Beyond Apology: Addressing the Thisday Blasphemy
By Abdullahi Bego
Last Saturday 16, November 2002, the now infamous Thisday newspaper did a story deliberately designed to provoke Muslims and conflate the tension and unease that have already made Nigeria a tinderbox waiting to explode. The story, which made the paper?s cover for the day, cast aspersions on the character of the Prophet Mohammad (Sawa). I seek refuge in God from having to restate the wordings of that ignoble write-up.
From the reactions of the Supreme Council on Islamic Affairs, other Muslim bodies and individuals alone, one would know that Muslims in Nigeria and over one billion others in other parts of the world have been extremely incensed and offended by the Thisday story.
The Supreme Council on Islamic Affairs has given the paper an ultimatum to issue a comprehensive apology by next Saturday. Given the prospect of financial loss to the paper from the threats of boycott already made by a number of Muslim groups, it is highly likely that Thisday management will yield to the ultimatum and make an apology that feigns more concern than the ?terse, indirect and lame? one they made last Monday.
But apology alone is not the issue. Without doubt the editorial echelon, if not the entire management, of Thisday was quite aware of every word and its import in that cover story and certainly, they can?t pretend not to assume that the story would generate anger amongst Muslims. That they therefore went ahead to publish the story means it is another calculated attempt to cause further religious disharmony in Nigeria. And the provocation must be squarely addressed for what it was.
For Muslims worldwide, faith in Prophet Muhammad (sawa) is not simply a matter of mentioning his blessed name during prayers. Prophet Muhammad (sawa) is Islam embodied and every Muslim worth the name is ready to sacrifice his life, possessions, family and all to defend him. As Muslims we believe that humanity from the beginning has never seen anyone like Prophet Muhammad (sawa) and no one shall come even eons close to the noble status, dignity and nobility of the blessed Prophet. Thus when a newspaper as widely circulated as Thisday disregards the intense attachment of Muslims to the blessed Prophet and makes a mockery of him, the entire Muslim Ummah is tasked to respond beyond the acceptance of false and inconsequential apology.
As a Muslim youth, I am not in a position to issue religious verdicts. That is for our religious and political leaders and intellectuals who must regard this as another plot to plunge Muslims into crisis and take attention away from the welter of socio-economic and political problems for which Nigeria is becoming more prominent by the day. They are the ones whom Allah shall bring to question if they let this ignominy simply pass like that.
But the boycott note sounded by a number of Muslim groups has to be repeated here. Muslims in Nigeria must boycott Thisday newspaper ad infinitum. Whatever anyone might say. There is simply no excuse in buying the paper, and thus strengthening it, to continue in blaspheming the sacredness of our religion.
More importantly the boycott here must take the form of refusing it any advertorials. Not just for a day or two or until when it tendered an apology for what it has done to us. The boycott must be total and final. That is what Thisday actually deserves from us.
I concur and second your motion. Even though i have not seen the said article, I do believe any profanity especially relating to prophet Muhammad (SAW) should never be condoned.
As you rightly noted, verbal or editorial apology will not suffice for the damage done. The main language Thisday will understand is financial. Ie Muslims should cease advertising their products there and also subscibe to other source of info.
Not only can we make Thisday regret their outburst, but we should point out to all that such blasphemy against all religions will not go unpunished.
In bamu ji bariba munji woho. I urge all to contribute to this worthy cause.
And Allah knows best.
A sharuwa lafiya
Bissalam
Assalamu alaikum;
Abdullahi Yusuf thank you for taking the time to forward this article written by By Abdullahi Bego. Thank you Amin for your response to this topic and I also second and concur with motion to boycott this newspaper. I will like to add that in addition to boycotting of buying the newspaper and most importantly refusing to place advertisements on the paper, we should also start a massive E-Mail letter writing campaign to their editorial as well as their business addresses to show our outrage. So if anybody has their e-mail addresses, lets have it and get started. It is the least some of us can do.
Check out the following links for related information and readings regarding the ThisDay Newspaper article and share your feelings with us here.
The Burden of an Editor - NEWS (http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/200211210056.html)
Nigerian Muslims riot over Miss World report - NZ Herald (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storyprint.cfm?storyID=3005457)
Prophet proposal a loss for paper - Globe and Mail (http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/RTGAMArticleHTMLTemplate?tf=tgam/realtime/fullstory_print.html&cf=tgam/realtime/config-neutral&articleDate=20021121&slug=wnige&date=20021121&archive=RTGAM&site=Front)
man... even when they apologize... i aint buyin that paper...
ay wallahi kam abunda suka yi bai da ce ba...when I read it wallahi duk naji jiki na wani iri... :'(
amma im highly disappointed!!!
Allah ya kiawta....that gurl has guts...and the press BIGGER guts to print out such quote!!!!!
