<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When Captain Jamil Abubakar, a former pilot of Azman Airline and son of the former Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, tweeted about the killing of Deborah Samuel many Nigerians were surprised. His tweet reads: \u201cIn Islam, we respect the Injil, Taura, Zabur, we were never taught to disrespect any of the book or any of the prophets from Adam to Muhammad SAW and the Quran. The punishment for blasphemy is death in most religions including Christianity. Respect people\u2019s religion, it\u2019s simple\u201d<\/em>. The shock of the above tweet came from the fact that this is the son of a former highest-ranking law enforcement officer in Nigeria and the fact that he is enlightened enough to possess the education and license of a commercial airline pilot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the past, many have concluded that such thinking was exclusive to uneducated Muslims or extremists, but from recent and past commentary whenever such incidents happen, it is clear this is the predominant belief of Muslims. From Professor Ibrahim Maqari \u2013 the Deputy Chief Imam of Abuja’s National Mosque who conducted the wedding of the daughter of President Muhammad Buhari, Zara to Almajiris on the street, this seems to be the prevailing mindset. Maqari tweeted after the barbaric killing from his verified Twitter handle: \u201cIt should be known to everyone that we the Muslims have some redlines beyond which MUST NOT be crossed. The dignity of the Prophet (PBUH) is at the forefront of the redlines. \u201cIf our grievances are not properly addressed, then we should not be criticized for addressing them ourselves.” <\/em>So, the question begging for an answer – Is Islam a violent religion?<\/strong><\/em> To many Nigerians, the above question is a no-brainer. Just imagine the mayhem that will engulf any community that kills a Muslim for saying anything disrespectful about Jesus Christ or Christianity like Sterling Bank that has a Muslim CEO – Mr. Abubakar Suleima recently did with their Easter message. The Easter message posted a few weeks ago, compared the resurrection of Jesus Christ with \u2018Agege Bread\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The tweets referenced earlier from Prof. Maqari and Pilot Abubakar are tweets from some of the most enlightened Muslims in Nigeria, yet some will be reluctant to say Islam is a religion with predominantly violent individuals. The painful part of the gruesome murder of Deborah Samuel is that she never said anything about Islam or any prophet in Islam. Yet, she was stoned to death and burned. This is not the first or one-thousandth time such is happening. And it will continue to happen because from the evidence of what has been happening in Nigeria and what the leaders and ordinary practitioners of Islam believe, tweet, say, and do, the sanctity of human life is close to zero. And peace is a concept they cannot comprehend and practice unless they have their say, day, and way. This phenomenon is not unique to Nigeria. From the custodian of Islam \u2013 the royal family of Saudi Arabia whose crown prince allegedly ordered the murder of a Saudi journalist – Jamal Khashoggi, to Boko Haram and the bandits kidnapping, killing, and destroying villages and communities, one can say Islam\u2019s credentials of being peaceful is highly questionable if their prominent adherents can give the justification they have been giving for the murder of Deborah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \ufeff<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ata Ukuta, Editor – Towncryyers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When Captain Jamil Abubakar, a former pilot of Azman Airline and son of the former Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, tweeted about the killing of Deborah Samuel many Nigerians were surprised. His tweet reads: \u201cIn…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7050,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[2363,940,824],"class_list":["post-7037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorials","tag-deborah-samuel","tag-islam","tag-religion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n