The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Islam

  • Islam’s future in America

    Prologue

    Looking at Islam globally today vis-a-vis the multifarious problems being faced by its adherents, there is tendency that some ignorant and parochial people will think vaingloriously that the end has come the religion. This tendency is particularly manifest in Nigeria where religion is a big business and, like a vulture waiting to descend on the carcass of a prey, its merchants will do anything, no matter how devilish, to profit from it.

    Because of their untame-able avarice based on ignorance and parochialism, such merchants cannot understand that when a gargantuan  institution like Islam is about to take an unprecedented leap to further a progressive civilization, it must undergo a trying moment. Such a moment is an indication that an arrogant power somewhere is about to fall.

    Those who are lettered enough to be familiar with world history will recall that a similar scenario occurred to the old Roman Empire as it occurred to the ancient Greek Empire. At least, if the once so-called Great British Empire was not eclipsed at a stage, America would not have emerged as a foremost modern day world power. More will said about this, in this column, in the near future.

     

     Preamble

    Instinct is the main cursor of vision. It is the indicator of where today’s ship will anchor tomorrow. A man without instinct can be likened to a blind bull struggling to pass through the hole of a needle. An example is now being exhibited in the United States. Without instinct there can be neither projection nor premonition. All visionary prophecies are based on instinct.

    It was only by divine instinct that Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was able to prophesy the signs of the last days when he said: “One of the signs of the last days is for the sun to rise in the West and set in the East….” This prophecy is pregnant with meanings. Which sun was the Prophet talking about? Was it the physical or the hypothetical? Only a few people of other religions in history were able to comprehend that prophecy as much as the celebrated (Christian) Irish playwright, George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950).

     

    George Bernard Shaw’s prediction

    Based on his understanding of the contents of that Prophecy, Bernard Shaw decided to study Islam through deep researches. And consequently, he concluded as follows:

    “The Medieval Ecclesiastics, either through ignorance or bigotry, painted Mohammedanism (Islam) in the darkest colours. In fact, they were trained both to hate the man (Muhammad) and his religion. To them he was anti-Christ… I have always held the religion of Muhammad in high estimation because of its wonderful vitality. It is the only religion which appears to me to possess that assimilating capacity to the changing face of existence which can make itself appeal to every age. I have studied him, the wonderful man, and in my opinion, far from being an anti-Christ, he must be called the saviour of humanity. I believe that if a man like him were to assume the dictatorship of the modern world, he would succeed in solving its problems in a way that would bring it the much needed peace and happiness”.

    “I have prophesied about the faith of Muhammad that it would be acceptable to the Europe of tomorrow as it is beginning to be acceptable to the Europe of today…”

     

    Analysis

    America was just emerging as a champion of the modern world when Bernard Shaw made his famous prediction quoted above. Western civilization was then restricted to Europe and Shaw had taken any emerging civilization from America as an extension of that of Europe. He had thought that whatever would be acceptable to Europe ought to be automatically acceptable to the emerging power of the New World, the former being an offshoot of the latter. He was right.

    Although, Islam had reached America long before Christopher Columbus arrived in what was then perceived as a New World, very little was known about the Muslims in that country until 1886 when one Moorish immigrant, Noble Drew Ali, of North Carolina started to propagate Islamic faith to the black masses in the New World. However, that Noble D. Ali’s jihad became prominent with the growth of media influence in the United States did not necessarily make him the first American Muslim preacher.

     

    A valid question

    Today, with a Muslim population of almost 10 million and over 3186 Mosques, who says Bernard Shaw’s prediction of the early 20th century has not become a reality? If there is still any country in the world where Islam is not growing that country must be very backward.  Today, the geometric growth of Muslim population in the US has confirmed Islam as an official religion in America. Today, there are about 2000 Muslim associations and over 400,000 businesses as well as about 310 regular publications under the firm control of American Muslims. These are not only providing jobs for the residents, they are also enhancing America’s social security.

     

    The real root of Islam in America

    However, the real practical root of Islam in the US is actually traceable to 1790 when the South Carolina legislative body granted special social status to a community of Moroccans, which gave that community the freedom to practise its religion. And in 1797, President John Adams signed a policy declaring that United States had no “character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity of Musulmen (Muslims)”.

     

    President Benjamin Franklin’s position

    Then, in his autobiography, published in 1791, President Benjamin Franklin stated that he “did not disapprove” of a meeting place in Pennsylvania designed to accommodate preachers of all religions and concluded that: “even if the Mufti of Constantinople were to send a missionary to preach ‘Mohammedanism’ (Islam) to us, he would find a pulpit at his service”.

     

    President Thomas Jefferson’s stand

    Thomas Jefferson on his own defended religious freedom in America including those of Muslims and he explicitly mentioned Muslims when writing about the movement for religious freedom in Virginia. And in his autobiography also, Jefferson wrote: “When the Virginia bill for establishing religious freedom which was finally passed,… a singular proposition proved that its protection of opinion was meant to be universal. Where the preamble declares that coercion is a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, an amendment was proposed, by inserting the word ‘Jesus Christ,’ so that it should read ‘a departure from the plan of Jesus Christ, the holy author of our religion.’ The insertion was rejected by a great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend within the mantle of its protection the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mahometans (Muhammadans), the Hindus and the infidels of every denomination.” Thus, as a confirmation of that policy, President Jefferson also joined the Tunisian Ambassador for an Iftar (Ramadan fast breaking) in 1809.

     

    Despite propaganda

    Despite over 60,000 publications by the Western Orientalists between 1800 and 1950 disparaging that divine religion and denigrating the personality of prophet Muhammad (SAW), Islam continued to wax stronger even as it displays dynamic tendencies on a regular basis. Today, with a global population of about 1.7 billion adherents in the world and with certain mundane ideologies and philosophies crumbling like a pack of cards, Islam has remained an unstoppable religion, the implacable hostility of the West to it notwithstanding.

     

    African American Islam

    The African American involvement in the propagation of a religion of immigrants though began in 1960s/70s in the American society, Islam had actually made its way into America in the sixteenth century when Muslims were brought as slaves from Africa but were forced to convert to Christianity. These Muslims were followed by a new wave of immigrants who came in the late nineteenth century as labourers from the Middle Eastern countries such as Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.

    In the second half of the twentieth century, a large number of Muslims came from virtually every country of the Middle East, South Asia, and Southeast Asia who were more sophisticated than their predecessors in Islamic understanding. As those immigrants settled in large cities and small towns, they built mosques, Islamic cultural centres, and schools. Today, indigenous American Muslims, who have grown in number to well over a million, have succeeded in transforming Islam into an American religion.

     

    A Track Master

    In 1888, the American Ambassador in Philippines, Alexander Russell Webb, surprisingly became a track master by embracing Islam and becoming the first prominent Anglo-American Muslim in history. Thus, given his stats, he became the only person that represented Islam from the US at the first Parliament for the World’s Religions in 1893.

