The tragic incident involving Shi'ite
Muslims in the ancient city of Zaria over the weekend, which led to the death
of dozens of people, was sad, regretful and avoidable. Many have written and
spoken about how it happened, who is to blame and how the clash was inevitable
between the Nigerian army and the followers of Sheik Elzakzaky. I don't think I
have anything new to add on that angle.
What this commentary intends to highlight is observations
made regarding the aftermath of the incident. The first observation that was
apparent and rather surprising to me is that in Nigeria today, not all
followers of the Islamic faith are considered Muslims by all Muslims.
The second observation is that, sectarian affiliation is now
slowly becoming stronger than the brotherhood that Islam advocates and actively
encourages. This means that many people nowadays identify themselves first, as
members or followers of a particular sect or Sheik, before they see themselves
as Muslims covered under one big umbrella.
One can argue that there is nothing wrong in belonging or
identifying with a particular religious sect as long as we truly believe in its
doctrine. On the surface this sounds ok, but when you dig deep then you will
realize the downside of such argument.
What happens when we identify with a sect and begin to hold
firmly to its doctrine which we normally receive through some precarious selected
sheiks is that, our quest for knowledge and understanding of the Islamic faith
start to significantly narrow. Once on this path, it is an expressway that
leads to one of two destinations; the devil’s condominium or the deep blue sea.
The former alter our DNA and makes us to become zombies’ a.k.a extremists, we
try to impose our views on people and tag whoever refuses to accept our view as
an infidel or a non-believer. The latter transform’s us to robots. We end up
believing whatever our sheik reveals as the gospel truth. A truth we hold on to
even when we are challenged with superior argument based on scripture, learned
classical scholars and even general consensus.
How does all these relate to the incident in Zaria? It
relates because we are what we think! The way many people view and responded to
the tragedy was a clear reflection of what they like or don't like, their
religious inclination and sectarian affiliation. What is even more interesting
is that many don't even know this. They actually think they are giving an
objective assessment of the situation without any bias. Not knowing that they
are actually being influenced by what psychologist call exaggerated emotional
coherence (Halo effect). The world renowned psychologist Daniel Kahneman
described the 'halo effect' to be the tendency to like, or dislike everything
about a person (a group, or a situation) including things you have not
observed. How the halo effect works is for example, you like President Buhari's
politics, you’ll probably like the way he talks, dress or even the way he waves
as well! This works the same way if you hate his politics.
Knowing the psychology behind how people think and see
issues did not reduce my shock in any way when I saw people actually
celebrating the death of Shiites in the hands of the Nigerian military after
the tragic events. Human life is sacred; it should never be dehumanised based
on religious affiliations! Even if for argument sake we agree that the Shiites
and Elzakzaky in particular are to be blamed for provoking the army, it still
shouldn't justify celebrating or being indifferent to the loss of dozens of
lives.
The only positive I can take out of this whole quagmire is
that, I now see clearly the hypocrisy of the typical so called Nigerian Sunni
Muslim. He criticises, curse and denounce (with the slightest of opportunity)
the actions of Israel and the west when they kill Palestinians, Arabs or
Muslims around the world. Only for him to turn around in jubilation and a state
of adoration on death of his fellow neighbours at home.
Let us pray!
MIG
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