What Christianity And Islam Have In Common, By Harrison Akins
There are many people today who argue that Islam and Christianity are locked in a civilizational war, a view that has become a rationale for a number of the Trump administration’s policies.
This argument, however, is an inaccurate and simplistic assessment of the relationship between these two faiths. Quite distinct from the apocalyptic struggle many espouse, an examination of the foundations of the Islamic faith shows respect for Christianity.
Islam is part of the same Abrahamic tradition as Christianity. Key figures within the Bible — Abraham (Ibrahim), Moses (Musa), Mary (Maryam), and Jesus (Isa) among others — are all respected prophets and figures within Islam. There is a chapter in the Quran about Mary and, within the Quran, Jesus is the only person who can perform miracles.
Within Islam, Christians and Jewish people are therefore treated as “People of the Book” whose rights and religious traditions were to be fully protected as monotheistic faiths with revelations understood to be earlier versions of the same revelation to the Prophet of Islam.
The protection that Christian communities were meant to receive under Islam was enshrined in a letter of protection from Prophet Muhammad to the Christian monks at St. Catherine’s Monastery in Sinai in the early seventh century. This letter promised the monks that, under Islamic rule, the Christian community, as a “people of the book”, shall have the freedom to practice their religion and be protected from any unlawful interference or molestation, whether in their communities or while traveling. Distinct from a war with Christianity, Prophet Muhammad further stated, “No one shall bear arms against [Christians], but, on the contrary, the [Muslims] shall wage war for them.”
The respect that Muslims have for Jesus in particular is demonstrated by the verses of Hafez, the most famous and beloved of Muslim poets from the 14th century. In one stanza, he writes, “I am a hole in a flute that the breath of Christ moves through/Listen to this music.”
Ambassador Akbar Ahmed, the former Pakistani Ambassador to the UK and the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University, who I was privileged to have worked for as a researcher, reflects today this same admiration when he stated unequivocally in an interview, “For me as a Muslim, Jesus is the ultimate symbol in the Quran of compassion, love for humanity, piety, and simplicity.”
This kind of respect is not just a one-way street. Even America’s Founding Fathers spoke with admiration for Prophet Muhammad and respect for the rights of Islam in the United States. John Adams called the Prophet one of the world’s “sober inquirers after truth,” and Benjamin Franklin cited him as a model of compassion for the world.
The foundational principles of our country set down by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, who owned a copy of the Quran, was to be open and receptive to people of all religions, including Muslims who would be under the “mantle of [the law’s] protection”.
Far from a civilizational war, we see a situation in which two religions have much in common, but this commonality is too often lost in the turmoil and din of antagonistic voices who push a politics of fear and division.
There have been many problems and conflicts that have unfortunately existed between Christians and Muslims over the centuries, and will continue to exist, as the close relationship and theological bonds were forgotten under the pressures and priorities of contemporary politics. But these political conflicts do not negate this rich history and theology.
For many of the conflicts and challenges across the Muslim world, the Trump administration and politicians around the country should not be working to promote further conflict between Christianity and Islam through the frame of a civilizational war. They should, rather, focus on what is held in common between these two great world faiths in order to work together to solve any seemingly insurmountable issues.
Pushing these two faith communities further apart will do little to halt the mistrust and violence that currently exist and make any real problems even more difficult to solve.
Harrison Akins is a graduate research fellow at the University of Tennessee’s Baker Center for Public Policy. [myad]
Whistle-Blowing In An Economic Recession, By Zainab Suleiman Okino
That not all Nigerians accept corruption as a way of life and that the majority even abhors it is not in doubt; this has been demonstrated in the acceptability and efficacy of the whistle-blowers’ policy recently introduced by the federal government. Many are prepared to collaborate with the government to reduce corruption to the barest minimum, and even expose their ogas and relations engaged in corrupt practices, especially in lieu of the financial rewards attached to such exposés.