     

    New York Times

    In an article once published in the New York Times and entitled: ‘Muslim Schools in the U.S.: A Voice for Identity’, one Susan Sachs wrote on the rising demands for Islamic schools in the U.S. saying that “across the country, Islamic schools…that offer religion and Arabic classes…are expanding and flourishing, with many becoming oversubscribed so quickly that principals are scrambling for money to build more. Thus, the surge in the number of Islamic schools may be attributed to the success and determination of a Muslim community that strives “to define itself as a cohesive religious minority in the secular American society”.

     

    The World Street Journal

    Before then, an article had appeared in ‘The World Street Journal’ on August 7, 1987, which reported thus: “At a time when Marxism is so debilitated and is being shored up by capitalism; when Christianity lacks much of the missionary fire that once drove it; when Maoism is all but entombed with its founder and when democracy sounds only a muted appeal to much of the world, Islamic fundamentalism stands out as the movement on the march”.

    By and large today, not only is Islam formally recognized as the second religion after Christianity in the US, it has also become a tradition for the President and his cabinet to host Muslim leaders in that country to Iftar during the month of Ramadan.

    Today, with technology virtually reaching its climax, and backed up by over 60% of the world’s oil reserve in the Islamic world, the rising of the sun from the West as prophesied by Prophet Muhammad (SAW) is becoming undeniably vivid.

    Were George Bernard Shaw alive today he would have nodded delightedly to that fact.

     

    Conclusion

    Given the above historical account, it is unimaginable that a 21st century American President like Donald Trump, who also has personal businesses in many other countries of the world, will want to rubbish his ancestors by destroying the solid foundation which those ancestors had laid for America’s greatness. But, if, on the other hand, if he goes ahead to play a bull in the china shop it will still not be strange. Not every child who bears a father’s name can be truly legitimate.

    Through an erratic policy signed into law or a sadistic ‘Executive Order’, anything can be done to the lives of the Muslims in America but nothing can be negatively done to Islam as a religion. For the benefit of doubt, Islam is like the sun in its full regalia, any blind person who claims not to recognise its presence is only playing a fool. With or without recognition, the sun will always dwell majestically in the orbit. Today is today. Tomorrow is tomorrow. None can take the place of the other. That is a food for thought.

  • Islam and global warming

    “We have not left anything untouched in the Book (Qur’an). Then unto their Lord shall all be reassembled”   Q. 6:38.   

    PREAMBLE

    The Allah’s last revelation to mankind called the Qur’an is the ultimate cornerstone which the ignorant ones continue to subject to undue controversy in the building of their ultimate homes. This Book is like the beaming Sun the existence of which some blind people continue to query. Whether they see it or not, the Sun remains scorching in its effect and magnanimous in its photosynthesis. Yet, the denial of its existence cannot stop the blindness in the blind. The Qur’an is the mother of all encyclopaedias without which the existence of humanity will be a mere anathema.

    Reviewing the esoteric connotation of the above quoted verse of the Qur’an with divine guidance any thoughtful and sincere human being will nod his/head in absolute agreement. Nothing is left untouched by Allah in the Glorious Qur’an.

    Meteorological explanation        

    From its very inception, Islam has been very explicit on the issue of environment and meteorology. This further confirms the fact that this divine religion is not for a particular time or people. It is a religion of knowledge for all times and all races. The meteorological explanation rendered by Islam is not meant for this column today. It will be brought in full in the very near future In sha’ Allah. But at a recent international conference on global warming an Islamic scholar gave some Qur’anic insight into the causes and effects of global warming thus:

    “One of the issues that give the world a concern currently is global warming. Experts around the world have been warning about this for decades and have been urging governments to act faster in slowing down the rate of global warming. They warn that there is a 75% risk that global temperatures will rise a further two to three degrees in the next 50 years. The consequence of this would be dramatic. In fact a rise of just one degree would melt the Greenland ice sheet and drown the Maldives, but a three degree increase would kill the Amazon rainforest, wipe out nearly half of all species facing extinction and wreak havoc with crop yields due to weather changes”.

    Whilst the global climate goes through hot and cold cycles, what is worrying about the current phase is the pace of change that could send humanity first into a final spin. Although man has certainly benefited from technological advancements that have given us plastics, air travel and cheap food – what is important is to maintain a balance so that excessive consumerism does not ride roughshod over nature’s harmony.

    The role of man

    In Islam man is given the role of trusteeship over the earth, which is a huge responsibility. In the past, man had to be careful how he treated his local environment since excessive grazing or agriculture could bring ruin to his livelihood. His knowledge was also limited but in the event of a disaster either through ignorance or abuse, he could at least resort to moving elsewhere and start all over again. Now we should have no excuse for ignorance and we should have learnt from our past to avoid misuse. But what is worrying is that the impacts of our behaviour are not just local anymore, they are global. If we fail to act in a responsible manner then we cannot simply relocate because there will be nowhere to go. It is therefore vital that as producers, manufacturers and consumers, we ensure that we give due consideration to the impact of our actions. Such a responsibility is not just that of the east or the west but a responsibility for all across nations and continents.

    Qur’anic teaching

    Islam teaches us that God has continued and will continue to provide us with ample resources for all time. But through man’s misuse, this balance may change. It is this personal greed of man that makes them squander these resources and deprive others who may need those resources. The Holy Qur’an warns mankind in Chapter 7, verse 32 “O children of Adam! Eat and drink but exceed not the bounds; surely He (Allah) does not love those who exceed the bounds”

    The overall message of Islam is that it promotes harmony by advising moderation. It accepts that we need to use resources for our progress but this should be done wisely and in a sustainable manner, so that a satisfactory medium is found. Allah alluded to this in Chapter 25, verse 68 where He made reference to: “those who, when they spend are neither extravagant nor niggardly but moderate between the two”.

    Thus, as individuals, we should act on the Qur’anic injunction that promotes balance and prohibits excess even as nations need to be more willing to share knowledge for the sake of the planet rather than for profit and take collective action in line with their collective responsibility. By doing so we shall be able to win the pleasure of God and honour our trusteeship of the earth for the benefit of the present and the future generations”.

    Conference of world scientists

    A few years ago, a top scientist conference in Britain raised the stakes for the dangers of global warming, with concerned scientists outlining a timeframe for the massive horrors awaiting the globe unless swift actions were taken at the right time. The findings in that conference were not in any way different from the position of Islam on the subject over 1430 years ago.

    The three-day conference held in the south western British city of Exeter focused on scientists’ latest assessment of the global warming problem, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

    The conference was bluntly told that global warming would boost outbreaks of infectious diseases, worsen shortages of water and food in vulnerable countries and create an army of climate refugees fleeing uninhabitable regions.

    Scientists even gave a detailed timetable of the destruction and distress that global warming was likely to cause to the world, according to the British daily ‘The Independent’.

    Impacts of Environmental Degradation

    The scale of these impacts varies according to the speed and degree with which fossil fuel pollution is tackled as well the growth rate of the world’s population and how well countries can adapt to climate shift.

