First, you claim that you have never met one extremist muslim. That is a lie. A very big lie. Even I that has never been a muslim have met extremists both in real life and seen clerics espouse extremist rhetoric on youtube. I remember being in school in Nigeria and seeing a mallam wearing a T-shirt with Osama's picture. That image has never left my mind

Second, you then shift the burden to economic, cultural and political factors. These are all minor factors compared to the factor of religion because the reason for the riots were anti-islamic (Muhammad cartoons and Miss World pageant- haraam dressing for women)

Third, you then claim that islam forbids the insult of other gods of other religions. This is a lie as shirk is in itself a forbidden in islam and an insult upon Allah. Also, this is quite irrelevant to the topic.

Fourth, you then claim that extremists dont have a stronghold. I would like to know how Boko Haram crushed the will of the government, forcing the govt to negotiate with them. Or I will like to know where there has been a christian or pagan riot that claimed lives in recent times due to blasphemy. Denial, denial denial.

Fifth, you then claim that you have never heard a cleric/imam espouse extremist views in mosques. Seriously? SERIOUSLY?? A fish has a better chance of denying that water is wet.

sixth, you then rubbish my great suggestions claiming that they dont take into account the cultural/political aspects of it. I am focusing on religion with my solutions!! Furthermore, I mentioned education and employment, did I not.


Lastly, you then divert to complaining about christian hate and also tribalism.

vedaxcool:

And you want us to believe you understand anything about conflicts in the North? After all you people simply have no evidence for your claims except conjecture which seem more like an attempt to read peoples' mind like your signature indicates, unless atheism come with mind reading abilities if you read your reply which happens to assume various interests in starting conflicts, you would come to realize that it consist nothing more than simplistic pandering to matters that are quite complicated in a lot of sense!

tbaba1234:
Like i promised, I would address the topic. Just had to clear out the garbage first. Plus i was watching Nigeria's match. phew!! Those boys will not kill me ..

tbaba1234:
The Op has made some decent points. We are all Nigerians and we all essentially want the same things, food, shelter, clothing, peace and security for ourselves and our loved ones. But, I do not know if you are sending your message to the right audience. The vast majority of muslims in Nigeria are peace-loving citizens. I have been a muslim all my life and i have been blessed to meet muslims from across the world, I have never come across one with extreme views or thoughts in Nigeria or elsewhere. Some of the kindest people, i have met in my life have been arab muslims.

tbaba1234:
The Nigerian problem is multi-faceted. Even though a religious angle does exist, those sentiments are usually fuelled by ethic and political interests, high unemployment rate, cultural heritage and low literacy levels. Non-hausa muslims are also in trouble when a riot breaks out in some parts of the north. Some of my good friends are Northern muslims and they are excellent muslims so this is not in any way an indictment on all Northerners.

tbaba1234:
As regards, El rufai comments. He will be the first to acknowledge that it goes against the basic Islamic teaching to say things like that against a messenger of God. That is Islam 101. Muslims shouldn't even say things against a pagan god.
Like the Quran says:
“Do not revile those they call on beside God, so they, in their hostility, revile God, without knowledge” [6:108]
This is a direct instruction to muslims not to insult the gods of others so that they do not in their ignorance insult God.

tbaba1234:
Muslims are very sensitive about insults to our revered, God and his messengers. I personally can't stand seeing a joke making fun of Jesus (A.S.) or Moses (A.S.). That is how sensitive we are, some people do get really emotional about these things and do things that are totally against the religion or Sometimes peaceful protests are hijacked by miscreants.

tbaba1234:
I will disagree with you on one point, Saying extremists have a 'stronghold'. It is absolutely not true. They are vocal because of all the bombs going off but like i said, i have never met one. The only one i saw was probably on an Islamic facebook page but he was promptly banned by the admin. The mainstream scholars from saudi arabia to the west to Nigeria have all condemned attacks on civilians. Islam brought enlightenment to the muslim world, for centuries they were at the top of science, arts and innovation. Knowledge from civilisations were preserved in Arabic books, this was vital for the european renaissance. Islam is not adverse to innovation even though muslim countries have survived a decline over the last 2 centuries, with colonialism and the fall of the Islamic state. I have never heard a speech talking about perpetuating violence or killing in a mosque before. I only hear about the good stuff. Well, at least in the south west . In the north, from discussions with my friends, there isn't much of a sermon in many places. Maybe, there could be some improvement there. Education is key but it would be a gradual painful process. I say it all the time, if muslims understood the Quran we had and really imbibed it , we will be a different nation. It is such an incredible book.It is something i hope to be involved in, soon , Insha Allah!.

