Islamic history has told us that when things got tough for early Muslims in Makkah in the 6th Century, Saudi Arabia, when their businesses were being destroyed, when their dignity as human beings was being debased and when their lives could no longer be guaranteed, the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad (SAW), asked some of them to migrate to Ethiopia, a Christian land and civilization, to escape maltreatment from pagan Arabs and find peace, love and protection in the hands of a Christian king, Negus of Ethiopia. But the Makkan pagan leadership thought that given the strength of business relations between them and Ethiopia, they went to Ethiopia and told King Negus not to receive the Muslims. They said they were runaway slaves. And that they claimed that they disrespect Jesus. But King Negus was a fair, man of God. He called the Muslims and asked them to tell him what their scripture said about Jesus. And when they read to him some portions from the Chapter Maryam (Mary, the mother of Jesus), the King came down from his throne and said, 'We are one and the same. There is no significant difference between us. You are my brothers. This is your land.' King Negus sent the Makkan ambassadors away, fed his Muslim guests, clothed them and protected them.
My prayer is that the newly inaugurated Pope Francis I, other Christian leaders and all Muslim leaders would follow in this historic footstep of this noble Christian king. I am very optimistic because, the stories that we have heard about Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio were those of a true, kind-hearted man, a humble man who gave up the limousines for public transport, a scholar who is deeply attached to the true teachings of Jesus Christ as he read them and a man who seeks for nothing but to please God. I therefore welcome Pope Francis to the leadership of 1.2 billion Catholics around the world and pray that God almighty will help him improve relations within Christendom and between Christianity and the Muslim World.
As we go through these troubled times in our country, and in the spirit of this hope and prayer, let me share with you a long piece written and presented by my friend Engr.
Zayyan Yabo (a Muslim) in 2006 when he was invited to address the Convention of Young Catholic Students of Nigeria in Nkpor, Anambra State.
Thanks and God bless.
INTERFAITH BRIGDE-BUILDING – AN URGENT TASK OF OUR TIME
BY
ZAYYAN TAMBARI YABO
(then Admin Secretary, National Youth Council of Nigeria, National Headquarters, Abuja,
zayyanyabo@yahoo.com)
DURING THE CONVENTION OF YOUNG CATHOLIC STUDENTS OF NIGERIA (YCSN) THAT TOOK PLACE AT OUR LADY COMPREHENSIVE SECONDARY SCHOOL NKPOR ANAMBRA STATE,
ON 22nd to 25th AUGUST, 2006.
Dear Christian friends, As-salamu Alaikum – in other words, peace be unto
You!
In case you wonder the appropriateness of this salutation; I am merely re-echoing, with slight modification, the revered Late Pope John Paul (11), who started his historic and epochal address at Umayyad Mosque of Damascus, Syria, on 6th May 2001, with the fraternal and brotherly greetings: "Dear Muslim Friends, Asalamu Alaikum!
When I received the letter inviting me to this event by my very good friend, Silas- the National Coordinator of the Young Catholic Students of Nigeria (YSCN) - who had earlier intimated me of his desire for me to attend this convention, I was not surprised. However, the accompanying request in the letter that I should deliver a Goodwill message "in support of this epoch making event", completely swept me off my feet. Initially, in my mind, I wanted to decline to speak and limit myself to only gracing the occasion. But, reflecting on the fact that Msgr. Hypolite Adigwe, the National Chaplain, had countersigned the letter, I knew that declining to speak will weaken whatever confidence Silas had in extending that invitation – which indeed is amazingly gracious – to deliver a Goodwill Message.
First, as a Muslim, I confronted a dilemma on what to speak, more so, I was not given any specific issue to address. Secondly, as a trained engineer and a youth development activist, I wondered, very loudly, what message to deliver that will be consistent with the organizers' wish to make this event memorable and useful? This uncertainty stemmed from my assumption, hoping to be right; that I was invited in my personal capacity. Therefore, I do not have the mandate to speak on behalf of the National Youth Council, where I serve as the Administrative Secretary; and speaking for the Council is clearly not within the purview of my duties and responsibilities.
Finally, taking a periscope view of our society, the challenges of nation-building and the critical roles the youth are expected to; and can play, I came to the inescapable conclusion that one of the most urgent task of our generation – the youth of today – is to build solid interfaith bridges, by promoting dialogue and cooperation, rather than conflict and confrontation between Christians and Muslims, and of course followers of other faiths.
This is the kernel of the Goodwill Message I wish to share with my brothers at this auspicious gathering – interestingly, an august gathering in August!
I believe, before delving into the meat of the matter, it will be in order to do a brief synopsis of the contributions of the Catholic Church to the global civilization and the socio- political life of our dear nation.
