|
Nigeria: The Most Religious Country in the World By Ahmad
Kollere According to the recently conducted research by the BBC entitled “what the world thinks of God” featured on 08/05/04. Nigeria as a whole, despite the diversity of its people appears to be the only country in the world, as it now exists, with the highest percentage rate (98%), which acknowledges the existence of God, as for the rest of the world the percentage rating goes down, the least being the researchers host country Great Britain. No doubt, sources shows that since independence in 1960, the great majority of people in the country are classified either as Muslims or Christians, and religious freedom is allowed in its constitution. This kind of research is gigantic as well as tasking, because it involves the whole world of mankind and how it believes or disbelieves in the existence of its Creator. This issue deals directly with how Godly or Godless, and by extension how religious or irreligious the people of today’s world are.
Just
like the attempt by Darwin to explain the origin of species, some men
were equally bothered with the origin of social institutions in the
society. Religion happens to be the chief among social institutions;
this is because it is divine, it gives members of the society a general
framework and serves as an important mechanism within which they
function as humans. Without worship there can never be religion, because
worship is the purpose for which the creator created his creation.
Despite that some societies do not care whether or not religion is such
an important institution in their lives. This may arise due to lack of
concern for accepting and understanding the existence of divine creator
or having a “chicken and egg dilemma” situational problem for
creation itself and this life. Harun
Yahya, the contemporary Islamic scholar that chase off Darwinism and all
other godless ideologies beyond the Recycle Bin, in his book “Allah
Exists” argues that no lengthy research is needed to understand the
existence of God, because if one is to live in a room from the day he is
born, countless pieces of evidence in the room alone will be enough for
him to grasp the existence of God. However,
it is usually the Western man and those that their consciousness is
conquered by white man civilization deny the existence of god by being
extremely irreligious, exhibiting an unmanageable fear for religion
thereby maintaining a deep interest for destroying the very basis of
religion. An instance for this is clearly observed in the aforementioned
research when 37% of Britain believes that David Berckam is more
influential than god (O Allah I seek refuge in you from unbelief and the
whispering of the cursed Satan). This is the most primitive, nonsensical
and callous view in today’s world. No any serious mind can hold such
unforgivable view. Even the ancient scientist and thinkers, or the most
skeptic stand regarding the unknowability of creation have never ignored
the influence of Supreme Being in favor of a living being so common to
humans like this. This kind
of research conspicuously reveals how dreadful to the way of god some
people are, and how easily people make mistake, they tend to take god as
some kind of joke, imaginary or even mythical. This is a total deviation
from the path of truth that depicts no sign of guidance in their way of
life. Allah is most patient and by His leave awaits every soul to
account for it deeds on a day only known by Him. Religion
from the Islamic point of view is known as “deen” which Ibn Taymiyah
in his Al-‘Ubudiyyah described as submission, which also stands to
mean worshipping and obeying Allah (S.W.T.) by being humble towards Him.
Islam tells us about our Creator, His identity and why He created us.
For that Muslims do not have any problem with creation and the Creator. Because
it is divine, religion comes God, the ultimate creator of the universe
and all that exist. God has sent His messengers throughout history so as
to give us- humans a guiding principle towards understanding Him and the
purpose of this life. The performance of these prophets of God in
conveyance of divine messages is of great importance to mankind. Evidently, in Qur’an 14 (sura Ibrahim) verse 1&4, it
says “Alif Laam Ra. O Muhammad! This is a book, which We have revealed
to you so that you may bring mankind out of utter darkness (ways of
ignorance) to the light; by the leave of their Rabb, to the way of the
Mighty, the Praiseworthy Allah”. “We have not sent any rasool
(messenger) except that he speaks the language of his own people, so
that he could explain to them clearly. Then Allah leaves in error whom
He will and guide whom He pleases: He is the Mighty, the Wise”.
Therefore, whether we recognize or deny the existence of Allah, He is
the ultimate creator and sustainer of all things that we see and know,
and we are His slaves. These
prophets are humans; hence, they were equally tested with the burden of
understanding of the concept of God before they were commissioned as
prophets or messengers from Allah (S.W.T). Prophet Ibrahim or Abraham (A.S.)
probably serves as a good example of this test for the knowledge of God.
Right from childhood Ibrahim was bothered with the way and manner his
community adore strange statues (idols) thereby worshipping things that
were made with their own hands. For that Ibrahim did not only reject
idol worshipping but hated it. This gave him the much-needed impetus for
looking at life with all seriousness and a devotion to the great quest
for truth. In an attempt to do that, he has to adequately be prepared to
convince his people that what they are doing is not right. After
acquiring spiritual education as the Qur’an tells he cautioned his
father not to worship that which cannot hear or see nor help him at all.