tbaba1234:
You suggestions are actually very good but it fails to take into consideration Nigeria's peculiar ethnic and political divides. The politicians are the ones with the money, they arm miscreants during elections. They rely on religious sentiments so they fan it. It is a decent start but it is a long way to tackling the problem.
I have gotten hate comments from Christians for no other reason but that i am muslim. The hate sometimes is palpable and usually for no reason at all. Islamic threads on Nairaland are filled with hate. I wonder how you can work with people that hate you so much. The word of hate has come from their tongue, only God knows what is in their hearts, possibly far worse. I have seen posts calling for genocide of muslims.
The only difference between a group like boko haram and some of these people is that boko haram actually does it. Otherwise, they belong in the same category of hate.
That is on the religious front

tbaba1234:
To place the blame solely on Islam is unfair even though i do acknowledge that work needs to be done. On educating people on their faith and lifting the literacy levels in certain parts of the country but most importantly turning the corner on the systemic rot in Nigeria as a whole.

tintingz: I salute my fello muslims in this thread ya'll gave a good and educative reply like tbaba and vedaxcool

I agree with some of Logicboy post letter tho...and again he didnt say anything about the comedians that use Jesus for their jokes while many christians watching/hearing it will laugh at it

tintingz: I salute my fello muslims in this thread ya'll gave a good and educative reply like tbaba and vedaxcool

I agree with some of Logicboy post letter tho...and again he didnt say anything about the comedians that use Jesus for their jokes while many christians watching/hearing it will laugh at it

To avoid being banned, please ensure that your post is not offensive to Islam.

vedaxcool: Wow, this is essentially illogical rants:

1. El Rufia tweets got to how many? Compared to the thisday publication?at least nairaland which has a greater reach than el rufia tweet followers, yet no muslim have ever engage in riot what so ever, because of the numerous blasphemy our ever so "tolerant" op engages in. The op indeed is an epic fail in this regard

2. Riots in the Northern part of the country is the hand work of street urchins who use it as a pretext to loot the property of non muslims.

3. Whenever Government is willing to do something about the poverty situation in the north, riots will definately be a thing of the past!

4. Most Northern elite prefer to do nothing about poverty in the north! Mazaje claims to be Hausa man who has 1 miilion dols in his account yet the money is preferably left in a bank account than helping the poor, sadly this is how most so called northern muslim elite have preferred the status quo to be maintained, poverty in the north is the $ajor fuel for conflict that is why you rarely hear of such in places like Saudi, Qater, the UAE etc!

5. The op lies when he assumes nothing is being done by muslims especially in this regards towards fighting extremism (imagine the ignoramus calling BH fundamentalism when clearly it is extremism) of course the OP has never attended any mosque in the north to know any of what is being done.

6. Strong government, until the government deal with the criminals who go about killing non muslims, the isssue will keep repeating itself, government has sowed impunity by not metting out punishment to this criminal elements. Of course our "tolerant" op really does not know what he is talking about!

To avoid being banned, please ensure that your post is not offensive to Islam.

Logicboy03: Dear muslims,
Salaam,

We are all Nigerians, whether muslim or christian or pagan. We are all one irrespective of tribe or religion. However, I write this letter with anger and disappointment. I am disappointed and angry at the ease at which extremists have found a stronghold within the religion of islam and have used it to cause terror and mayhem to people in the north. This issue of islamic extremism is really dividing Nigeria into different parts faster than tribalism or the greed for oil have ever done to Nigeria. Concurrently, I am going to use the christian response to El Rufai's tweet concerning Jesus to highlight a possible solution to this case of religious extremism. I believe that muslims can learn from our christian brethren's reactions to the tweet.

