₦airaland Forum

Lagosboy:
I have seen some of your posts and i think its time i step in breifly on the advice of my sister. Firstly islam is different to Arab culture and there is a clear distinction for the knowledgable. We muslims never feel arabs are superior in anyway and the torch bearer of islam, The holy Prophet saidn in his farewell message "No arab is superior to a non arab and vice versa"
Your generalisation of equating adoption of islaam as a way of life to adopting the arab culture at the expense of african culture is way of the mark and simplist. We are muslims, we beleive in God , we believe in his prophets, message and the quran. We try to obey God within our ability and when it comes to social issues take whatever is good and beneficial from any culture and reject whatever is bad. We have the free will to practise our culture so long as it does not diplease our creator.
In the principles of islamic jurispudence, there is what we call "ourf" which is local customs and culture. Ourf plays a factor in the deriving of islamic legal systems and such is the dynamism of islamic legal theory.I also invite you to the islamic way of life, perhaps it might be beneficial to you

Sweetnecta:
Regardless of what you call him, he will not leave Islam. He is ready to die as a Muslim ^{are you in his mind ?}, in the face of the THREAT of the Taliban. It does not make a difference to him. He will never accept Christianity. He has forever rejected Trinity and the religion of Trinity; christianity. He has forever accepted Islam, bartered his soul with Allah for the Ultimate goal; the Mercy of Allah on the day of Judgment.
Say what you may, yommyuk. He aint changing^{(gospel according to Mr Sweetnecta)}. If his position is the test of what is right, Islam has won hands down.

quest003:
@Congoshine, i neva knw i've been relatin wit someone wit a fish brain.

Sweetnecta:
@Congoshine: « #45 on: Today at 09:20:31 PM »The concrete jungle of NYC, after Labor day takes an eerie chill. At least for a few days or weeks before the bodies get adjusted to fall weather. Where ever you were on that day, you must have been consuming a lot of what you were consuming to think it was beautiful september day. And about the bold, most wealthy people in any society made their wealth in their home country. Maybe it is better to be home than to be abroad.

Sweetnecta:
Many tribes in arabia. Which one are you talking about; The Quraishi tribe that refused to accept him? I see that you already admitted that you dont UNDERSTAND.

Sweetnecta:
Go on You Tube to view Zionists invented Modern Terrorism.

Sweetnecta:
@Congoshine: And this on You tube; The Military KNOWS Israeli AGENTS did 911 (Using Israel as a Smoke screen cover)

Sweetnecta:
There is nothing Arab Tribal about Islam. Well, Arab is multitribal, and which tribe you will pinning Islam to will be interesting to know, considering the fact that the Tribe of Muhammad [as] ran him out of Makka and it was almost towards the end of his mission that the began to actually accept it.

Sweetnecta:
It is interesting to know that you will not take christianity as Jewish Tribal doctrines, considering that you claim that even the Trinity which is unwritten in the Bible can be found in OT, Jesus being the "word" in this case. You have a very unusual argument against Islam.

uplawal:
@Congoshine,can you shut up plssssss,when av you turn to a mind reader,from my post,it def talked about defending of oneself or group by weapon if attacked by an enemy or enemies,yeah a non muslim could be an enemy to Islam,and when the enemies attack Muslims,its our duty to fight back and not folding arms till they massacre muslims,,also get that into your very skull,cos am not sure youre using your brain well.Maybe you got hearing and visual problem,for the last time am replying you,get this fact,, ISLAM DONT KILL INNOCENT SOUL OR GROUP,muslims are only permitted to kill for just cause or during war when attacked by enemies,or when has it become a crime to groom believers up to prepare them for any attack from the enemies.Pls just go and take cold water if you still cant understand this.

uplawal:
@Congoshine,Mumu,its only ignorant hausa muslim that will say such,and besides,Islam dnt discriminate,pls get your bp checked.

quest003:
Sentiments apart, whats your own perception about dis woman? What we nid is good governance which i believe she can deliever, those in her constituency and evn kwara as a whole can testify 2 dis. Sen gbemi is a woman wit a highly humble personalty, her scholarship scheme is wow! I so much admire her passionate belief in d youth nd her love 4 d less priviledge, she is a rare breed politician with humanistic ideals, is it her contributn 2 poverty alleviatn in d state u wnt 2 tlk abt? she is someone who believes in touchin d lives of evryone around her evn at her own expnse, she is a leader who sees a leadership positions as an avenue 2 positivly influence d lives of those u represents rather dan milkin d resources and amasin wealth which has become a norm in our society, nd dis re some of d reasons she keeps gaining popularity evryday. Dis is a democratic regime, Gbemi saraki is an individual so is gov bukola, d fact dat her broda is a gov shldnt stop her from contestin neither shld it stop us from voting her if we believe in her. Try find out some dis things i wrote abt her nd let me knw if i ve lied. Kwarans and residnts of kwara d fate of nigerians lies in your hand. A new nigeria is set to begin from your state, register nd cast your vote 4 a leader dat cares nd i believe we'll get there(ameen)

yommyuk:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/9369142.stm


Forty years after following the hippy trail to South Asia, John Butt is still living in the region, and still spreading a message of peace and love - though now as an Islamic scholar.