    Whole species of animals from frogs to leopards, living in vulnerable areas and with nowhere else to go, face extinction due to global warming, they said, according to the daily.

    “The study pulls together for the first time the projected impacts on ecosystems and wildlife, food production, water resources and economies across the earth, for given rises in global temperature expected during the next hundred years.

    “The resultant picture gives the most wide-ranging impression yet of the bewildering array of destructive effects that climate change is expected to exert on different regions, from the mountains of Europe and the rainforests of the Amazon to the coral reefs of the tropics.”

    What out for Year 2050

    According to a study quoted by Rajendra Pachauri, Chairman of the UN’s top scientific authority on climate change, by 2050 as many as 150 million “environmental refugees” may have fled coastlines vulnerable to rising sea levels, storms or floods, or agricultural land that may become too arid to cultivate, AFP said.

    In India alone, there could be 30 million people displaced by persistent flooding, while a sixth of Bangladesh could be permanently lost to sea level rise and land subsidence, according to the study.

    The Independent newspaper revealed that the conference was called personally by the then British Prime Minister Tony Blair as part of Britain’s attempts to move the climate change issue up the agenda during the UK presidency of the G8 group of rich nations, and the European Union.

    Disturbing warnings

    There were already disturbing warnings from the latest climate research, including the revelation from the British Antarctic Survey that the massive West Antarctic ice sheet might be disintegrating – an event which would raise sea levels around the world by 16ft (4.9 metres) per daily if it really happened.

    “Hare’s timetable shows the impacts of climate change multiplying rapidly as average global temperature goes up, towards 1C above levels before the industrial revolution, then to 2C, and then 3C.

    “It is when the temperature moves up to 2C above the pre-industrial level, expected in the middle of this century – within the lifetime of many people alive today – that serious effects start to come thick and fast, studies suggest.”

    In the second half of the century

    According to the paper, when the temperature moves up to the 3C level, expected in the early part of the second half of the century, these effects will become critical. There is likely to be irreversible damage to the Amazon rainforest, leading to its collapse, and the complete destruction of coral reefs is likely to be widespread.

    The conference, however, ended up on a positive note, with the forum showing how far the argument for carbon sequestration has come, with a series of experts insisting it could be transformed from fiction to fact. Whole species of animals from frogs to leopards, living in vulnerable areas and with nowhere else to go, face extinction due to global warming, they said, according to the daily.

    “The study pulled together for the first time the projected impacts on ecosystems and wildlife, food production, water resources and economies across the earth, for possible rises in global temperature expected during the next hundred years.

    Historical evidence of global warming

    “The resultant picture gave the most wide-ranging impression yet of the bewildering array of destructive effects that climate change was expected to exert on different regions, from the mountains of Europe and the rainforests of the Amazon to the coral reefs of the tropics.”

    The Earth’s climate has changed throughout history. Just in the last 650,000 years there have been seven cycles of glacial advance and retreat, with the abrupt end of the last ice age about 7,000 years ago marking the beginning of the modern climate era – and of human civilization. Most of these climate changes are attributed to very small variations in Earth’s orbit that change the amount of solar energy our planet receives.

    The current trend

    Through advanced researches, scientists have come to realize that the current warming trend is of particular significance because most of it is very likely human-induced and proceeding at a rate that is unprecedented in the past 1300 years.1

    Earth-orbiting satellites and other technological advances have enabled scientists to see the big picture, collecting many different types of information about our planet and its climate on a global scale. This body of data, collected over many years, reveals the signals of a changing climate.

    The heat-trapping nature of carbon dioxide and other gases was demonstrated in the mid-19th century.2 Their ability to affect the transfer of infrared energy through the atmosphere is the scientific basis of many instruments flown by NASA. There is no question that increased levels of greenhouse gases must cause the Earth to warm in response.

    Ice cores drawn from Greenland, Antarctica, and Tropical Mountain glaciers show that the Earth’s climate responds to changes in greenhouse gas levels. They also show that in the past, large changes in climate have happened very quickly, geologically-speaking: in tens of years, not in millions or even thousands.

    The rise in global sea level

    Global sea level, according to scientific research rose by about 17 centimetres (6.7 inches) in the last century. The rate in the last decade, however, is nearly double that of the last century.

    All three major global surface temperature reconstructions show that Earth has warmed since 1880. Most of the warming occurred in the past 35 years, with 15 of the 16 warmest years on record occurring since 2001. The year 2015 was the first time the global average temperatures were 1 degree Celsius or more above the 1880-1899 average. Even though the 2000s witnessed a solar output decline resulting in an unusually deep solar minimum in 2007-2009, surface temperatures continue to increase.

    The oceans have absorbed much of this increased heat, with the top 700 meters (about 2,300 feet) of ocean showing warming of 0.302 degrees Fahrenheit since 1969.

    Shrinking ice sheets

    The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have decreased in mass. Data from NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment have shown that the Greenland lost 150 to 250 cubic kilometers (36 to 60 cubic miles) of ice per year between 2002 and 2006, while Antarctica lost about 152 cubic kilometres (36 cubic miles) of ice between 2002 and 2005.

    Both the extent and thickness of Arctic sea ice has declined rapidly over the last several decades. Glaciers are retreating almost everywhere around the world – including in the Alps, Himalayas, Andes, Rockies, Alaska and Africa. If by year 2050 nothing significant is done to save this situation what will become of human existence? That is a food for thought.

     

    New Chief Imam for Folawiyo Mosque

    all is set for the decoration of Alhaji Imam Alli Olukayode Atanda with the turban as the Chief Imam of Abdul Wahab Folawiyo, Surulere (New Lagos) Central Mosque.

    The event will hold today at the mosque’s premises in Surulere.

    Imam Atanda will succeed the late Sheikh Abdul Quadri Moyosore.

    He was until his appointment the Imam of Oluwatoyin Mosque, one of the twelve Ratibi Mosques that are registered owners of the Abdul Wahab Folawiyo, Surulere (New Lagos) Central Mosque.

     

    Muslim Media holds lecture on good governance

    Good governance, among others, will dominate the 11th annual lecture of Muslim Media Practitioners of Nigeria (MMPN) Abuja chapter on Monday in Abuja.

    A statement by its chairman Alhaji Abdur-Rahman Balogun said the lecture, entitled “the Islamic position on good governance’’ will hold at National Mosque Conference Hall, Abuja.

    It would be delivered by the Chief Imam of the Nigerian Navy, Shaykh Taofiq Miqdad Gidado and chaired by Director-General, National Orientation Agency (NOA) Dr Garba Abari. Other guests expected include Voice of Nigeria (VON) former Director-General Alhaji Abubakar Jijiwa, FCT Minister Alhaji Muhammad Bello and Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) Secretary-General Prof. Is-haq Oloyede.

     

    10, 000 to attend Aqsa Day

    No fewer than 10,000 people are expected for this year’s Aqsa Day.

    The event, organised by the Muslim Awareness International (MAI), will hold on Monday at the National Stadium Surulere, Lagos.

    Federal Government yesterday declared Monday December 12 as public holiday.

