Islamophobic reactions
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- Category: Philosofaith
- Written by M. U. Ndagi
- Hits: 1126
After the September 11, 2001 (or 9/11 as it has come to be widely called) attack on the World Trade Center (WTC) and the Pentagon; Muslims and Islam were labeled with names that are synonymous with terrorists or terrorism. Further Islamophobic reactions of the United States after the 9/11 tragedy include the fact that Muslims who had names similar to those of suspected hijackers of the planes that crashed at the WTC and the pentagon were denied entry visas into America on the basis that their names were similar to those on the wanted list of suspected hijackers by the Bush administration.
Events that complicated the recent Boko Haram crisis and those that succeeded the uprising indicate that, like the 9/11 crisis, it was not without Islamophobic reactions. During the Boko Haram crisis, innocent Muslims with bearded faces or dates in their hands or pockets were extra-judicially killed by the police in Maiduguri, Borno State. Keeping beards (as a prophetic tradition) and dates (fruits eaten by Muslims and non-Muslims alike) became identical with Boko Haram. Muslims, thus, rushed in the heat of the crisis in large numbers to have their beards shaved for fear of becoming victims of extra-judicial killings. This, as reported in the media, raised the cost of shaving beards in Maiduguri from N100 to N2, 000!
I was privileged to be in Osogbo, capital of Osun State of Nigeria between 11th and 14th August 2009 to attend the 28th National Conference of the Nigeria Association of Teachers of Arabic and Islamic Studies (NATAIS). You can be sure that, given the name of the Association, many members of this Association would, as a prophetic tradition (Sunnah), have long beards as many were also likely to be wearing long robes (otherwise called Jallabiyyah). Little did we know after our arrival in Osogbo that beards or long robes have become insignia by which Boko Haram members are identified by the Nigeria police until heavily armed policemen in their dozens pulled in at Unity School Osogbo, venue of the Conference at about 7.00am on Wednesday August 12, 2009. According to the police, intelligence reports showed that we have been sighted as suspected members of Boko Haram who were allegedly grouping in Osogbo for undisclosed missions. The Osun State Governor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, had sent his deputy to represent him at the opening ceremony, which earlier took place on Tuesday August 11, 2009 under police protection. We therefore found it ironical that the same police showed up later to arrest us for wearing long beards and turbans! That is just one of the many Islamophobic reactions against innocent Muslims in Nigeria.
I was not too surprised at the action or reaction of the police especially the rank and file owing to their awkward understanding and ‘third-world’ (or even fifth-world) approach to issues. The police in this case had no reason to suspect professors and academic scholars of Arabic and Islamic Studies from Nigerian universities and other tertiary institutions as members of the Boko Haram sect, bearing in mind that the Osun State Governor, Prince Oyinlola, had arranged to host us to a dinner at 7.00pm in his official residence at the Government House Osogbo. The police, we assume, behaved in the way they did because their mentality, like that of many Nigerians, is customized towards seeing all Muslims as criminals when one or a group of Muslims allegedly does wrong. This appears also to be the official mindset of the Nigerian government which is manifest in her reactions to issues of this nature.
It took the intervention of a former president of the Association who is the current Osun State Commissioner for Local Government, Chieftaincy Affairs and Community Development, Professor Muhib Opeloye (a professor of Islamic Studies) before the angry-looking policemen were withdrawn from the venue of our conference. His prompt action to get in touch with the Osun State Commissioner of Police averted what could possibly have led to some other extra-judicial killings!
An apology was later tendered for the security embarrassment. Nonetheless, the dinner to which Governor Oyinloloa hosted us at the Government House Osogbo pacified the tension built earlier in the morning by the police in Osogbo. The kind of reception accorded us at the dinner, by the Governor, has never been extended to our association by even a local government chairman even though our National Conference has been hosted by nearly all states in the north and southwest of the country. It takes some people wisdom to break records or make history.
We also consider it Islamophobic and hypocritical for Nigerian government to apologize to the United Nations over the extra-judicial killings of suspected Boko Haram leaders and other innocent victims while the lips of the same government have refused to condole with families of innocent victims of the crisis here in Nigeria. We are prompted by this and other insincere manifestations of government to assert that the re-branding train of Akunyili took off from a wrong station. The train should have started its journey from the Aso Rock villa, stopping over at the palaces of our traditional rulers, before reaching the masses’ station.
An Appeal to Mr. President:
In the spirit of Ramadan which is full of spiritual amnesty, this column calls on President Umaru Yaradua and those concerned with the endless detention of Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, Col Jibrin Bala Yakubu, CP James Danbaba and CSP Rabo Lawal to bring their prolonged trial to a fair conclusion. May Allah guide those concerned with their detention and trial to realize that there is a day called ‘Day of Judgment’.
