Mukhtar Umar Pls.... MAKE THIS THOUGHT PROVOKING PIECE YOUR
STATUS UPDATE::::::: Boko Haram- Muslim Army?
June 18, 2012 7:26 pm My aim is not to apologize for my religion; I will not
write as one who is ashamed of my way of life, and
before youshout ‘Southern Muslim!’ like I’m certain
you’re probably already thinking, let me inform you
that Muslims all over the world are one and the
same. Once, the Prophet (PBUH) was asked ‘who is a
Muslim?’, his reply made it clear that anyone who
believes in the Oneness of God and offers as-salat
(prayers) regularly is a Muslim; I call thisthe
‘minimum requirement(s) into the school of Islam’,
a School of which I’m a proud student. I have faith in the Onenessof God, I observe as-salat, I give
Zakat (charity), I fast during Ramadan, and I hope
to go on pilgrimage soon. Muslim, I am, and I will
die as one (Insha Allah).
Many times, I’ve had cause to dispel rumours about
my religion (I do not conform to any form of stereotype, so I’ve had the privilege of hearing a lot
of lies and conjecture). Once, on a bus from Enugu
to Lagos, a preacher decided to get the attention of
his ‘mobile congregation’ by misquoting and
murdering verses from the Holy Qur’an. I
respectfully waited for him to end his hateful sermon, then produced my Quran and read the
actual verses to everyone in the bus. I even took
time to explain what Jihad means, what it entails,
and what led to it. Yes, I’m a woman; No, I’m not a
scholar. But do you have to be male or a Reverend
to understand the Bible? As you most probably already know, Jihadmeans
Holy War. There are two forms of Jihad- the one you
fight within yourself (this entails choosing between
what’s right and what’s wrong), and actual warfare.
Now, what led to it?
When the Prophet (PBUH) began to spread the message of Islam, the unbelievers (pagans, idol
worshippers) of that time decided that Muslims
didn’t deserve to live; they attacked Muslims, took
over their properties, killed them. Muslims were
oppressed. Initially, they were asked to ignore the
pagans and maintain peace, but when the situation became unbearable, God asked them to fight back.
The first verse revealed with respect to Jihad (V
2:190) says ‘ And fight in the way of Allah those
who fight you, but transgress not the limits. Truly,
Allah likes not the transgressors ‘. This verse is the
‘foundation’ of Jihad, it prescribes THE standard for warfare in the name of God.
Fight against those who fight against you; God did
not say ‘fight against those who piss you off’, He
didn’t say ‘fight against those who you don’t like’.
‘Fight against those who fight against you’ means
self-defence is the ONLY form of violence that’s permitted.
‘But do not transgress limits’; self-defencewas the
previously established limit. ‘Transgression’ would
then mean fighting people who didn’t attack you
first. This istermed ‘irjaf’. Irjaf and Jihad are two
extremely different things. Before you judge the over one billion Muslims in
the world by the actions of some hell-bound
transgressors, kindly permit me to draw your
attention to the Muslim Capital of the World; Saudi
Arabia. Do Christians live there or not? How many
times has a suicide bombing occurred there? How many times have some obviously deluded, highly
misguided maniacs demanded that they all revert
to Islam?
This brings me to another issue- suicide. My Qur’an
tells me that suicide is a one-way ticket to Hell.
Couple that with aggression, and tell me what the outcome would be.
This brings me, inevitably, to Boko Haram.
Personally, I believe what happened in this case
was a deliberate move by government to hijack a
problem that should have been solved at inception,
and turn it to a political tool for division. Nigerians have always had a penchant for tribalism;
add different religions to the mix and the potion
becomes even more volatile and potentially lethal.
Just how lethal that potion is, is what we’re all
experiencing now.
Frankly, what this is about is speaking for myself and others like me, and most importantly, sparing
Islam the pain of being seen as something it’s not.
Claiming Islam encourages violence is akin to
saying that Christianity or Buddhism or
Zoroastrianism, or even Scientology, gives room for
a vice that some of its followers have. Right now, I’m just so glad that Hitler and Truman
weren’t Muslims.
My point? PEOPLE are evil, PEOPLE kill, and taking up
arms and killing little children is no justification.
Boko Haram does not have the mandate of Nigerian
Muslims to exterminate Christians. WhenBoko Haram killed Imams almost on a daily basis, there
were no reprisals. Nobody said ‘Muslims have asked
Boko Haram to kill the clerics’. When busy areas of
Kano were bombed, no one said ‘Muslims are
killing Christians again’.
This selective anger, this selective pity, iswhat I do not like. My eldest sister is an evangelist, my niece
bears the name ‘Chukwuamaka’, her father is an
Igbo man. Why would I, a Muslim, then decide to
send Boko Haram on a mission to kill Christians? Or
why would I harbour murderous thoughts towards
Christians at all? My Quran tells me that ‘……. he who takes a life will
be judged like he killed allof mankind….he who
saves a life will be judged like he saved all of
mankind’ (5:32). If Boko Haram is following any
sort of manual, it is not this Qur’an (or any other for
that matter because there areno different versions. The Qur’an is the same anywhere in the world).
Perhaps if we did the right thing and displaced
those thieves and murderers from their seats of
power, we would find copies of the manual
beneath those seats.
There’s a rule I abide by; ‘if you don’t know it, don’t say it’. Seventy-two virgins as reward for suicide?
I’ve read the Qur’an from cover to cover countless
times and not once have I come across it. The Holy
Qur’an does not portray Paradise as a reward for
suicide and/or murder.
I pray that God gives all those who’ve losttheir loved ones- Muslims, Christians, Traditionalists, free
thinkers- the fortitude to bear the loss.
Rinsola Abiola
@Rinsola_Abiola

a good write-up!

i only reject and condemn her mention of saudi arabia as "the Muslim capital of the world" and using it as a peaceful model.Saudi Arabia is the world capital of wahhabism.and your understanding of that word is enough to give you a clearer picture of reality.