WAKE UP: No hiding place for extremists in Islam, Nigeria – A FOLLOW UP

By Bashir Adefaka

In my last article, I tried, advisably and deliberately, to help extremism elements in our society by not being direct at them with a view that they would avail themselves of opportunity to avoid shame, not wanting to be seen as one, by taking steps to repent and be reintegrated into the society as good and better Muslims.

But alas! Some of them, who felt the article affected or was directed at them, called me or went to social media platforms to run their mouths on me. Some even called me a liar who writes without knowledge of Islam. One, particularly, among them, who feels he owns the Muslim Students Society of Nigeria (MSSN) as his private estate went haywire saying I wrote bad English as if English is my father’s language or language of communication in the Hereafter. Another one said the only thing I brought from Hajj was controversy, asking me to preach peace. I surely know Hajj does not mean to return home and be quiet while evils thrive. Definitely no.

Come to think of it, somebody who failed as a father or as a child, does he have moral right to so advise, no matter how correct he thinks his perception of me writing such article could be?

Instead for these elements to feel remorse and change their fake lives, they displayed arrogance to its peak and called even other reasonable Muslims calling them to order unprintable names. They are proud to own influence in CNN and BBC to take me to the cleaners. They thought because they at one time or another found their way to leadership of MSSN, it is licence for them to drag the Noble religious organisation’s name in the mud for their personal and self interest. But they goof. We that know MSSN know it is not group for extremism and we will defend it against their excesses.

By this follow up, I urge my Ummah to beware. Our Nigerian, particularly South West communities are infiltrated by these extremists who hide behind the Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria (MSSN), our collectively owned beloved organisation, to perpetrate their acts. I insist and will continue to be indirect in my articles, because these elements claim names which they do not own and so, if I am direct, it can rub off, on the real owners of the names. Any sincere Muslim asked anywhere in Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, Ondo, Ekiti, Osun and Kwara knows these unfortunate, misguided people who formed themselves into sect leaning on other people’s achievements with no confidence to be identified with their real being.

They have now moved from just that into the society establishing moderasat (Arabic classes) teaching their innocent learners with books of Arabic filled with strange ideologies.  Some of them establish schools, doing no less than brainwashing, radicalising and instigating their students or whoever follow them, against their parents, families and the society. When you see them, you will mistake them for the “Ahlu Sunnah” they claim to be but they are not. All Muslims – except those that go against the dictates of the Qur’an as taught by Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, – are Ahlu Sunnah. Extremists are not.

Many of our Muslim brothers who expressed concern over my last article did so not because they felt I lied about existence of extremists in our midst.  They expressed those concerns because they know that when security begin to move against these radicalising extremists, they go after any Muslim having beard or appearing with traces of Sunnah, whereas the job we want security to do is help the real Ahlu Sunnah against the impostors calling themselves Ahlu Sunnah”.

It is therefore imperative for authorities to know that all Muslims including President Muhammadu Buhari are Ahlu Sunnah. They know how to get those who parade themselves as “Ahlu Sunnah” but who are not. I don’t need to teach security their job but I am one of the Nigerian Muslims or non-Muslims, who will always cooperate with State that we may live in peace and together have better development. The Nigerian Muslim Ummah has its one and singularly formalised, revered leadership. Work with it and it will tell and show you the real sources of Islamic knowledge and ideology.

From there you know who is Ahlu Sunnah and who is not and then you move appropriately. If in Togo, Christian President solved similar extremist generated problem this way for his Muslim Ummah, Nigeria with Muslim President and majority Muslim population should have no difficulty doing it.

Elders, leaders of Muslim Ummah and Government/security agencies of Nigeria must rise up now to this extremist sometime violent group challenge that will be difficult to locate if Conspiracy of Silence of our people, particularly in Southern Nigeria, is taken to be anything. It will be of no use to explain how such Conspiracy of Silence led North East to the state it found itself until President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, came to their rescue but at supreme price paid our gallant soldiers and other security agents. It must stop.

May Allah help our country against elements of destruction whose duty is to make Islam difficult to understand, putting over 90 million moderate (normal) Muslims at risk, hiding the countless beauties of the religion and doing things which deepen division in the Muslim brotherhood.

All real leaders, scholars and organisations of Islamic faith, who know and act on establishment of Qur’an and Sunnah, should wake up to this call and stop looking at pretences of these extremists/their accomplices and move all out against them when and wherever they are found or identified.

Let a wrong impression be corrected: Exposing and moving against these agents of conflicts, disunity and insecuty does no evil to Muslim Unity and Nigeria’s peace, security and development. You will be guilty as one of them if you harbour them or allow them to thrive by allowing them use mosque, property or even public institution under your care.

Many have wrongly or rightly blamed Muslims for problem of Nigeria. They look at the fact that Muslims being the majority, richest, most knowledgeable and most poeerful could only be responsible for backwardness of a society where they dominate. Those blaming the Muslims fail, however, to recognize the fact that Muslims of Nigeria are not only silent majority but an Ummah deep-rooted in Conspiracy of Silence.

One therefore wonders how come Islam is this most misunderstood in Nigeria!  For a long time extremists held the Ummah into ransom and read, well learned and most rational faithful are exploiting “Muslims don’t expose Muslims to danger” as excuse not to tackle these elements who add nothing position but negative to Islam and the Ummah in Nigeria.

But Muslims of Nigeria have got to stand up to reality. Allah truly says Muslim who covers the shame of another Muslim inithis world will have his shame covered on the day of judgement.  Allah is best in saying the truth. Who will he be afraid of to tell lies? He says cover “Muslim” and not cover “hyoocrite”. As a matter of fact, Prophet Muhammad pbuh said the hottest place in hell fire is for the hypocrites. If truly Allah, his Messenger, peace be upon him, and his religion of Islam in its entirety sees extremism as hypocrisy, what is justification for Muslims who allow them to thrive? Many Muslims are suffering in Nigeria today, not because they deserve to be but because of activities of extremists who plunge them to that situation.

Muslims have no reason to be blamed for problem of Nigeria because they have been so educated, trained and prepared against being source of problem, creators of insecurity but makers of peace, unity snd contributors of development by Holy Prophet of Islam, Muhammad pbuh, who left the world to them in a way that they cannot and must not be seen near attitude or behaviour making them blameable for problem, lack of peace or insecurity of any society.

If you are extremists or you harbour extremists, you should judge yourselves before you are judged because, if the judge of this world do not judge you, the Judge who is judging and will judge judges will not only judge you but will also, more intolerably, seize you by your face and drag you in the hot mud of Yaomal Kiyamah.

A stitch in time saves nine!