No one has the right to question another’s faith

I am blessed. I know the Bible as well as I know the Holy Koran.

I studied the Bible for all the wrong reasons. In my high school days, we had a Mzungu preacher who used to come all the way from Starehe to preach in Nairobi School.

As a young Muslim, I felt obliged to debate with him. I studied the Bible looking for verses that supported my point of view, and there were many.

When the poor priest lost ground he would cry out that “the devil cites scripture to suit his purposes’’. In retrospect, it was the good lord that was working as I learnt the Bible.

I continued debating for years until a young lady upon losing a senseless debate cried and told me that she would never become a Muslim but my arguments were weakening her faith.

It hit me that no one has the right to question another’s belief in God – whatever he perceives Him to be.

Over the years as I travelled I have met people of deep faith, irrespective of their religions, and I discovered that faith fortifies a man and gives him peace. Who are we to destroy that? This has compelled me to reassess my thinking about religion.

No one articulated this better than President Barack Obama. In a speech in Cairo soon after he took over office, he told a crowd of students: “We have 98 per cent in common and two per cent in differences.

Why don’t we focus on the 98 per cent that we have in common rather than the two per cent that we disagree on?” True words of wisdom.

Differences in faith are not just inter-religion. In Islam, the greatest chasm is the Shia-Sunni split. It is interesting that more Muslims have died fighting each other than fighting against perceived enemies. I worked in Bahrain and I was shocked at the discrimination between Shias and Sunnis in the same community that lives together.

Sunni discourses

Yet Shia scholars from Qom, the Shia’s centre of learning and Sunni scholars from the University of Al Azhar in Cairo debated the differences between the two versions of Islam and collated the debates in a scholarly study called Mudhakirat’ translated to ‘Memos’ and they concluded that there was only 3 per cent difference between Shia and Sunni discourses.

Extremists on both sides abuse each other and unwittingly cause the death of thousands.

Then there are the four main schools of Sunni Islam based on the scholars Hambali, Shafie, Hanbali and Maliki. A scholar was asked which scholar ranked first and three times he replied: “I am a Muslim’’.

Pushed further, he replied that all four are major scholars, and being a simple Muslim, he lacked the scholarly capacity to accept or reject any of them. “Who am I to declare who is right or wrong?

Today. Kenyan Muslims are divided on minor issues of opinion. Is it right to celebrate the Prophets birthday, also called the Maulid or it is Bid’aa or unlawful innovation? Muslims even disagree on the start of Ramadhan and the celebration of Eid holidays.

Prophet's hadith

Strong arguments exist on both sides. Does it really matter? Isn’t this the 2 per cent that Barack Obama spoke about? Personally, I prefer to go back to the Prophet’s Hadith which states: “Al Ikhtilaf bein al Ulema rehamtul Allah Aleikum’’ (The differences of opinion amongst the learned of you is a sign of God’s grace upon you). This is a call for tolerance and to accept different views.

In Christianity, the biggest divide is between the Catholics and Protestants.

Had Martin Luther known that his writing would lead to millions killed in the name of God, perhaps he would have kept the peace and his opinions.

Yet surprisingly, all Christians believe in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. There is no dispute on Christ and his mission on earth. Again, the two per cent rears its ugly head.

Karen Armstrong a famous writer on religion recently published a new book entitled The Lost Art of Scripture and notes that throughout history, Muslims and Christians have deliberately misquoted the scriptures.

She writes: “Today we see the Koran being used by some to justify war and terrorism, the Torah to deny Palestinians the right to live in the Land of Israel, and the Bible to condemn homosexuality and contraception. The holy texts at the centre of all religious traditions are often employed selectively to underwrite arbitrary and subjective views.’’

Jonathan Brown in Misquoting Mohamed also points out historical cases where Prophet Muhammed is misquoted to justify disruptive use of religion which often leads to strife and civil wars. Clearly, the Word of God has often been abused for nefarious causes by both sides.

Even as you read this essay, already I see some people judging and condemning it before they have understood me. Let’s focus on what we have in common. After all, there is but One God.