    Alhaji AbdurRazaq AbdusSalam, a Deputy Director at Voice of Nigeria (VON) and Dr Odukoya Adelaja Odutola, a Senior Lecturer from the Department of Political Science, University of Lagos and institution’s Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Chairman are the guest speakers.

    MAI Director Luqman Balogun said the programme will also feature exhibitions as well as drama and ballad presentations which will centre on the unity of the Muslims as the panacea to Palestinian problems.

    He decried the occupation of Palestinian land by Israeli government.

    “The state of Israel was created on the basis of lies and deceit and has continued to struggle to sustain a half-century occupation over the land of the Palestinians in the face of universal opposition and condemnation,” he said.

    Balogun accused Israel and her allies of employing varying “ludicrous narratives and deplorable actions to defend their illegal activities in the occupied settlements.

  • Kastina Emir accused of marrying off kidnapped 14-year-old girl

    Kastina Emir accused of marrying off kidnapped 14-year-old girl

    Emir of Katsina, Abdulmumini Usman have been accused of marrying off, fourteen year old Habiba Isiyaku to her kidnapper.

    The fourteen year old who according to her father, Mal. Isiyaku Tanko was kidnapped from school, Government Senior Secondary School, Kudun Kankara, Kastina State by one Jamilu Lawal, has been forcefully converted to Islam and married off by the Emir without her parents concept.

    Mal. Tanko who was made to present his case by the Stefanos Foundation at a press conference in Abuja, stated that Jamilu had not only admitted to abducting his daughter but also revealed that she is presently being kept at the Palace of the Emir of Katsina.

    He added that the Emir had informed him that his daughter had been converted to Islam and he had received the sum of N50, 000.00 as dowry from Jamilu Ibrahim, he also said the Emir had informed him that he will marry Habiba off to Jamilu in accordance with islamic rites and injunctions.

    His words, “My little girl was abducted on the 16th of August 2016 from her school. After my investigations, I discovered that Jamilu Lawal who lives in the same community was responsible for my daughters’ disappearance.

    “I requested that a formal complaint about the incident be lodged to the Commissioner of Police in Kastina, Jamilu and his parents were summoned to the police station and he not only admitted to abducting my daughter Habiba but also revealed that she was presently being kept at the Palace of the Emir of Kastina.

    “On arrival at the Palace, the Emir informed me that my daughter has been converted from Christianity to Islam henceforth, there is no longer any relationship between me and my daughter and we can no longer inherit each other.

    “He further informed me that he has received the sum if N50, 000.00 as dowry from Jamilu Ibrahim for my daughter therefore, he will give her out in marriage in accordance with Islamic rites and injunctions.

    He accused me of defaming him at the Police Station and I was threatened, intimidated and coerced to sign an apology drafted on my behalf in his Palace.

    “As at today, I am aware that the Emir of Kastina has gone ahead to marry out my little girl without my consent, having received a dowry he is not entitled to receive, it fills me with so much pain and grief to realize that my daughter, who will turn 15 this Saturday the 15th may be celebrating her birthday in a forced marriage.

    “I appeal to all well-meaning Nigerians and those in authority to help join hands to see that my daughter is released to me though the violations already done to her person may be irreversible. I further appeal that the Incident be well investigated and diligently prosecuted.”

    Programme Coordinator for Stafanos Foundation, Mark Lipdo, a Non-Governmental Organization assisting the parents with the release of Habiba stated.

    “We have been trying to intervene in the conflicts going on in Nigeria, we believe in the human rights of all citizens and encourage that fundamental rights be upheld at all times to maintain a sane society.

    “Many times we call on the appropriate authorities to act like in the case of Habiba Isiyaku, such incidents can make conflicts continue in Nigeria.

    “Habiba is a girl that just completed her Junior Secondary school and had very good grades, she had so much prospects only to be abducted, when her parents were invited to the Emirs palaceN she was brought out in a hijab and he told them that they no longer have any relationship with the girl anymore because she has been converted to Islam and that he the Emir of Katsina has now become the father of the girl and he can do whatever he wants with her.

    “After a few days that the father was sent back, we followed with the Commissioner of Police to try to get the girl, we took a lawyer with us as Stefanos Foundation to stand with the parents to demand for their rights but the rights where denied, we petitioned the Inspector General (IG)  of Police here in Abuja to see if he can secure the girls release but till date, he is yet to respond, we brought the parents to Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) for help, to see if they can help secure her release and they said that they will be following the matter up with the IG, but up till today, nothing, we have been in this town for three days now we have not heard anything from CAN and the IG.

    “The girl is a minor and things like this has to stop happening in this country because if it continues, people are going to result to self-help because where a person has been told his right but he it has been deliberately refused it, if the person has any strength, he will result to self-help.”

     

  • Woman to court: Beg my husband not to divorce me

    A 50-year-old trader, Mrs Kehinde Adewunmi, on Thursday in Lagos broke down in tears while on her knees begging her estranged husband, Jamiu Adewunmi, not to divorce her.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Jamiu Adewunmi had approached the Igando Customary Court, Lagos State for the dissolution of his 24-year-old marriage to Kehinde, his wife.

    He alleged that Kehinde had converted to Christianity from Islam without his consent.

    Kehinde in her plea said, “Please court; help me beg him, where will I get a man at my age to marry me if my husband divorces me.

    “I am ready to make amends wherever I might have made mistakes; I am not ready to divorce my husband.

    “I still love him and besides, I do not want my children to suffer this action because they are innocent. Please, safe e my marriage,” the mother of four said.

    The husband and petitioner, Jamiu, 57, a businessman, had accused his wife of converting to Christianity without his consent in his petition before the court.

    “My wife was always telling me that she was going for an Islam programme called ‘Alasalatu’, instead she would secretly go to a church to worship.

    “I got to know when I broke into her room in her absence because, lately, she was always locking the room and would keep its key closed to her chest.

    “So, I was curious to know what she was hiding in the room.

    “When I entered her room, I saw pictures where she wore a gown and cap belonging to one of the white garment churches.

    “In the pictures, she posed with some other worshipers wearing the same uniform.

    “I don’t want her anymore because, I cannot condole another religion in my house except the one I am practicing,” he said.

    He accused his wife of not cooking for him regularly and whenever she did, the food would come late.

    “Kehinde had failed in her matrimonial obligations.

    “I had warned her several times but she wouldn’t listen to me. There is no point harbouring a wife that makes me hungry,” the estranged husband said.

    He urged the court to dissolve the marriage that he was no longer in love.

    The president of the court, Mr Adegboyega Omilola, ordered the couple to come along with three members of their relatives each for a possible reconciliation.

    He adjourned the case to Aug. 30 for further hearing.

     

  • YINKA AYEFELE: I DIDN’T CONVERT TO ISLAM

    GOSPEL musician Yinka Ayefele, has debunked the claim that he has converted to Islam. Recently, news of Ayefele’s conversion to Islam went wild and fans, both home and abroad, making calls to verify the claim.

