Building bridges of understanding

Many of those who emerged as political leaders in different capacities in the greater part of a baker’s dozen year of civil rule in the country have not only ruined the legacies of the country’s founding fathers but have equally betrayed their fatherland, Nigeria. Instead of availing Nigerians with the blessings of good governance, they […]

Many of those who emerged as political leaders in different capacities in the greater part of a baker’s dozen year of civil rule in the country have not only ruined the legacies of the country’s founding fathers but have equally betrayed their fatherland, Nigeria. Instead of availing Nigerians with the blessings of good governance, they rather took time and are still taking their time to institutionalize corruption and unleash devastating elements of under-development on Nigerians, which include poverty, unemployment, disease, hunger, limited access to safe drinking water and poor quality education.  This, sadly enough, led to the collapse of the entire system in Nigeria. However, of all the social ills initiated by politicians in recent times, none has impacted so negatively on the Nigerian society as the seed of discord sowed to set Nigerians against themselves. Leaders manipulate religion more than they stage-manage ethnicity to divide Nigerians in order to secure their tenacity of power. Nigerian politicians feel more threatened by the unity of Muslims and Christians than they are scared of weapons.

This may explain why politicians go to any length in their search for and use of divisive mechanisms to set the Nigerian masses against each other. This They keep manipulating religion to suit their political interest. They have succeeded within the past one decade in creating mistrust in the minds of Nigerian Muslims and Christians; making them extreme bigots. Followers of the two dominant religions (Islam and Christianity) in Nigeria today seem to have forgoten the history and in some instances ditch the teachings of their respective faiths. Muslims, for instances, needn’t have any cause to be fighting Christians in Nigeria if they remember the commonwealth of Islam established by the Prophet (SAW) in Yathrib (the old name for Madinah).

The commonwealth under reference covered all residents of Madinah without prejudice to tribe or religion. Provisions of the commonwealth accorded equal rights of citizenship to all. The Jews and Christians of Madinah were included in the commonwealth in order to form a common nationality with the Muslims. The non-Muslim communities of Madinah including Christians signed a pact with the Prophet (SAW) for the joint defense of Madinah. It is important to remind ourselves that Muslims and Christians since the advent of Islam and Christianity in Nigeria have also had an un-written pact which until recently they have always respected.

There are mosques in Christian-dominated cities and towns in the country where Muslims converge to worship without molestation or threat to their lives. Similarly, there are churches in Muslim-dominated cities and towns in Nigeria where Christians converge to worship without molestation or threat to their lives. This pact, however, is almost getting repealed because of increased ignorance on the part of the followers of Islam and Christianity. It is important for religious leaders to educate their followers on the orthodox teachings of the two revealed religions with a view to building bridges of understanding, tolerance, respect for human life and dignity.

If Allah, the creator of Muslims and Christians, neither categorized Muslims as enemies of Christians nor classified Christians as enemies of Muslims; it would be off the wall for Muslims to consider Christians as foes and vice versa. Islam, for example, permits Muslims to eat the food prepared and served by Christians. Allah (SWT) states in Qur’an 5:5 that “This day are (all) things good and pure made lawful unto you. The food of the People of the Book is lawful unto you and yours is lawful unto them…” The later part of this verse also makes it lawful for Muslims to marry women who are Christians. I am also not aware, with my little knowledge of Christianity, of anyplace in the holy Bible where Christians are required not to eat the food prepared or served by Muslims. In Nigeria today, religious ignorance is becoming so widespread; creating bigots daily among Muslims and Christians who (if granted the permission) would want to abrogate some of these divine laws of social cohesion revealed in the Glorious Qur’an and the holy Bible.

In the school, it is not possible that teachers who teach us the various school subjects would be Muslims or Christians. In the market too, all the food items we go to purchase are not likely to belong to followers of one and same religion. The same situation obtains at the hospital.

Islam is one religion that teaches good neighborliness and exhorts hospitality beyond religious borders. Imams Bukhari and Muslim both relate on the authority of Abi Hurayrah (RA) in the fifteenth hadith of An-Nawawi’s collection of forty traditions that the Prophet (SAW) said “…Let whosoever believes in God and the last Day honour his neighbor. Let whosoever believes in God and the last day honour his guest”. In fact, the Prophet (SAW) in another tradition urges Muslims “to honour a guest even if he were an unbeliever”. Christians in Islam have never been described as unbelievers. The Glorious Qur’an describes them as people of the Book.

Religious leaders, scholars and preachers must be mindful of their choice of words each time they address their followers or followers of other religions. Some leaders of the two most popular religions in Nigeria (Islam and Christianity) are guilty of this acrimonious tendency. The current CAN President, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, is an example of a religious leader “who leaps before he looks” and whose utterances provoke rather than pacify. May Allah (SWT) guide us to understand and practice our respective religions in the manner desired by the Lord of the worlds, amin.