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Father Kukah, Saudi Arabia, and Christianity By Abdullah Musa Daily trust newspaper of 19 November, 2007, carried the views of two prominent Christians of African descent: Reverend Father Matthew Hassan Kukah, and Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu. While this article centres on what Father Kukah wrote with regards to the visit to the Vatican by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, some comments by Arch Bishop Tutu with regards to his Anglican Church would also be referred to. Father Kukah had endeavored to be known and respected within Northern Nigeria. He has a faith that is at variance with that of major tribes of the region. Men of intellect would endeavor to be in position to shape the affairs of people, in the belief that they know the right way to follow. In the case of Father Kukah, public service would translate into another facet of caring for the flock. In the field of politics, which he may not have entered in partisan manner, (except for the clandestine romance, if a Reverend knows such word, he had with Obasanjo’s Third term agenda) Reverend Moses Adasu had blazed the trail before him, as a priest in politics. Just by the side, I never really see Jolly Nyame as a Reverend. Was it because I only heard of him as a Governor, a position which he seemed like holding forever? Anyway, that is not our pre-occupation for now. Father Kukah was being optimistic that the visit of the King of Saudi Arabia would open a new possibility for better understanding between Muslims and Christians the world over. He was full of praise for the late Holy Father, (the Pope) who had reached out to all faiths, including Islam. So lavish were the praises, such that I, an outsider to the Church of Rome, felt that Father Kukah was sending a message to the current Pope to either shape up or… Father Kukah was thankful for the opportunity of visiting Qatar, where some acreage was made available to the Church to build. He even counted the attendees numbering up to 5000 in one service; it is possible attendance is taken in Churches, unlike in Mosques where we just troop in and out without record. (No mischief intended Reverend) Father Kukah was brave enough to acknowledge the immorality of the invasion and occupation of Iraq, and the continuous imprisonment of Palestinians. As a Muslim, I am grateful for the acknowledgement. He was also full of support of the Sultan of Sokoto’s recent mission to the United States, where he along side others signed a document for cooperation between faiths to ensure peace in the world. The known distinguishing feature of Kukah; which he employed with much skill in his numerous articles under the column: the Mustard Seed in the Sunday New Nigerian previously, was brought to bear in this article. He urged Saudi Arabia to grant the more than 1.5 million Catholic workers living in Saudi Arabia, mainly citizens of Philippines, the right to practice their faith openly. Father Kukah could not see any sense in the rejection of this request in so far as that Saudi Arabia does not find it obnoxious to use such labor, to fraternize with the West; and yet deny Christianity a foothold in their country? Father Kukah though an important personality, may not necessarily be able to forward his request to the King of Saudi Arabia, but may be the Pope could: some acreage in the Vatican for Mosques and Islamic centre, in return for some Church sites in Jeddah and Riyadh for starters! Father Kukah wanted the Kingdom to realize the generosity of the Western World where they allow Muslims to build Mosques and Islamic centres. But they also allow the building of brothels and gambling houses as well. Any way, that is even now no longer valid. With the purported war on terror, Muslims in the Western world are now basically haunted and hunted. The security agencies of the West are believed to be more divine than the Pope, and completely without human failings. Whatever the Western security agencies fabricate against Muslims stands as the truth without need for due process of law. Guantanamo Bay prison, secret prisons in Europe and elsewhere, makes one wish that the rights to building of the Mosques in the West be withdrawn. If the current Muslim population went to the West for its glitter and cheap food, let them eat and lose their faith. Now Father! Let us come back home. The main cause of conflict between Northern Muslims and Christians whether of Northern or Southern origin, is on their respective stand with regards to secular way of life. Secularism guarantees for one who decides to make a business out of alcohol to be free to do so; the gambler same. The homosexual should not be frowned upon, talk less of being ostracized. In the very same Daily Trust which Father Kukah wrote on King Abdullah, Arch Bishop Tutu was questioning the ‘obsession’ of his Church with the issue of gay priests. Why, with the prevalence of AIDS and other numerous problems should the Anglican Church be obsessed with the sexuality of its priests, he queried? And from where Arch Bishop, did the problem of AIDS spring from if not from homosexuality we ask? He went to the blasphemous extent, (from a Muslim’s perspective) that God would weep because of the atrocities we commit against each other. So Arch Bishop Tutu is a Bishop of a weak God, who ‘weeps’ because he is helpless against his creations! Repeatedly, we are being shown that religion is not about morality. What is it about then? A murderer should not be killed because he is a ‘sick’ person. Instead, the people whose relation he killed should contribute to feed and clothe him in a prison till the end of his life, through their payment of the obligatory tax, while their bread winner’s life was terminated mercilessly. Somebody takes to alcoholism willingly, then to hard drugs, which as a consequence leads him armed robbery. He kills to live, and then lives to kill. Yet we should not forbid the sale and consumption of alcohol Father Kukah! When your followers screamed blue murder against the implementation of Shariah, this was what they were screaming against. Permissiveness, promiscuity, all lead to the problem of Aids later on. Islam says you should stop evil from the roots. It is highly unlikely that Father Kukah should have such monumental intellect were he an alcoholic, yet amongst his followers many live from the proceeds of alcohol. If we differ, if we have conflict, it is because of our different standings in relation to evil practices: we reject secularism; you accept its supremacy over your institution, the Church. The problem of the world of today Father is the failure of secularism. Being ungodly, it brings death and destruction wherever it sets tent in. Western Europe, from where your faith sprung, had long accepted the supremacy of secularism. Eastern religions do not have any problem about alcohol or gambling. Their main obsession is to create wealth, and in doing so in the present world of Western hegemony, you need the support of the open markets of Europe and America. And they do not stand in need of your moral products. Father, there are so many areas we can cooperate upon, in order to make the world a better place to live in. Muslims may look the other way and not focus attention on your doctrinal assertion that Jesus is God. We believe he is not. But if you insist, the burden of defending your position in front of the Creator lies with you and not with us. What brings conflict is your insistence, (through the action of your flock) that booze must be allowed free flow; women can expose their goodies, (to which the Father is totally indifferent, and before which many of us are mesmerized, including a Catholic Clinton) and auction same to the highest bidder. There are of course political dimensions to the conflicts: the planned sermon of Reverend Bonke in Kano some years back was illustrative. What we recognize is that somehow there must be a reason why different faiths survived. We should endeavor to learn each others’ strong points and imbibe them, while also learning each others weaknesses and working against them. I commend Christian industry, and utmost striving for worldly knowledge, through which our earthly lives have been made much easier. I recommend to Father Kukah’s flock to imbibe the moral conduct of an average Muslim: no fornication, no alcohol, no gambling; all evils that threaten life and bring misfortunes in some cases in the forms of Aids and warfare. If the Vatican would cooperate to liberate Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan and the likes, it is for the Good Lord to reward them. As for a Church in Saudi Arabia, well, the Imam of the Grand Masjid is in a better position to answer. I would also not ask Father Kukah to reply with respects to an Islamic Centre in the Vatican, since the request has not even been made. For the mean time, a Sunday Shuttle train to Qatar might not be out of place.
Abdullah Musa |