Also in sura 6 (Al-an’ am or the cattle) verses 74-75 it states
“Tell them about Ibrahim who said to Azar, his father; Are you taking
idols for Gods? Surely, I see you and your people in manifest error”.
“We showed Ibrahim the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, as
we show you the examples from nature so he became one of the firm
believers”. Ibn Katheer in his “stories of prophets” states that
Allah bestowed on Ibrahim laudable rectitude made him His prophet and
chose him to be His close one when he grew old. Before
Ibrahim made that invaluable statement to his father and off course his
people, he has undergone several stages of spiritual enlightenment,
which qualified him for this prophetic mission as described by the
Qur’an. The religion of Islam lights up darkness around its believers by guiding and directing people to overall achievement and peace. Thus, Islam gives and guarantees security of life to whoever believes in it. Ibn Taymiyah argues that the hearth is inherently in need of its lord (Allah) to worship and to seek for help, without which the hearth can never ever find solace entirely. For Muslims, I believe highest level of achievement means to become totally subservient to Allah. This means being free from pains and agonies of life as a whole, because Islam is the only religion that builds formidable bridge between this life “dunya” and the next “ahkira”. However, Nigeria as the most populous black African nation is very free in terms of religion or worship and has countless opportunities. The country is abundantly blessed with natural resources, vast land and talented human resource. In spite of all these, for its people god consciousness seems to be different from god fearing. To be godly by definition is to be religious, which also means totally following the dictates of ones faith without allowing any negation to occur. But in Nigeria something is amiss in that direction. There are still a lot of questions that need to be adequately answered before we can confidently infer that Nigeria is a God conscious country. Nigerian sense of God is totally not in congruence with actions or social existence of its citizenry, because the country as it is today stands to be a society of all ills in whatever aspect. This can be observed in different perspectives. Honesty, obedience and commitment to divine rules have been relegated to the background or even shrouded to obscurity, while corruption and vice haven taken firm position in the society. Accepted norms and values do not receive conformity. The Noble and god fearing people have no place but oblivion. Our leaders are ungodly and pursue ill motivated plans; they do not operate within any divine blueprint of action. Unqualified, fraudulent and deceitful officials characterize establishments and government organs. Elected representatives have become mediocres and representing nobody but their own self. The privileged have no feelings for the less privileged. The opulent is craving to maintain standard by causing impoverishment for others. The poor is myopic, ungrateful and have no sense of perseverance. Teachers have become cheaters; they teach nothing but victimization and castigation thereby truncating our future. Religious leaders have become supporters of any government in power thereby making themselves praise singers. Parents no longer control and foster valued morals for their children. Wide gaps have been created between extended family members. Children lack respect and discipline that will help positively in shaping their mental development. The youth are very sensational and indulge themselves to all kinds of abominations; they lack basic training for futuristic roles. Today Nigeria’s future is built on a cobweb structure and its image is fading away everyday. Supposing there is a visitor in Nigeria for the first time, he comes either as a tourist, businessman or a scholar, it is obvious that his first impression will disappoint or alter his earlier perception of the nation and its people. As a student of society, I have met and discussed extensively with many non-Nigerians around, and have seen and heard their views, in fact, some say that an average Nigerian is seemingly not trustworthy, lacking patriotism and vulnerable to connive with non-indigenes so as to loot public treasures. This is a popular account even among Nigerians themselves. Everybody is saying the country is degenerating and nobody seems to be doing anything. The entire above scenario is not unconnected with how people view their god. This condition has cultivated mistrust and tension among us; it will lead us to become victims of paranoia (excessive distrustfulness of others) and melancholia (extreme depression). The situation is completely a tragic one; the stigma is hard to be erased. A lot more need to be done in order to correct these anomalies. Perhaps we need a psychological re-orientation towards understanding god and the next life. We also need to find out our goals in this life, which in turn must facilitate our journey to the next life. We should, as a matter of seriousness follow religious dogma and be fatalistic. For instance, if your religion tells you not to receive bribe otherwise you know the penalty for that action and it is unchangeable because it is a divine injunction, why will you do so? Religion has vividly explained the two paths of right and wrong and their respective consequences. Accordingly, The Qur’an says (sura 4, verse 165) “ messengers are bearers of good news as well as of warning in order that mankind should have no plea against Allah after the messengers. Allah is indeed Almighty, Wise”. I believe, whichever path we chose, we will have no excuse for ignorance to offer our creator on the day of recompense, the day which Allah promise reward or punishment awaiting the generality of mankind and Allah never breaks His promise. I ask Almighty Allah to bestow righteousness, positive change, peace and bliss, justice and happiness for Nigeria. May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon Muhammad, upon his family, and upon all his companions and followers up to the last day. Ahmad
Kollere Maiduguri, 23/05/04. bi_akkor@yahoo.com ***
|