About 5 full moons and 3 eclipses later, I just remembered I had an online village square, with yours truly the only inhabitant. I am the king and also a subject.
I am sitting here on the train at Greenhithe, held up by a red light on the track, en route somewhere in Central London. While we wait for the red light, green light Squid Game to end, I remembered a conversation I had with a friend a few days ago, flipped out my laptop, and decided to pen this. Out of the blue, I was asked, “So Lukman, are you like a Muslim… Muslim, like the concerning ones, or just Muslim?” How do I even respond to that? It’s not the first time I have been asked this kind of question, but it is the first time I’ve been asked this directly.
So today, as the red light whistle went off, my mind began racing and dancing around the question instead of the giant effigy in front of me. I know who a Muslim is. The person who believes in God as the only entity worthy of worship and accepts Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) as his last and final messenger. The person who accepts that every good that happens to them, every bad, and all in between, all happened by the permission of God. The one who worships and supplicates directly to his Creator, gives charity, and pays zakat (tax on one’s wealth). The one who is kind, respectful and compassionate to others, gives charity and helps those in need. Moreover, the Muslim is the one who is honest and trustworthy, and treats parents, family and neighbours with respect. He or she forgives others and avoids hatred and revenge, and avoids harming others through words or actions. I could go on and on. This is who I know a Muslim to be, from the sacred texts and from the lessons I learnt from my parents and my community.
So who then is the Muslim Muslim?
If I told you that I did not understand what they meant when I was asked “Are you Muslim… Muslim, or just Muslim?”, I’d be lying. You see, lots of Muslims have not made it easy for non-Muslims to see, feel or experience the beauty of Islam. We sometimes appear intolerant, often aggressive, easily baited, and leave the door to our emotions ajar. Sometimes we are viewed through the lens of a mean kid with a magnifying glass, frying ants. Geopolitics also hasn’t helped. The happenings in the Middle East and other places around the world, terrorists cosplaying as Muslims in Northern Nigeria and other parts of the Sahel, help fuel the narratives of the anti-Muslim Islamophobes. Take the case of “Tani Olorun,” the Ifa devotee convert in my own state of Ilorin. Beating and harassing him, with the police involved, is very far from what the Prophet taught. So the person asking the question is probably looking at me through the lens of intolerance, extremism, or aggression, like the media-portrayed or Boko Haram-defined ones.
So let me say it here. There is nothing like Muslim… Muslim. There is just Muslim.
Let us take, for example, the issue of feeling safe around a Muslim. There are three hadiths that immediately put the assumptions of the questioner to rest.
- Sahih al-Bukhari 10: The Prophet Muhammad said, “A Muslim is the one who avoids harming people with his tongue and hands.”
- Sahih al-Bukhari 6016: The Prophet repeated three times, “By Allah, he is not a believer!” When asked who, he replied, “The one whose neighbour does not feel safe from his harm.”
- Sunan an-Nasa’i 4995: The Prophet stated, “The Muslim is the one from whose tongue and hand the people are safe, and the believer is the one from whom the people’s lives and wealth are safe.”
And the Holy Qur’an, which guides all that we do, says in Chapter 5, Verse 32:
“Because of that, We ordained for the Children of Israel that if anyone killed a person not in retaliation for murder, or to spread mischief in the land, it would be as if he killed all mankind, and if anyone saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of all mankind. And indeed, there came to them Our Messengers with clear proofs, evidences, and signs, even then, after that, many of them continued to exceed the limits (e.g. by doing oppression unjustly and exceeding beyond the limits set by Allah by committing the major sins) in the land.”
And the Qur’an and Hadith are littered with such verses and admonitions for us.
Anything anyone does outside the injunctions of Allah and His Prophet is deemed extreme and a transgression. Allah says in the Qur’an, Chapter 5, Verse 77:
“Say, ‘O People of the Book! Do not go to extremes in your faith beyond the truth, nor follow the vain desires of those who went astray before you. They misled many and strayed from the Right Way.'”
To end this, it does not mean that all Muslims are perfect. At least some of us live this reality daily. We are a mix of all that is good and bad, like the watchers described in the Book of Enoch (1 Enoch 61:6).
Anyway, my red light, green light Squid Game continues. The light is now green and I must start running to the giant effigy in front of me. Else…!