As our car turned around the bumpy Indian road, a gleaming white marble minaret came into view. My fellow passenger, John Mohammed Butt, could barely contain his excitement.

"Can you see it?" he asks. "It's like the Oxford University of Islamic learning. For me these minarets and domes are just like the spires and towers of Oxford.

"It's been almost 30 years since I was last here and I am still getting the same thrill. This is my alma mater."

The alma mater in question is Darul-Uloom Deoband, South Asia's largest madrassa, or Islamic school.

Driving through the madrassa gates, we entered a world rarely seen by Western eyes.

Deoband was built in 1866 by Indian Muslims opposed to the then British rule. Little has changed since - winding streets and tiny courtyards lined with stalls selling fragrant chai, bubbling pots of rice and paintings of Mecca.

Everywhere are the Talibs, religious students, young men with dark-eyed fervent expressions carrying books or quietly reciting the Koran.

And in another scene reminiscent of Oxford, students riding bicycles.

A chai seller recognises John and runs towards him. "John Sahib, John Sahib."

The two had not seen each other in decades, yet the man remembers him instantly. "John Sahib was the only student I ever saw who used to go jogging.

"There was only one John Mohammed - unique," he laughs.

That is perhaps not so surprising, when you learn that John Butt remains the first and only Western man ever to have graduated from Deoband.

He showed me his old dormitory room, a windowless cell where he spent eight years in a life of virtual seclusion, living under a regime of prayer and Koranic study

Imposing figure

But that is just one facet of this man's extraordinary life.

Aside from his time at Deoband, he has spent most of the past 40 years living among the fierce Pashtun tribes, who inhabit the lawless hinterland between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

He went there in 1969, he says, as a dope-smoking young hippy and never came home.

He laughs. "When people call me an ageing ex-hippy, I always reply that I am ageing maybe, but I'm certainly not ex. I'm still a hippy."

John Butt cuts an imposing figure.

At 6ft 5ins (1.9m) tall, he sports a long white beard and alabaster skin that is almost translucent.

Dressed in flowing white ethnic robes, he reminds me of a Benedictine hermit monk or a Victorian explorer, swashbuckling straight out of the pages of an historical novel.

He tells me he adores the Queen, Stilton is his favourite cheese and that football is his passion.

Yet among the border tribes, he is regarded as a native Pashtun and revered as an Islamic scholar.

Home for him, until recently, was a tiny village in Pakistan's Swat valley.

Swat was once a popular tourist destination but is now the scene of regular battles between the Pakistani military and the Taliban.

But back in 1969, the young John was hooked from the moment he saw Swat, describing to me snow-capped mountains, rivers like flowing jewels, forests and alpine pastures.

It was, he says, "like Tolkien's Middle-earth, magical and other worldly" inhabited by tribal people who were "very pleasant, big-hearted, tolerant, easy-going and welcoming".

When his fellow hippies grew up and went home to become accountants and lawyers, John stayed on - becoming fluent in the Pashto language and studying Islam.

But John's world changed in the late 1980s, with the arrival of jihadists, who came to the border areas from all over the world to fight the war against the Russians in Afghanistan.

"I saw the rural, religious Pashtun way of life I had come to love so much being diluted, contaminated and poisoned, in particular by Arabs from the Middle East," he says.

"The way they practise Islam is very different to the tribal areas, but they used money and influence to impose their own set of values."

So he decided to fight for his adopted culture.

Peaceful Islam

In the early 1990s, he joined the BBC World Service Pashtu service and helped to set up New Home New Life, a now Iconic Afghan radio soap opera, known as The Archers of Afghanistan.

Six years ago, he set up a radio station which broadcasts across the Afghan-Pakistan border and which tries to promote tribal traditions along with peace and reconciliation.

More recently, John has switched his attentions back to Afghanistan and is spearheading the formation of a new Islamic university in the predominantly Pashtun city of Jalalabad.

"It makes perfect sense. There is currently nowhere in Afghanistan where a young man can do higher Islamic studies. They go to Pakistan, where as we know some of them have become radicalised," he says, emphasising that his university will give a platform to moderates.

But this promotion of peaceful Islam by the English former hippy has set him on a collision course with militants. His beloved Pakistan has now become too unsafe for him.

"Swat is a militarised zone and people I see as foreigners there now treat me like I'm the foreigner, even though I lived there for 40 years.

"It's hard to work out who is who any more - who is Taliban, who is criminal. The waters are very muddy."

Last year, waters of another kind finally put paid to his idyll, when his house was washed away in the floods which devastated the area and killed thousands.

