Christian Life in Northern Nigeria

Nigeria’s militant Islamist group, Boko Haram, and the security forces have been accused by Amnesty International of committing widespread atrocities in the mainly Muslim north.

Boko Haram, whose name means “Western education is forbidden”, is fighting to overthrow the government and create an Islamic state.

On Sunday, a church was bombed, leaving eight people dead in Kaduna, one of the cities affected by the conflict. Although Boko Haram has not said it carried out the attacks, it has claimed responsibility for similar bombings across northern and central Nigeria.

Obadiah Diji, youth leader of the Christian Association of Kaduna, gave the BBC an account of how life has changed in the city.

Obadiah Diji:

I have lived in Kaduna city nearly all my life – and I am filled with sadness when I look how sharply divided it has become along religious lines.

Muslims live in areas where there is a Muslim majority; Christians where there is a Christian majority. So, the two groups lead separate lives, with little social contact.

It was not always like this. We once took pride in the fact that Kaduna was cosmopolitan and welcoming of everyone.

Although there were differences, Christians and Muslims lived together. We were in an out of each other’s homes. Our children went to the same schools, learning from each other about their respective religions and cultures.

FULL ARTICLE FROM THE BBC 

Nigeria: Kaduna – How Easter Bombing United Christians, Muslims

The Easter Sunday Bombing in Kaduna State has come and gone, leaving the relatives and families of those who either died or sustained injuries in the blast in pains and agony.

The explosion has no doubt created vacuums in some families that can never be filled. MIDAT JOSEPH and ISAIAH BENJAMIN periscope how this bombing that claimed the lives of many and injured scores, brought about unity between Christians and Muslims in the state.

Sunday, April 8, 2012 will no doubt remain indelible in the minds of many residents of Kaduna metropolis. This is because; the day marked yet another historic day in the state, though on the negative, as many who woke up to enjoy free day, were left with pains, and agony over the death of their loved ones. No thanks to whoever must have perpetrated such a dastardly act.

Like every other festive period, the Easter period is a period in which the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is being celebrated by the Christian faithful all over the world, but that of Kaduna residents was cut short as the entire state was thrown into confusion at the news of the bomb blast that claimed lives of persons whose authentic figure is yet to be ascertained.

Some of the affected persons woke up to commence their daily activities with others rushing to their places of worship, when they met their untimely death, Muslims and Christians alike.

Although the bomb blast was painful, it however, brought out a positive side of the situation as both Muslims and Christians were united against the act as they all moved to assist victims of the blast regardless of their religious differences.

Not only that, a day after the explosion, a group of Muslim and Christian youths hurriedly condemned the blast, saying “no good Christian or Muslim would want to kill people unjustly”, as the Muslim youths hosted their Christian counterparts to a feast to commemorate this year’s Easter celebration.

ALLAFRICA.COM

Nigerian Muslims Use Occasion of Easter to Urge Cooperation with Christians

The Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) has urged both Christians and Muslims in the country to collaborate with each other in tackling the menace of corruption.

This was contained in a statement signed by the Secretary-General NSCIA, Dr Lateef Adegbite, made available to newsmen in Abeokuta, on Thursday, and appealed to Christians and Muslims to seize the occasion of the Easter season to reflect on the situation of the country and also cultivate the values and virtues extolled by their religions.

He advised the adherents of the two religions to join forces with the nation’s leadership to tackle the issue of corruption.

“Let us seize the occasion of this season to reflect on the situation of our country and resolve to effect changes that would ensure real development and meaningful progress in the land.

FULL ARTICLE FROM THE TRIBUNE (NIGERIA)

Muslim groups: ‘Third Jihad’ should cost NYC commissioner his job

New York (CNN) – Two prominent Muslim civil liberties groups called for Police Commissioner Ray Kelly to resign on Thursday because of his participation in a film that they say paints all Muslims as terrorists.

“Involvement with ‘Third Jihad’ sends a clear message that the NYPD’s dealings with New York’s diverse Muslim communities are based on bigotry and blanket suspicion,” the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) stated in a press release.

Muslim activists say “The Third Jihad,” a documentary about radical Islam, vilifies the American Muslim community and teaches police officers to suspect Muslims as terrorists.