Yeah!! unbelievable things r happenin. Heard it all about d thisday stuff. Ubangiji Allah ya kara daukaka Musulunci, & may he guide us. Thats y I say Nigeria has so many issues.. we r first in d World Quarnic recitation, if there is 2 b a black Pope nigeria will b 5th & finally Beauty contest takin place in Nija !!! Subhanallah. I du hope this will not bring religious conflicts again. Long live 2 Islamicity.
i knew the papper was anti-north just after two months of publishing.
and ladies and gentlemen
Alhamdulillah SubhanAllah Islam is northern nigeria
we have Islam in every single cell of our body
everything we do is first wieghed in the religions scale
so if anyone speaks anti-north he/she speaks anti-Islam
it was just a matter of time and they have shown who they really are!
i as a muslim will not forgive it even though agreed i am not a religeous scholar , on the day of judgement they will have to answer this b4 Allah
QuoteQuoted text
Oye!! ioa... Hamza...... These r ingnorants ppl... so dont even zap off 2 anti-northern vs anti-Islam..... Its there in d Qua'rn.. Allah speak out his sayin "unbelievers will continue 2 b unbeliever so as well continue 2 degrade d one 'n' only Islam.. n d way I c it.......Allah knows best 'n' his best 2 tackle 'em... So tribe vs religion duk bai taso ba. We jus have 2 pray 4 peace 'n' thats all.
2+2=4
i learnt that in class 1 or is it nursery oho!
but the situation is as simple as the equation
THEY ARE ANTI-NORTH
There seems to be a report also, that the property of THISDAY Newspapers in BAUCHI has been vandalized...
Source: Daily Times,
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?GODWIN EGBARA,
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?November 22 2002
According to DAILY TIMES Bauchi correspondent Godwin Egbara the rented ground floor of a story building located at No. 24 Aminu Street, opposite Igbo Quarters in Bauchi Metropolis was forced open by the youths after destroying the door, but since it was a rented apartment they parked all properties of THISDAY outside and set them on fire.
At the time our correspondent visited the office at 12.05 in Wednesday, fire was still consuming bundles of unsold papers. While the office sign board and furniture were equally set a blazed.
This scene equally sent fear upon the residents of the area as the fellow occupants of the building quickly close up shops for fear of being attack. When our correspondent visited the office, although Policemen have been drafted to the area to maintains law and order, yet business were yet to pick up.
in a related development yesterday, the Rapid response Committee of Jama'atu Nastril Islam, called for the immediate closure of THISDAY Newspaper for what it termed, "subversive activity against the peace and security of the nation".
In a press statement signed by its President and Emir of Birnin Guari, Malam Zubair Jubril Margwari II, the Committee also demanded the arrest of the executive of the Newspaper and he writer of the article as well as "their immediate prosecution for treasonable felony".
It also asked the Federal Government to immediately suspect the ongoing Miss World Pageant and retrieve all monies spent on the beauty contest from Public Fund threatening that failure to do these would lead to moslems in the country taking "all necessary measure to protect our religion at all cost and who ever is involved".
Source: Daily Times,
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?GODWIN EGBARA,
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?November 22 2002
eya... how sweet... they knew it was a rented apartment and took out ThisDay stuff and burnt it... how thoughtful of them.. ;D
omo, i need to buy them sweet...
A peaceful protest by Muslim Women In KANO...
Source: Reuters
November 22 2002
Security forces patrolled other major cities Friday, including the northern trading hub of Kano, where Muslim women peacefully protested.
"We are calling on the government to stop Miss World, this show of shame. For women to expose herself to men other than their husbands is forbidden," said one of the protesters, Hadiza Usman.
Source: Reuters
November 22 2002
Asstagfirullah wannan Ai Wutan daban ne.I was shocked wallahi when i read that article . Allah de ya Tsine mata Albarka
Salam
As much as we will like to see ThisDay boycoted and proscribed, that should not give any justification for vandalizing its property, like the hooligans in Kaduna did. We as Muslims must stand for justice even against Muslims' excesses. So its good we condemned ThisDay, but we should also condemn Yandaba. What they did was akin to what Isioma did on a smaller scale of course.
Allah ya kyauta.
PS: Lukman, the wise prophet, told his son not to put out fire with fire. Ie, violence is not the answer.
Bissalam
I can't help but feel the greatest sadness of my life over the contemptous desing of the cursed paper. What you people have said is right but not even enough. They desreve the worst reactions from all muslims.
Apart from boycoting the paper, I think we should also publicly burn all available backnumbers of that paper in our posession. >:(
I was not suprised with the infamous blasphemy committed against our most beloved messenger, the most noble of all noble men, the best of creation, Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wassalam. As Muslims we are supposed to know that they hate us, they dont like us and why? Because of our Freedoms.
We are the only ones that can say no to westernisation, no to Americanisation, no to nudity and we say no to all these evils because we are free. Praise Allah, we are free from the chain the American Devil, the Western Devil has used to chain them to the four corners of the earth. We are only going to be free if we continue to say no to their policies. They are not our friends they are our greatest enemies, they are our friends only if we follow their ways and we wont InshaAllah!
ThisDay is an American Agent, they are established to propagate Masonic and American Ideals, check out their slogan Free Enterprise, Democracy and Social justice and check out the eagle, it is not African it is an American Eagle. In fact if you tell me that they were established by CIA I wont be suprised.
I knew something like this was coming from the paper's vehement opposition to Shari'ah. Thank God it is now clear to everybody. Apart from boycott let every Muslim pray to the Almighty Allah for it's destruction. May the Almighty Allah destroy the Newspaper and all those people behind it and that support it. Amin
I heard that ages ago that "Thisdayz (newspaper) biz center has been burnt out" (Dunno a jack whether its true or not). Now that most muslims have stopped buyin off d newspaper & the org has been burnt down, does the newpaper still exist or is it been shut out completely? And has this stopped any religion from buyin off their papers?!!!!!!!!!!!!!