The Orlando massacre in a gay nightclub has brought Islamic fundamentalism under the world’s microscope. Ismail Badjie, however, holds a different view. In this unconventional sermon, he says the force that drives such atrocities is more powerful than human affiliations. Read on:
As a society, we have gotten intellectually lazy and how the media presents information to us is truly the deadliest virus infecting the minds of people. Ignorance is worn like a badge of honor and well....gave us Donald Trump in 2016.
Hate has taken over so many hearts. Plain and simple. One thing I never seem to understand is how as a society, we stand to justify and rationalize people's actions and render it to nurture and just not their nature. We immediately search for the reason why but never without lazy association. Oh he killed because he was an Islamic extremist, because of "ISIS", because he was anti-gay, because of his upbringing, because of his allegiance to white supremacists... The list goes on.
The NATURE of these psychopaths are mutually exclusive from their NUTURE. People kill because the devil has conquered their hearts and minds. People kill because they have psychologically lost value for human life. The human mind is extremely vulnerable to subconscious yet intentional classical conditioning. Its innate vulnerability is what so many facets of society are built on. Religion, the military, political affiliations, marriage etc. The ability to feed a constant source of information to influence one's actions and thoughts. End result could be productive to spread love or destructive to spread hate.
The irony behind it all especially when it comes to religion is that common doctrine tells us that we all will get judged by God individually based on our good and bad deeds irrespective of ANY affiliation.
So yes we have gotten lazy intellectually. These issues that plague our society are multi-faceted. The fact is freedom comes at a steep price a times when it comes to FEW psychopaths taking advantage of it. Freedom of speech, freedom of faith, freedom to buy and carry guns and freedom of affiliation.
Religion in itself is flawed in ways that any logical person can see. Anyone who believes in God knows right from wrong. The same religious texts have been interpreted in so many ways all tapping into the ability to condition human behavior.
As a Muslim, Islam gave me a solid foundation to build my moral character on. Gave me a road map to building a spiritual relationship with God which is mutually exclusive to my religion. A means of communication and acknowledgement of the almighty who gives me strength. I live my life with pure intentions in my heart and try to do more good than bad.
The fact that I cringe and brace myself every time a hate crime is committed until the identity of the psychopath is released shows you how I myself become a victim of my affiliation. Its either " Oh boy ... Here comes the ignorance" or "Wheeww I’m glad he had no false or misguided affiliation to the deen".
I always use the fax machine analogy. Imagine God on the receiving end. All religions use a different colour pen on a white sheet of paper and hit send. When it comes through the fax machine....God only sees black ink on white paper. The content of the message on the paper (individual deeds and spiritual relationship) is all God cares about not the color of the ink (your religion or language) used to communicate.
As a global community, every facet of society should take an intellectual stance on stripping these evil people of their power of affiliation to justify their actions. That includes religious leaders being more vocal in the propagation of what worshipping God is about, also includes gun enthusiasts being vocal about the level of easy access being part of the problem.
But then again. Using our intellectual ability...the one thing that separates man from animals, can be hard a times. So ignorance can still be bliss.
The world is turning into a place filled with a lot of darkness in people’s hearts. That...is a collective loss for the entire human race.
May peace be with you all.
Ismail was a prominent youth leader in The Gambia before leaving for the USA to further his education. He holds a Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) from Purdue University.