On the contest between extreme profanity and religiosity (II)

Unfortunately, dear brethren, extreme profanity does not usually function alone. It sometimes draws on the religious. It invokes the spiritual. It relies on the preternatural. Thus, once they steal, once he misappropriates the public wealth, he seeks recourse to the mosques or churches. Once they steal public wealth, they build educational foundations and launch philanthropic […]

Unfortunately, dear brethren, extreme profanity does not usually function alone. It sometimes draws on the religious. It invokes the spiritual. It relies on the preternatural. Thus, once they steal, once he misappropriates the public wealth, he seeks recourse to the mosques or churches. Once they steal public wealth, they build educational foundations and launch philanthropic outfits. They do this based on another iniquitous assumption that they could, therewith, curry divine favour. They think they can “bribe” the Almighty Allah. They attempt to do what Al-Ghazali invoked in his graphic illustration of how futile an exercise it would always be for humans to attempt to cut corners with the Almighty Allah.  Al-Ghazalli says the similitude of those who infringe on the eternal and fundamental ideals instituted by Allah for humanity – the ideal of honesty, of transparency and accountability – and those who attempt to bribe their ways, even though fruitlessly, back to the glory of the Almighty is like that of a married woman who commits adultery and goes to cook a delicious soup with the money given to her by the adulterer for her husband. The soup becomes a poison even before it is cooked; the woman’s effort is rendered nugatory from beginning to end.

Brethren, it is, however, not in all cases that extreme profanity sources strength and vigour from extreme religiosity. Rather, each disease is capable of working all alone. In other words, not all those atrocious elements in government circles have imams and pastors they hearken or listen to; not all those who masquerade under the canopy of Islam to inflict heinous crimes on humanity desire to build terrestrial castles. On the contrary, extreme profanity and extreme religiosity could end in themselves. This is particularly true of the recent happenings in the country. In the latter, extreme religiosity has proved to be a means towards a “religious” end; it has also become an end in itself. Brethren, when a brother says he desires to wish Christians out of existence, such an individual is suffering from extreme religiosity. The latter is not only an expression of the anarchistic and villainous interpretation of, in this instance, some verses of the Qur’an, but it is equally an appropriation of the divine attribute to will and ‘unwill’. In other words, when a Muslim says he does not want to see churches besides, for example, the emir’s palace in Ilorin, he is indirectly saying he is wiser (fal Iyadh billah) than Almighty Allah, who granted and made possible the existence of these multiplicities of colours and faiths in the world. He is saying the Prophet (s.a.w) was wrong for recognising the subjectivity of Christians and Jews in the first Islamic state in Madinah and for drafting the first multi-cultural, multi-religious constitution in human annals. What else could this be other than extreme religiosity and indeed in specious spirituality to question the Almighty for granting His blessings onto those who impugn His hallowed name and majesty. The Almighty, may He remain forever exalted, is fully aware of the deeds and misdeeds of His creatures; He is completely apprised of our iniquities and acts of righteousness. I tremble whenever I remember how harsh His retributions can be; I become optimistic each time I reminisce on His inexhaustible mercies and redemption!

Thus, whenever a Muslim says Christians should migrate from a particular space in Nigeria because the area belongs to “Islam”, he is saying Christians have a creator other than Allah and that they should go in search of Him in a mythical, heterotopic space where gods other than Allah (may His name be exalted) predominate. Put differently, when a Muslim embarks on a campaign of religious puritanism, when he seeks to purge his environment of the presence of the religious other, when he kills himself to kill innocent lives, let it be known that it is not in defence of the Almighty. Thus, dear brethren, I wish to reaffirm once again that those who engage in wanton destruction of innocent lives and properties, be that of Muslims or Christians, cannot plead any Islamic warrant. The recent acts of suicide bombings that we witnessed in Borno state, as I have argued severally before, enjoy no credence in Islamic law and jurisprudence. Thus, no matter their posturing and verbal effusions, their perpetrators are waging war against the Almighty, and by implication, they are located outside the purview of Islam. In Islam, souls are souls: they are sacred because they proceed from the Sacred; in Islam, souls are sacred and must not be taken without validly given authorisation. Until we overcome the two extremities, namely that of profanity and religiosity, our nation shall continue to teeter on the periphery of underdevelopment and internal strife.