How many of us who are Muslims fully understand the teachings of the Holy Qur’an and the Hadith of the Prophet, Peace Be Upon Him? As Muslims, have we considered how our actions and inactions have affected the image of Islam in the last twenty years? Is there any verse in the Qur’an or hadith that urges Muslims to take laws into their hands when there is a constituted authority? Would the relations of victims of religious miscreants ever view Muslims and Islam in good light? These are questions that every Nigerian Muslim should ponder over as we recover from another ugly incident in Talata Mafara, Zamfara State, earlier this week where eight people lost their lives to what some religious miscreants call blasphemy.
The Talata Mafara incident is one of the many that has continued to recur in North West geopolitical zone for almost two decades now. This has made many to wonder if there are no Muslims in other parts of Nigeria, that some ignorant people have continued to act like the proverbial sympathizer that cries louder than the bereaved. Muslims in this zone where President Buhari hails from should realize that their over zealousness is capable of undermining the government. After all, Zamfara state like other Northern states has a blasphemy law. This is because Islam is peace and it is one of the qualities of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was known for throughout his lifetime. Why then should theirs as followers of the faith be different?
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was mocked and persecuted during his life time, but he never resorted to violence. A good example is the case of Abu Jahil who was notorious for putting thorns on the way the Prophet takes to the mosque every day. However, one day he did not show up to do his mischief and Prophet Muhammad learnt he was sick. He went straight to the house immediately after prayers to wish him speedy recovery. This singular act touched Abu Jahil that someone he considers an enemy came to wish him well and he converted to Islam. Why can we emulate this?
The truth is that the silence of some of us Muslims over this embarrassing situation and the complacency of some state governments to prosecute people responsible for these heinous acts remains the sole reason why this has continued. Many Northern governors are afraid of dabbling into issues like this for fear of political backlash. It amounts to normalizing abnormality.
Two months ago, an Igbo woman, Bridget Agbahime was killed in Kano over similar allegations and recently the killing of the Redeemed Christian Church preacher in Abuja. Till this moment, I am not aware of any conviction, let alone some people being tried in a court of law. This is the reason why unconsciously to many of us, Islam’s image and that of its followers will continue to be badly bruised. After all, when one finger is stained in oil, it soils the others.
As a result, Islamophobia is growing in Nigeria by the day as we are viewed as people whose only form of expression is through violence.
Recently, I stopped at Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris on my way to the United States. As soon as we landed and immigration officials started checking our passports, those of us with Muslims names were screened using a sheet containing list of wanted terrorists and a torchlight like scanner to scan the data page of our passports. I was initially angry because most of the people who went through this were passengers with Muslims names. After a while, I consoled myself with the fact that I have nothing to hide, so I am ready for any security check since the aim is to keep us safe. My experience is a microcosm of what Nigerian and world Muslims experience while travelling by air. Everyone of us is now paying for the sin of less than ten percent of the population.
To my understanding, two major causes of this kind of senseless violence in Nigeria are ignorance and some poorly equipped clerics who teach and preach in our mosques and Islamic schools. This is because a substantial number of them are not well versed in Arabic, the language in which most books read by Muslims are published. Arabic for anyone who cares to listen is tonal language that even native speakers are struggling with.
Coming back to the blasphemy story at Abdu Gusau Polytechnic, Talata Mafara, a preliminary investigation by the state government shows that all the people who participated in the fracas did so based on ‘’hear say’’, as it has happened in many other places. Hence, it is important for Muslims to emulate the prophet by evaluating every information at our disposal before acting on it. During my undergraduate days at the University of Maiduguri sixteen years ago, a riot almost broke out on campus over an allegation that a female student used a page of the Holy Qur’an to wipe instead of tissue paper. The story spread like wildfire and many did not bother to ask questions about the logic in the allegation. It took the intervention of the police, Vice Chancellor and Minister of State, Education then, Bintu Musa to pour oil on troubled waters. From the way Unimaid hostels are built, it is impossible for two ladies to use one toilet at the same time. Hence, how possible is it for someone to have seen her using the alleged page of the holy book to wipe?
The question is why do we as Muslims allow ignorant people to tell others about our religion? It is important that a carrier of a message should be as good as the message itself. In other words, an African proverb says anyone who will give out his shirt, one must check out the one he is putting on too. To buttress my point, last year a Boko Haram Amir (Leader) was arrested in Borno by soldiers and the video of his interrogation went viral online. The Amir could not recite Suratul Fatiha which is very basic that a five year old can convincingly. He says ‘’I was only appointed Amir last week because the other one died in a gun battle with the army.’’ Then, how has he been praying five times a day because it is an essential part of daily worship? How can a miscreant like him inform people about Islam that he does not know the basics? Yet, he has been calling others infidel and killing people for God knows until our valiant soldiers nabbed him. It is an insult for other Muslims, If people like him formed the basis of people’s opinion about Islam.
Martin Luther King says evil continues in the society when good people fold their arms. This is exactly the case of Islam in Nigeria and the world in general today. Muslims must speak out and ensure that bad eggs amongst us are reported to law enforcement agents. This is the only way to redeem our image and that of Islam.
The killing of the Talata Mafara eight is another sad chapter in the history of Islam in the North West. It does not matter whether they are Muslims or Christians because we are talking about human lives here. Every Nigerian Muslim must join the campaign to rebrand the religion’s image by seeing himself as mirror through which other people view the religion. Borno state has set the pace by coming up with the preaching regulatory board that will ensure clerics with extremists views are not allowed to pollute the minds of young Muslims and other Northern states need to borrow a leaf from this. Muslim parents must invest in the education of their children in a way that they are well grounded in western and Quranic education. This is to avoid a situation where some of our children will grow up someday and be afraid of identifying themselves as Muslims because of the activities of some miscreants. Islam as religion is too famous to be left in the hands of religious miscreants and charlatans who have limited capacity for intellectual expression. Muslims should not only be followers of the faith in name, but, in character and deed.
Lawal, a public affairs analyst, can be reached at [email protected]
