In the wake of the religious intolerance
in the northern part of Nigeria, an anonymous writer who chooses to be
identified simply as O.F., has written a letter to Muslims all over the
country.
In this piece, he noted that
although he loves his Muslim friends, and cares a lot about them, he
does not believe conversion to any religious divide has to be done by
force.
Dear Muslim Friends,
I
write to you to speak to your receptive hearts. I honestly love you and
want you to know some few things that have been on my mind. I am not
going to try to defend my faith as a believer of Jesus, the author and
finisher of my faith. And I am not seeking to bash the Islamic faith.
This is simply from me to you, no filter.
Let
me be straight. I am a Christian and I believe non-Christians are
unbelievers. You are Muslims and you believe non-Muslims are
unbelievers. Same can be said about Buddhists, Agnostics, etc, and even
atheists.
Anyone who is not of a
particular faith/belief is simply an unbeliever of that particular
faith/belief, even grammatically speaking. So no need to pretend I don't
see you as unbelievers and you don't see me as an unbeliever.
I want to do things to get you
converted by your will, through my speech, deeds, and
testimony/witnessing. Is that same for you? Is there a place in your
holy book that encourages forceful conversion of unbelievers to Islam or
else, death? Jesus is insulted and ridiculed everyday but I believe he
is able to defend himself without me fighting for him to the loss of
lives because rather than it being a blessing, if I do so, I will be
dealt with by God.
Is there a
place that validates killing of unbelievers of Islam for the sake of
Allah with rewards attached to them? Is there a place that encourages
killing or physically attacking any unbeliever that insults prophet
Muhammad (whether intentionally or unintentionally)? Is there a place
that says you should support those who fight for the cause of Allah,
either by sponsoring them, saying little or nothing about their
killings, or suggesting that the killings have little or nothing to do
with religion, while looking for other examples that will support your
assertion? (of course non-Muslims do the latter but that is not the
point here).
If all the above
have a place in your holy book, I ask, is Islam really a religion of
peace? Or by peace, you mean for only adherents to Islam? And if they
have no place in your holy book, I ask, why is over 70% (modestly
speaking) of world terrorism attributed to Islam?
Truly,
I have known some of you one on one and have seen that you are
generally peaceful. So I ask, are you sure you are true Muslims? Beyond
what you or I have been told in our respective faiths, can we be open
minded and ask questions beyond our religious space? Even in our
religious space, do we confirm the truth about the teachings given to us
and assess the fruit of obedience to such teachings, on humanity?
I
want you to be Christians, and I believe you want or would not mind me
becoming a Muslim, but how can we have a chance if we cannot tolerate
one another and live in peace so we can have discussions and experiences
that could win me to your faith or vice-versa?
The
truth is, by experience and not just what you have been taught, you can
confidently live in a place surrounded by Christians, generally
speaking, but I cannot say that for me living in a place surrounded by
Muslims because though they might be peaceful for a while, a level of
provocation could make them act violently to the point of taking lives
and you wonder if these are the people you have always known.
In our present day Nigeria,
the truth is, if you see a violent Christian ready to kill a Muslim, it
will more likely be as a result of bitterness caused by the killing of
such Christian's loved one(s) by Muslim(s) because of a religious cause
(not talking about non-religious reasons) or as a matter of defense, and
not as a fulfillment of a religious instruction by God. Can same be
generally said about a violent Muslim wanting to kill a non-Muslim or
non-true-Muslim for whatever cause?
I
am not interested in "Christianizing" Nigeria because not all Nigerians
are Christians and that will negate the very principle of reaching out
to unbelievers with the gospel of Christ. I prefer a secular country
where conversion to any religion will be by the will of any individual
Nigerian. Do you honestly want same or you are in support of the idea of
"Islamizing" Nigeria? If you want same, how have you shown that from
your speech, deeds, and reaction to people who are protagonists of
"Islamization" of Nigeria ideology?
My
Muslim friends, let's call a spade a spade, being quiet or indifferent
about the killings in various parts of the country especially the North
is evil of us. Being supportive is of course evil. Being in denial of
the religious motivation of most of the killings in the North and
pockets of places in other areas of the country is not helping matters.
This is not denying the fact that ethnicity and other causes exist, but
religion is major.
If the
present situation is as a result of a fundamental foundation that
implies the country as Islamic from onset, now that reality is not the
case, shouldn't efforts be made towards dealing appropriately and
humanely with the situation?
My
friends, no matter the reaction to or negligence of this letter, I
simply want to tell us to do the right thing (as human beings who would
only do to other human beings what they want to be done back to them)
and to explain that not everyone is ignorant of what is happening.
Truth is, many loved ones will be concerned about me and my life because of this letter, and my question is, why?
I love you all because Jesus loves you.
Your loving unbelieving friend
Signed
O.F.
No comments:
Post a Comment
We love to hear from you!
THANKS.