Nigeria: The Faruk Mutallab Saga - Now We Must Look At Ourselves Critically

28 December 2009
opinion

It was Ambassador Yusufu Yaro Mamman who first broke the news of Faruk Mutallab's arrest for attempting to blow up Detroit bound Delta Airline Flight 253 to me. I was somewhere between Zaria and Musawa. We were on a condolence visit to the family of Late Dr. Yusufu Bala Usman and Sarkin Musawa, Alhaji Gidado, over the death of their mother (who was also my aunt). My car radio was faulty, so I had no inkling of the unfolding, potential disaster which, thank God, did not come to pass. My first reaction was; someone's trying to rubbish our image again. But as more details emerge (the little that is now filtering out) all I can say is that we must assume the young man innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. And my heart goes to his family in these trying times.

My second reaction was more worrying. Nigerians, especially Muslims, will have to endure more humiliating checks while travelling abroad or even seeking for a visa. But that is a not very significant matter to me; I don't have to travel to those countries where I am not exactly welcomed. My third reaction was one of a feeling of anticipation. Our collective denials and juvenile celebrations would now have to be replaced by more rational, more considered reactions. I am referring to us northern Muslims. May be we would now open our minds and admit all is not well with our society. Let me explain this last point. Due to pervasive poverty, chronic unemployment and a feeling of hopelessness we had begun to reject the modern world itself, and some, like the Boko Haram, expressly rejected even modern knowledge, something the Arabs and Muslims generally, had contributed to for centuries. Sects have been emerging left right and centre, each claiming to be more Islamic than the last one, stricter and more uncompromising. The Khadiriyya sect was responsible for the Sokoto Jihad, the Tijjaniyyah came later, the Izala believe these two were not Islamic enough; indeed they rejected sects all together. In the end they themselves became a sect or sects actually as the division between Kaduna, Jos and other branches solidified. Other tendencies and sects, mostly more militant, came to challenge all of them. Now the divisions are even more confusing; some of them really extremists. And there is more. Angered as we all are by America because of its' blind support for the apartheid regime of Israel and the Zionists' arrogant refusal to abide by all the UN Resolutions on Palestinian land and rights, some of us have celebrated whenever these "enemies of Islam" are hit by one suicide bomb or roadside improvised explosive. In our blanket support we ignore Allah's injunctions against shedding the blood of people who are not waging a war against us, those who are not combatants. Go to Kaduna, Kano, Jos or Maiduguri and you find the most influential Mallams are often the most "radical" ones. It used to be the case that Imams are screened before they are appointed, but now politicians and businessmen appoint their own, and they are even allowed to lead Friday prayers. Is it any wonder that some of the younger ones would want to outdo even the existing extremists, who simply rejoice at Americans or Israelis being hit?

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