Woe to ritualists

A recent story by the Daily Trust newspaper on how a ritualist brutally gouged out the eyes of a 3-year-old boy reveals how, in spite of all the religious preaching and teachings that go on in this country in addition to the obsessive nature of Nigerians about religion, people can still be so impoverished with the fear of God as to be so heartless as to gouge out the eyes of another. It also shows how unsafe Nigerians yet remain from the heinous crimes of ritualists and their benefactors.
On Sunday January 24, 2016; a 3-year-old boy named Abubakar was on his way in company of his brother Umar to attend the evening Islamiyyah class in the Bula area of Jushi in Zaria when they were intercepted by yet-to-be identified men who took Abubakar to a nearby uncompleted building and gouged out his eyes. According to an account of the incident, a young man approached the group of children with whom Abubakar was walking and told them he was a brother to the little boy’s mother. This was how he pretended to be Abubakar’s uncle and calmly took him from the midst of other children to perpetrate his wicked act.
The victim, Abubakar, was taken to a private clinic as nurses at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABUTH) Zaria were on strike. On the intervention of the Emir of Zazzau, Alhaji Shehu Idris, the victim who needed urgent surgical attention was moved to a private eye hospital in Kaduna from where doctors again referred the victim to the ABUTH. Doctors who performed surgery on Abubakar at the ABUTH said the operation would be reviewed to see if artificial eyes can be fixed for him. One thing that put Abubakar’s father Usman Isa in to tears while speaking to a Daily Trust reporter is the heartbreaking remark from the doctors that “the artificial eyes would be fixed just to fill the holes, but not for the little boy to see.”
The boy’s mother, Malama Hadiza Usman, who is reportedly in her parents’ home, is so shocked by the incident that she hasn’t been able to set her eyes on her son. At the hospital, Abubakar has been asking those around him to open his eyes to enable him see his mother and grandmother. The little boy keeps wailing “I want to see mama; Mama, where are you?” Very sad, indeed!  Out of the fury stirred by the evil act, residents of Bula area in Zaria have demolished the uncompleted building where the crime was committed.
Ritualists under the guise of certain spiritual might are able to deceive their clients because the latter, like the former, lack basic knowledge of Islam. Those who approach ritualists for help over their problems often forget that the ‘psychic consultants’ also stand in need, as human beings, of help from Allah; the Omnipotent and Omniscience. Allah (SWT) states in Qur’an 35:15 that: “O ye men! It is ye that have need of Allah: But Allah is the One free from all wants, worthy of all praise.”
It amounts to unbelief for a Muslim to resort to other than Allah (SWT) in the pursuit of any ambition. Nothing and no one has the ability to cause anything to happen except as Allah wills. Therefore, the belief by a Muslim in the efficacy of any artificial powers suggests a diluted faith (iman) in him. Nothing shoves a man into fetish reasoning and behaviours more easily and thoughtlessly than an idiotic desperation for power, wealth and women. Mankind goes after these three things so covetously as if they are better replacements of what the hereafter holds for them. If ritualists had any genuine means by which to gratify the needs of their clients, they wouldn’t be where the latter have always gone to see them. Instead, they would have helped themselves out of their own personal problems. Besides, to seek the pleasures of this life through the bodily organs of others is no less brutal than homicide.
It is common in our part of the world to hear that the activities of one influential politician or ruler is linked to a ritualist just as it is also normal to learn that an affluent man or woman is linked to a ritualist or cultist. In fact, even public figures whose names ring a bell in crimes or anything extra-ordinarily scandalous have been associated with ritualists. This situation, if anything, indicates that ritualists and their clients are to a great extent known in communities where such wicked acts are perpetrated; thus making their arrest and prosecution trouble-free.
Islam is clear in its punishment for those found guilty of man’s inhumanity against another man such as inflicted on the young Abubakar. Allah (SWT) states in Qur’an 5:48 that: “We ordained therein for them: life for life; eye for eye, nose for nose, ear for ear, tooth for tooth, and wounds equal for equal…” Our religious leaders and scholars are encouraged to intensify efforts in educating their followers through their sermons and preaching on the consequences of engamging in vicious activities that contradict the fundamental principles of the religion they profess. They should equally caution people against desperation over any matter. Someone said, ‘I went down to the river; I sat down on the bank. I tried to think but couldn’t; so, I jumped in and sank.’ That’s the wages of desperation. Indeed, desperation causes people to do things that in ordinary circumstances they would not do.
Parents and teachers of children who go to school (Islamiyyah and Western) should advise their wards against listening to anyone who is unknown to them. They should also be warned against accepting any gift in the form of drink or snack on their way to and from school. Any free-ride on a motorcycle, tricycle or car from anyone should be turned down. May Allah (SWT) protect us and ours from the wickedness of all devilish persons, amin.