REDEFINING ISLAM IN THE “CORE” NORTH: CHRISTMAS EVE ATTACKS IN PERSPECTIVE

Posted on December 27, 2012 Updated on December 25, 2013

During my Masters programme in the UK, I lived in the same house with Mohammed, a Muslim from Syria. We dedicated some of our time to discuss the pressing problems in the Middle East and Africa, ranging from poverty, non-education of the girl child and corruption. We chose a day to discuss Islam. He took his time to explain the 5 pillars of Islam and went further to explain Jihad in Islam. He made me to understand that Jihad is not necessarily to kill those who oppose Islam but to discipline your flesh to do what is right like avoiding fornication, alcohol, killing and stealing etc He also said that being able to fast during Ramadan is part of Jihad. As he spoke, I saw honesty from the movement of his eyeballs to the movement of the four compasses of his mouth. The way he practiced and spoke about his religion made me to believe his religion to be that of peace. I also know from my research that Prophet Mohammed lived peacefully with the Christians and the Jews in Medina. He also told his followers to live in peace with Christians and the Jews. Uthman Dan Fodio and Sheik Inyass are the two prominent Islamic scholars that brought and taught Islam in Nigeria. They are both from Senegal (a country made up of 87% Muslims and 5% Christians but mostly ruled by the Christians).

Coming back to my country, I met a second set of some Muslim friends who felt discussing their religion with me is an abomination not even minding if I may be a new convert. I met a group of Muslim leaders in the “core” North who will not come out in STRONG TERMS to condemn the activities of Islamic extremist in their region but can spend all their resources to insist that a core Muslim Northerner leads the country. I met a group of Northern Muslim Legislators that have refused to pass the child right act in their states which is meant to put the children off the streets and prevent them from being recruited as suicide bombers. I met a group of Northern leaders that turn a blind eye to girl child education which leads to young girls getting married as early as 12 years. Most of these girls end up suffering from Vessico Vagina Fistula (VVF) and cervical cancer. When you speak against this trend, they are quick to accuse you of going against the tenets of Islam while they give no consideration to the social implication. When you tell them to practice the original sharia as practiced by Sir Ahmadu Bello and Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, they are quick to bring up a political sharia that will protect the elite class and screw the asses of the downtrodden. A clear case of this happened in Zamfara state where a man’s right hand was amputated for stealing a cow while another “big” man was only flogged for stealing money meant for pensioners which he didn’t return.
In all ramifications, there is a thick line between the Islam practiced by my Syrian friend and the one practiced by some of my “core” Northern brothers.

Recently, General Abdulsalami Abubakar said that it will take the north 20 years to bounce back. Abdulsalami is rather economical with the truth because it will take the North not less than 50years to bounce back economically (that is, if the boko boyz stop the bombings). All the investors are running to the south and contractors are refusing to go to the north. My candid advice to the “core” northerners is that they should tell their people to stop talking and embrace liberalism, they should open their minds and see that religion is a divisive element in our midst, they should teach their people that Nigeria is a secular state and that salvation is personal, teach them that life is sacrosanct and that God gave us brain so that we can reason, teach them that Allah himself is capable of killing anyone he does not want and that people should not assume this responsibility on behalf of Allah, tell them to love their neighbours as they love their Koran and the peace of the lord will descend on that part of Nigeria which is quickly turning into Hades.