Islam is an arabic word meaning 'peace' and also submission (to Allah and his messenger). And if we make reference to Q3:19:''indeed, the religion in the sight of Allah is Islam. And those who were given the scripture did not differ except after knowlegde has come to them - out jealous animosity between themselves. And whoever disbelieves in the verses of Allah,then indeed, Allah is swift in taking account'' also in Q3:67:''Abraham was neither a jew nor a christain, but he was one inclining towards truth,a Muslim (submimiting to Allah and his messenger) and Allah is the ally of believers''. From these verse above, Abraham was mentioned, and Muhammad (SAW) happens to be the last prophet in islam. It means that Ibrahim (AS) was also a muslim, and between him and Muhammad (SAW), there were many prophets(predecessors) that came to preach Allah's words. This practically means or showcased to us that: Muhd (SAW) was not the founder of Islam;so is Ibrahim (AS) and the other prophets. Muhd (SAW) was only sent to come and put people into the right path by teaching them the islamic religion as well as its jurisdictions.
Having come this far, its pertinent to realise the claim made by the outside world(non muslims to be precise) about the misconceptions that islam is a religion that envisages terrorism,hatred and so on. This claim is however disheartening and demoralising to the mind. Today,anywhere a muslim finds himself,he is just a subject of riducule as they regards him to be very malicious,clumsy,and truculent person;and yet they lack concordant and cogent reasons to back their faulty allegations. There is no where you will see islam encouraging inappropriate and unsagacious moralities that is of great deteriorations to the entire populace. Islam enjoins its followers to maintain absolute decorum and tranquility where ever they found themselves,thus we have the 'Malams' and 'Sheikhs' that serves as a parent surrogate. Islam enjoins it people to be patient. Hitherto Qur'an 2:153: ''0 you who believed, seek help through patience and prayers. Indeed Allah is with the patient'' this is not the only place that talks about patient, we have a plethora of them.
This calls for the need to give a vivid instance to when Muslims were allowed to retaliate. When the prophet (SAW) started his preachings, there were many tensions and pressure from the non muslims to stop the movement(spreading of islam), but due to some Qur'anic verses, he kept silent. Their houses were burnt, properties confiscated etc yet he remains silent. When the predicaments becomes worst, they are then instructed in Q2:190: ''Fight in the way of Allah who fight you, but do not transgress. Indeed, Allah does not like transgressors'' also in Q2:192:''And if they cease, then indeed, Allah is forgiving and merciful'' it is also important to mention Q9:13:''would you not fight people who broke their oaths and determine to expel the messenger(Muhd [SAW]) and they had begin the attack upon you the first time? Do you fear them? But Allah has more right that you should fear him, if you are truly beleivers. From these verses so far mentioned,it can be clearly stated that: islam doesn't encourage war and other sabotage meant to deteriorate and causes many turbulent rages. Yet muslims were allowed to fight and defend themselves only on one condition which is: it must be that the attack was done to them first. Its quite obvious that all the social vices and frailtys that is depleting Nigeria comes only when muslims tried to fight back when they are been attacked,yet they are often refers to as culprits. And all this manifests itself in the secterian and religious crises we are suffering from, which culminated into massivie massacre,high mortality rates,suicide bombings, road attacks by anonymous people etc we have a lundry list of them. The situation today is so disheartening, whenever you are dressed in a good Islamic outfits,having huge beards, etc people will begin to have a great phobia of you, and begins to have a negative perception about you; and you are been affiliated to so many names in order to mock you.
Furthermore, the 1999 constitution as amended 10th Jan 2011 is highly monumental to mention. Let us make reference to chapter (ii): The fundamental objectives and directed principles of state policy. Section 14(2)(b): ''the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of the Government'' and also let extend a bit to Chapter 33(1): ''every person has a right to life, and no one shall be deprieved intentionally of his life,save in execution of the sentence of a court in respect of a criminal offence of which he has been found quilty in Nigeria''. From the above extracts, it can be noted that it is the responsibilty of the Federal Govenment to protect the security and welfare of its people and by so doing, we can live in peace once again.
Since security and welfare is the governments primary purpose ,all
other issues and other transformation agenda has to come after not
before security. It was recently approved in the 2012 budget that N920
Billion is for security....
I urge and pray that the money is being used in order to provide
adequate security in this country that is in disarray. The money should
be used in purchasing amunitions,good transportation systems, and also
regular seminar and workshops for our security personels on how to
provide security. By so doing, the legal and forensic departments can
be active. It is also the responsiblity of the govenment to to protect
human rights, but infelicitously, reverse is the case. We have people
decaying in mortuaries,robbery etc. Yet the federal goverment turns a
deaf ears to peoples needs, thus the constitutional provision proves to
be meaningless and vacuous.
In conclusion, the issue of security and the myriads of crises that is bombarding Nigeria can only be solved in a diplomatic and a dialogue manner. This is however seen in the efforts of St Augustine in an attempt to resolve peace and other conflicts. He procliamed that: ''peace can not be kept by force, it can only be achieved by mutual understanding'' . This means there must be mutual understanding between the two parties. The government should sit down on a round table with the representatives of both parties, and solved the problems diplomatically even if it means granting amnesty to the culprits. The issue of religious sentiments and other ethnicity should be discouraged. The government should provide a skeletal framework and plans that cease to ban religious,secterial as well as tribal crises. We should live together in harmony and have a mutual understanding, and by so doing, Nigeria may redeem its tarnished image in the western world.
In conclusion, the issue of security and the myriads of crises that is bombarding Nigeria can only be solved in a diplomatic and a dialogue manner. This is however seen in the efforts of St Augustine in an attempt to resolve peace and other conflicts. He procliamed that: ''peace can not be kept by force, it can only be achieved by mutual understanding'' . This means there must be mutual understanding between the two parties. The government should sit down on a round table with the representatives of both parties, and solved the problems diplomatically even if it means granting amnesty to the culprits. The issue of religious sentiments and other ethnicity should be discouraged. The government should provide a skeletal framework and plans that cease to ban religious,secterial as well as tribal crises. We should live together in harmony and have a mutual understanding, and by so doing, Nigeria may redeem its tarnished image in the western world.
No comments:
Post a Comment