First of all, we have to establish three facts. The first fact is that I am not a christian or a believer in God, and so, I am not trying to preach a religion or promote christianity in this letter. The second fact is that christianity and many other religions are not totally innocent when it comes to extremism as well. The third fact, which is the most important, is that islamic extremism does not top at Boko Haram; there are islamic youths and clerics who engage in dangerous activities that are destructive to the fabric of our society.

Now, that we have established these facts, we can now dive into the issue at hand; what muslims can learn from the christian handling of the El Rufai tweet. El Rufai made an expensive joke on twitter that had the punchline of Jesus sleeping with Mary Madgalene even though the point of the joke was to ridicule the staunch defenders of the current Nigerian president. There was a christian backlash on twitter and on the internet because of the perceived blasphemy emanating from the tweet. I want to clearly stress it out that there were no violent riots on the streets of Lagos or Port Harcourt in reaction the perceived blasphemy towards the revered figure of Jesus Christ. This is in direct contrast to reactions to anti-islamic messages where riots claimed the lives of innocent people(for example; the riots against the 2002 Miss World beauty pageant in Nigeri and against the Danish cartoons in 2006 that claimed the livesof innocent Nigerians). I will advance the argument that Muslims can learn from this difference in reaction which stems from a reformed view in christianity and other modern religions towards a more humanistic approach in faith.


Muslims should have meetings with their youths and clerics to preach a more peaceful and humanistic version of islam. It should be reiterated 5 times a day from clerics and imams that killing for a religion is wrong and that one should reply words with words not violence. You wouldn't find a christian preacher or pastor in Nigeria condoning the killing of a blasphemer or an unbeliever or calling for violence. Infact, Christian leaders have reacted and called for an apology from El Rufai without threats or violence. The reason for this different approach from Nigerian christian goes beyond the roots of christianity in Nigeria. The reason is a simple reformation in religion towards a more enlightened and less barbaric way of spreading and experiencing faith.

Before christianity was properly spread in Nigeria by the British in the 19th century, there were numerous wars which almost destroyed Europe in the preceding centuries and christianity almost "out-crusaded" itself. There was also a growing age of enlightenment from the 17th century. The experience of the wars and enlightenment forced christianity to take religion a little less fantaically as more humanistic ideals were followed. Principles of personal liberty and fredom of expression were gaining popularity in the 18th century. With time, some progressive ideals became associated with christianity in the 19th century.

The point of the historical trip back to some centuries ago is to advice muslims to understand that faith can only succeed if it becomes progressive. I am not saying that the fundamentals of islam should be changed. I am saying that Nigerian muslims should practice their religion in a more peaceful way with the times . I have mentioned that more work has to be done with youths and cleric to keep promoting non-violent approaches to those who insult islam- either simple worded replies/complaints to the blasphemer/heretic or mediation between both parties. The simple way to do this is for the most popular imams or clerics to be given directives by the leaders in the society or government to preach tolerance to non-muslims and different sects of muslims 5 times a day.

There are other solutions which I want to offer;
-Making and sharing pamphlets to the youth on how to relate to non-muslims peacefully and how to peacefully react to anti-islamic issues.
-Creating activities and jobs at mosques for the youth so that idle ones wont have a chance to be recruited by terrorist/extremist groups
-Spreading the message that non-muslims in the north are still you Nigerian brethren and should be treated with respect.
-Creating television/radio programs to address the issues above in order to reach millions.


I hope my words have given some muslims a reason to think about how their religion is practiced in Nigeria. I choose to believe that there are good muslims who want a change. However, work has to be done to make that change happen. I will end this letter with a quote from Muhammad

"A perfect Muslim is one from whose tongue and hands mankind is safe."


Cheers,
Logicboy
only dummies will believe in a religion that advocates killing and destruction-they should be exterminated with a nuclear warhead-so we civilized people of the free world LIVE.

martyns303:
Mankind is safe? Euphemism!

mazaje: Only one reading the koran with the eyes of faith could seriously disregard that the book on almost every page instructs observant muslims to despise non believers. On almost every page, it prepares the ground for religious conflict.

musKeeto: Goodmorning,

Usually, threads addressed to the muslim community are moved to McLa2Ban's mini-island where free speech is limited to pro-Islam comments...

Unfortunately, that's the way it is.

