Every faith is united in the presentation of God as a God of unimaginable love for the people He has created. Even in idolatry, where elements and objects are taken as mediums for accessing God, their portrayal of God is not different. They only see Him as too mighty, too powerful to be approached directly and therefore ascribe mystical powers to their objects of worship. The question thus becomes, “Why would a God Who loves so unconditionally ask people of a particular faith to kill others who do not believe with them?
Let us look at the issues. In the first place, in making man like Himself, one of the attributes God gave to man was freewill. The remarkable feature of this freewill is that it’s availability is consistent for everyone all through life. Why is it freewill? It is the ability to choose right or wrong; even the ability to choose wrong even when one knows the right thing to do. Each of us has been guilty of this at one time or the other and those who kill others still occasionally sin, yet God does not strike them dead. In essence, what we are saying is that the freewill includes the choice to reject God!
Why did God leave things this way? It is because at the end of time, for all human beings, there comes a day of reckoning: on that day, He will be the Supreme Judge Who judges by His own rules and based on these, it will be for Him alone to pronounce an acquittal or guilty verdict.
This leads us to the next question: why would God Who has full ability to kill anyone or make them alive need to engage another human being to kill for Him? Is His power to kill on holiday and He needs people to do it by proxy? Why is it that of all the faiths in the world, it is only Islam that propagates Jihad and the killing of people considered “unbelievers”? If the roles could be reversed and Christians or Buddhists get up tomorrow declaring that God told them to kill unbelievers, which would include Muslims, would any Muslim like to be killed? This leads to God’s Golden Rule that you do unto others as you would want them to do unto you.
Today, it is common to hear that Islam is a religion of peace but the more this is said, the more violence comes from adherents of Islam through Jihad and terrorist attacks on perceived enemies. While some Islamic clerics denounce terrorism as alien to Islam and terrorists as un-Islamic, the tenet of Jihad goes back to the foundation of the religion. Yet, Islamic leaders do nothing against terrorists. Thus one kills, the other pacifies.
Therefore, comparing the two major faiths - Christianity and Islam - what can one learn on this issue? One faith says that you have the right to kill unbelievers: when you do, where do the people killed go? Do you help them to go to heaven or hell, even based on Islamic definition, after they are killed? On the other hand, Christianity comes to you with persuasion and reasoning; the Christian tells you “I’ll be patient with you, I want you to go to the same heaven to which I am going and when you are finally converted, we will worship this God together”. Which is better? Which one appears more in conformity with the character of a just, patient, merciful and loving God?
This is the crux of the matter. Today, in Nigeria, Fulani herdsmen have been going on rampage, goaded and encouraged by the fact that their kinsman is the President and Commander in Chief If Muslims stop to think a little, we would have a different scenario. Suppose President Obasanjo or Goodluck Jonathan had launched an onslaught on Muslims when either of them was President, as they are doing on Christians today, would they be alive? Or suppose Christians capture and kill Muslims as ISIS, Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen have done severally, would there have been any peace in the world thereafter?
When you put an AK-47 rifle in the hands of a herdsman who does not live with human beings but lives with cows from his youth, what kind of man would he be? These are the category of people that have occupied Nigeria in the last one year!
Evaluating the Nigerian situation, what is the way forward? In a note on Ehiarinmwian Nosa Tobias’s wall titled, “TIME FOR PROPER SELF REVALUATION”, he declares that “we are just dishonest, unpatriotic and ungodly human beings on the path of self destruction. A shame on our race.” He cites a post by Barr. Olakunle Allison in which he said, “Religion is not our albatross in Nigeria. It has never been. We are just a sick indigenous people blaming everything but ourselves. I just saw a short documentary on CNN about the Emirate of Dubai (an Islamic State) and her many disruptive and record-breaking technological/innovative strides, and my heart sank into despair. Dubai is NOT a country. It is just one out of seven emirates that make up the UAE. An Islamic country which declared independence from Great Britain in 1971. Yet, Dubai is the fastest growing Science and ICT hub in the world. Yes, you read that correctly; in the world!”
He continued, “As I watched the documentary and marveled at the unbelievable leaps in education, innovation and infrastructure achieved within 50years, I began to compare the emirate with our own Emirate of Sokoto and Emirate of Kano back home. Folks, the difference is a universe apart. Did you know that the Emirate of Dubai has singlehandedly launched 2 satellites into Space? Did you know that the last launched spacecraft had the innovative signature of a Dubai teenage girl on it? A teenager who dreams to be the first astronaut on Mars. Did you know that by 2020 the Dubai emirate will be launching its first Mars Exploration Spacecraft? Did you know that the Dubai emirate currently has the largest number of foreign research Scientists and ICT experts in the world?
This is a deeply culturally Islamic State prioritizing Science, Technology and Futurism. What then is different about their own practice of Islam and the ones we have here at home?
“What is different about their practice of Islam which encourages a teenage girl to aspire to Mars while emirates at home marry off under aged girls? What is different about their practice of Islam which prioritizes innovations and science, while even Churches back at home only prioritize buildings and tithing?
On this note, he concludes, “Rreligion is not Nigeria's albatross. Anyone who argues otherwise is thinking fallaciously. Nigeria is messed up because we have our own issues. Our orientation, our mindset, our value-system, our sociocultural ethics, our ways are deeply ANTIPROGRESSIVE! I just saw men in Arabic gowns and women in Arabic purdah (the moderate ones) having a dialogue about championing the next frontiers in science and innovations.
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