FEATURE ARTICLE

Yahaya BalogunTuesday, May 30, 2017
[email protected]
Arizona, USA

RAMADAN: A MONTH OF SOUL SEARCHING FOR MUSLIMS!

amadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It comes once in a year. It is also a period that every Muslim takes stock of the past and stay away from sins and abstains or temporarily punctuates intake of foods, sexual Intercourse and other existential conveniences. It is a month of consequential reminder to ourselves to be mindful of our actions and inactions, and take more cognizant and care for the less privileged in the society.

The month of Ramadan is a period Muslims all over the world are expected to research their minds and take stock of their roles in a world in search of peace. Islam means peace, but the peace in our conscience today is the peace of the graveyard. In the past, the inadequacy of our actions to strongly condemn terrorists when they strike the innocent people, has put Muslims in a very suspicious position by those who don't even understand the beauty and tenets of Islam.

It is heartwarming now that Muslims are coming out to vehemently condemn the heinous crimes being perpetrated by these religious hoodlums in the name of Islam. Factually, these unrepentant fundamentalists do not even understand the religion they claim to defend. The religion that clearly declares that killing a fellow human beings is like killing the whole world. Justifiably or unjustifiably, exterminating other people's lives with no recourse to laws of the land should be humanly abominable and condensed to damnation.

Religion all over the world has been a culprit in the hands of the morons who misinterpreted it to suite their ghoulish and beastly ways of life. Those who kill and maim lives using Islam as an excuse and a shield or a canopy to perpetrate evils are less than 1% of 1.6 billion adherents of Islam. The pertinent question are: why do majority of Muslims maintain defeaning silent in the face of these heinous crimes against their folks and humanity? Why are the western media suppressing the few Muslims who clamor against these heinous crimes? Why are their voices not being loudly heard to prevent xenophobic reactions against Muslims?

The holy Quran has even expatiated succinctly that to kill innocent soul unjustly is like killing the whole world. Justifiably, when you defend yourself in the face of a potential tragedy or harm, it is a sacred justification against harm or assault. But when you wantonly exterminate lives gruesomely in the name of a religion, it is unperdonable and beyond indefensible. Islamically, terrorists are not true Muslims, their actions are antithetical to peace and the tenets of Islam.

According to Pew research, as of 2010, Christianity was by far the world's largest religion, with an estimated 2.2 billion adherents, nearly a third (31 percent) of all 6.9 billion people on Earth. The Pew report further says. Islam was second, with 1.6 billion adherents, or 23 percent of the global population as of April 2, 2015.

According to this American based Pew research organization, world's Muslim population will surpass Christians this Century. Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world with the estimated I.6 billion adherents growing more tangentially on a daily basis. The religion is under attacks by a small or minute percentage of the adherents; it is understandably under attacks or criticisms by those who are justifiably indisposed to maiming and killing of the innocent people in the society. Islam is currently the most misconceived and misunderstood religion in the world. Those who tagged Islam as religion of violence are reluctantly exonerated because less than 0.01% of the 1.6 billion adherents perpetrating the heinous crimes in the name of the religion discolored the remaining chunk of the percentage.

Christianity had been in the same strand in the past during the period of Contestine. But now, what you see is the invasion of the mind of the unsuspecting adherents. The inability to read and interpret the Holy Book for salvation has been the bane of today's Christianity. Instant gratification, ostentatious lifestyles and worldly prosperity have taken over the quest for eternal salvation.

The collective disembellishment of Islam by the terrorists and the evil-doers of the world should be a great concern to all good and true Muslimeen and Muslimaat in the world. Those who understand the tenets of Islam will appreciate the nuance that it is good they know Islam before they know "Muslims" i.e those who are true adherents and honestly practice Islam. The sublimity of the Islamic religion encompasses total submission to the will of God; compassion to our neighbors, giving alms to the poor people, love and tolerance to those who do not share our beliefs and showcase the moral and good content of our characters or our ways of life.

Muslims should collectively denounce every act of terrorism in the strongest possible term in every available circumstance. The wolves in the religion must be exposed and excommunicated to further embellish the beauty of Islam. I love mankind because I am not a sociopath, but I have aversion for these mindless morons who inhabited the world.

Based on my background, I am not in the art of sanctimonious irresponsibility to preach to the world, but I crave the indulgence of brothers and sisters in Islam to heed my little advice to make this world a habitable place for mankind. Religion should be a tool for man's advancement not for terror and gradually or total annihilation of humanity.

Interestingly, the most idiotic truths or suggestions in life are the ones we shying away from telling our fellow human beings. And keeping quiet in the face of tyranny will encourage and make extremism fester more in our midst or society. May we not be a sleeping giant in all existential and supreme matters in our lives. May we, through the Almighty God deliver ourselves from ourselves. Until we reorder our religious values with morality, we ain't gonna go anywhere. We need to be morally rearmed. This is the time to begin to disabuse the mind of those who genuinely have misconceptions about Islam.

Ramadam period is a period to leverage our influence positively on mankind; to be morally and religiously rearmed with good conscience to save humanity from belligerence and utter destruction. I wish all my Muslimeen and Muslimaat a rewarding month of Ramadan and after. Let us make this month to be a month of soul-searching, and make amend where necessary for our spiritual rejuvenation and happiness. Life is beautiful. Hereafter is even more beautiful.

Peace be unto you, peace be unto the world.

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