BEHOLD THE BEAST
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Islam Reviewed
16 - THE NIGERIAN EXAMPLEOur own country of Nigeria has not been spared the Islamic sword.
Uthman Dan Fodio launched a Jihad on this country in the 19th century.
Since then, the Christians have been continually living at the mercy of
their Muslim neighbors. We need not go to the historical archives to find
out what Jihad is like. In obedience to Allah's injunction, Muslims
regularly slaughter Christians here, and at random. It is not within the
scope of this book to chronicle all the bloodshed that has taken place in
Nigeria, but here are a few examples:
In the North, with the full backing of local authorities, Churches are
pulled down at will. The excuse? The North is an Islamic State. The
author was in Kano in 1980, when an Islamic Maitatsine riot broke out
there, killing 4,177 people (official figure) with millions of Naira worth
of properties destroyed. In October 1982, the Islamic faithful were again
destructive, setting eight big churches ablaze. In that same year, the
Muslims in Kaduna went berserk, slaying 400 people (official figure).
In 1984, the Islamic volcano erupted in Yola and Jimeta, killing 700
people, including some policemen, and rendered 5,913 people homeless.
In March 1987, Muslims in Kaduna, Zaria, Kafanchan and Katsina
launched a half-week Jihad against Christians. In Zaria alone, all one
hundred big churches were fire-bombed. Several Christians were
butchered and many others were roasted to death. Many known
Christian buildings were destroyed. In all those cities, any motor vehicle
that displayed a Christian sticker was attacked.
In April 1991, Muslims in Bauchi went on an indiscriminate killing
spree, burning down churches and destroying a great deal of personal
property. About 350 people were killed.
Almost simultaneously, Katsina was troubled. Ibrahim Zakari alias
El-Zakzaki invaded the city with over 2,000 Shi'ite Muslim fundamental-
ists to help Yakubu Yahaya (his devout student) in a running battle with
Colonel John Madaki, the State Governor. Lives were lost and property
was destroyed.
On October 14th 1991, the Muslims in Kano went on rampage again,
ostensibly to disrupt a crusade during which the German-born evangelist,
Reinhard Bonnke, was to preach. They planned to murder Bonnke
himself. It is difficult to arrive at the exact casualty figure there, because
many of the murdered Christians were dumped in wells. However, it is
estimated that over 2,000 Christians were cut down by the Islamic
sword. In this case, however, the Muslims, too, suffered casualties. I
quote a few lines from page 16 of the Oct. 28, 1991 edition of Newswatch
magazine:
"But unlike in previous religious riots in which non-indigenes
(people not native to the area) and Christians turned the other
cheek or ran for their lives, this time they hit back. Within hours
of the fundamentalists unleashing a reign of terror, the non-
indigenes mobilized themselves into a militia force, brandishing
cutlasses, matchets, iron rods and broken bottles in a counter
attack."
The Lord Jesus not only told us to turn the other cheek, but to do so
until slapped 70 x 7 times. As this incident in Kano illustrates, Christians
may have reached that 70 x 7 limit. We have suffered 1,400 years of
relentless assault by Muslims. Our centuries of non-resistance were not
weakness, as they wrongly imagined, but in obedience to the Bible.
In May 1992, Zangon-Kataf, a town about 200 km south of Kaduna
was destroyed, the Muslim settlers clashing with the indigenous church-
going Kataf. The entire town was devastated and farmlands destroyed.
The destruction was so total that federal authorities embarked on
reconstruction and rehabilitation.
Within a few days, the war spread to Kaduna. The Muslim plan was
to attack Christians during their Sunday worship services. They struck at
8 PM, local time, slaughtering people from house to house, chanting
"Allahu Akbar" as they went. Many churches were set ablaze, and as
usual, other Christian buildings were targeted. Thousands perished.
If Christians are eliminated who will then preach the Gospel to them,
reason the Muslims. But many Christians in Kaduna didn't want to be
slaughtered like chickens anymore. In this crisis Muslims learned that
mosques burn as easily as a church, and that Muslims can die as quickly
as Christians. War is an ill wind that blows no one any good!