    A release issued by Ayefele’s Publicist, David Ajiboye, said that Ayefele is still a Christian and has no reason whatsoever to renounce his faith and belief.

    “We believe the rumour must have emanated from the annual Ramadan Lecture which Fresh 105.9FM owned by Ayefele organised on Tuesday, in Ibadan,” wrote Ajiboye.

    “Our station, Fresh 105.9FM, had invited popular Islamic preacher, Alhaji Muideen Ajani Bello, as the guest preacher at our annual Ramadan Lecture which had over 4,000 people in attendance and because of this, some naïve minds went to town to spread the rumour about Ayefele’s conversion.”

    Ajiboye stated further that the station is for everybody irrespective of religion, race or colour.

    “We believe it’s part of our social responsibility to organise such a spiritual rebirth programme to sensitise our Muslim listeners on the ideals of Islam, most especially in this holy season.”

  • Sultan to Muslims: make Islam attractive

    The Sultan of Sokoto and President-General, Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, has appealed to Muslims to make Islam attractive by preaching love and peace.

    The Sultan, who inaugurated the Oluwo palace and the Wings School mosque at Iwo in Osun State, corroborated the submission of the Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdul-Rasheed Adewale Akanbi, that Islamic preachers should desist from emphasising the punitive aspects of Sharia penal code, scaring people away from Islam.

    Abubakar said more efforts are needed to promote Islam in this “part of the world”, expressing delight at the large turnout of people for the two events which he described as “historic”.

    The monarch said religion should not be held responsible for people’s actions.

    The Sultan, who explained that human behaviour does not represent Islam’s doctrine, said Islam should not be held responsible for Muslims’ actions.

    He urged  Muslims to love their neighbours, irrespective of political or religion differences.

    In his welcome speech, Oba Akanbi said time has come for Muslims to do the “Jihad of love and peace” to promote Islam.

    He explained that arrangements have been concluded to equip the new hospital in Iwo with modern equipment from Canada, stressing that he is committed to bringing sport competition back to the town.

    The Oluwo said plans are ongoing to facilitate the study centre of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), noting that many successes have been recorded since his inception in the last two months.

    A Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stalwart, Chief Abiola Ogundokun, said the choice of the Sultan to inaugurate the mosque was to further cement the South / North relationship.

    Ogundokun said the coming of Sultan during this time of political differences, being preached unjustly by some people, will further explain the need for cooperation with the federal and state government.

    He appealed to Nigerians to develop the spirit of endurance and abandon tribal sentiments.

    The founder of the Wings Schools, Iwo, Prof. Lai Olurode, advocated the need for better understanding and promotion of knowledge as well as more dialogue between religions.

    Olurode, who was a federal commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), advised the people to show practical commitment to the promotion of cultural literacy, saying “humanity should transcend ethno-religious barrier while we struggle to retain our diverse identities”.

  • Bishop Kukah’s attack on Islam, my conditional ceasefire

    Bishop Kukah’s attack on Islam, my conditional ceasefire

    I am dedicating today’s column to readers’ comments on my last four articles on these pages, but largely to those – about 200 texts and over a dozen emails – generated by what Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, Trust’s Friday back page columnist, says is the “quarrel” between me and Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah over what I’ve said is his persistent attack against Islam and Muslims.

    Hopefully, this should answer the plea of the last two respondents on these pages for a “cessation of hostilities,” as Chief Loretta Aniagolu, a leading business consultant and an Enugu- based politician, put it. I do have my doubts though that the hostilities will cease, if only because the Bishop decided to up the ante only last Saturday by his open letter to the late Sardauna, whose cold-blooded murder as Premier of Northern Nigeria 50 years ago, was commemorated last week in Kaduna, where he was killed.

    In his open letter, published in Daily Trust of that day, the Bishop, as usual, attacked Muslims and made snide remarks about the great man himself not least by accusing him of laying the foundation of today’s sectarian divisions in the North by what he called the man’s “controversial conversion campaigns.”

    In spite of the provocations in that letter, I have resolved to observe a unilateral, but conditional, ceasefire; conditional upon the bishop not indulging in any further egregious misrepresentation of me or my religion.

    “Muslim Brothers” and the rest of us (Wednesday, December 16, 2015)

    As a retired military man, I do know that if a group refuses to stop when an armed soldier orders it to do so, the only option left is for the soldier to secure his life with any means available to him. In no civilised clime would Shi’ites behave foolishly as in Nigeria. It is unbelievable that the Chief of Army Staff staked his life by alighting from his vehicle. In some climes none of these bigots would be alive to explain their foolishness. If these Shi’ites can threaten the Chief of Army Staff, who then is safe in this country we call Nigeria?

    Alooma,

    +2348070449628. 

    A fair piece! And you were right about there being little sympathy from the rest of us, especially us Zaria residents who’ve been held to ransom by the Shi’ite processions one too many times. The processions used to be infrequent, before they became a constant feature of Zaria town. Granted, the Army was wrong in its choice of mode of response, but as the Bahaushe would say, “in bera da sata, daddawa ma da wari”.

    Hannatu Adamu,

    ABU Zaria.

    +2348036497147.

    It could be members of the sect thought (Dr. Goodluck) Jonathan was still the President of Nigeria.

    Etebong Akpan

    Uyo.

    +2348091087319.

    Bishop Kukah’s attack on Islam (Wednesday, December 30, 2015)

    It’s not in doubt to those who regularly follow his writings that Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah has made a sport of attacking Northern Muslims and Islam, invariably from behind the veil of scholarship. The “failings” he attributes to Northern Muslims derive from human nature rather than Islam to which he obliquely linked them. Region first, and religion later, have become veritable planks in the practice of politics in the country; their prominence not being wholly or exclusively the fault of Northern Muslims.

    Chief MKO Abiola’s choice of vice-presidential candidate was vigorously opposed on the grounds of it being “a Muslim-Muslim” ticket. Previously, region was the only factor. In the recent past, an intellectual gerrymandering produced a Middle Belt of 18 states -their sole link being religion.

    Neither religion nor ethnicity in themselves are Nigeria’s problems, but how politicians seeking advantage deploy them in the political arena. Here, it’s clear there are no saints.

    M T Usman,

    +2348033067825.

    Matthew Kukah did not demonise Islam as a religion. He only criticised the Muslim elite who manipulate Islam to stir trouble in the North. You should not misinterpret his assertion to feather your cap in being holier than Islam as a religion.

    As for your interpretation of the book of 2 Corinthians, in the Holy Bible, it did not say Muslims are unbelievers. And what has Christianity got to do with the rules of OBJ and GEJ? Was Islam responsible for Abacha’s misrule since he was a Muslim? Can Islam be held responsible for the shame perpetrated by even a scion of the caliphate? These are some of the things Matthew Kukah is referring to.

    Tanko Dabit,

    NIPSS, Kuru.

    tanquo@gmail.com

    On your Kukah on Islam, I had thought age has reformed you. Pity it has not. Flounder on.

    John Amodu,

    +2348055848952.

