Today, aside a Christian brother giving me free food,... something genuinely beautiful happened to me again, and it left me thinking, if only we were this religiously tolerant, Nigeria would be a far better place. I live in a block of four flats. I am the only Muslim, the other three residents are Christians. Two of which are married, one is a bachelor like me, hustling and figuring life out. One of my closest neighbors is Isaac. We live on the same floor. He is married with two kids, in his late 30s, while I am in my 20s. We talk a lot and we banter endlessly about politics and football despite our age gaps. I am a die-hard Barca fan, he is a Madrid fan. I am Pro-El-Rufai, he was a Peter Obi supporter, who is now tilting towards Tinubu in the next election. So you can imagine, there is always something to argue about between us, and we enjoy it, but what we both agree on is Tinubu didn't treat Mallam fairly (Although he believes Mallam should have handled it better, I always told him it’s because he didn’t know the background that’s why he think so). So, Yesterday we were discussing Christmas plans. During Eid, I hosted a barbecue in my apartment, so we were talking about how Christmas would be done in his place. He told me he would like to invite me over to eat Christmas food with his family. I gladly accepted because I am somebody that loves to party, and every christmas since in the Uni we go out and have. A few moments later, since he mentioned that he bought a ram, I hesitantly explained to him that while I could eat the food, I could not eat the ram (I hesistated because I didn't think he will get me). He paused for a moment and asked why. I explained to him that in Islam, certain prayers must be recited before an animal is slaughtered for the meat to be permissible. Eating meat from an animal slaughtered without those prayers is not allowed in Islam. He then asked out of curiosity, why I would eat the chicken but not the ram. I explained that the chicken is carton chicken with a halal tag, and I even showed him what the tag looks like. He was surprised. He said he had always seen the halal label but never knew what it meant. We both laughed about it. From his reaction, I could tell that the explanation about prayers before slaughtering an animal did not really make sense to him, but what mattered was that he respected my beliefs and did not try to push or argue. We simply changed the topic and moved on. Early in the morning today before, Isaac called me and asked me to come downstairs. When I did, he asked me to slaughter the ram and perform the prayers so that I could comfortably join them for the evening barbecue, since his religion doesn't have limitations over that. I was honestly shocked and deeply impressed. In that moment, I thought to myself, if only more people were this respectful and tolerant of other people’s faith, Nigeria would be a much better place. (It was later in the day that I saw Bashir Ahmad, OON’s post of Albani, that you can actually eat the meat even if it wasn’t slaughtered by a Muslim) The point I am trying to make here is, an average Nigerian Christian would have taken offense the moment I said I could not eat his meat, all he will hear is AVERSION, without respect for my faith and beliefs but not Isaac, he chose to respect my faith, and choices without taking offense. Surprisingly, Isaac is from Plateau State. He was born and raised in Delta, lived briefly in the UK, and then returned to Nigeria. I am writing after dancing “Oble.....Obleee.....Obleeeee” in my compoud with my christian neighbors. Nigeria will be a good place to live if we learn to tolerate one another and genuinely respect our differences.show more
