بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
TELLY DA’WAH EMBASSY
Telly
Da’wah Embassy, Zone ‘E’ GRA, Iba Estate, Ojo, Lagos State. P. O. Box 10211,
LASU Post Office, HO 102 101, Ojo, Lagos State. Tel. 234-818-211-9714.
Email:
tellydawah@yahoo.com
DA’WAH TRACTS VOL. 1,
NO. 33
THE BUS
PREACHER
THE BUS PREACHER
Reports reaching Telly Da’wah office indicate that there
is growing tension over the bus preacher
phenomenon. What does this mean? Commuters sit quietly in a passenger vehicle.
Out of the blues comes someone clutching a Bible and screaming at the top of
his voice.
A Muslim brother recently reported his experience. He had
boarded a passenger bus from Oshodi on his way from his office. Suddenly a man
stood up in the bus and screamed at the top of his voice,“Good morning to you
all in this bus in Jesus name. Before we go far I want us to pray … let us all
close our eyes”.
The bus conductor quickly warned his master, “Oga don’t close
your eyes o”. The preacher reacted by reassuring the driver, “Close your eyes,
driver. Nothing will happen. Jesus will drive this bus.”
Then he prayed. But he did not stop there. He moved onto
preaching to the passengers. “In the beginning there was the word, and the word
was with God, and the word was God …unless you accept the blood of Jesus,
unless you accept Jesus as your Lord and saviour… (turning in the direction of
a Muslim woman in hijab, i.e. wearing Muslim scarf) you cannot be saved.
Your Makkah that you went cannot save you”.
One of the male passengers at the rear of the vehicle sprang to
his feet. “Abomination!”, he screamed. Turning the tajia (Muslim cap) on
his head slightly to the right, he warned, “Stop desecrating the name of our
holy city”.
The preacher raised his voice higher, “I bind you in Jesus name!
I reject your interruption. I must preach the word of God.”
“Preach whatever you like,” retorted the Muslim passenger, “but
leave our Makkah out of it”.
This has become a regular scenario in several parts of this
country. Christian missionaries go inside buses to preach and disturb others.
Nobody will try this kind of thing in civilized countries. But in Nigeria?
Anything goes.
There is another disturbing dimension to this phenomenon.
Although they know that there are Muslims inside the same bus, Christians in the bus
even join the preacher to sing Christian songs and clap their hands. This is unhealthy
rivalry. It is very dangerous.
Apart from disturbing innocent citizens; those who are planning
the day’s work; those who are sick; those who are reading; etc, preaching in
the bus is provocative. Passengers board the bus for a ride. They did
not bargain for any preaching.
Those who want to listen to preaching will go to the church or
mosque. But people now take preaching to commercial vehicles where commuters
are like trapped people who are compelled to listen and they cannot alight from
the bus until they reach their destination.
Such preaching can cause religious crisis inside the bus. It is
easy for such fighting to spread to the neighbourhood; to the whole city; to
the whole state and from there to adjoining states. Preaching inside the
bus therefore constitutes a threat to national security.
Telly Da’wah brings a message of peace to the Christians of
Nigeria: in the interest of peace, we call on our Christian neighbours to stop
preaching inside commercial vehicles. The bus is not a church. Such preaching
causes inconvenience to your fellow Nigerians. The definition of a Christian is
one who acts ‘Christly’ (somebody who behaves like Christ).
Are you behaving like Jesus when you cause pain? Would Jesus
have done anything to inconvenience people? Was it not Jesus who said, “So
whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them; for this is the law
and the prophets” (Mathew 7: 12). He also taught that you should love
your neighbour according to yourself (Luke 10: 27).
Telly Da’wah brings a message of peace to the authorities: the
Government. Do not wait until there is conflagration. Nip it in the bud now!
Government must make a public declaration on this issue. People must be
reminded that preaching inside the bus is illegal, barbaric and bohemian. A
stitch in time saves nine.
It is an open secret that the law does not allow hawking or
preaching inside commercial vehicles. The law frowns upon disturbing the
driver. In fact, the greatest danger in the bus preacher syndrome is the fear
that the driver’s attention may be diverted. This may put the lives of
passengers in danger.
We must ask ourselves why religion should be allowed to
constitute threat to life. We must ask ourselves why winning souls for Jesus
must become such a priority that preachers must disturb passengers in public
buses.