To the matter at hand, let's learn to live in peace with one another and let God fight his battles and kill those who blashpheme.

mazaje: Here is more for vexdaxcool that keeps LYING that the problem is from the north and not islam. . .


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_X8dhrzQCHY

Here is what an Islamic cleric called Muhammad Hussein Yaqoub. . .For those that can not watch the video, here is the transcipt of what he said word for word translated from arabic to english. . .

Muhammad Hussein Yaqoub: If the Jews left Palestine to us, would we start loving them? Of course not. We will never love them. Absolutely not. The Jews are infidels not because I say so, and not because they are killing Muslims, but because Allah said: The Jews say that Uzair is the son of Allah, and the Christians say that Christ is the son of Allah. These are the words from their mouths. They imitate the sayings of the disbelievers before. May Allah fight them. How deluded they are. It is Allah who said that they are infidels.

[That's Qur'an 9:30.]

Your belief regarding the Jews should be, first, that they are infidels, and second, that they are enemies. They are enemies not because they occupied Palestine. They would have been enemies even if they did not occupy a thing. Allah said: You shall find the strongest men in enmity to the disbelievers [sic] to be the Jews and the polytheists.

[Thats Qur'an 5:82.]

Third, you must believe that the Jews will never stop fighting and killing us. They [fight] not for the sake of land and security, as they claim, but for the sake of their religion: And they will not cease fighting you until they turn you back youre your religion, if they can.

[Thats Qur'an 2:217.]

This is it. We must believe that our fighting with the Jews is eternal, and it will not end until the final battle and this is the fourth point. You must believe that we will fight, defeat, and annihilate them, until not a single Jew remains on the face of the Earth.

It is not me who says so. The Prophet said: Judgment Day will not come until you fight the Jews and kill them. The Jews will hide behind stones and trees, and the stones and tree will call: Oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him except for the Gharqad tree, which is the tree of the Jews. I have heard that they are planting many of these trees now. [...]

[That Hadith can be found at Sahih Muslim 6985.]

As for you Jews the curse of Allah upon you. The curse of Allah upon you, whose ancestors were apes and pigs.

[That's Qur'an 2:62-65; 5:59-60; and 7:166.]

You Jews have sown hatred in our hearts, and we have bequeathed it to our children and grandchildren. You will not survive as long as a single one of us remains.

[...]

Oh Jews, may the curse of Allah be upon you. Oh Jews... Oh Allah, bring Your wrath, punishment, and torment down upon them. Allah, we pray that you transform them again, and make the Muslims rejoice again in seeing them as apes and pigs. You pigs of the earth! You pigs of the earth! You kill the Muslims with that cold pig [blood] of yours.

Bélla3: True, bt not in all cases. Some people have actually tested their faith.

advocate666: Logicboy, just look at Vedaxcool, tbaba1234 posts and the other silent muslims and see the type of people your are trying to change.
There is nothing to change. Only total eradication can bring about lasting peace and progress.

mazaje: Only one reading the koran with the eyes of faith could seriously disregard that the book on almost every page instructs observant muslims to despise non believers. On almost every page, it prepares the ground for religious conflict.

begwong:
SHIKENAN.NOTHING MORE NOR LESS

mazaje: Only one reading the koran with the eyes of faith could seriously disregard that the book on almost every page instructs observant muslims to despise non believers. On almost every page, it prepares the ground for religious conflict.

advocate666: Logicboy you fall my hand seriously with this letter. When have you become a better-religious-society advocate? I was expecting you to be preaching a way to eradicate islam from the earth's surface and here you are urging them to become more attractive.

To your letter,
-if islam changes its non violent ways, it will no longer be islam but another docile religion.
-are mosques now to become employment offices? what do we have government for?

Please Logicboy, continue spreading atheism and leave "religious tolerance" (oxymoron) to hypocrites.

dammytosh: "To avoid being banned, please ensure that your post is not offensive to Islam. "


This is part of what we are saying. We need to be more tolerant. The above inscription is honestly not necessary at all. The original poster who claimed to be an atheist sounds more spiritually sound than the Religious bigot trying to justify the nonsense religious people do with those crappy points.

BinghiNya: The anti-islam folks on nairaland, your rants won't stop the spread of islam. All religions kill in the name of religion. No real muslim kills in cold blood. Search yourself.