Forgiveness: A rejoinder from Alh. Shuaibu Muazu Jahun
Rejoinders from readers to this column usually come in different colours and textures. Sometimes, they are laced with passion and panache. At other times, our reader could use the opportunity to have a say to transact in primordial hatred of Islam, remind me that Jesus is my lord and saviour, and engage in arrant irredentism, […]
Rejoinders from readers to this column usually come in different colours and textures. Sometimes, they are laced with passion and panache. At other times, our reader could use the opportunity to have a say to transact in primordial hatred of Islam, remind me that Jesus is my lord and saviour, and engage in arrant irredentism, the content of which is better kept in waste bins for sanity’s sake.
But when Alh. Shuaibu Muazu Jahun’s message was delivered to me last week; it gripped my heart. I was filled with empathy; I was seized by the humanity that his message embodied. First, let us remember the context.
A long time ago, I wrote an essay for this column with the title ‘Between forgiveness and reasoned forgetfulness”. In that essay, I argued that one of the fundamental virtues that Islam encourages its followers to practice is forgiveness; that ‘everybody born of the Adamic gene is a potential sinner; that the best of sinners are those who, according to Prophet Muhammad (upon him be peace), seek forgiveness of their sins”.
I went further to argue that, however, to forgive is a journey that finds completion in forgetfulness. In other words, to forgive others of their infractions is to make one qualify for divine redemption; it is to make efforts to forget the same, to avoid the temptation to ‘bank’ the sin committed by others against you; to not prevent the infraction from escaping our memory.
Whenever you forgive an injury or an injustice done against you, you are staking a claim in the presence of the Almighty; you are posturing to be a subject who seeks the highest spaces in His celestial powers. For that to happen, all inhibitions, including a sense of hurt and injury, must find no space in our reality. We must come to His presence with a heart that is free of animus, iniquity, anger and utter aversion for others. This happened to be the context. This was the message that resonated with Alh Shuaib. He therefore sent the following message to me:
“Salam Mal/Madam Afis Oladosu. I am a Muslim residing in Kano but an indigene of Jigawa State. I honestly can’t differentiate which gender your name falls, male or female. I read your write-up titled “Between forgiveness and reasoned forgetfulness”, but to be frank, I am honestly at a loss in a situation where you’re seriously wronged or defamed by someone, and you refuse to forgive in view of the intensity of the damage or trauma you suffer as a result of that defamation or character assassination…. I know the divine virtues of forgiveness, but do you then incur the wrath of Allah for your refusal to forgive, as your piece seems to suggest? Please come along and shed more light. It is me, your brother in Islam Alh. Shuaibu Muazu Jahun, Jigawa State. Stay blessed.”
Dear Alhaji Shuaib, a Muslim is under obligation to forgive others of their imperfections, of their errors and sins. As I mentioned before, to forgive is a divine injunction; it is an obligation, it is a virtue. The greater the hurt or injury, the greater the divine reward that would accrue to you once you forgive and you make efforts to forget. Alhaji Shuaib, the injury and hurt that you suffered from the hands of those who malign and assassinate your character peters out to insignificance in comparison to what our Prophet went through in the hands of his people in Makkah. Yet, when he eventually gained authority, he forgave them all.