Terrorism is a very delicate issue
that has been tearing the world apart, but it seems it is spreading all over
the world like an air borne disease. According to oxford dictionary, “TERRORISM means the unofficial or unauthorized
use of violence and intimidation in pursuit of political aims” It has
become a general belief in this world of ours, that “Muslims are terrorists” especially
in the western world. It hurts when the religion you so much believe in is
being abused or dragged in the mud. I am writing this in order to change your
pre conceived thought about Islam, Jihad
does not stand for the bombing and killing of innocent souls.
I
wish to restate my conviction that peace and justice constitute the basic principles
of the Muslim faith. I wish again to state unequivocally that neither the
al-Qaeda organization nor Usama bin Laden nor Boko haram represents Islam or
reflects Muslim beliefs and practices. Rather, groups like the Boko Haram have
misused and abused Islam in order to fit their own radical and indeed anti-Islamic
agenda. Usama bin Laden’s led al-Qaeda and Boko Haram actions are criminal, misguided
and in every sense counter the true teachings of Islam.”
According to Prof. A.G.A.S. Oladosu (chief Imam, Unilorin central mosque) during
his sermon on a Friday after the Suleja, Abuja Nigeria bombing, he said Jihad means winning or
convincing souls why they should be Muslims. Jihad is not done through violence
and destruction of properties. I was once told by a friend that, every
Non-Muslim in a Muslim environment is a potential Muslim so they shouldn’t be
oppressed or disturbed as long as much they obey the rules and regulations of
the land, just like the Muslims.
Muslims ought to be united against all those
who terrorize the innocent, and those who permit the killing of non-combatants
without justifiable reasons. Islam has declared the spilling of blood and the
destruction of property as absolute prohibitions until the Day of Judgment...[It
is] necessary to apprehend the true perpetrators of these crimes, as well as
those who aid and abet them through incitement, financing or other means.
Any Muslim who is aware of the
teachings of his religion and who adheres to the directives of the Holy Qur’an
and the sunnah (the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad) will never involve
himself in such act (terrorism), because they will invoke the anger of ALLAH
and cause harm and corruption on earth”. This people must be
brought to justice in an impartial court of law. It is the duty of Muslims to
participate in this effort by all possible means. Attacking innocent people is
not courageous; it is stupid and will be punished on the day of judgement. It is
not courageous to attack innocent children, women and civilians. It is
courageous to protect freedom; it is courageous to defend yourself and not to
attack. I want to urge you and make you understand that Islam does not allow
oppression of another person. Let me discuss some problems and enlighten you
about some issue.
Now I will like to take the Nigeria
issue as a case study, charity begins at home. The basic problem we have in this
country boils down to the sharing formula of the nation and greed on the part
of some leaders to which I don’t see an end, because corruption has eaten so
deep into the fabric of the society that it has gotten to the primary level of
education. I could remember vividly during my elementary school days. As the
time keeper of my school, so I took to reporting defaulters of time to a teacher
who then punishes them.One fateful day, a classmate of mine didn’t get back on
time, knowing fully well that I won’t accept her apology she decided to get me
an ice cream while coming back, I didn’t accept it but didn’t report her too…don’t
ask why. If at that early age of ours, we recognized how to entice our people
with gift, then we know that the foundation of this nation is shaky. This does
not mean if you are a Muslim or not, every
parents whether Muslims or Christians and others have a big task at hand to
bring the foundation to the very best, don’t leave the task to the teachers in
school, we spend more free time at home than in school. To be corrupt is a
personal decision, I am not been sentimental here but it is just the fact.
In 2006 President Musa Yar’adua
decided to remove the sum of five naira from the national commodity petrol so
as to reduce the suffering of the people it was a well welcome decision because
every Nigerian knew that was a government that have the people in mind but
there was a problem, the name of the country was all over the news worldwide because
of the self-centered chiefs of the Niger-Delta region of the country, came up
with a group of terrorist that the media tag militant (favouring confrontational methods in support of a cause) please
what cause was the people of Niger-Delta fighting for that made them tarnish
the name of our beloved country, we hosted the world U-17 Football competition at that time I
remember jack warner (FIFA vice-president) not visiting calabar during the
inspection because that region was been terrorize by terrorist tag militant,
read the newspaper from 2002 till date and see how many politician from that
region have been questioned, sentence or detain by the EFCC (Economic Financial
Crime Commission) and yet they cry foul
of improper formulation.
In 2012 President Goodluck Jonathan
decided to remove the subsidy from fuel and the whole nation kick against it
with different form of protest and the nationwide strike before the NLC was
compromise because we are yet to see any benefit of the removal of the fuel
subsidy so I see no reason why every hardworking people of the nation should go
to work under these intense hard life even my life as a student has become more
quagmire talk less of the life of a parent, how can a leader of a nation force
a decision on his people telling them it of their own benefit and they said NO yet
he went ahead with the decision that
shows that your listening ears are block and the hunger seems to hit the
northerner the most and some big people among them (no names to mention cos
even the Nigeria police, intelligence are yet to give a well proved culprit so
stop assuming ) started using them for their own agenda weather political or
for amnesty purpose we don’t know “yes” we(Nigerians), the media didn’t tag them militants, I sob every time I read
this on a journal Islamic-sect Group a.k.a Boko
haram Subhannallahi !Subhannallahi!!
ALLAH will reward all men according to
our deed on earth. How can the Nigerian media be so sentimental about such
issue I even heard that boko haram has been in existence for a long time if so
then they are question that we don’t have answers to:
1. Why are they been violent now?
2. What changed their orientation?
3. What do they want?
4. Why now?
How I wish I could get answers to
these questions, let compare the issue of 2006 and 2012 it between a Muslim
leader and a Christian leader, you see we have our own personality that don’t
have anything to do with our religion, I have so many Christian friends and
they are good people in character and behavior likewise some of my brothers
that you can always put your trust on.
According to Shaykh Muhammad bin ‘Abdallah
al-Sabil, member of the Council of Senior Religious Scholars, Saudi Arabia:
“Any attack on innocent people is
unlawful and contrary to shari’a (Islamic law). … Muslims must safeguard the
lives, honor and property of Christians and Jews. Attacking them contradicts
shari’a.”
