We hope this is not true

The latest edition (dated Friday February 3, 2023) of the Aminiya newspaper, one of the weekly titles published by the Media Trust Group in Hausa, carried a nasty story on page 17 of the paper. One would wish the incident reported in the story never happened even in the faintest of imaginations. It was the […]

The latest edition (dated Friday February 3, 2023) of the Aminiya newspaper, one of the weekly titles published by the Media Trust Group in Hausa, carried a nasty story on page 17 of the paper. One would wish the incident reported in the story never happened even in the faintest of imaginations. It was the story of an alleged rape of a woman in Ibadan, Oyo state capital, which provoked some youths under the banner of Muslim organisations to stage a peaceful march in protest against the incident. The victim was reportedly wearing a hijab as at the time she was raped.

That which appears more disgusting than the criminal act itself is, perhaps, the fact that the woman was raped inside a mosque. Subhana-llahi! Wa La Haula Wa La Quwata illa bi-llahi l-Aliyyi l-Aheem!! We just hope this not true; considering it to be the wishful thinking of an idle mind. The protesters called for the immediate arrest and prosecution of the suspect who is believed to be the son of a popular leader of a transport workers’ union in Oyo state. The Director-General of MPAC, Disu Kamor, who confirmed the arrest of the suspect by the police, also called for the prosecution of the suspect without delay. Beyond immediate prosecution of the suspect is the need for Nigerian courts to pronounce severe punishment for persons found guilty of the crime of rape. Options of fine for as little as five thousand naira only seek to encourage perpetrators.

Committing adultery even outside of a mosque is evil, and therefore, haram (forbidden). The mosque is a holy place exclusively reserved for the worship of Allah alone and for other spiritual activities including preaching, teaching, wedding and naming congregations. For anyone to choose the mosque over every other available space as his preferred location to carry pout any form of disobedience against Allah’s laws is, indeed, the height of criminality and transgression that is only next to that demonstrated by the most supercilious of all Pharaohs of Egypt, Ramzes II. Were it not that Allah never breaks His promise as affirmed in Qur’an 2:80, the sinful act of raping a woman inside a mosque is contemptuous enough for Allah to wipe out that particular generation from this planet as meted on aberrant generations of some prophets that preceded Prophet Muhammad (SAW).

Some of such abominable generations were destroyed for a single crime. For example, the people of Prophet Luut (Lot in Christendom) were destroyed by Allah with a shower of brimstone for their indulgence in sodomy; a crime that is now as common as poverty. Allah states in Qur’an 29:40 “Each one of them we seized for his crime; of them, against some We sent a violent tornado (with showers of stones), some were caught by a (mighty) blast;  some we caused the earth to swallow up; and some we drowned (in the waters); it was not Allah who injured (or oppressed) them; they injured (and oppressed) their own souls.” Adultery is so that Islam warns Muslims against coming near it because it is an evil that leads to other vices. Allah states in Qur’an 17: 32 “Nor come close to adultery; for it is a shameful (deed) and an evil, opening the road (to other evils).”

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While discussing the sociology of rape on this page in this newspaper’s edition of Saturday June 27, 2020, concerns were raised of how the menace was assuming a disturbing dimension in the country. In that piece, we reported the gruesome rape that eventually led to the death of a 22-year-old 100 level Microbiology student of the University of Benin, Miss Vera Uwaila Omizuwa, on May 27, 2020. Various factors that range from parental to societal influence account for the high incidence of rape in modern Nigeria. The current prevalence rate of rape demonstrates the rising deviant behaviour among Nigerians; men and women, the young and the old. Due perhaps to the degeneration in our value system, some people nowadays go-off the track to trivialize rape or blame it on the victim. Those who blame victims of rape forget that there have been reported instances in which decently dressed women or ladies have been raped by uncouth predators. For instance, the victim whose case prompted this piece was dressed in hijab.

A society that treats rapists with levity only seeks by such an inaction to encourage its members to engage in the act. In past centuries, rapists were banished from their communities as a punishment for their crime. Today, it is so tolerated that offenders walk on the streets without shame. To apply the principles stated in Qur’an 24: 3, communities in which rapists live should collectively sensitize families against marrying out their decent daughters to those convicted of the crime. Allah (SWT) also states in Qur’an 24:26 “The impure man (should marry) the impure women; and the pure man (should marry) the pure woman…”

It is for the sake of averting promiscuous behaviours in the home that Allah (SWT) in Qur’an 24:28 provides regulation to govern interactions among family members at certain periods of the day; saying “O ye who believe! Let those whom your right hands possess and the (children) among you who have not come of age ask for permission (before they come to your presence), on three occasions: before morning prayer; the while you doff for the noonday heat; and after the late-night prayer; these are your three times of undress: outside those times, it is not wrong for you or for them to move about attending to each other: thus does Allah make clear the signs to you; for Allah is full of knowledge and wisdom.”

While we advise that entrances into mosques should be locked after the last prayer (Isha’i) of the day, we admonish parents to give much attention and time to the moral upbringing of their children. The Prophet (SAW) once said that if every individual were to have good moral training, maidens would travel from San’a (capital of Yemen) to Bahah (a city in the west of Saudi Arabia in the Hijaz area) without suffering any harassment or humiliation. This goes to buttress the fact that rape is a matter of the mind. A depraved mind is thus a fertile ground for evil thoughts and actions. May Allah (SWT) guide us all against becoming perpetrators or victims of rape, amin.