Defending Islam from extremists
However, most of the media houses (not all), print and otherwise, are ever ready day-in day-out to attack Islam through attacking the action of waggish and so-called Muslims, the bad and the ugly. This is a clear injustice to Islam. Maitatsine came in the past three decades in Kano, Bulunkutu in Maiduguri, Malam-kuri in Gombe, […]
However, most of the media houses (not all), print and otherwise, are ever ready day-in day-out to attack Islam through attacking the action of waggish and so-called Muslims, the bad and the ugly. This is a clear injustice to Islam.
Maitatsine came in the past three decades in Kano, Bulunkutu in Maiduguri, Malam-kuri in Gombe, Kaduna then Yola and killed innocent people in thousands. Most of the non-Muslims classified the action of these few and insignificant people as the teaching of Islam by forgetting the action of the majority of the Muslims in Nigeria which is contrary to that, and contrary to the verdict of our contemporary scholars then, like His Eminence, Late Shaykh Abubakar Mahmoud Gumi, Late Shaykh Isma’ila Idris, Shaykh Yakubu Musa Kafanchan (now Katsina), Shaykh Abba Aji and many more.
The recent crisis which engulfed some cities and towns in the northern Nigeria like, Maiduguri, Bauchi, Potiskum, Wudil and Danja local government in Katsina State, which started on Sunday 26th of July were launched, perpetrated and perpetuated by a sect that goes by different names in different places across the cities, vis-à-vis Taliban, Boko Haram, Khawaarij, Jamaa’atut-Takfir wal Hijrah, original ahlus-sunnah and Yusufiyya. The sect is being led by Muhammad Yusuf whom I had a debate with that lasted for almost six hours some four years back. Those that watched and/or listened to the debate said I was able to defeat him hands down, not because of my knowledge or wisdom, but because of Allah’s guidance. The debate is available on CDs and cassettes in many states in northern Nigeria. They issued out verdict prohibiting acquiring worldly knowledge (popularly known as Western education), working under government and recognizing any government that does not judge with the Shari’ah. Their verdict is contrary to that of permanent committee of verdict in Saudi Arabia, volume 12, under the leadership of His Eminence, Late Shaykh Bn Baz, Kitabul-Ilm of Shaykh Muhammad Saleh Al-Uthaimeen and a book authored by Shaykh Salman Al-Audah entitled “Islam and the pursuit of worldly knowledge”. The verdict of this sect “Boko Haram” is contrary to the teachings of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and all our pious predecessors, may Allah have mercy on them. The methodology of Ahlus-Sunnah wal Jama’ah popularly known as As-Salafiyya never supports the verdict of “Boko Haram”.
Many people because of their enmity, sentiment and mischief consider their actions as the true and only teaching of Islam neglecting all the verdicts of our scholars which is contrary to that of the Boko Haram sect. In those days, in various newspapers, scholars came out and attacked this sect. I read the verdict of Jamaa’atu Nasril-Islam, Shaykh Sani Yahaya Jingir, Shaykh Nazif Yunus, Imam Abubakar Ikara, to mention but a few. We kindly request the enemies of Islam to fear their Lord and avoid attacking Islam under the pretext of avoiding this violence. Islam teaches peaceful co-existence between mankind after fulfilling some conditions, as it has been vindicated in the Holy Qur’an.
There is need for us to ask ourselves, what are the reasons for the emergence of this sect and its kinds? Among the reasons of its emergence there are some limitations and weaknesses of our leadership and followership, particularly in Nigeria. On the part of our leaders they destroy our country with lack of power, lack of portable water, insecurity, poor education and immorality. On the other hand our leaders perpetrate and perpetuate corrupt practices by looting our resources and indirectly starving our masses. They destroy our Schools in Nigeria and send their children abroad. Because of these problems and many more, youths in Nigeria instead of acquiring sound education and moral training start taking laws into their hands which is Islamically prohibited. Let our leaders fear Allah and avoid looting our resources and eradicate immorality, and they should always recall that one day one time they will stand before their Creator and account for their actions. They circumambulate the world and see how other countries progress while Nigeria always diminishes.
Most of our Scholars (not all) are not safe, because they fail to train our youths on sound moral and spiritual guidance, they abandon the methodology of our pious predecessors in preaching, they attack and curse our leaders on pulpits during their sermons without praying for Allah’s guidance for them, they fail to remind those leaders on the dangers of corruption and fraud, they sometimes teach extremism indirectly by attacking anybody directly, and they adopt double standard by legalizing extremism in other countries and denying it in our country. Let our Scholars fear Allah and invite people to Islam with wisdom and fantastic preaching with sincerity. May Allah guide our scholars to the right path and have mercy on them.
Contributed by Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami), Lecturer, Department of Information Technology, ATBU and
Chief Imam of Abubakar Tafawa-Balewa University Central Masjid