THE ISLAMIC SOLUTION
TO THE PROBLEM OF
NIGERIA IN DISTRESSby Joseph Kenny, O.P.
Glory (Nigerian National Charismatics) 10:1 (Jan-Mar 1997), 13
Greed prevails in the land. There is corruption from top to bottom; most people will do anything to get money they are not entitled to. Violence is on the increase, with robberies, murders and assassinations occurring every day although most often they are not reported in the media.
General Gowon proposed a prayer programme for all faiths as a solution. The Catholic bishops of Nigeria also asked for prayer and fasting. What do the Muslims say we should do?
A standard Muslim answer (although we cannot say all Muslims agree) is that Sharî`a is the panacea for all the ills of this country. It is the perfect law come down from heaven. Just install it and your troubles will be over. The solution may sound simple, but hundreds of thousands of Muslims are convinced that this is true. To confirm their argument they point to places like Saudi Arabia, where Sharî`a is the law and the crime rate is low.
Usually when I write about Islam it is to find some common points with Christianity, something to praise Muslims for. But on this occasion I want to raise a few critical questions. Let's begin with the last point, that where Sharî`a is the law there is a low crime rate. This is true of any well run authoritarian state. The best example was the Soviet Union under Communism; crime was kept in check, and only now with a liberal government is Russia facing the problem of widespread crime.
There is also the question of whether an authoritarian government, with a low crime rate, is really worth it. If we probe beneath the surface, both Communist and Islamic authoritarian regimes have been highly corrupt at the top. There may be no crime on the streets, but is the price of a police state worth it? And what of the "cruel and unusual punishments", such as amputations, that the American Constitution (Article 8) forbids, but are normal in a Sharî`a state? These are points I do not want to dwell on in this short essay.
The main point I want to raise is what could be the effectiveness of Sharî`a in Nigeria in preventing crime? We have seen many constitutions and systems of government come and go in this country. Every time a republic falls, we hear the observation that it is not the fault of the constitution and the law, but of those who administer it.
That makes us raise the same question about Sharî`a. Grant that it is the most perfect law that ever appeared on earth. Yet law is only as good as those who administer it. The present Nigerian constitution provides for procedures of justice and law enforcement, but these are not effected. If Nigerians have been incapable of administering an easy law and constitution, how will they administer one that is much more stringent?
If we were to allow the Muslims a chance to experiment by installing Sharî`a in Nigeria (even at the risk of suppression of Christian liberties), we can be sure it would fail as woefully as any previous constitution, so long as the same kind of people are in charge.
This brings us the the the question Paul raises in his letter to the Romans: what is the power of law? He grants that the Law of Moses was a masterpiece of legislation, but he argues that even this law had no power to make people live by the law; he therefore concludes that law cannot save. What is necessary is faith and conversion of heart. Love is much more powerful than fear in bringing about order and observance of law.
The solution, then, is not to try out new and supposedly better laws, but to convert people to God and inspire them to love him. That means a programme of evangelization/da`wa that emphasizes how one appears before God, not before men, one that stresses holiness more than miracles.
This also implies reliance on God's inspiration and grace to bolster our individual weak efforts. In Christianity this is available through the liturgy and sacraments of the Church. Although Islam has no place for sanctifying grace, it places great stress on actual grace, both in the form of divine guidance and God's assistance to do good.