Articles
Islamophobic reactions
Category: Philosofaith Written by M. U. Ndagi Hits: 1126
After the September 11, 2001 (or 9/11 as it has come to be widely called) attack on the World Trade Center (WTC) and the Pentagon; Muslims and Islam were labeled with names that are synonymous with terrorists or terrorism. Further Islamophobic reactions of the United States after the 9/11 tragedy include the fact that Muslims who had names similar to those of suspected hijackers of the planes that crashed at the WTC and the pentagon were denied entry visas into America on the basis that their names were similar to those on the wanted list of suspected hijackers by the Bush administration.
Events that complicated the recent Boko Haram crisis and those that succeeded the uprising indicate that, like the 9/11 crisis, it was not without Islamophobic reactions. During the Boko Haram crisis, innocent Muslims with bearded faces or dates in their hands or pockets were extra-judicially killed by the police in Maiduguri, Borno State. Keeping beards (as a prophetic tradition) and dates (fruits eaten by Muslims and non-Muslims alike) became identical with Boko Haram. Muslims, thus, rushed in the heat of the crisis in large numbers to have their beards shaved for fear of becoming victims of extra-judicial killings. This, as reported in the media, raised the cost of shaving beards in Maiduguri from N100 to N2, 000!
I was privileged to be in Osogbo, capital of Osun State of Nigeria between 11th and 14th August 2009 to attend the 28th National Conference of the Nigeria Association of Teachers of Arabic and Islamic Studies (NATAIS). You can be sure that, given the name of the Association, many members of this Association would, as a prophetic tradition (Sunnah), have long beards as many were also likely to be wearing long robes (otherwise called Jallabiyyah). Little did we know after our arrival in Osogbo that beards or long robes have become insignia by which Boko Haram members are identified by the Nigeria police until heavily armed policemen in their dozens pulled in at Unity School Osogbo, venue of the Conference at about 7.00am on Wednesday August 12, 2009. According to the police, intelligence reports showed that we have been sighted as suspected members of Boko Haram who were allegedly grouping in Osogbo for undisclosed missions. The Osun State Governor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, had sent his deputy to represent him at the opening ceremony, which earlier took place on Tuesday August 11, 2009 under police protection. We therefore found it ironical that the same police showed up later to arrest us for wearing long beards and turbans! That is just one of the many Islamophobic reactions against innocent Muslims in Nigeria.
I was not too surprised at the action or reaction of the police especially the rank and file owing to their awkward understanding and ‘third-world’ (or even fifth-world) approach to issues. The police in this case had no reason to suspect professors and academic scholars of Arabic and Islamic Studies from Nigerian universities and other tertiary institutions as members of the Boko Haram sect, bearing in mind that the Osun State Governor, Prince Oyinlola, had arranged to host us to a dinner at 7.00pm in his official residence at the Government House Osogbo. The police, we assume, behaved in the way they did because their mentality, like that of many Nigerians, is customized towards seeing all Muslims as criminals when one or a group of Muslims allegedly does wrong. This appears also to be the official mindset of the Nigerian government which is manifest in her reactions to issues of this nature.
It took the intervention of a former president of the Association who is the current Osun State Commissioner for Local Government, Chieftaincy Affairs and Community Development, Professor Muhib Opeloye (a professor of Islamic Studies) before the angry-looking policemen were withdrawn from the venue of our conference. His prompt action to get in touch with the Osun State Commissioner of Police averted what could possibly have led to some other extra-judicial killings!
An apology was later tendered for the security embarrassment. Nonetheless, the dinner to which Governor Oyinloloa hosted us at the Government House Osogbo pacified the tension built earlier in the morning by the police in Osogbo. The kind of reception accorded us at the dinner, by the Governor, has never been extended to our association by even a local government chairman even though our National Conference has been hosted by nearly all states in the north and southwest of the country. It takes some people wisdom to break records or make history.
We also consider it Islamophobic and hypocritical for Nigerian government to apologize to the United Nations over the extra-judicial killings of suspected Boko Haram leaders and other innocent victims while the lips of the same government have refused to condole with families of innocent victims of the crisis here in Nigeria. We are prompted by this and other insincere manifestations of government to assert that the re-branding train of Akunyili took off from a wrong station. The train should have started its journey from the Aso Rock villa, stopping over at the palaces of our traditional rulers, before reaching the masses’ station.
An Appeal to Mr. President:
In the spirit of Ramadan which is full of spiritual amnesty, this column calls on President Umaru Yaradua and those concerned with the endless detention of Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, Col Jibrin Bala Yakubu, CP James Danbaba and CSP Rabo Lawal to bring their prolonged trial to a fair conclusion. May Allah guide those concerned with their detention and trial to realize that there is a day called ‘Day of Judgment’.