Deborah was killed on alleged blasphemy
When acknowledging Jesus became an act of blasphemy
By Ada Ibe
The gruesome murder and burning of Debora Samuel, a young Christian college girl in Sokoto State, North-West Nigeria the penultimate day brings to the fore, a mind-intriguing question about what constitutes blasphemy in the Islamic religion. If there is template for blasphemy, as a Nigerian, one needs to study the template and internalise it properly in order to stay alive. Yes. The leaders of this country have defiled the constitution and enthroned their preferred state religion. The government should finish up this agenda by enlightening the whole populace on the acts that constitutes blasphemy is Islam.
Multiple accounts of the incident said Debora was killed by her classmates because she acknowledged that Jesus helped her do well in her exams. An account narrated: ”She did well in her last examination. On the WhatsApp group she shared with her colleagues and classmates, she attributed her success to hard work and the blessing of God. “I thank Jesus for my success,” she enthused on the group page. Some of her colleagues, mostly males, objected to her praising Jesus on the WhatsApp page and asked her to apologise. She refused. She argued that praising Jesus cannot be an offence”.
But classmates insisted that what she just did was tantamount to blasphemy. She would not agree with them.
In Christianity, the Bible admonishes Christians to acknowledge God in all their ways. Proverbs 3:5-6 says: “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths”. What Debora did was nothing else rather than acknowledging God, in obedience to precepts of her religion. But her classmates called it blasphemy. The school children did not wait for Islamic clerics to interpret the situation, they took Islamic laws into their hands and killed the young girl.
to memory a lot of cases of blasphemy which resulted in instant death. However, Debora’s case throws up question over what actually constitutes blasphemy in the Islamic religion.
In Nigeria today, especially in the Northern part of the country, Christians live and go about their daily lives like ghosts—half-dead and half-alive. This is because one does not know when the dry leaves they step on would turn into naked wires. Unfortunate incidents happen everyday and people lose their lives. Like in most religions, blasphemy is a sin. While some other religions like Christianity allow God to avenge for Himself when blasphemed, Islamic religion particularly offer instant death for exchange of blasphemy against God or the prophet.
Nigeria is a secular state; not a religious one which could be governed by religious laws like Sharia law. The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria recognises the freedom of worship. That means that citizens are at liberty to choose for themselves which god to worship. Christians should be at liberty anywhere in the country to profess their belief system, same way the Muslim should be at liberty to profess Islamic religion. Citizens who believe in other gods should also be allowed to profess what they believe in. It beats all imaginations that a sect could claim that their religion is superior to others not just unto a level of argument or debate but stretch same to the unfortunate level of killing a dissenting voice. This is absurd and sad. Worse still is that the Government treats serious issues like this with kids-gloves. The body language of the President, Muhammadu Buhari suggests Islamisation and Nigerians should just accept it and be cautious. Nigerians, especially Christians living in the Northern part of Nigeria should be cautious because their rights of freedom of worship is not protected by any length or breath.
Adanna Ibe sent this piece from Lagos, Nigeria.
Recent Comments