Overtime, The Catholic Church, since Jesus Christ (Isah-Peace be unto him -in the Islamic tradition); the bearer of the message of salvation, St. Peter; the Church's Supreme Pastor and the entire successor Popes (the stewards of the mysteries of God), have continued to be one of the strongest bulwarks of religion. The church played serious roles in bringing about enlightenment to the ignorant and hope to the disillusioned. The church, with its elaborate rituals, discipline and order is a precursor to most modern institutions.
One of the farthest reaching impacts of the Catholic legacy is the Gregorian calendar. The motivation of the Church in adjusting the Julian calendar (the calendar in use before the Gregorian calendar), was to have the Christian Passover (Easter) – the celebration of the supreme sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ – celebrated at the time thought to have been agreed to, at the first Ecumenical Council of the Christendom; convoked by Roman Emperor Constantine at Nicea in 325AD (Other far-reaching decisions were taken at the conference that have impacted greatly in human history up to today). The Gregorian calendar was first proposed by the Calabrian doctor Aloysius Lilius and was decreed by Pope Gregory (XIII), for whom it was named, on 24 February 1582, via a papal order (Papal bull intergrarissimas). Italy, Spain and Portugal were the first to adopt the calendar. Today, the Gregorian calendar is the calendar that is used nearly everywhere in the world – including Nigeria!
Another foremost contribution of the Catholic Church is the institutionalization of Charity. In 1738, the venerable Marie-Marguerite Dufrost de Lajemmerais (Madame D ‘Youville) founded the order of Sisters of Charity of the Hospital General of Montreal (Grey Nuns), as an order of the Roman Catholic nuns. The Grey nunnery offered a refuge to old people of both sexes, incurables, orphans and abandoned children of foundings. This trend continued up till now, clearly exemplified by the global charity outreach of a shinning example of Catholic nunnery – Mother Theresa – a humane and humble Lady, whose kindness, love, piety and purity had brought succour where there is rancour; harmony instead of acrimony and replaced bitterness with happiness. Contemporary trends in secular humanitarian charity foundations and organizations, like Ford Foundation; Nobel Foundation; Carter Foundation; Gates-Buffet Foundation etc, are upshots of this pioneering effort of the Catholic Church to institutionalize charity; which has been part of human existence, but mostly at inter-personal and unorganized level.
Coming home, the Catholic Church has been part of modern Nigeria's history since the dawn of British colonial intervention in our affairs. In most parts of the country, Catholic missionary activities preceded colonial institutional presence. The Catholic missionaries set up most of the earliest schools in Nigeria, that educated the first crop of Nigerians that later teamed up with other compatriots across the country to struggle and attain independence for Nigeria in 1960. For instance, the Catholic Mission Society established the CMS Grammar School in Lagos in the 18th century.
Considering the heroic and indefatigable role the Nigerian Press has played since the days of independence struggle; the perpetual struggle to entrench democracy in Nigeria; and the determination to hold the government accountable to the governed, it will interest this audience and beyond, to note that the first Newspaper in Nigeria was established by a Catholic reverend; Henry Townsend in Yoruba vernacular named "Iwe Irohin funawon Egba ati Yoruba" in the 19th century.
The Catholic Church in Nigeria has lent its credible voice at critical junctions of Nigeria's chequered political history. The most recent is its denouncing as evil, unpopular and undemocratic the defeated attempt to amend Nigerian's constitution to pave way for third term (or life tenure) for elected leaders; even as the expected main beneficiary, President Olusegun Obasanjo, is a Christian as well. This is clearly an act of commendable courage by the Catholic Church to entrench and deepen the democratic content of our political life.
Before I leap into the main subject of this message, interfaith bridge-building, let me also acknowledge the positive impact the Catholic students and youths have made to youth development efforts in Nigeria.
The Young Catholic Students of Nigeria (YCSN) was adopted in 1982 by the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) from the former Young Christian Students, (YCS) founded in 1959 by Miss Fredan O' Mahoney, that has its roots in the Young Christian Workers (YCW) that was started in 1927 by Rev. Fr. Lao Joseph Cardijn among the young factory workers in Laoken, a suburb of the large city of Brussels in Belgium.
The movement is aimed at young people taking care of their worries, anxieties and injustices by themselves through a systematic method of SEE, JUDGE and ACT. It stands to encourage young people to be leaders even if someone is personally weak; he can unite with others to become strong. The movement (YCSN) is spread to various schools which include advanced colleges, teacher training schools and colleges of arts and science.