Buoyed by the success of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in recovering looted funds with the help of the new policy, the FG is considering expanding its scope to deal with the illegal possession of arms and ammunition. Arms proliferation has added a frightening dimension to the country’s security challenges, as Nigeria is known as a destination for illicit arms.
The whistle blowers’ policy was conceptualised by the Ministry of Finance to encourage the populace to report stolen or looted funds kept outside the banking system. Since the government began the implementation of the TSA and BVN, there has been no comfort zone for those who emptied the treasury, enriched themselves and rendered the country broke. Now, the federal government wants to replicate and extend the same to those in the illegal possession of arms for nefarious purposes.
One cannot blame the federal government; the APC-led administration has been in dire straits since it took over the mantle of leadership in 2015. The foreign reserves had been depleted considerably by the previous government and country’s stock of foreign exchange, depending on oil receipts for replenishment had falling to a very low level due to the massive plunge in oil price at the international markets, besides the pipeline vandalism and disturbances attendant upon the restiveness in the Niger-Delta region, largely resulting from the activities of the Niger-Delta Avengers. With this myriad of problems, the nation’s economy came to near comatose. An ingenious way of tackling the the various problems with the economy – particularly driven by corruption – became needed, hence the birth of the whistle bowers’ policy.
Originally, the skeptical public who had endured the government’s lack-lustre performance in fulfilling its campaign promises did not consider the novel policy capable of any success. However, the big break came with the EFCC’s discovery of looted monies (or alleged gifts) hidden in a decrepit building in a run down location in the Sabo Tasha suburb of Kaduna State, which was allegedly owned by the former Group Managing Director of NNPC. In quick succession, other monies were also found at the Kaduna airport and a market in Lagos, with the biggest of them located in a flat in a luxury highrise on Osborne Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, where over N13 billion was recovered.
Eager to shore up its sagging image and loss of popularity, the federal government is latching onto the workability of that process to expand the frontiers of the policy to include reining in on illegal weapons. The National Security Adviser, Major General Babagana Monguno (rtd) is said to have initiated a template for the discovery and recovery of illegal arms circulating illicitly in the country. According to the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, Monguno’s approach would focus on gun control. The mechanism, according to them, would also help to eradicate and prevent the illegal ownership of small arms and light weapons, which criminals maximise in terrorising or getting even with presumed enemies without recourse to the due process of litigation. Ditto with politicians who harbour arms for election-day violence, and who equally arm their thugs with weapons to harass their opponents. Meanwhile, arms are commonplace because our borders are porous and the provision of the law on them are either not sufficient, archaic or weak. The 1959 firearms act is yet to be amended despite our practise of civil rule in the past more than 17 years and being in the fourth democratic republic.
By far, this is about the most successful policy ever initiated by this government. On the economic front, the administration has failed woefully. In conjunction with the central bank, the federal government’s economic policy has been a resounding failure; it has only succeeded in pauperising Nigerians, as most families are unable to meet their basic needs. The costs of food have risen astronomically without a concomitant rise in citizens’ personal finances.
The government has been unable to manage its success after winning the 2015 election. Although Boko Haram was fought to a standstill, its vestiges still remain. Only last week the terrorist group sacked an army battalion and killed several soldiers and officers, not to talk of their attack on soft targets, through teenage suicide bombing. The party in power is in disarray. Instead of a cohesive party working in sync for the good of the people, what we see is a conclave of aggrieved members carving their own niche for the advancement of their interests.
The whistle blowing policy on illegal arms and weapons may be explosive and daunting. Although there is apprehension regarding whether it will work or not, in my own opinion, it is worth trying and it will work if government has the will to implement it, and is transparent about its operation.
The technical details that will go into the planning of the policy, how it would work, who will pay the whistle blower and the training of security personnel to handle such sensitive matters are not difficult to fix in the interest of the nation, if the government is determined to do it and the legal framework is clearly spelt out, such as the protection for the whistle blower and monetary inducement. The policy should be all encompassing without prejudice to political affiliation, status or ethnic consideration.
zainabsule@yahoo.com, www.zainabokino.blogspot.com [myad]