Is there blood atonement in Islam?
BRETHREN, I remember I invited you to join me
in pondering the above verse of the last
testament last year. I equally remember that my
invitation to you was in response, not reaction,
to the news that those redoubtable elements that
have held parts of this nation down since close to
a decade now had done their worst again.
I remember I did seek your attention to
join me in exploring the above verse
with a view to knowing whether those
who have turned Yobe, Borno and
Adamawa into a hungry land and had
roguishly made away with close to 300
girls under the cover of the night could
actually be engaged in Islamically
sanctioned activity. Could the forceful
seizure of young, precocious and nubile
girls and boys and their heinous
conversion into Islam enjoy Quranic
validity? Is it possible that the Almighty
who has prohibited unwarranted
destruction of lives and properties
(Q5:32) would in the same breadth give
a warrant for some among His servants
to perpetrate same atrocities?
Brethren, after an excursus into and
around exegetical postures of our
forebears featuring such exemplars as
Ibn Abbas, Ibn Kathir, Abul Ala
Mawdudi among others, it is clear that
since the Almighty Allah is not and
would never author nor authorize
confusion, it would be an infraction of
the divine will for a Muslim or groups of
Muslims to forcefully seize young girls
and boys even in a state of war and
demand their conversion into Islam.
Such an action is antithetical and an
anathema to the divine will. It is
antithetical to the divine simply because
it is by His choice that we emerged into
the world, you and I, as agents capable
of making free choice either to be
Muslim, Christian or even ‘free-thinkers’.
In fact were the whole world to bear one
and one identity only, life on terrestrial
earth would have lost all its glamour.
Brethren, the reason we appreciate and
love goodness and righteousness is
simply because we recognize its
antithesis- evil and immorality. You
speak the truth because you know what
is false; paradise would lose its appeal in
the absence of hell.
But today’s sermon owes its birth to yet
another incident. A week ago, I went to
the university centre to process a
document. Seated at the entrance of the
office I ventured into were my fellow
countrymen. One of them held a
newspaper whose pages were ‘painted’
red with pictures of Iranians who were
marking what is known in the Muslim
world as the day of Ashura. I did not
know how or when the ‘discussion’
started but there was no way you would
have missed the subject matter- it was
Islam and Muslims. One of them said:
‘These Muslims would not cease doing
‘wonders’. Look at the way they are
bathing in their own blood. Is this
another injunction from the Quran?”
Without calling attention to my person, I
sought the permission of one of the
people engaged in the discussion to allow
me have a look at the newspaper and the
story in question. Lo and behold! the
newspaper featured graphic images of
Iranians who have inflicted wounds on
themselves and their bodies were
consequently soaked in blood. The
Islamic Republic of Iran, you would
remember is the bastion of the Shiite
ideology in the world. Its
commemorations of the Day of Ashura,
the tenth day in the first month of
Islamic lunar calendar, usually feature
rituals the validity of which lies outside
the Quran.
In other words, whereas some Shiites
mark the Ashura as a day of mourning
and grief based on the assumption that
since the day coincided with the murder
of Hussayn- one of the grandsons of
Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w)- only an
unknown ritual the like of which is
equally unknown to the companions of
the Prophet would befit the occasion.
The Sunni world, on the other hand,
usually celebrates the Ashura as the day
of victory- a day in which the Israelites
were freed from ‘Fir’awn’ of Egypt.
Though the killing of Hussayn took place
sixty-one years after the departure of the
Prophet from Makka, upholders of the
Shiite doctrines in such countries as
Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon,
Bahrain, and Pakistan have continued to
use the day to affirm their identity and
belief in a doctrine which lacks all
possible Prophetic sanction.
Desirous of dispelling ignorance, I told
the group that I met at the business
centre that the ritual of self-immolation
or blood atonement such as the Shi’ite
practice on the day of Ashura has no
legal backing. I added that the practice
equally constitutes a barratry of the
divine will which had, since the time of
Prophet Ibrahim (a.s) rendered spilling
of human blood as a form of worship a
nugatory. I quickly closed with a
footnote. I told my fellow countrymen
that all acts of worship in Islam have
been established by Allah in the Quran
and exemplified by His Prophet
Muhammad (s.a.w) in the course of
twenty-three years. Shiism and the Shiite
practices therefore are, as it is in legal
parlance, ultra vires.
Brethren, I thought my intervention
should put the discussion to a rest. But
that was not to be. This is probably
because life on the street admits of no
closure. An elderly man who had all
along presided over the discussion then
said the following which to him was the
summary of my intervention: ‘what you
are saying is that there are many things
you Muslims are doing that are against
the dictates of your religion”! I paused
for a moment and then sent a riposte:
“Unfortunately that is true. Yes. It is true
of contemporary Muslim world where
Islam in the text is constantly being
negated by Muslim contexts. Yes it is
true. It is also true of other religions:
there are many things being done in the
name of, for example, Jesus Christ from
which the latter would take flight should
he stage his return today”!
Brethren, as I took my leave of the
querulous scene, I recalled many
atrocities being perpetrated by some
Muslims in the name of Islam. I
remember some other cultural practices
that have been coded and labeled
‘Islamic” in order that they may enjoy
acceptability by the uninformed section
of the Muslim Ummah.
Brethren, please reflect on this: a
meeting was convened between Shiites
and Sunni scholars years ago. Only one
Sunni Scholar attended the meeting –
Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal (r.a). He
walked in late to the meeting holding his
sandals under his armpit. The Shiite’
scholars were said to have looked at him
and asked: “Why have you entered
holding your sandals?” Imam Ahmad
replied: “I heard that the Shiites in the
Prophet’s time used to steal sandals”. So
the Shiite scholars looked at one another
in confusion and replied: “There was no
Shiites in the Prophet’s time.” Then,
Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal said: “This
ends our discussion. Where did you get
your religion from? (08122465111 for
texts only)
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