The operational creed or motto of Action, Reflection and Action has enabled the YCSN to organize leadership training workshops, seminars, retreats, magazine and newsletter publications, study programmes, games, essay competitions, leadership exchange programmes, religious/ moral instructions examinations in schools every year, etc.
This broad-band programmes package of the YCSN has enabled the students to develop their potential and capacity to contribute meaningfully in nation-building. This is most certainly a worthy and commendable contribution to national progress and development.
Let me quickly mention that the Catholic Youth Organization of Nigeria (CYON) is one of the most active affiliates of the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) - the umbrella body of all youth organizations in Nigeria and the authoritative voice of Nigerian Youths. The present President of The Council, Ben Duntoye, is a member of CYON. Through him, the Catholic youth are contributing their own quota in setting the directing policy principles that will impact on the lives of Nigerian Youth.
As a member of the present administration of the Council, it will be immodest for me to venture any judgment on the Council, therefore, let me simply hope that posterity will be able to cite the strides of the present leadership in tackling its peculiar challenges and attempts in creating an enabling environment for the successor generations of youth leaders in Nigeria to build upon.
After this, I believe, necessary detour to contextually chronicle the contributions of the Catholic Church and its affiliate students and youths arms, I expect that a receptive atmosphere has been created for me to deliver my main message on interfaith dialogue, with minimum risk of rejection or misunderstanding.
It is a well known fact that in the last two decades, relations between Christians and their Muslim brothers in our country have been characterized by tensions, conflicts and conflagrations. I need not go into the gory details of these sad, unfortunate and reprehensive events, to avoid achieving the exact opposite of this discourse. And, definitely, I am both ill-equipped and ill-positioned to pass judgment on who was right or wrong. That will amount to usurping the prerogative of the supreme Almighty God; whom we all worship, and the ultimate arbiter of the actions of all creatures on the Day of Judgment.
Much has been said and written about the remote and immediate causes of these misunderstandings. However, more informed commentators agree that most of the religious conflicts in Nigeria are not truly about advancing doctrinal beliefs; but about power tussle and cut-throat economic competitions. Elite struggles are simply ventilated through religious outlets – being one of the easiest means to mobilize the gullible masses, as pawns of the power elite. The majority of the elite, who are habitually lazy intellectually and structurally, masquerade their failure to mobilize the citizenry through superior argument and reasoning, by easily and shamelessly appealing to primordial sentiments in mobilizing the people to serve their parochial and self-centered interests. And, elites from both side of the divide are guilty of this divide and rule tactics. Until we are able to see through the smokescreens for what they really are, the orgy of needless violence will continue to be visited on hapless citizens by unconscionable elements whose claim to belief-in or fear-of God is, but, an elaborate ruse.
No religion, in its doctrinal decrees has sanctioned the killing, maiming or destruction of the properties of adherents of other religions. And definitely, it is weak and in-effectual reasoning or logic to judge the tenets of other religions by the conducts of its adherents, or to blame a religion for the action of its followers. The best way to understand other religions is to study what their scriptures say; not the actions of those who claim to be adherents of such religion and acting on its behalf.
Religious intolerance, in whatever guise, is a major hindrance to attaining our national goals of development. Nigeria is strategically blessed by God as the most populous back country in the world. God has equally endowed Nigeria with vast human and material resources that can cater for our needs and our fellow Africans – who look up to Nigeria for leadership and support in times of need. We the young ones have an urgent generational task to build bridges of friendship across religious divides, in order to rescue the promising fortunes of our dear fatherland from unpatriotic elements, who have become a huge albatross to Nigeria realizing her full potential – a country that provides for her citizens and attract other citizens as well.
The Youth represent renewal, duty and hope. With conviction, with hope, we the youth can successfully turn the tide for the emergence of a prosperous, progressive and egalitarian society, that will be the pride of all; irrespective of creed or credence.
Let me stamp the authority and pioneering efforts of Late Pope John Paul (II) to further justify this call for building interfaith bridges, for the benefit of ourselves and coming generations.
Pope John Paul (II) on 6th May 2001 appeared at one of the oldest mosques in the Islamic world, the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria, earlier mentioned at the beginning of this message. The mosque is deeply cherished by Muslims and Christians because it is believed to be site of the tomb of Yahaya AS (John the Baptist to Christians). During the visit, the Pope said "it is my ardent hope that Muslim and Christian religious leaders and teachers will present our two great religious communities as communities in respectful dialogue, never more as communities in conflict."
Despite theological differences, Pope John Paul (II) has always considered Muslims as a fellow spiritual community deserving respect and admiration.
Islam and Christianity share a majority of their beliefs. The principle value of unity of divinity, the Prophets, Jesus and Mary, Jerusalem and the promise of life after life are all common to both faiths.