Muslim activists are also calling for Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Brown to resign, saying that he first denied and only later admitted that Kelly was interviewed for the film.

“They were not telling the truth about their involvement in the propaganda film against Muslims,” said Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), adding that New York “deserves people they trust who do not discriminate against people.”

FULL ARTICLE FROM THE NEW YORK POST 

NYPD Used Anti Muslim Film to Train Cadets

Last January investigative journalist Tom Robbins broke the story of how the NYPD endorsed the scaremongering Islamophobic documentary The Third Jihad. The film was funded by the pro-Israel non-profit group The Clarion Fund, and it contends that few, if any, Muslims can be trusted. “Americans are being told that most of the mainstream Muslim groups are moderate,” says the narrator, “when in fact if you look a little closer you’ll see a very different reality. One of their primary tactics is deception.” Newly released documents show the NYPD knows a thing or two about deception as well!

When Robbins’s story appeared in the Village Voice, NYPD spokesman Paul Browne initially said no cops had watched what he described as a “wacky movie.” Later, he said it had only been shown “a couple of times when officers were filling out paperwork before the actual coursework began. It was not approved for the curriculum. It’s not shown for any purpose now.” But one officer told the Voice his instructor “introduced it with a warning that some people found it offensive.”

FULL ARTICLE FROM GOTHAMIST.COM

Mosque Firebombed in NYC: Mayor Condemns

New York City police are investigating as possible hate crimes a wave of firebombings that included a Islamic center, New York papers are reporting today. A bodega and two private homes also were targeted. No injuries were reported.

Update at 1:19 p.m. ET: Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned the violence, the Associated Press reports. “The four reported attacks on Sunday night go against everything we stand for as New Yorkers and Americans,” Cuomo said in a statement. “Attacks such as this have no place in our open and inclusive society.” CAIR called on police and Muslim institutions to step up security measures around mosques. Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the advocacy group, said CAIR recently called on the FBI to investigate threats targeting mosques posted on an anti-Islam blog called “Bare Naked Islam.” One comment on the site read: “Throw 10 Molotov cocktails into these mosques and burn them down,” Hooper says.

FULL ARTICLE FROM USA TODAY

New York Museum Galleries Refocus Gaze on Islamic Art

NEW YORK - Fifteen renovated galleries offer fresh perspective on the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection of more than 12,000 Islamic works of art spanning 13 centuries and an area ranging from Spain to India.

About 1,200 pieces of art will be on view at any one time with displays of textiles and works on paper changing frequently due to the sensitivity of these materials to light.

A re-thinking of the Islamic art collection, developed alongside the museum’s years-long renovation project, led to the new galleries being named to reflect the range of nations and empires that produced the art.

While the collection was once succinctly termed Islamic Art, the museum now describes the works inhabiting the galleries as “Art of the Arab Lands, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia, and Later South Asia.”

The new emphasis on geography grew out of the view that while religion unifies the collection, region diversifies it.

FULL ARTICLE FROM THE MONTREAL GAZETTE 

For Muslim family, faith complicates grief for loved one lost on 9/11

Edmond, Oklahoma (CNN) – His smiling image has been cut out of a snapshot and carefully added to a photo of his father, so it looks as if he is standing beside the man. It smacks of a bad Photoshop job, but it gives the two a shared moment, even though they never met.

The boy’s sister, Fahina, is 15 and clings to scant memories and aging photographs. But Farqad, almost 10, has nothing.

She remembers sitting beside their father on amusement park rides, his words — “Look at my daughter; she’s so brave” — soothing her nerves; she still thinks of him whenever she’s on a rollercoaster. She leaned on his legs when he watched basketball on TV and imagined him cheering her on when she played the sport after he was gone. She recalls being driven to see Harvard University, before she even started elementary school, and dreams of attending an Ivy League school to make him proud.

On the morning of September 11, 2001, she woke up extra early on her own. After her father and mother finished saying morning prayers, the young girl took his face in her small hands and enlisted the promise of a Chuck E. Cheese visit. Father and daughter then kissed and said goodbye.

Farqad was born two days later, after terrorists hijacked planes and killed nearly 3,000 — including 38-year-old Mohammad Salahuddin Chowdhury, who worked atop the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

FULL ARTICLE FROM CNN