Okikiola Qasim
In the recent times, disputes that could nightlight trouble in our society are being taking with flippancy, or can I say we should be grateful for the mercy of Allah on our country. Ordinarily, this is becoming mortification for the Muslims in this country, when a criminal act transpires, fortunately or unfortunately if the accused happens to be a Muslim, the crime automatically turned against the entire Muslim hood.
The measurement of this occurrences are becoming disquieting to the extent that relationships, collaborations, businesses and commitments are majorly based upon the spread-out claims to justify and dictate the relationship between one and other in this country. The up rise of Yunusa and Ese’s saga has taken the turn of religious blame and some Nigeria media syphoned it deeply to caress everyone’s attention to attract them to the story. But the veracity is, this same story can be taken from so many approach of ethnic differences, unacquainted teenager and an under aged girl love triangle and so on. Instead, the picture took the turn of a Muslim boy who was alleged to have abducted a non-Muslim girl, in fact to the extent of allegedly forced the girl to embrace Islam and the controversial 5 month pregnancy.
My concern and worries are not about the alleged misappropriation of words that was supposed to ordinary mean a cordial boyfriend and girlfriend relationship with more or less undertone of the parent awareness but when the going gets tough and rough, either through the interference of mischievous who want to capitalise on northerner versus Southerner, Kano versus Bayelsa part 1 or part 2 as the case may appear to whoever that cares to understand, there occurred repudiations and counter repudiations.
Ideally, this to me, shouldn’t have been anybody’s affairs because objectively the lop-sidedness of the whole story whether you may wish to take it from a part one or from the side of the non-affiliated commentators who on their own interest have become the supreme judge on the matter denying the laws agencies to act or from the angle of the crucifixion by some media jurists who deliberately turned the whole table of the reality against the existing relationship between the northerners particularly Kano dwellers in Bayelsa who are also Muslims known with their simple life and struggles and the warming relationship of the Bayelsan’s who historically are known to welcome visitors of their interest with whatever they have and predominantly they are Christians.
Nevertheless, these are Nigerians who by constitutional right can dwell or find their economic sustenance at any part of the country of their choice within the confine of the law of the land. Its only God who can determine to what extent of mutilation this situation at hand Ese and Yanusa saga might have caused the Muslims and Christians co-existence in that region.
Perhaps, my greatest challenges was on the educated illiterates who wants to gain favour from mischievous and capitalise on the misinformation and diabolically posing war between one region to another and one religion to another. I cannot imagine myself reading and hearing some collections on this saga and some of them concluded that this is how the Muslims abducts girls and convert them forcefully to Islam. In fact Muslims were accused of paedophilia.
Am happy to quote from an erudite submission of one of the prides of the Muslims in Nigeria the Chief Missioner of Ansar-ud-Deen Society of Nigeria, Sheikh Abdur-Rahman Ahmad, in an interview with Adeola Balogun and Gbenro Adeoye on Punch newspaper published on 5th March, 2016 and I quote “It is unfortunate and it is callous of those who are holding a religion of almost two billion people responsible for the action of an individual who lived most of his life in Bayelsa State, but of northern extraction. If this is the way the world is, there will be so many blames and a situation will be created for hate, lack of tolerance and perpetual hostility between people, religions and nations.
The KKK (Ku Klux Klan) in the United States, uses cross sign as a symbol, but has anybody ever blamed its action on Christianity? Adolf Hitler (leader of the Nazi Germany) was a Christian, has anybody blamed Christianity for his actions? This is why this kind of reasoning is very unfortunate; it is intellectually bankrupt and it stands the fact on its head. It is sensationalism at its best. I do believe that it is a smokescreen; the real agenda is that it is a campaign of hate against a region and against a religion and it is not going to take us very far”.
(Punch:Q.) But some people will say that this is a religion that allows people to marry minors and that if that was not so, no one would have been able to hide under its cover.
Again, that is feeding fat on ignorance.Let us go back in history.
What was the age of puberty in Europe until very recently? Even up until now, states in the US have different ages of maturity. You can insist that 18 years is the age of maturity, but in other climes, they say it is 16.
What do you say about that? Then again, we should be very careful with the way we throw tantrums. Those who live in a glass house should not throw stones. Islam reveres Jesus Christ. In fact, a whole chapter of the Quran is dedicated to the mother of Jesus; it is called Surat Mariam. And it is Islam that came in strong defence of Mariam and cleared her of all the allegations that were levelled against her. What are you going to say about the mother of Jesus? At what age did she get pregnant and for who? Joseph the carpenter who was close to 90 years old? She was a minor, 14 or 15 years.
What is the age of maturity in the bible? So we should be very careful before we throw tantrums. We should not be blinded by hate and we should not condescend to generalizations. Generalizations are essentially simplistic and they complicate issues, promote ignorance, block mutual understanding and societal harmony.
There are worst things happening every day. Go to the police stations to get statistics of ritual murders, rape and kidnap cases, but because we cannot make sensations out of them, they do not attract our attention. Go to the motor parks, and places like Ajegunle, Mushin, or even everywhere, check the statistics of sexual violence, you will see that it is very alarming. Abduction in any form, be it of old women, young girls, or whoever is evil and criminal and it must be condemned. But the way to stop this evil act is not by pointing fingers at a religion or a region; that will only compound it and help create safe havens for criminals.
Let us disrobe criminals. Don’t let us dress them in religious robes because they are not religious. They are criminals; thieves are thieves, murderers are murderers, kidnappers are kidnappers.
Professor Wole Soyinka and Femi Falana SAN in a joint briefing recently was quoted to have said: “……who invoked religion in the first place? What everybody was screaming was that this was a crime, a criminal act. Who brought religion into a purely criminal act? People should be very careful when they speak. They should take care not to worsen an already inexcusable situation by dragging religion into it”.
“For me – I don’t know about you – the welfare of a child is even more important than money that is stolen. You can always retrieve the money, but when you damage a child with a fistula, which ruins a child for life, if you believe in God, you’re committing a crime against God.
Also, in an Telephone interview I had with Imam AbdulRahman Ahmad on Harmony TV, Abuja he said and I quote: “Let’s take it very clear that it is bigotry and very unfair and unjust manner of handling issue that have made Nigerian press in reporting negative issues relating to Islam.
But it is established that listener or viewers will always take to what they see but negative press is a very dangerous and terrible it is deeper and widespread than what we notice because Islam is equated with criminality abduction, terrorism and everything that is evil of course this is not Islam and this is not Muslims and those who are perpetrating this knows that they are liars but Muslims must act and rise not violently and protest positively by writing , using the media by choosing the media they patronise. Muslims should become more active on the social media and make contributions. They should not allow themselves to become on the defensive side all the time. It is not proper that each time a Muslim does something is blamed on Islam”
It’s high time we act and stop talking. We had enough years of talking without any tangible actions. I cannot remember how many conferences and symposiums I might have attended on peaceful coexistence within Islam and Christianity religion respectively. But one way or the other some mischievous makers still find ways to penetrate into any peaceful community and cause division within us. Should we continuously allow this division in the name of political consequence? No, we must never allow it anymore because it causes us our coexistences and the freedom of the unity we enjoy.
