Faith is blind is a common saying but it does not mean believers are blind. It is their belief that they hold as sacrosanct and dare anyone not sharing their faith to say otherwise at their peril . That is the nature of religion and faith nowadays . Faith in our world in the last decade has shown that it is not domiciled in religion alone. It has migrated clandestinely in recent times to other spheres of human life and activities, most especially politics, where the quest for leadership and power resides , with all its potentials and machinery to make or mar social goals and objectives . Politics at times makes accountability , transparency , and integrity , the normallitmus test of good leadership and society , so elusive that one wanders what the essence of constitutions are and why leadership is mostly drifting from set purposes and political expectations , like a rudderless boat carrying hapless , fleeing migrants from Libya to Europe on the Mediterranean sea as is commonly reported nowadays.
In recent weeks, the Lenten season , a period of fasting for Christians has been swiftly followed by the Ramadan , the fasting period for Muslims . Both periods are for soul searching and purifying oneself to be a better human being either Christian or Muslims . That is my understanding and I am a Christian and I try to do my best in that regard but not necessarily with fasting which makes me dizzy and almost suicidal any time I attempt it . I however attended Muslim Ramadan Lecture at the prestigious Yoruba Tennis Club this week with the theme ‘ Fasting , A Panacea for Soul Cleansing and raising Righteous Nations ‘ . The Lecture was delivered by Imam Shakirudeen Abdul Gafar [Mofeseaye ] as Guest Lecturer . The lecturer , an Islamic scholar of the Lagos Central Mosque , obviously well known by his Mofeseaye sobriquet , approached the topic from the angle that only a man who can claim to be righteous or seen as such, at large , can stand before God . He went on to draw the logical conclusion that a nation made up of righteous people can be a great nation in all ramifications of good governance and citizenry . I find the topic fascinating and went on to ask a question based on the topic of this column ‘ New Cultures and Politics‘ .
I asked the well versed and brilliant Islamic scholar how fasting in Ramadan can be used to explain the emerging Western Culture on gay rights and LGBT , and the view that marriage is not necessarily between a man and woman . Without mincing words he reeled out relevant portions of the Koran that attest that marriage is between a man and a woman and there is no other way that Islam recognizes other than that , which I found satisfactory and convincing .
However while I agree with the good Imam that fasting creates righteous humans I do not see any righteous nations arising from that . This is our focus today and I will illustrate my viewpoint from a look at the powerful nations of today and how they are arrayed in their splendor and sovereignty against each other globally in terms of believers and non believers. And how such faith in themselves and malice towards those who do not share their faith , has created such rancor and suspicion that world peace itself is on tenterhooks and societies and nations are literally at the edge of a cliff , in the world at large .
Let us start with a handful of the members of the UN Security Council , the caretaker or undertaker of world peace as we know it today . We shall look at the US , Russia , China , and Britain . Of course we cannot behave like the proverbial ostrich with its head buried in the sand by neglecting Nigeria , which is a faith drunk nation which has found it difficult to produce a righteous nation but is awash with wealthy pastors , fiery jihadists and bandits who pillage on account of their faiths .
We start with the US , whose present faith is Black Lives Matter and where the sentencing of Derek Chauvin , the white policeman who killed Floyd George with his knee has been found guilty of all charges and the USA as a nation breathed a sigh of relief that the verdict was that of guilty . But then before the verdict everyone knew a’ not guilty ‘verdict will set the US on fire . Yet in the same US a suspect is presumed innocent until proven otherwise . A black legislator asked people to take to the streets if the verdict is not guilty . She should be vilified just as former President Donald Trump was vilified for inciting the attack on the Capitol on January 6 2021 . Even the president , Joe Biden warned that the verdict had better be right and it was . Undoubtedly the jury was frightened for its life and gave a quick desired verdict . But the trial judge, a brave man, had criticized the legislative and executive interference in the judicial process and hinted to the defence lawyer of the murderous policeman that there is a ground for appeal or a mistrial on account of the interference . Which is unfortunate and has given hope to Derek Chauvin that he may yet escape justice when all he deserved is to spend the rest of his life in jail for snuffing out life from a helpless Floyd George .For now , anyway , justice has been served .
Again , America , after or even before the 2020 presidential election was divided between what a Fox News commentator called a white , conservative Christian elite represented by the Republicans and multicultural , secular and liberal elite, typified by the Democrats . So, a huge political battle line is drawn between the values and the beliefs of these two forces who view each other as enemies when they are supposed to be sportsmen who should shake hands after a game win or lose .Which in this case was the 2020 presidential elections which has shaken Americans faith in their election integrity to its very root .
We go next to Russia where the faith is in political stability and facing up to the US even though a nation that was an atheist one since Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 , has under its one man rule of Vladmir Putin accommodated the Russian Orthodox Church which it banned under Communist rule . In China too religion is feared rather than observed and faith which is totally political , is resident in the Chinese Communist Party which calls the shot and has China in its iron grip . In Britain human rights is worshipped like a religion and multiculturalism used to be the favorite political swan songs but after some bombings and knives attack, Britain is taking a second look at multiculturalism which has not produced positive integration of new citizens . It has shown this in the way and manner it has handled Black Lives Matter protests in Britain by supporting the police while stopping the calls for historical statues to be removed . Britain also worships its monarchy and that is very apparent in the way and manner it showed grief and solidarity with the Queen on the death of her husband Prince Phillip , the Duke of Edinburgh recently .
We end up with Nigeria in the true spirit that charity should begin at home . The disturbing thing is that a sitting Nigerian Minister was accused by a Professor of being the Imam of a University Mosque when his son was murdered on a fatwa given by the Minister. I read news reports that the Minister still gives regular daily Ramadan lectures like the one attended recently at the Yoruba Tennis Club . If this is true the Minister should just resign and go home . It is up to the security agencies to believe or not , the professor and father of the fatwa victim even though the father has said he has forgiven those who killed his son . Surely the blood of the son of the professor killed by a fatwa is crying out loud and clear for justice and justice should not only be done but be seen to have been done This Minister should simply leave the cabinet as the exercise of his faith in the past is at odds with the goals and objectives of any right thinking , decent people and government and we believe that Nigerians and the Federal and state governments are such decent entities and peoples . Once again From the Fury of this pandemic Good Lord Deliver Nigeria .
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