Stories and historical accounts of the 20th century
would certainly be incomplete without telling them
along racial and war lines- the world war I and II, the
Korean war, the gulf war, the extant Israel-Palestine
conflict coupled with the fierce acts of racism against
the so called “colored people” in the west especially in
the supposedly “land of the free and home of the
brave”- United State of America.

The ugly trend of the 20th century having retained its
root and form, have been built upon in no small
amount through the advancement in the field of
science and technology into the act of terrorism of the
late 20th and early 21st century- such abhorrent acts,
according to the perpetrators are meant as reprisals to
perceived enemies as a result of injustice, killing and
invasions into their lands.

The aim of this piece is not to address terrorism but to
underline the importance and danger of sharing news
and happenings with bias especially in cases where we
have little or no knowledge about and does not intend
to, as a result of our parochial attitude, religious beliefs
and a deliberate attempt to cause and spread chaos in
the land.

I have to acknowledge the fact that my assessment
and analysis on this topic is subjective because I
recognize the fact that as a human being, I have
certain doctrines and beliefs which might inadvertently
reflect in this piece.
Joining the bandwagon is not a new thing in the world,
on the contrary, people have always acted as
wannabes to others by accepting individuals as role
models or mentors hence beclouding their sense of
judgment and reason to the views and opinions of
others aside their own.

If we excuse an illiterate for being a zombie as the late
Abami Eda (Fela) referred, it would certainly be unwise
to excuse the gullibility of an educated person who
blindly shares thrash, believes in it and join a cause
without questioning the ideals behind it thereby,
causing more damage to the society through actions or
provocative statements as a result of personal
interests, religious inclinations or affiliations.

You do not have to check too deep into history books to
discover that adherents to various religion had in one
way or another hid under the guise of faith to impede
the development of academic scholarship and research
especially in the field of philosophy, medicine and
biology due to its threats of questioning the validity of
scriptural accounts of the earth, what's on it and
human creation especially the theory of evolution and
natural selection.

Religion had at one point or another been an
instrument to instigate violence in the world. The
Christians imprisoned Galilei Galileo for years; when
the book- The Origin Of Species was published by
Charles Darwin, he received several threats from the
Christians of his time even as far as banning the sale of
the book and stifling his researchers and that of
several others.

It is a well-known fact that when the Muslims were
making great progress and discoveries in the field of
science and medicine, it was considered a taboo to use
herbs and drugs in the Christian societies as they only
believed in divine healing. If this was the case, where
on earth did the BokoHaram get the idea that "Western
education is a sin"?

The Pakistani Nobel prize winner Abdul Salam also
indicted the Islamic countries when he argued that the
reason why they still are at the bottom of the scientific
ladder is their inability to rise to the tune of modern
day civilization as they are still held in the shackles of
faith and dogma in this scientific era.

I was listening to a television program on Eid day when
a caller called quoting some extract from the Koran
specifically Ch2 Vs. 191 which instructs the “Muslims
to fight the disbelievers wherever they find them and
turn them out from where they have turned them out”.

The question was not only an act of insincerity but a
deliberate attempt to tarnish the image of Islam as is
typical of religious bigots.

The Guest-Professor Ishaq Akintola while answering the
question asked the caller who identifies himself as John
to check the verse that preceded that which he quoted
I.e. verse 190 which states that “fight in the name of
Allah those who fight you, but transgress not the
limits. Truly Allah likes not the transgressors.

This clearly shows that one is not allowed to even lift a
finger except as a means of SELF-DEFENCE (QUOTE:
Those who fight you, but transgress not the limits)
even in the process of defending yourself, do not
transgress limits.

The same applies to the verse that the so called Boko
haram convert-Nasir Isiaku who is nothing but a self-
righteous devil turned believer, quoted from surah 60
Vs. 1-that “Muslims should not take the enemies of
Allah as friends because they drove the Prophet out
from his homeland as a result of his insistence on his
faith and disbelieve in theirs”.

Hate preachers use that to ridicule Islam without
reading just a bit below to verse 8 of the same chapter
where the Koran states that: “Allah does not forbid you
to deal justly and kindly with those who fought not
against you on account of your religion nor drove you
out of your homes.
Verily Allah loves those who deal with equity”.

Again another verse in self-defence (QUOTE: those who
fought not against you)….
Encarta defines self-defense as: legal right to defend
self; the use of reasonable force to defend yourself,
your family, and your property against physical attack,
or the right to do this.

When has self-defence become a crime? Has any
country of the world ever thought of not having a
standing army to stop aggressors, invaders and to
defend its territories be it a secular one or otherwise?

What would you do if you enter into your home to meet
someone sexually abusing your daughter? What would
be your reaction at the sight of seeing a burglar
ransack your home carting away your hard earned
resources? Why do you seek redress in courts when
you feel cheated by someone?
Will the so called Boko haram convert claim not to be
aware of this verses he quoted out of context?

If Isiaku was a sincere Muslim and not a pawn in the
hands of his paying masters, he would have absolved
the Islamic faith of all the crimes he committed against
humanity and handed himself over for the law to take
due course. Instead, he hides under the guise of “Holy
Ghost” to clean up his mess.