    Rev. Kukah lost all reverence when, flying against all human dignity and conventional wisdom, he tried to justify the shameful attempt at scuttling President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti corruption crusade.

    +2348062365532.

     

    Okonjo-Iweala and the limits of propaganda (Wednesday, January 6)

    Thank you for your critical and fair assessment of our former super Minister of Finance. While she was around, she made fantastic claims of her capacity and power. Most of us believed her, and even her boss almost submitted the leadership of this land to her.

    She made waves with stories of successes against corruption, development strides, and even ‘promoting’ Nigeria as the biggest economy in Africa. Our clueless president deferred to her to the amazement of many.

    One man she failed to mesmerise was Olusegun Obasanjo. But for all others she came, saw and conquered – benefitting herself and her ethnic groups. Thank you for a well-researched piece on the Queen of Breton Woods Conference.

    Deji Fasuan,

    Ado-Ekiti.

    What a lovely article you wrote today. More power to your elbow. You made my Wednesday, sir.

    Tunde Oso,

    The Guardian Newspapers,

    Lagos.

     

    Still on Bishop Kukah’s attack on Islam (Wednesday, January 13)

    Bishop Mathew Kukah’s open dislike for Islam is no longer news. He has used every opportunity to hit at Muslims, especially Northern Muslims or the so-called Hausa Fulani Muslims. Being someone born and raised in southern Kaduna, I know that the average man from that part of the state is courteous and accommodating. It is people like the bishop who are doing the best – or worst – they can to further raise emotions and cause disharmony, which from time to time erupts.

    His infamous and rather shameful homily at the late Patrick Yakowa’s burial will go down as a superlative act of irresponsibility by anyone at such a pensive gathering. The late Abubakar Gimba’s epic response to that homily titled “Et tu Monsignor Kukah?” is an enduring masterpiece worth archiving.

    But despite such unhelpful happenings, it is very heartening to see his own people still living peacefully with the Muslims. This is why whenever I have the chance when in Zangon Kataf, I go to those Kataf villages to visit my primary school teachers and classmates.

    For Kukah to claim that he is an advocate of peaceful interreligious co-existence, you have given him the best reply. What he does is giving with the right hand and taking even more with the left. Even at 63, his lack of restraint in using inappropriate language as well as resorting to untruth is fast becoming a trademark.

    I find his anger over Muslim hegemony laughable. The bishop’s very middle name is Hassan, a revered Muslim name used throughout the Muslim World in honour of the grandson of Prophet Muhammad (upon whom be peace). Why not change that hegemony first, since it is absolutely within his power?  I don’t know what loathing a people and still proudly bearing their name is called.

    Mustafa Adamu

    mmustafaadamu@yahoo.com

    It is not only you who Rev. Mathew Hassan Kukah is fond of calling names, but all and sundry who do not agree with him. Not long ago he referred to those who differed with him on his defence of President Goodluck Jonathan and his looters of the nation’s treasury as people who live in the gutters and speak with mud in their mouths, who move from one beer parlour to another and from one bus stop to another, conveniently forgetting that they were put in that situation by the misdeeds of the very people he was seeking to defend.

    Barr. Umar M. Gummi,

    +2348060322272.

    Just read your column of today. I didn’t read the previous to fully appreciate the build up to this point. However, as you claim to be misinterpreted by the Bishop, rightly or wrongly, there may be hoards of religious extremists on both sides that could react negatively in support of either of you.

    I therefore join Jada in appealing for the mutual secession of hostilities.

    Chief Loretta Aniagolu,

    +2348033105312.

    Let me join others calling for a ceasefire between you and Bishop Kukah. My plea is because both of you are important actors to preserve peace in our country.

    Was it (not) the late Sardauna of Sokoto who stated that we must respect our differences? As we are now in 2016, 50 years on from 1966, that statement remains good food for thought.

    Ambassador TI Aguiyi-Ironsi, CON.

    +2348075847081.

  • Still on Bishop Kukah’s attack on Islam

    Still on Bishop Kukah’s attack on Islam

    Likely as not, Abdulmalik Jada, who said he has been a regular reader of this column since 2007, will be disappointed this morning with this column. Of the over 80 texts and about ten emails I received in reaction to my column of two weeks ago on Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah’s attack on Muslims and Islam, his email stood out as a plea for a ceasefire between me and the bishop.

    “Please sir,” he said,“even if Kukah did not mean well for Islam and Muslims in those his presentations of Osogbo and Kaduna as aptly captured in your piece, he has called for a truce in his today’s response. This is the context in which I understand his piece. Sir, engage him no further please, as doing so will further deepen the Muslim-Christian chasm. Both you and Kukah are with followers from your different religions. Nigeria is already a carcass of itself. It needs serious managing. Otherwise it will implode.”

    It is tempting to heed Jada’s plea because a shouting match between the bishop and me can hardly be helpful of the need for the country’s religious harmony and peace. The problem is that each time I have tried to engage the bishop in a debate – and this has happened more than once – he has replied with misrepresenting my arguments and, worse, calling me names. Indeed, this seems to have become his debating strategy, as I shall show in due course.

    I can ignore, and have always ignored, the names he has called me. But I will not be fair to myself and to my religion if, because I want religious harmony and peace in the country, I do not rebut his misrepresentations of my arguments.

    Over nine years ago when he reacted angrily to my column of July 12, 2006 in which I said Professor Jerry Gana would never be the president of this country, he did exactly the same thing. I said the professor would not be president in the run-up to the 2007 elections because he lacked credibility and convictions as someone who had defended every government in power since 1985 and because he misused religion for politics – something the bishop has always preached against.

    In his angry response on July 21 which he entitled “Mohammed Haruna: Limits of demagoguery,” he condemned me as an “ethnic, regional and religious bigot.” My column, he said, was “a manifestation of a dangerous trend of intolerance that must be arrested before it institutionalizes fascism.” I had no problem with his name-calling. But I could not let his deliberate misrepresentation of my argument pass without response; Gana, he said I said, would not be president simply because he was a Northern Minority Christian! Without replying in kind – you do not, in any case, call a man of God names – I pointed out in a two-part rejoinderto his rejoinder that he never even attempted to debunk any of the three reasons I gave for my position.

    Happily for me, a third party intervention from someone I never knew, who happened to be a Christian and who did not belong to my ethnic group or region, saw things my way. “If Mohammed is anti-Christian,” Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye, a columnist with the Daily Independent said in its edition of August 9, 2006, “he may have betrayed that in other essays, which I may have missed, since I am not his regular reader, but in this particular essay on Gana, I would be most glad if anyone can show me any portion that remotely suggests that he is against Gana’s presidential ambition because Gana worships the ‘wrong God’ (as Kukah put it.)” Ejinkeonye aptly titled his piece “Kukah’s Embarrassing Intervention.”

    Of course, there must have been others who saw things the bishop’s way.But no fair-minded reader of my column since it started over 38 years ago will say I have ever attacked anyone, or indeed defended anyone, simply for what he believes in, where he comes from or what ethnic group he belongs to.

