene and found his friend lying in a pool of his blood while the suspect stood near the victim with a sharp animal horn in his hand. The suspect also threatened to stab the victim’s friend when the latter asked him why he stabbed his friend. The victim sustained serious injury on his neck as a result of which he was swiftly rushed to the General Hospital Dass where he was certified dead.
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Sometime in September this year, a Chinese national allegedly stabbed to death a 23-year-old woman identified as Umm-Kulthum, at Janbulo quarters in Kano. The incident happened after the suspect came to visit the deceased at her parents’ residence. Media reports revealed that the suspect was the victim’s boyfriend before she got married. They chose to continue with their friendship she was divorced by her husband. The victim was confirmed dead at the UMC Zhair Hospital.
Barely a month after the Chinese man’s incident, a 45-year old man, Isaac Akpan John, was arrested for stabbing his neighbour identified as Godwin to death during a fight in the Ajah area of Lagos. It was learnt that as soon as the fight broke out, John dashed into his room and came out with a kitchen knife and stabbed the neighbour on the neck.
On a daily basis, our newspapers carry reports of violent attacks. The story of Maryam Sanda who in 2017 stabbed her husband, Bilyamin Bello, to death is still fresh in the memory of many Nigerians. Bilyaminu was the son of a former National Chairman of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, Alhaji Bello Haliru. Sanda was in January 2020 sentenced to death by hanging at an Abuja High Court sitting at Maitama and presided over by Justice Yusuf Halilu. Allah prescribes in Qur’an 4:93 that whoever kills a believer intentionally shall have hell fire as his recompense “to abide therein forever”.
Although stabbing to kill is an old crime throughout human history. In the past, stabbing as a crime was ordinary only among gangs and in prisons. While it was used to assassinate distinguished historical and public figures including the Second Caliph of Islam, Umar bn al-Khattab (RA) and Roman dictator Julius Caesar, it has become too common today probably because knives are “cheap, easy to acquire (or manufacture) just as they are easily concealable.”
To deal with this perilous tendency, knowing why people carry knives is important. Psychologists believe that some of those who stab others may not be far from wanting to die themselves as they are full of hate, anger, depression, and other forms of psychological instabilities. Some of those who carry knives with them do so either to appear tough amongst peers; to instil fear in others; for being brought up in a society where violence is tolerated; or for self-defence. None of these can justify the carrying of a knife.
Allah affirms in Qur’an 4:92 that “Never should a believer kill another” except by mistake as happened at Uhud when some Muslims were mistaken for the enemy and were killed by fellow Muslims. In this case, there was no guilty intention, and therefore, there was no murder. Life is absolutely sacred in the Islamic Brotherhood as well as in Christendom. The influence of drugs cannot be isolated from the rising trend of violent crimes generally in the country. To halt this rising tide of stabbings, restricted access to drugs and substances must be applied.
Religious leaders should speak to the conscience of their audience during sermons that every life is sacred. Parents are also advised to create more quality time and attention for their children’s moral development. They need to prioritize this over their businesses or office work. The virtue of tolerance should permeate the upbringing that parents give to their children.
This madness of stabbing must stop. We should teach our younger people to protect, not stab others. Other people should feel safe, not threatened when they see us. Allah states in Qur’an 5:35 “On that account, We ordained for the Children of Israel that if anyone slew a person – unless it were for murder or for spreading mischief – it would be as if he slew the whole people; and if anyone saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people…”. Stabbing one person would, by the same token, amount to stabbing the entire humanity; and securing the life of one person from being stabbed is tantamount to safeguarding the entire humanity. May Allah dispirit this generation of Nigerians from stabbing and from every other violent crime, amin.
Corrigendum/Apology:
I apologize for the mistake in the quote used by the Editor of this newspaper in last week’s piece of this column. The quoted portion should have read: “If the art of mutual communication involves listening and speaking which are the respective roles for which the ears and the mouth have been provided, why then (if we may ask) did Allah give man two ears but just one mouth? The wisdom behind this 2:1 proportion in the number of ears and mouth is that Allah wanted man to talk less and listen more.” The error, caused by the rush to beat submission deadline, goes to confirm the argument of the writer that perfection in everything including writing belongs to Allah alone.
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