It is only a wicked and selfish person who only intend
to create confusion that would misrepresent and use
religious texts including the Koran as a basis for any
despicable act as we have been witnessing through
bombing, killing, paedophilia, hate preaching and other
vices though the Koran was very clear in surah 5 vs. 32
that “If anyone killed a person, it would be as if he
killed all mankind and if anyone saves a life, it would
be as if he saved the life of all mankind”. So if the
members of the Bokoharam were true Muslims as
Isiaku claimed, is the above verse not part of their
Koran?

Isiaku and his blood sucking devils claimed to have
done the bidding of Islam via forced conversion of non-
Muslims to the Islamic faith and killing those that are
hesitant, this is a blatant lie that contradicts the
fundamentals of Islam as the Koran states in ch2 vs.
256 that “there is no compulsion in religion. Verily, the
right path has become distinct from the wrong path”.

Below is an excerpt from the charter of privileges
granted by Prophet Muhammad (SAW) to the monk of
St. Catherine in 628 C.E.:
This is a message from Muhammad Ibn Abdullah, as a
covenant to those who adopt Christianity, near and far,
we are with them.
Verily I, the servants, the helpers, and my followers
defend them, because Christians are my citizens; and
by Allah! I hold out against anything that displeases
them.
No compulsion is to be on them.
Neither are their judges to be removed from their jobs
nor their monks from their monasteries.
No one is to destroy a house of their religion, to
damage it, or to carry anything from it to the Muslims'
houses.
Should anyone take any of these, he would spoil God's
covenant and disobey His Prophet.
Verily, they are my allies and have my secure charter
against all that they hate.
No one is to force them to travel or to oblige them to
fight.
The Muslims are to fight for them.
If a female Christian is married to a Muslim, it is not to
take place without her approval. She is not to be
prevented from visiting her church to pray.
Their churches are to be respected. They are neither to
be prevented from repairing them nor the sacredness
of their covenants.
No one of the nation (Muslims) is to disobey the
covenant till the Last Day (end of the world). Source:
cyberistan.org

The question every member of Isiaku and his
Bokoharam counterparts has to answer is this: Is their
Islam and Muhammad different from the one that had
just been quoted?

Even on occasion of extreme provocation, the Koran in
several places always encourage Muslims that
“Sabr” (patience) is better if “you only know”; Surah
41:34 states that “the good deed and the evil deed
cannot be equal; Repel the evil with one that is better-
good deeds (Allah orders the faithful believers to be
patient at the time of anger and to excuse those who
treat them badly) then verily he, between whom and
you there was enmity, will become as though he was a
close friend.

I don’t quote from religious texts because I’m not an
authority on it but I feel obliged to do this because it’s
dangerous to remain mute against lies as it would only
be a blatant display of ignorance for people to continue
attacking and sharing filth in the name of maligning
other people’s faith in other to cover up their crimes.

You do not indict a global faith as a result of erring
behaviour on the part of its adherents; it would be
unfair to label Christianity as a terrorist religion
because of what the American terrorist-Timothy
McVeigh did- carrying out the deadliest act of terrorism
within the United States prior to September 11; neither
can the Methodist nor the Seventh day Adventist be
indicted by the acts Perpetrated by Jim Jones - (founder
of the peoples temple Christian church full gospel);
killing thousands of people making that action top
among the largest mass suicide in history and the
single greatest loss of American civilian life in a non-
natural disaster until September 11. Or even blame
Jesus for the sordid behaviour of the heavy bearded,
self-acclaimed Nigerian God- Reverend King that set
his members ablaze right in his church.

Same applies to Islam that had been synonymously
linked with terror and bombing through the acts
perpetrated by individuals and groups who are
anything but exemplary Muslims be it Al Qaeda,
Taliban or Bokoharam; lest we forget, Hillary Clinton
was once reported to have said that the Taliban was
there creation to fight the Russians. Is the chicken not
coming home to roost?

If a group intends to create chaos in western Nigeria for
instance, he would never think of achieving it through
any religion because it would not work, the same is
applicable to the eastern part of the country- he would
rather seek for other avenues such as “state of origin,
land disputes, territories and boundaries”
because we value those things here; but due to the
staunch religious philosophy and crass ignorance on
the part of a sizeable population in the north,
politicians and other criminals use religion as an
instrument to cause division and chaos in the country.

It is high time we rise to collectively take back our
country from the hands of political hijackers who hides
beneath religion, tribe, oil, and race to kill and rape us
of our commonwealth while at the same time
instigating us against each other.
Let’s put a stop to this sentiments that has done us no
favour because we are all aware of the culprits here.

My advice to everyone is to read about the way of life
(culture, religion and value system) of other people in
other to be tolerant of their views and oppose the
single, one sided story. What stops a Muslim from
reading and writing a review of the bible, or a Christian
from studying the teachings in the Bhagavad-Gita, or a
Buddhist to make enquiries on the teachings of the
Gospel? Or a Hindu to read about atheism?

But alas, we sit on our phones and laptops to rant,
pontificate and share the ignorance and failure of
others while we do not know that it’s only a matter of
time before our sensibilities are called into question.

In July 2009, the renowned author- Chimamanda
Adichie gave an outstanding speech at Oxford on “The
danger of the single story” cautioning that the single
story only ends up causing damage to us hence, a need
to have a balanced opinion on issues by listening to all
sides in an argument.

I end this piece with her closing statements- “When we
reject the single story, when we realize that there is
never a single story about any place, we regain a kind
of paradise”.

Modiu olaguro studies Education and mathematics at the University of Lagos

Mail: dprophetpride@gmail.com
Twitter: @digits90