    I am not so sure the same can be said for the bishop. And I should know because I have closely followed his writings since 1985 when, as managing director of New Nigerian Newspapers, I first offered him his first opportunity to write regularly on religion and politics from his Christian point of view.

    Certainly it will be hard, if not impossible, to defend the bishop’s well known aversion to any criticisms of Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan on grounds other than religion. The two most notorious instances were when he tried to defend the former’s Third Term agenda and when, more recently, he criticized President Muhammadu Buhari’s plan to wage war on corruption, especially under his predecessor.

    On Obasanjo’s Third Term agenda, many readers may recall how, in his widely publicized interview in the Weekly Trust of March 4, 2006, he dismissed the popular criticisms of the agenda as “a useless conversion, a waste of energies” that did not deserve the attention it got. Obasanjo, he said, had done well by Nigerians and all those critical of his wish to carry on beyond his two-term limit were “political eunuchs” who did nothing to stop General Sani Abacha from trying to replace his khaki as military head of state with mufti as civilian president back in the late nineties.

    “All these political eunuchs,” he said,“who were not able to do anything when General Abacha was around; suddenly everyone has cleaned his mouth and returned as a politician. Fine, but for God’s sake, after all was said and done, lets not forget where General Obasanjo was when he was picked up to become president. Nigerians don’t learn a lesson.”

    The bishop alluded to these words again when he rejoined a rejoinder by Dr. Ebenezer Obadare, a teacher at the University of Kansas, America, to an article he had written in The Guardian of May 13, 2010 on what the bishop called “The Patience of Jonathan.” Jonathan’s rise to power, he said, “has defied logic and anyone who attempts to explain it is tempting the gods.”

    Earlier in a lecture in Calabar as part of the yearlong celebration of the country’s Golden Jubilee, the bishop had said even stronger word in his attempt to deify Jonathan. This was less than a month after he was sworn in as president following the death of his predecessor, Umaru Yar’adua.

    “With the swearing in of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan,” he said, “something has happened in Nigeria that may not happen again in the next 200 years.” He also said our new president represented “a metaphor of what our future might be.”

    Dr. Obadare’s rejoinder in The Guardian of May 31, entitled “The impatience of Father Kukah” was to criticize the bishop, then the vicar-general of the Kaduna archdiocese, for trying to canonize Jonathan in both his Calabar speech and the newspaper article even before the man has settled down on his chair. Far from defying logic, Obadare said, Jonathan’s rise had a simple down to earth explanation. The new president, he said, was simply “the beneficiary of a swindle imposed on the generality of Nigerians by former President Obasanjo and the inner caucus of the Peoples Democratic Party.” The lecturer then proceeded to show how with facts and logic and in the most readable and most respectful language possible.

    Two days later the bishop replied Obadare in another rejoinder that dripped with so much bile. Obadare, he said, was a confused man who misrepresented his position on Jonathan and, like those before whose pastime was “Obasajo bashing,” obviously enjoyed pursuing red herrings.

    The bishop said he never set out to canonize Jonathan, as Obadare argued. All he said was that Jonathan was God’s miracle. But then, as any sensible person would ask himself, what are God’s miracles for if not to cure afflictions? And who did not know that Nigeria’s central affliction was poor leadership?

    Penultimate Tuesday (January 5) the bishop, once again, indulged in denying what he clearly infers, if not what he actually says. And in doing so he also resorted to name-calling. I was, he said, a calumniator, odious, rabble-rousing and a bigot for accusing him of attacking Muslims and Islam in my column of two weeks ago. After all, he said, who does not know what an indefatigable champion of religious dialogue he is at home and abroad?

    The problem with his argument is that you can give with your right hand but take even more away with the left. And there is also the question of how sincerely one’s commitment is to a cause.

    The bishop said I did not provide any evidence when I accused him of consistently attacking Muslims and Islam. Either he did not read the piece closely or he chose to deny the evidence right before his eyes. When you compare Islam with apartheid, as the bishop did in his piece, I would not know what to call that but an attack on the religion. And when you say the demand by Muslims to be governed under Shari’a without imposing it on none-Muslims is the source of Boko Haram, I don’t know what that is if not an attack on my religion and me as a Muslim.

    At any rate, if I provided no evidence in my article last time, the bishop himself provided plenty in his rejoinder, but one alone suffices. “My paper,” he said, “focused on how to protect religion (here Islam), from manipulation by politicians. I produced evidence to show how Muslim politicians had done this under democracy.” His assumption here is apparent; compared to Christianity, Islam is a weak vessel that requires protection. Indeed in his Osogbo lecture he said so categorically.“Islam,” he said,“must have an honest look at the mirror and have an internal discussion.”

    I agree with the bishop that Muslims should have an honest conversation among themselves about how they interpret and practice their religion and how some of their leaders misuse it for politics. But I completely disagree with him when he says only Muslims are the villains in so doing. The evidence against his thesis stares right into his eyes from the way the Ganas, Obasanjos and Jonathans of this world – not to talk of many clerics he knows all too well – have used religion to feather their political and clerical nests.

     

  • Bishop Kukah’s attack on Islam

    Bishop Kukah’s attack on Islam

    Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah is no stranger to controversies. But the one the bishop of the Sokoto Catholic Diocese stirred last month with his keynote address during a conference at the Fountain University, Osogbo, Osun State, would rank as perhaps his most provocative to date. Certainly it would rank higher than the very controversial Homily he delivered three years ago on December 20 at the Burial Mass of Mr. Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, the Governor of Kaduna State, who died in a tragic helicopter crash in the Delta.

    That Homily was more an attack on Muslims than it was a tribute to Governor Yakowa. The bishop used the opportunity to ride on his hobbyhorse of what he says is the use of Islam by the Northern Muslim elite to impose their hegemony not only on the North, but also on the rest of the country. In so doing he denounced those he described as “riff raff and scoundrels” who were alleged to have rejoiced at the death of the governor. Such scoundrels, he said quite rightly, did not represent Muslims or Islam.

    In denouncing the joyous riff raff and scoundrels, the bishop took pains to praise both secular and religious Muslim leaders who felt only sorrow at the death of Yakowa. Sultan Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, he said, felt so despondent at the governor’s death it became his lot to cheer up His Eminence. General Muhammadu Buhari, then the country’s leading opposition leader, was also so “distraught” about Yakowa’s death he cancelled his 70th birthday celebration in mourning. Sheikh Yusuf Sambo Rigachikun, a national leader of Izala, also cancelled a huge congregation the movement had summoned in a show of respect for the deceased governor.

    The bishop also praised former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, and former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Alhaji Gidado Idris, both of them Muslims, for respectively appointing Yakowa as the first minister and federal permanent secretary from Southern Kaduna, a claim which is not entirely accurate because, long before Yakowa, Alhaji Aliyu Mohammed, Wazirin Jama’a, had served not only as a federal permanent secretary, but had gone on to serve as one of the longest serving SGFs.

