Okay, let us agree to disagree with the omnist that no religion has exclusivity to the truth, that attention should be paid to the common truth and ignore the differences though each claims to be from God yet God is not an author of confusion. Can we pretend to agree with the cultural religionists that religious scriptures are not sufficient to guide one’s life till we do like the fathers of old did even though they were on manifest error while they and their later generations perceive not? Well, this article is not about the omnists, atheists, cultural religionists, deists – the John Adams’ and Thomas Jefferson’s. Let us talk about Islam and Christianity.

When Muslims say Islam is the only religion that in God’s sight, that whoever dies except in a state of Islam will be a loser in the hereafter, that we all should bow to God, our creator in worship, the unbelievers laugh and mock yet they are not a watch over the Muslims but for how long? Soon, the Muslims would be in paradise having their own turn of laughter (last verses of Surah Mutaffifin). For a second, let us assume Christianity is the way but here lies the problem…

It was few hours to Maghrib then I started to think about my life as a Christian and now as a Muslim regarding praise and worship. I imagined going inside the Masjid to serve Allah then I pick up the Halal Guy’s so-called “Islamic”Hip-hop, Mr. Ayeloyun as well as Late Alhaji Barristers “Islamic” Fuji music to PRAISE Allaah then for WORSHIP, I start from Maher Zain’s Nasheed, lines from Abu Mardiy Kewudirorun’s Qaseedah then Sulaiman Salaudeen’s (Sogrin) waka, “ma besin je nitor’iresi”. Definitely, the praise section must have been accompanied with Olamide’s Shaku-Shaku, Beyonce’s twerking methodology as well as Cardi B’s craze. After that, the imam comes up on stage twisting verses from the Qur’an to suit himself and for tithe purposes, raises his voice then start a Charlie Chaplin’s rubbish speech-like glossolalia (The great dictator movie) in the name of speaking in tongue. Then, at the end of the day, go home believing I have worshiped God when all I had done was clapping, singing, dancing, shaking, twerking, vibrating, shouting, wailing and of course, noise-making.

Days ago, I watched with great pity the video of a certain man who led a choir in the church. He told the members to place a wrist on the other to portray Satan’s binding of their progress then asked them to take one off then stretch the whole hand backwards to mean they have been set free, in minutes, he with the choir and church members were dancing like an Olamide-led group of dancers. As for twerking, it is not one of the worst things you can see in the Church and I am very sure that Cardi B and Terry G’s craziness combined is no match for members of Lazarus Mouka’s The Lord’s Chosen.

I have issues with praises and worship in Christianity and these issues are on Spirito-scriptural grounds. One thing, I am sure, If God wanted us to praise and worship him with drumming and singing, He must have, at least, given us spiritual dance steps in the “Holy Books” to accompany these songs. Unfortunately, we have no yardstick to measure which dance is good or not. The Church and her secular religiosity.

Bashir Lucas Samson Lukman

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