The raiding of Jos villages

This column opiness that three plausible factors seem to account more than any other for the incessant crisis and continued threat to peace in Jos. First, in the last one decade (2001-2010) during which period violent crises erupted at different times, no culprit has ever been prosecuted or punished for the heinous crime of killing […]

This column opiness that three plausible factors seem to account more than any other for the incessant crisis and continued threat to peace in Jos. First, in the last one decade (2001-2010) during which period violent crises erupted at different times, no culprit has ever been prosecuted or punished for the heinous crime of killing and maiming fellow citizens. Unless we want to propound or subscribe to a strange theory that the catastrophe is orchestrated by invisible beings from other planets, we can assume that the offenders are not human beings and therefore not prosecutable. We strongly emphasize that as long as offenders are not punished, the end to these crises may still be far from being in sight.
Two, there appears to be so much ignorance among people about what revealed religions preach on the sacredness of human life and about virtuous qualities such as good neighborliness and kindness to a fellow being even if he were an unbeliever. This, infact, is the prophetic foundation upon which the socio-cultural structure of Islam is built. Religious leaders (among Muslims and Christians) have a greater responsibility to educate their disciples about the true position of their respective religions on the sacredness of human life. In Islam, there are ethical rules that govern even the taking of the life of animals let alone the sacred life of mankind. Imam Muslim (RA) relates on the authority of Abu Ya’la Shaddad bn Aws (RA) that the messenger (SAW) of Allah said, “verily God has prescribed the best treatment for everything. So, if you kill (an animal), make it a good killing; if you slaughter, make it a good slaughter: Let each one of you put a good edge on the knife and make his (animal) victim die quickly.” If this is the way by which we are required to take the life of a slaughter animal for lawful purposes (that is to provide food), why then must we go wild in relation to fellow human beings? We find it barbaric that women and children are not spared by the bullets, arrows, cutlasses or machetes of Nigerians when they take up arms against one another even though no human civilization allows or tolerates the killing of women and children.
Third, the crisis in Jos like others in the recent past is not unlikely to be a manipulation of religion or ethnicity by very ambitious political leaders whose hearts lack the slightest space for the genuine fear of God. It is high time people resolve within them to resist the temptation by ulterior motivated leaders, who have turned positions of authority to opportunities for personal aggrandizement, and thus, desperately impress it upon followers of a particular religion that adherents of other religion(s) are their greatest foes who must be fought, killed and driven out of land.  Such ulterior motivated and wicked leaders or rulers deceive Christians, for instance, in to believing that Muslims are their worst enemies, and vice versa. Let us remember that Nigeria is not the only multi-faith society in the world. But it seems for now that there is no place where there is so much mistrust between Muslims and non-Muslims as obtains in Nigeria today.
Islam emphasizes a great deal on peaceful co-existence and on the protection of the rights of non-Muslims by Muslims so much so that the violation of their rights is considered a grave sin. Islam rejects all forms of discrimination by man against man, which basis is merely an accident of nature and belongs more to the animal instinct than to the nationality of man. The only unifying factor of the brotherhood of mankind in Islam is the identity of ideas which solely depends on the choice of man and not upon the accidents and hazards of birth, race, color and geographical location. All men are equal in Islam, each having the right to live in peace and tranquility. Neither Islam nor shari’ah can be forced on anyone against his will. May Allah (SWT) guide Nigerian government to prosecute and punish perpetrators of crises in the country; inspire our religious leaders to educate their followers with the true teachings of their faith; and then protect Nigerians from becoming victims of religious and ethnic manipulations, amin.