Can anybody try this in Britain, Western Germany or the United
States? It is one of the manifestations of the breakdown of law and
order in Nigeria. Governments at all levels, Federal and State must legislate
against this dangerous phenomenon, enforce the law where it already exists or
invigorate it where the existing law is deficient. Nigeria needs peace to
experience development. We must therefore do everything in our power to
discourage threat to peace.
For the avoidance of doubt, we are for freedom of religion. We
are not saying Christians should not preach. No, they are free to do so but
there must be decorum.
Nobody should hide under the canopy of preaching to cause
religious crisis. Neither should anyone adopt a method capable of disturbing
others or creating health hazard or constituting impediments in the path of
economic growth. All we are saying is that nobody should abuse the concept of
freedom of religion. We all agree that there should be freedom of religion.
Yes, but that freedom must not be abused.
One man’s freedom stops where the other man’s freedom begins. We
are all free to preach our religions but the method we employ must not disturb
the peace of others, neither should it be impertinent. There is need to respect
the freedom and rights of others. Respect begets respect. We therefore advise
our Christian brothers and sisters to use methods which cannot disturb others.
Examples of good and acceptable methods are preaching on
television, preaching on radio, recording evangelical messages in cassettes and
CDs, using the internet to preach, sending text messages, etc.
There is also a way our Christian neighbours can reach out to
commuters inside commercial vehicles. They can print tracts
and distribute them inside buses without preaching there.
Whoever likes will collect the tracts from them. The rest are
free to reject it. It is a free world. The distribution of tracts is simpler.
It is different from preaching when commuters are compelled to listen to
messages for which they did not bargain.
Preaching inside commercial vehicles is definitely not
acceptable. It is intrusion, a rude invasion into someone’s privacy, a crude
method of communication and a breach of fundamental human right.
Whoever wants to preach should follow well-known norms of
proselytisation. Preaching inside a commercial bus fails all tests of civilized
behavior. It stands in contradistinction to international best practices in
evangelization. It is a threat to peaceful coexistence. It disturbs public
peace, law and order.
Telly Da’wah brings a message of peace to Nigerian Muslims: we
call on Muslims to remain peaceful and law-abiding. We advise Muslims not to
start preaching Islam inside the bus in order to retaliate. The bus is not a
mosque.
Moreover, two wrongs cannot make a right. But do not keep quiet
either. If Government fails to stop evil, that does not mean that we must
condone it. The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) has commanded that we should
not ignore evil; rather we should change it: with our hands if possible,
or with our tongues or with our hearts by praying against it.
Muslims are advised to use their tongues to check the bus
preacher syndrome. You must not use your hand for that may induce violence. A
Muslim must not be violent. We must shun all violent tendencies. The Prophet
said, “Beware of violence: you must be gentle”.
If you are in the bus and somebody starts preaching. Do not
abuse him. Do not fight. Quietly tell the preacher that he is disturbing
others. If he ignores your advice, you can bless Muhammad (SAW) by saying
aloud, “Soluu ala nabiyil-Kareem”.
You will be surprised that many people will respond with: “Salallahu alayhi wa
salaam”. Follow this up with adh-dhikr: La ilaha ilallah,
La ilaha ilalah, La ilaha ilalah… Punctuate it with:
“everybody,
La ilaha ilalah,
in your houses,
La ilaha ilalah,
in your office,
La ilaha ilalah
whatever you do,
La ilaha ilalah,
whoever you are,
La ilaha ilalah ,
Wonderful Allah,
La ilaha ilalah
Merciful Allah,
La ilaha ilalah
Beautiful Allah,
La ilaha ilalah
Powerful Allah,
La ilaha ilalah…
This is a tactical way of relieving oneself of the emotional
trauma occasioned by the bus preacher’s intransigence. Violence will be avoided
if this method can be adopted. Preaching will stop or become inaudible.
But Muslims must not overdo it. They must stop the adh-dhikr
as soon as the bus preacher stops preaching. Our members have tried this dhikr
option and it has worked like magic. It is a non-violent method. In most cases,
the bus preachers suddenly called the bus conductor, “Drop me at the next bus
stop. I have reached my destination!”
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This tract was
prepared by Telly Da’wah Embassy. For further enquiries, please call
234-818-211-9714.
Telly Da’wah Embassy was founded in 1995 by Professor Ishaq
Akintola for spreading the peaceful message of Islam and to find lasting
solution to religious violence in Nigeria.
Please reprint or make copies of this tract and distribute free
of charge to earn rewards from Almighty Allah. Allah bless you as you support
His cause.
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our tracts or to collect more tracts for free distribution in your area, place
of work or school.
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