A Christian Relative’s Call — Bashir Lucas Samson Lukman

My passion for addressing the challenges faced by reverts to Islam and refuting Islamophobes stems from personal experience. Thirteen years after embracing Islam, not much has changed.

A relative called me yesterday and, after some pleasantries, asked if I had heard about the kidnapping in the now-infamous Esinele Village in Orire Local Government Area of Oyo State — the village where my paternal grandfather and grandmother lived for years and eventually died.

They further asked if I knew that the bandits had said “Subhanallah” and then proceeded to accuse Islam and Muslims. “The blood-sucking religion you chose to embrace. From Samson, you now go around calling yourself Bashir. Soon, you will start emulating your prophet — killing people everywhere. That accident you had was a sign from God that you should stop talking about Jesus and the Bible because no one in our family has ever had an accident before. Mo ma ba e fa (I will drag it out with you),” they said before hanging up.

Firstly, we must understand that this is a relative whom I have never needed throughout my thirteen years as a Muslim. Rather, I have used my resources to prevent them from going to jail and have been their emergency contact in times of need, yet they can still make such remarks. Now, imagine the condition of reverts who depend on people like this for education, welfare, and guidance.

They hung up before I could tell them that Islam had been in Yorubaland for about 400 years before the advent of Christianity, and there had been peace.

I would have reminded them that, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when I lived in that same Esinele, during Ramadan, children would wake to the rhythm of pestles striking mortars as yam, not humans, was pounded for Sari (Suhoor). I would have reminded them of Baba Muraina, who conveyed villagers to Oyo Alaafin for Ileya celebrations in his Bedford truck. Does it not insult the sensibilities of the people of Esinele to accuse the religion that most of its residents have practised peacefully for generations of the terror that befell them?

I would also have reminded them that the unholy alliance between some overzealous Isese adherents and certain Christians to vilify Islam and Muslims is a futile venture. Islam and Muslims have been in Yorubaland for over 600 years and are going nowhere. Moreover, if any religion has demonstrated tolerance and peaceful coexistence with indigenous communities, Christianity has nothing on Islam.

I would have reminded them that mishaps and calamities come from God and that neither Muslims nor Christians are immune to them. Reinhard Bonnke had cancer, and T.B. Joshua suffered a stroke, yet both had Jesus on their lips.

It has been thirteen years, and I still experience this weekly. However, like this caller, many only rant and do not wait for a response. Those who do wait often have their ignorance cured.

The challenges faced by reverts to Islam are a human rights issue and should be treated as such.

Bashir Lucas Samson Lukman