The Al-Shabab Attacks – The Ugly Side of Religion

I have observed in silence the back and forth arguments of commentators following the recent attacks of the Al-Shabab on the Westgate Shopping Centre on Saturday afternoon in Nairobi, Kenya.

While a group of these commentators believe it is largely on political grounds, others believe it is more of religion than politics. I am one of the commentators who believe without any shred of doubt that these attacks which have left 59 dead and 175 injured (the last time I checked on Fox News) is largely religious than political.

Why do I say so? What is my reason for this stand point? Shortly after the incident, I decided to visit the BBC’s website for an understanding of the incidence. There I saw some statements which are allegedly attributed to the gunmen who masterminded the attacks. According to the BBC, the gunmen had told Muslims to leave and said non-Muslims would be targeted.

Also, according to a certain Elijah Lamau, one who reported to the BBC on the shooting incidence, the gunmen further said, “If you are a Muslim, stand up. We’ve come to rescue you.” The said Elijah Lamau further went on to say, “The Muslims left with their hands up.”

Now, I’m not writing this article as an attack on any particular religion, but to condemn religion in its entirety, and its practitioners. Religion has reduced many of us into an insane group of people.

There have been many of such attacks in several parts of the world as I write. Similar of these attacks in Nigeria, which is perpetrated by Boko Haram, have left parts of this country uninhabitable by indigenes – all in the name of a senseless practice of religion.

No one practises religion and comes out a better person. Religion is only a reserve for those who open themselves up for some strict rules and regulations, which are often baseless and without justification. Religion makes its practitioners blind and ignorant, rather than open to the truth and knowledgeable.

There is nothing like a Christian Religion, or Muslim Religion. For those who disagree with me on this, I have this for you; check if you want to – none, and I mean, none of the founders of these so-called religions ever preached based on religious followership. They all preached on the love for one’s neighbor, tolerance, and peace.

Religion is an invention of humans. It is what humans have reduced a close relationship with God to. Let me further ask this question; if you claim to belong to a certain religion and thus do not tolerate others from a different religion, how do you win them over to your beliefs and ideologies? Does it therefore not sound stupid for us to reduce humanity to a purposeless, senseless, inhumane, and insane set of rules and regulations we call religion? This shooting incidence has not only affected Kenyans. According to the BBC, the U.S State Department says it has reports that American citizens were injured in the attacks. Two French citizens were among the victims of the attacks, too. Also, Ghana’s very own former Chairman of the Council of State, Professor Kofi Awoonor lost his life in the attacks.

The attacks have therefore transcended a geographical location to a global one. I am firmly in support of the president of Kenya, H.E. Uhuru Kenyatta who is reported to have said, “We shall hunt down the perpertrators.”

And for those of us who think we can be silent and neutral on such developments, I leave you with a Ghanaian proverb which says, “When you see your neighbour’s beard on fire, protect yours with a barrel of water.” Until you are hardly hit by such incidences, you will think they are tales.

Edmund Burke once said, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” It is a call on us all to fight terrorism until we get to the very roots of these stinking acts of men!