    Not only was the bishop full of praise for the Muslim leadership, he said even their followers behaved with compassion. “As we drove behind the ambulances from the airport to St Gerard’s Hospital, I personally saw young Muslims genuinely wailing and waiving in sorrow on the highway in Tudun Wada.” He also said he had received sympathetic text messages from Muslims, “high and low.”

    The problem I, for one, had with the bishop’s homily then, as now, was that after praising the rump of the North’s secular and religious Muslim leadership – and also praising much of their followership – as being compassionate, he would still go ahead to blame Muslims exclusively for the violent religious crisis which has engulfed our country for a long while now.

    In his concluding remarks in that homily, he thanked President Goodluck Jonathan and those who advised him for creating”the opportunity that enabled Mr. Yakowa to keep his appointment with destiny.” As the bishop knew all too well, religion was central to the decision of the President to pick Patrick’s boss, Namadi Sambo, as his deputy, when he became President, following the death of President Umaru Yar’adua. This was in a field with more experienced candidates for the President to choose from. As the bishop also knew, religion was central to the determination of the ruling party to retain Yakowa as governor in the 2011 elections, come rain, come shine, a decision which turned Kaduna State into the epicentre of the violent aftermath of that year’s elections.

    If the bishop chose only to attack faceless Northern Muslims in his homily three years ago, last month he chose to attack not only Muslims, but their religion as well. As before, he accused their leaders exclusively of manipulating religion for their selfish ends. Boko Haram, he said, was the dire consequence of such manipulation.

    Any attempt by any Muslim to distant the sect from Islam, he said, was hypocritical, if only because its adherents claim Islam is not only their religion but also the inspiration for their self-acclaimed goal of Islamising Nigeria.

    Yet the bishop says, quite rightly I must say, Christianity should never be held responsible for everything the West does, even though the former gave birth to the latter and even though many Western leaders claim many of the things they do, good or bad, are in the name of Christianity.

    But to say Islam must be held responsible for Boko Haram is to say Christianity, more specifically the bishop’s Catholicism, must be held responsible for, say, the terrible things the Lords Resistance Army led by Joseph Kony has done in Uganda. After all, his father was catechist in the Catholic Church and his mother an Anglican and he says his goal is to turn his country into a Christian country.

    As any scholar of religion knows, more terrible things have been done in the name of Christianity than in the name of Islam. For example, in a 2013 book titled WAR AND PEACE IN ISLAM –The Uses and Abuses of Jihad, edited by HRH Prince Gazhi bin Muhammad and Professors Ibrahim Kalin and Mohammad Hashim Kamali, the contributors showed how out of a median death toll of 577.29 million from violent conflicts between 0 and 2008 CE, Christianity topped the list with 178.04 million, while Islam came a distant 6th with 31.02 million.

    The same book also showed how in terms of the frequency of belligerence, the three most aggressive religions have been Christianity, Islam and Antitheist, in that order; out of a total of 318 belligerences during the same period, Christianity accounted for 166, i.e. over half of such incidence, whereas Islam accounted for 79 which is under 25 per cent, making it a distant second.

    In spite of all these figures, I believe it would be wrong to blame the religions themselves for what has been done in their names.

    By some curious logic, the bishop at some point in his speech, sought to make a distinction between what he calls Northern Islam and a Southern variety. The one, he said, is intolerant while the other is accommodating. To drive home his point, he used the sentimental subject of marriage. Here, permit me to quote him at some length because what he says is at the heart of his submission in Osogbo.

    “In your part of the country as in other parts of the world,” he says,”I hear about families with Christians and Muslims living together, marrying and intermarrying and so on. In the North, this is anathema. Every time I bring this up, I hear people say that this is what Islam teaches, that the religion allows Muslim men to marry Christian girls (and hopefully make them Muslims) while Christian men cannot marry Muslim women. If this is not apartheid in broad daylight, I do not know what it is.” He said worse but even this was bad enough.

    True, Islam does not permit Muslim women to marry non-Muslim men. But then so does Christianity forbid its women – and men – from marrying non-Christians. For, as the Bible says in the New Testament 2 Corinthians, a Christian, man or woman, should never be yoked together with any unbeliever. “Do not,” it says,”be yoked together with the unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?”

    As a scholar, it is disappointing that the respected bishop should resort to demagoguery in trying to frame Islam, more specifically what he calls Northern Islam, as suffering exclusively from superiority complex. If only he had searched enough, he would have found that the injunction against a Muslim woman not to marry a Christian is not to discriminate against Christianity, but to protect her rights as a Muslim woman in a way that Islam protects the rights of a Christian woman as a Christian. It says, for example, that the husband has an obligation to defend her identity as a Christian, including taking her to church to worship. Nothing like this exists for a Muslim woman married to a Christian, since the Bible says any other belief is like darkness.

    As we all know, injunctions are one thing, adhering to them, another. Marriages across religions may be more common in the Southwest, but the bishop surely knows that it is not inexistent in the North, even though it may be a taboo among Muslims in the region.

    The bishop is right to accuse the country’s elite of manipulating religion for power and wealth. But he is absolutely wrong to blame only Muslim elite, especially those from the North, as the only ones who do so.To see how wrong he is in blaming only Muslims, he needs only to examine the fate of Muslims wherever they are a minority in this country or to examine many of the decisions and policies of Presidents Jonathan and Olusegun Obasanjo.

    Yes, sir, the manipulation of religion is not, and has never been, the exclusive preserve of any religion.

  • Don’t judge Islam with some Muslims’ misbehaviour, says don

    A senior lecturer at the department of Arabic and Islamic Studies, University of Ibadan, Prof. Abdul – Hafiz Oladosu, has urged world leaders not to judge Islam from negative attitude of some Muslims.

    He spoke at the opening of the 100th edition of annual Islamic Vacation Course, IVC organised by Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria,  (MSSN), Southern Zone at the IVC permanent site, kilometre 30, Lagos /Ibadan Express way.

    Oladosu said the misbehaviour of some Muslims should not be used as a basis for judging what Islam really stands for.

    He said: ‘’It’s not Islam that should be held responsible for the misbehaviour of Muslims. The same way you don’t hold a car responsible when it has an accident. You need to question the driver and owner of the car.  Allah gave the religion of Islam to the Muslims. It is we the Muslims that we are misrepresenting the gift from Allah.  The world should try to read about Islam and not about Muslims. ‘’ he said

    He urged Muslims to find their way back  to the teachings of Islam so as not to allow the public to stigmatize Islam as a religion of trouble maker rather than religion of peace.

    The don also explained that the West could not be exonerated from the rising insecurity in the world.

    “ The gun and the bullet being used by ISIS is not manufactured in Iraq. It’s the West that produced the weapons being used by ignorant Muslims who believed that it is when they use it that they can achieve certain aims.  The West should stop this hypocritical posture. “

    National President of the Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria (MSSN), Mallam Muhammad Jameel, urged the Federal Government  to disregard the banning of Islamic dress in the name of security as such would lead to denial of fundamental right to practice one’s religion.