In memory of Lt. Col Muhammad Abu-Ali and other heroes

Brethren, he was born in the backwaters of a village in the northern parts of this country but his death has brought the truth closer to us that our background does not and should not necessarily determine our ‘foreground’. Muhammad Abu Ali was born in an unsung encampment but that was probably meant to ensure that he kept his destiny with fame and honour; a honour and fame which awaited him at death.

Muhammad Ali, Sergeants Muazu Ibrahim Hussani Jafaru, Bassey Okon, Corporals Chukwu Simon, Abel Sea Man Patrick and Private Soldier Salisu Lawal died in an ambush by the Boko Haram. They were killed while in pursuit of something greater than life; they died in defense of what the Almighty hold sacred- truth, honour, love of humanity.

Brethren, when the news reached me last weekend, I thought I had to put every other thing aside in order to do this elegiac piece in memory of these heroes of ours. I thought I had to side-step my previous plan to dedicate today’s sermon to the tenth anniversary of the Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence Alhaj Saad Muhammad Abubakr OFR.

I also thought I needed to put on hold the urgent need to ponder the four stations of human lives here on earth in relation to the four stations that await us in the presence of our Creator. Thus I put all of the above aside when the news of the death of Lt. Col M. Abu-Ali in company of his six other valiant heroes of our nation reached me. I thought when it is about death, every other thing has to be left.

Thus brethren, I could not resist the urge – the urge to ponder the meanings in the life and death of these heroes particularly when I learnt that Muhammad Abu-Ali once said to his followers: “If someone must die, let it be me”; I could not resist the urge- the urge to ponder the life and death of these heroes – when the picture of Muhammad Abu Ali and that of his young widow carrying their small child was sent to me; I could not resist the urge- the urge to ponder the life and death of Muhammad Abu Ali and his colleagues who have departed to eternity – when I saw pictures of senior government and military personnel in tears, with heads bowed down in sorrow, with hearts heavily-laden with grief. I thought we all feel this pain not simply we have lost a group of heroes; we feel this pain more closely perhaps because they were heroes in more ways than we can ever hope to be; they were heroes who dedicated their lives to something bigger than themselves.

Thus the day Muhammad Abu Ali said- “If someone must die, let it be me”- he was actually giving a signal to the life he had lived; he was equally calling attention to the life he was going to live. Abu Ali was able to say “If someone must die, let it be me” because he was happy with the life he had lived. “Those who have lived a good life”, so says the sage, “do not fear death, but meet it calmly, and even long for it in the face of great suffering; but those who do not have a peaceful conscience, dread death as though life means nothing but physical torment”. Muhammad Abu Ali and his co-travellers have therefore become heroes not simply because they desired it; they have become heroes because they have paid what is usually referred to as the supreme sacrifice in defense of our commonwealth.

Brethren, in achieving this great height, Muhammad Abu Ali did not see himself as a northerner fighting in defense of his region; Sergeant Bassey Okon had also triumphed over infantile politics of tribalism and the feckless and jejune transaction in regionalism. Thus Sergeant Okon had stopped seeing the Niger Delta in him each timed he looked in the mirror. Rather, what he was seeing each time he looked in the mirror was probably the image of a Nigerian in love with Nigeria. In him and other heroes of last Friday, all the conflicting identities which had hitherto fractured this nation had been meshed together.

Thus like Mahatma Gandhi, Abu Ali and his companions had become Southerners because they were Northerners; they had become Northerners simply because they were Southerners. To them, Nigeria is not, as it is in the world of the politicians, like a harlot who could be bought with a lowly price, who could be taken without honour and dignity and who could be exploited and violently too. Abu Ali became heroes because they opted for the harder path to greatness. They preferred the luxury not of this world but that of the other-world; they sought not after big Limousine or Lamborghini on which their unsung names could be engraved as a marker of their newly-found opulence and empty indulgence in self-righteousness but after honour and celestial recognition.

Having said that, I believe it is important that we keep in mind that Muhammad Abu Ali is also a martyr. He is a Shahid.To attain the status of a martyr, it is necessary to die or be slain in the course of defending and upholding the principles and ideals of Islam. So, how does Muhammad Abu-Ali qualify to be described as a martyr?

He is a martyr because he was a believer in the Almighty. He is a martyr because he served his Creator diligently and conscientiously and was killed in the course of defending an ideal of Islam. Abu Ali was a Muslim who knew that Islam could not have given credence or validation to the iniquitous and heinous philosophy and practices of the Boko Haram. He knew that Islam should not be pleaded as reason for indulgence in unwarranted murder and destruction. “You cannot seize innocent girls, force the Hijab on them and turn them into sex-slaves and claim divine immunity and credibility” he probably would have argued.

Kindly note dear Sister that martyrs are of different levels in Islam. At the highest level are those who are killed in a war in defense of ideals supported by Islam. If it is true that the activities of the Boko Haram constitute infractions against the divine will, then to engage in struggle against them and to be killed in the process is to be martyred.

We equally talk about martyrs when people die as a result of diseases and plagues. Thus they are martyrs those who die under a falling wall, those who are killed defending their wealth and properties and others who are mentioned in the authentic traditions as and are described as martyrs. In Islam, martyrs occupy the third in the rank of those who enjoy and shall enjoy divine grace as enunciated in Quran 4:69. The Almighty says: “And say not of those who are slain in the Way of God: ‘They are dead.’ Nay, they are living, though you perceive it not.” (Qur’an 2:154).

While you go home tonight in confidence that your husband will be there to pleasure you to sleep, spare some moments for the widows and the children of Abu Ali and his companions. It is only she who has been loved that could really feel the pain of the loss of the beloved.

(08122465111 for text messages only)
Olasodu is a Professor of Middle Eastern, North African and Cultural Studies
Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies, University of Ibadan,
Ibadan, Nigeria.