Today, through the efforts of John Paul (II) as a pioneer in interfaith bridge -building, Muslims, too, feel as though Catholicism has started to reciprocate and recognize Islam and Muslims as partners in spirituality. The Pope set up the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. The Council has established liaison with International Islamic Organizations and with Al-azhar Islamic University in Egypt, where he once visited. No wonder, on the death of this Pope, Muslims all over the world expressed their sorrow and solidarity with the Catholic Community. Muslims see John Paul (II) as a dear friend who reached out to them repeatedly. He was not only a religious partner in worshipping the one God, but he also was a political ally who frequently spoke up for the rights of all peoples; including Muslims. He often called for peace in the Middle East and for restoration of rights and dignity to the Palestinians. He was against the war in Iraq, Bosnia Herzegovina, and he ardently believed that Muslims and Christians, working together, could bring both God and Peace to our beleaguered world.
In a world de-spiritualized by materialism, secular fundamentalism and religious extremism; ravaged by war, greed and violence; and disenchanted by ideologies and false religions; Late Pope John Paul (II) was a champion of morality, moderation and peace. The world has truly lost a global leader.
As a respect and appreciation of the legacy of the Late Pope, The Muslim community in Nigeria and elsewhere supported and wished for the emergence of Nigeria's Cardinal Arinze as a new Pope, with prayers and messages of goodwill. This is in recognition of the efforts of Cardinal Arinze in promoting interfaith dialogue in Nigeria and beyond. The Muslim community hoped that the emergence of Cardinal Arinze would have sustained the efforts of the Late Pope, by giving papal authority to continued dialogue at the highest institutional levels between Muslims and Catholics worldwide.
For lack of better expression and argument, I would once again respectfully let the Late Pope speak to the youth on the virtue of religious tolerance. Hear him say: "it is crucial for the young to be taught the ways of respect and understanding, so that they will not be led to misuse religion itself to promote or justify hatred and violence. Violence destroys the image of the creator in his creatures, and should never be considered as the fruit of religious conviction."
Once again, on the virtue of forgiveness, the Pope said, and, I quote: "For all the times that Muslims and Christians have offended one another, we need to seek forgiveness from the Almighty and to offer each other forgiveness. Jesus teaches us that we must pardon others' offences if God is to pardon us our sins (Mt 6:14)."
To further drive the pertinent point home, the Pope asserted that "As members of the one human family and as believers, we have obligations to the common good, to justice and to solidarity. Interreligious dialogue will lead to many forms of co-operation, especially in responding to the duty to care for the poor and the weak. These are the signs that our worship of God is genuine."
Please, kindly permit me to finally cite the final part of the Pope's address to the Muslim Ummah at Umayyad mosque: "As we make our way through life towards our heavenly destiny, Christians feel the company of Mary, the mother of Jesus; and Islam too pays tribute to Mary and hails her as ‘chosen above the women of the world' (Qur'an III: 42). The Virgin of Nazareth, the Lady of Saydnaya, has taught us that God protects the humble and ‘scatters the proud in the imagination of their hearts' (Luke 1: 51). May the hearts of Christians and Muslims turn to one another with feelings of brotherhood and friendship, so that the Almighty may bless us with peace which heaven alone can give. To the one, Merciful God be praise and glory for ever. Amen."
Distinguished brothers and sisters, forgive my rather long message and the presentation style. I was only aware I was going to deliver this message Tuesday last week; and I had to scribble this message amidst conflicting and crowded schedule. I thought, if the notice was more adequate, this message would have been half as short; and possibly twice as good, both in content, context and presentation.
However, I take solace in Galatians 22:1 that "... when the Holy Spirit control over our lives, He will produce this kind of fruit in us. Love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self control".
My hope is that, my friend, Silas, for extending this invitation, will feel justified in taking the decision to provide me with this unique and historic platform to share with you these feelings of shared brotherliness, and indeed all those who supported his decision to do so. I thank you all for your kindness.
Also, let me re-state my love for you all, again finding inspiration in John 4:7: "Dear Friend, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Any one who loves is a Born of God."
In conclusion, my fellow brethren, the youth in particular; let us note that we attract what we expect; we reflect what we desire; we become what we respect and we mirror what we admire. Where we are today and what we will become tomorrow is as a result of the decisions we have made in life. Our decisions determine our destiny.
Therefore, I have decided:
In our determination
To build a new nation
Worthy of emulation
There should be no hesitation.
I urge you, very strongly, in line with the theme of this convention to "Go into the whole world and proclaim good news." (Mark 16:15)
I profoundly thank you for your attention and patience.
Zayyan Tambari Yabo.
24th August 2006