"It was a relief in some ways. When I lost the house, I knew I'd never go back there."

Afghanistan has also become increasingly perilous after Taliban death threats.

The Taliban have delivered so-called night letters - notes hand-delivered in secret and at night for maximum impact - warning students not to study at the university and denouncing John as a Christian missionary or an "orientalist".

Death threats have also been made to his teachers and staff.

"I've hired some of the best Islamic scholars in the region - pious, good and brave men," he says. "They know this is for the benefit of Afghanistan and they insist they will stay working with me despite the dangers."

As I said goodbye, he was planning to travel to Jalalabad on the local bus. We talked about the possibility of him being attacked and he admitted he could easily be killed.

But when I asked if he was scared, he brushed me off with a shrug. "You only die once. I could get hit by a bus tomorrow."

GOD BLESS HIM

Sweetnecta:
Imagine if Nigerians are full packing, do you think the arms robberies that curtain off neighborhoods at night could be the norm, where human beings are terrorized, properties taken, wives, daughters are violated right there in the presence of the husband, father, brothers and uncles?

Radicalization is a sure was for people in most situation arrest bad happenings. Nigeria for example needs radical approach in all her imaginable conditions. Maybe all these tribalism, horrors in politics, economic woes and malaise mindset and lack of personal responsibility can all be arrested by one strong iron hand hammer head tough leadership.

Sweetnecta:
just because a persons advocates literacy in the usage of arms, and or wishes society is armed does not translate to some form of bad spirited mindset.

to be radical is always a bad thing. I wonder what Tpia and Congoshine will say about the American radical; The forefather of american constitution, Thomas Jefferson?

Please Youtube him under; Thomas Jefferson: A true American Radical.

He was one of those rare gems among men. His wishes for his people was not different from what Uplawal wishes for her people; Consciousness of self preservation.

uplawal:
@tpia,ehm,but whats your problem,when has it become a crime to protect oneself or group from the evil attack from the enemy,honestly i cant get the point youre driving at,are you one of the enemies?If so then watch out,and still keep your ugly guessing.

@congoshine,the same applies to you,If you feel the right thing for you to do is to sit and fold arms when your family is constantly attacked,then you can continue backing,that shows how foolish your are,plus your thinking.And mind both of you,i only meant enemies that fight muslms not innocent
people, Islam never teaches about fighting innocent people only those that fight them,so nexttime you wanna comment do your home work well and use your brain

uplawal:
very interesting thread,pls lets keep it going,every muslim man should know how to use diffrent kinds of weapon to fight the enemy,it should be taught in mosque,its no crime.

weapon such as.

swords
bow and arrows
ordinary pistle
sofisticated weapons,e.g AK47,ARMOUR TANK,etc
How to plot bomb or throw them
how to waylay the enemies
how to act without them knowing of attacks

I believe it should be a duty for every muslim to know and learn these weapons,instead of them sitting there in saudi enjoying oil money provided by Allah and they neglected thier brothers in time of need(enemies waging war with them) and so comfortable seeing their brother waste,they are not carying out Allah's command at all,and its a shame.

uplawal:
Why should a muslim even accept stoning when is not even in the Quran,its basicly implying the Quran is deficients and the was are not complete,when in reality and ritually is perfect and complete,anyways all muslims cannot be fooled altogether though.

Lagosshia,that Abuzola is something else

Sent message to your inbox already

rahman25:
from my observation so far,i nw know the reason why the nigerian problem can not be resolved nw.but its my prayer that we all come to our senses on time.there is this thing that our leaders either religious or ethnic have spread among the youth i.e there is no good thing coming from the other person not from your tribe or religion.the youth of this country are not ready to offer solution to this issue. we need to understand ourselves.

If we have any problem in the country let us all find a lasting solution and not condemning one religion or tribe over the issue.i am a yoruba man i served in the north lived among the ibos but i was able to overlook their bad side n appreciate their good side more.we lived peacefully for that one year.we still call ourselves till nw.no wahala.

the government are the cause of the problems we are having in this country,if they had gone after those who commit the former massacre the other time.this one will never come up again but they are busy going after their political ambition.

only ALLAH can save us in this country.

i am not begging anybody to appreciate my contribution cos i knw some ppple will still critise me n ISLAM.

ifyalways:
I know how u feel but its only an uninformed person that wud believe totally that it was masterminded by Muslims.
I have not stopped to wonder,[b]In Gambia,we have more Muslims than Christians,Same for Ivory coast and some other west African countries . . .when was the last time we heard abt religious conflicts or bombings there?[/b]Are we just cursed in Nigeria or what?
Our problem remains;
Greedy politicians who twist the mind of the youths with religion and money and have them do their dirty jobs for them.
Illiteracy and poverty.
Qadarullahi wa ma shaa'a fa'ala.
May Allah(swt) save and help our country.Amin