Shari’ah agitation, not the cause of boko haram
The attention of the National Headquarters of the MSSN has been drawn to some misleading, false and frivolous allegations made by the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Reverend Father Matthew Hassan Kukah, recently. Father Kukah was making a keynote address at a conference themed “The Muslim Agenda for Nigeria: Challenges of Development and Good Governance” organized by the Islamic Welfare Foundation at Fountain University, Osogbo, Osun State capital. The address titled “Thoughts on the Future of Religion in Nigeria’s Politics” was published on page 40 of Daily Trust Newspaper’s edition of Sunday, 29th November, 2015. It was also partly reported in BBC Hausa Service early morning broadcast of Tuesday December 1st, 2015.
MSSN finds it necessary to respond because Kukah is famous for making controversial, inflammatory, glaringly false and history-distorting utterances, riding on the reputation he is deluded to have possessed. He is one of the few wolves hiding in sheep skin whose true colour will continue to manifest with the passage of time. For the records, the following responses are necessary.
To start with, it should be noted that Kukah, having succeeded in disuniting the North along ethno-religious lines, is all out to cause disunity among Nigerian Muslims along geographical and ethnic lines. That informed his consistent castigation of what he calls “Northern Islam”, “Northern Muslim elites”, “Islamic North” and so on, since he was making the presentation in Osogbo, South western Nigeria.
He also tried to prove that the Muslim political elites who brought Shari’ah implementation were not serious on that as they were not violent. But the youth, who were serious about implementing the shari’ah in body and spirit, resorted to Boko Haram since, according to what Kukah wants the world to believe, Islam, kidnapping, rape and violence are synonymous and inseparable.
The islamophobic cleric labouriously tried to show that the Muslim North, throughout the ages of the country’s history, has been consistently revolting whenever agitations for Shari’ah implementation were not honoured or approved. This he did citing what he called a ‘walkout’ in 1979, 1988, 1995 and beyond by “fathers and grandfathers” of Boko Haram insurgents. While we unequivocally assert that true Muslims will forever agitate for the implementation of Shari’ah being the best, the only comprehensive and humanity-friendly system ever, we challenge Kukah, or anyone for that matter, to cite true (not history-distorting) instances when Muslims went violent in the name of clamour for Shari’ah. It is on record that all shari’ah related violence in the country were initiated and started by Non-Muslims in the North with the sole aim of stopping Shariah from being established. A mere walkout should in no way be considered beyond the expression of dissentment, a universally known inviolable human right. But history, through all panels of inquiry set up in the past, records that Christians in Kaduna ( inspired by the Kukah’s) resorted to violence in 2000/2001 when they realized that they could not peacefully and democratically convince the Government and people of the State on why the majority Muslims should not have their chosen Shari’ah legal system implemented on their own selves. Therefore, contrary to the allegation and false analysis of Kukah, Muslims in the North do not resort to violence when their quest for Shari’ah fails to be granted. Interestingly, it is his people, Northern Christians, who do so.
The cleric also accused the Northern Muslim Elites of using Shari’ah/religion to gain cheap political popularity, the disillusionment of youth from which caused Boko Haram. While we are not and cannot be defending the said elites, we had expected Kukah to generalize such crafty tendency to cover even their Christian counterparts. We agree that many elites do exploit the gullibility and vulnerability of the masses by hiding under such volatile and delicate issues as religion, ethnicity or geography to gain personal, political and socio-economic advantages; and one of those who do it and, sadly, get celebrated blindly is Reverend Kukah himself. We expected the “father” to have acted like one by preaching to all (Muslims and Christians alike) to eschew such ungodly practice.
Moreover, Reverend Kukah wanted to convince the world that Muslims should not, through democratic processes, bring to the limelight any aspect of the Shari’ah. To him, we have to abandon anything Islam if we want to practise modern democracy. This is because, to the naïve Kukah, the relationship between democracy and Islam or Shari’ah is that of mutual exclusiveness, such that, where one is present, the other can never be found. But, reality, which Kukah purports to want northern Muslims to embrace but which he ironically deliberately ignores, has shown that democracy is a system in which the majority always have their way, provided the rights of the minority are respected and not violated. Kukah should be educated that, as a global religion that is responsive to all times, places and situations, Islam is compatible with democracy, monarchy and even military regime. Its flexibly limited principles can be applied in different situations.
Let us say that, contrary to the demonizing picture Mr. Kukah is trying to paint, the Muslims in the North are more accommodating than their Christian counterparts of the same region. Thus, while the Muslim majority in Kaduna State (where Kukah comes from),have graciously and even unmeritedly dashed their Christian brothers the Deputy Governorship position to carry them along, a reality present also in Nasarawa, Gombe, Kogi and so on, the minority Muslims in Plateau cannot even have a minority leader. In fact, they were denied even the right to be Jos North Local Government Chairman some years ago through bloody means. But the Kukahs were mute. We should add that Kukah, as a Christian cleric, was invited for a presentation in a Muslim gathering is in itself a proof (the highest one for that matter) that Muslims are really accommodating and robust minded. After querying why a nearby Christian should be made to pay the price of a crime committed by other people of the same religion living far away whether in the country or beyond ( a true and dispassionately objective an admonishment), the Bishop should have also preached against ethno-religious cleansing attempts by his kinsmen in southern Kaduna and Plateau, even when he peacefully resides at Sokoto,the seat of the famous Muslim caliphate and could be invited to deliver a talk in Osogbo at a Muslim gathering.
In his characteristics subjective, illogical judgement, father Kukah vehemently resists all calims and explanations that Boko Haram members, judging from the few caught who cannot even recite the Qur’an, are neither representing Islam nor are they Muslims. His argument is that they calim to represent and have been inspired by Islam. One begins to question father Kukah’s exaggerated erudite scholarship on peace and politics, considering his ignorance of the possibility of your enemy to claim to be your agent in a bid to smear your name, as we can see presently epitomised in ISIS/ISIL. What then can the Kukah’s say about the Christians caught on 29th December,2011 trying to bomb a church in Yenegoa of Bayelsa state; the nine Christian faithfulls that attacked a church at Miya Barkate on 26th February, 2012; John Akpabu’s attempt at attacking Radio House, Abuja in 2012 and the recent arrest of John Trankil, a Boko Haram kingpin in Maiduguri, Borno state on 16th November, 2015?
Perhaps it will be good to enlighten Reverend Kukah and other Islamophobics like him on the objectives of the cherished Shari’ah of the Muslims. It is a system built on wisdom, mercy and justice that has as its primary objectives the protection of religion, life, wealth/ property, intellect and progeny/geneology. Thus any creed, belief, practice or transaction that contradicts these cardinal principles and objectives is not only unIslamic but also anti-Islam, the claim of the actors to have any affinity with the religion notwithstanding. We will continue to pray to Allah, just as we implore all irrespective of religion to pray, that Allah assists the Federal Government and indeed all Nigerians to bring to final end the dreaded Boko Haram problem.
Muhammad Jameel Muhammad,
National Amir/President.
