Islam, Muslims and the labeling theory

I told him, Allah forbids killing even if the person is an idol worshipper except if the individual committed an offence and the law (Shari’a) stipulates death as punishment. Most of the misrepresentations come from lack of knowledge of the basic tenets of Islam. These includes, love, endurance, peace, tolerance and forgiveness. These are tenets […]

I told him, Allah forbids killing even if the person is an idol worshipper except if the individual committed an offence and the law (Shari’a) stipulates death as punishment. Most of the misrepresentations come from lack of knowledge of the basic tenets of Islam. These includes, love, endurance, peace, tolerance and forgiveness. These are tenets on which Islam is built.
 It is only in an atmosphere of peace that true worship can be achieved not in an atmosphere of rancour or acrimony. These mis-interpretations are not only present with non-Muslims, but even found with some Muslims who do not seek for knowledge. Knowledge is very vital. Worship is predicated on knowledge. Without knowledge, worship will be deficient.
The Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW) emphasises the importance of seeking knowledge. With knowledge of Allah you will be able to know the difference between right and wrong, know how to interact with your fellow human being irrespective of creed, colour, ethnic or religious differences.
The attitude of some Muslims is used by some people as yardstick to judge the religion of Islam. We should be able to make a distinction between a nominal and true Muslims, the hypocrites and true believers. It  is a well-known fact that some people hide under the guise of religion to unleash mayhem on their unsuspecting neighbours.
Muslims are labeled terrorists, extremist or fanatics by non-Muslims because of what is happening today. If it is true that most of these disturbances and killings are religiously motivated, one would not expect a Bokoharamist who is called or believed to be a Muslim to attack a Muslim community, kill lives, raze down mosques and kill worshippers therein. One would have expected their activities to be targeted at non-Muslims.
What has one who proclaims Sharia to do with abduction of innocent schoolgirls? Why is the government paying lip service in this matter? The international community was disturbed about this and notably, America expressed concern and pledged to give technical and logistic support to government of Nigeria in order to secure the release of the girls. But to what extent have they gone now to secure the release of these innocent girls? Why are we shying away from our responsibilities? Why are we politicising religion? Is Sambisa forest a beehive of angels making it impregnable to our armed forces? What is the responsibility of a responsible government?
The current challenges facing this country have no religious connotation, but a divide and rule paradigm employed by our leaders to succeed in their selfish motives. The use of primordial motives like religion to achieve ends by our leaders in Nigeria and indeed, in Africa is not new or strange.
The masses are at the receiving end. The leaders hustle for their support during electioneering campaign and dump them when their aims are achieved. They hire them as thugs to unleash mayhem on innocent citizens, and dump them thereby giving rise to all sorts of problems.
The government should wake up and face these challenges: provide jobs to its productive force, play politics without bitterness and respect the corporate existence of our beloved country.
The religion of Islam as taught by Prophet Muhammad (SAW) is to salvage mankind and not foment trouble. Labeling Muslims as terrorists is uncalled for as it has not been established that the insurgents are basically Muslims. The government should address this issue, get to the root of the matter, find out their sponsors and deal with them accordingly.
Also important, the recent and much trumpeted money for arms deal in South Africa should be addressed because illegal importation of arms into the country will worsen the security situation and make it impossible for the government to check the situation.
The Muslims on their part, should strive to practice their religion as taught by our noble and last Prophet Muhammad (SAW) by avoiding violence, preaching love, peace and understanding to avoid being  labeled as terrorists. We are however, optimistic that one day Allah will expose the  “big fish by drying the ocean”.
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