On September 14, 1994, the Islamic faithfuls struck Potiskum, Yobe
State (North East Nigeria), killing three people including an ECWA
church Pastor, Yahaya Tsalibi, who was conducting communion service.
Nine churches were set ablaze and 15,000,000 Naira worth of property
was destroyed (Police estimate).
In Kano, on December 26, 1994, Mr. Gideon Akaluka (a Christian)
was openly beheaded by a mob of Muslim faithful for allegedly defiling
a portion of the Koran. They paraded around the city with his severed
head, chanting a victory slogan.
In Sokoto, northwest Nigeria, another Christian was mercilessly
beaten because a Muslim beggar who asked of alms accused him of
insulting the prophet Muhammad. Mr. Azubuike was more fortunate
than most; he was thought dead and abandoned.
July 1-7, 1995, Muslims attacked Sayawa Christian community of
Tafawa Balewa, Local Govt. Area, Bauchi State (northeast Nigeria). The
Muslim's first port of call was the Tafawa Balewa central market, which
they set ablaze. They burned down the home of the late Mr. Bukata
Adamu who had lost the rest of his family to a similar riot in 1991. The
Muslims then proceeded to attack and burn down 30 Sayawa Christian
villages. Over 1,000 homes were razed in this inferno. Christians were
killed by the thousands. Seventy-seven churches were burnt to the
ground. Properties worth millions of Naira were destroyed. Not even
women and children were spared in this genocidal Jihad - the Islamic
faithful slaughtering 36 women and children who had taken refuge at a
church building in a village named Gungu-Zango. The women even had
their bellies ripped open. In a village called Bununu, in Bula district,
which is not inhabited by the Sayawas, twenty-two school children (ages
11 to 16 years) were trapped and butchered by Muslims.
Wouldn't you think the police or military would come to the rescue
of these defenseless people? Not a chance, and no Muslim ever stood
before a court of law to answer for the numerous acts of vandalism, not
to mention the countless murders they committed in Bauchi State.
Instead, Sayawa Christians, the victims of that Jihad, had to stand trial
before a military tribunal for causing of the trouble. A gross miscarriage
of justice, certainly, but eventually one becomes accustomed to the ever-
present threat of governmental injustice or Muslim violence. So
accustomed to it, in fact, that we just call it the "Nigerian Factor."
The religious fervor that caused above atrocities is not going to go
away. Those Nigerian authorities1 who think they can appease Muslims
by supporting them against the Christians need a better understanding
of Islamic law. According to the Koran, true Muslims cannot be
appeased until a pure (non-negotiable) Islamic government with a Sharia
(fundamental Islamic) constitution is in force.
Even worse than the atrocities is the apathy of the church towards
Muslim evangelism, for the problem lies not with a people who are
worse than any other. It lies in the religious system they have been
taught and so earnestly believe. As long as Muslims believe the Koran to
be of God, they will continue to burn, rape, and murder its opponents.
But the established churches, little realizing they dance to the
enemy's tune, are not concerned about the salvation of Muslims, neither
do they encourage any ministry that has a vision to reach them. The
church in northern Nigeria is seen as a stranger's fellowship - the native-
born people viewing Christianity as an alien religion brought in by
foreigners. Even the few Muslims that from time to time do come to
Christ are not properly discipled, which sends most of them back into
Islam.
A current spiritual plague, the "name it and claim it theology," has
aggravated the situation, as people become "Christians" for an unbiblical,
but much preached about material blessing. What ever happened to the
true Gospel? That we come to Jesus because we need to know the Savior
who came to earth, not as a conquering king, but to die. The Jesus who
deliberately sacrificed His life to save us from all our sins.
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1 Editor's Note: That's not just Nigerian secular authorities, but governments
anywhere who try come to some diplomatic accord with Muslim fundamentalists,
Palestinians included. By true Islamic law, it is not only permissible but laudable
to lie, cheat, steal and even murder those who are not Muslims. Islamic militants
will not depart from their stated intent of destroying Israel and the United States
just because of some worthless paper they signed but have no intention of
honoring. The liberal media in the West blindly applauds such agreements as
wonderful "peace initiatives," but the non-Islamic nations will eventually pay a
staggering price for failing to understand and defend themselves against Islam.
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