NIGERIANS AND PRAYERS: BETWEEN AMEN AND THANK YOU By Auwal Sani Anwar In the spirit of this period in which Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus AS, I will like to share this short, true story. In late 2000s, I was lecturing in one of the higher education institutions located in north central Nigeria. Amongst other things, I was saddled with the membership of a few committees that were constituted by the Management to help with the smooth running of the institution. It happened that in one of the committees, the Chairman had to be away on another assignment. But given the urgency of the work before us, he called me and insisted that I must stand in for him during the next two meetings to quickly get the job done. I protested because I was the youngest member of the Committee, but my boss insisted saying that he had already notified the others. That was how I arrived at the venue hoping that one of them would object to it and I would gladly handover the reigns. Little did I know that the biggest lesson I was to learn had to with ‘Amen’ and ‘Thank you.’ When we were all seated, I opened with a statement expressing how least qualified I was to chair that meeting. But they all waved it away, one of them jokingly saying, ‘After all you have the biggest head!’ We all laughed. I invited the Secretary to read the agenda for us to adopt it. He did and it was adopted. The first item was the opening prayer. There were five of us present – three Muslims and two Christians. I asked one of the Christians, an elderly man, to say a prayer. He composed himself and stood up. He removed his cap, closed his eyes and began with ‘In the name of Jesus…’ The other Christian stood up too and closed his eyes but he had no cap to remove. None of the Muslims stood up, I inclusive. He prayed for almost three minutes, committing everything to God, and closed with, ‘in Jesus name we pray.’ The other Christian said a loud ‘Amen’, which was accentuated by the silence of the three Muslims, us. I quickly said, ‘Thank you sir.’ And then we went on with the business of the day. I began to have a feeling that something was wrong. At the end of the meeting, I invited one of the Muslims, another elderly man, to say the closing prayer. He raised his hands, open palms towards heaven, and recited the opening chapter of the Holy Qur’an. When he finished, he rubbed his palms against his face saying ‘Amin’. The other Muslim and I did the same, chorusing ‘Amin’. The two Christians did not say anything, with their eyes rooted to the floor. The meeting was adjourned to the following day. I left that meeting completely convinced that I had to do something about these opening and closing prayers. So, the next day when we were about to start, after adopting the agenda, I said, ‘I think we should all take one minute to pray to God quietly according to our faiths before reading the minutes of the last meeting.’ The elderly Christian was the first to object. ‘Auwal, are you not comfortable with the prayer I said yesterday?’ He asked. I said, ‘No sir, I don’t have a problem at all. Just that I feel it may be better.’ I could not clearly explain myself. Then the other elder, a Muslim, said, ‘But we have always done it this way. Muslim starts, Christian ends it, or vice versa. Engr. Auwal, why do you want to change that?’ The rebuke in his words could not be mistaken. Given that I wasn’t sure I could explain myself clearly, I retracted my words and asked the Muslim to say the opening prayer, which he gladly did. He even read a longer chapter, perhaps to rub it in. J I and the other Muslim said ‘Amin’ when he finished. The closing prayer was said by the elderly Christian in the same fashion as the previous day. When he finished with ‘In Jesus name we pray’, the other Christian said ‘Amen’ as they sat down, the other two Muslims did not say anything, and I said, ‘Thank you.’ You would think that was the last of it. On my way to the office, the elderly Christian accosted me and said he would walk with me to the School of Engineering where my office was located as he had someone to see there. But I later guessed that the real reason might be his intention to ask me the question he did. As we headed to the School taking a long footpath, he asked, ‘Auwal, why do say ‘Thank you’ whenever I pray for us? Why don’t you say ‘Amen’, after all we are all praying to the same God?’ I did not say, ‘You, sir, do not say ‘Amin’ when Muslims pray too. In fact, you don’t even say anything.’ I did not say that, though it crossed my mind – he was probably my father’s age mate. I just smiled while I considered his question. In the end I thought I should explain everything including the unasked questions that he might have. I said, ‘Sir, I am only trying to navigate a tight rope. As you know, Islam, the religion I practice, the one I believe in 100 percent, does not condone invoking anybody’s name while praying to God besides the name of God. So when you say, ‘In Jesus name we pray’, it is very difficult for me to say ‘Amen’ even though I am hoping that God almighty will answer your prayers. This is because we, Muslims, believe Jesus is one of the five very senior prophets of God, but not God. That’s why I thank you for your prayers to appreciate your efforts, hoping God will accept them, but I do not say ‘amen’ so as to not run afoul of the Islamic way. Let me also add that we don’t stand up, close our eyes and remove our caps because of the same principles. When we pray to God, we do it with our eyes open, we need not stand up while doing it, and we are encouraged to cover our heads while at it. I hope this explains my behavior.’ I could see that he was carefully assessing my answers as we approached my office. In fact, I thought I saw satisfaction written all over his smiling face. But then he asked, ‘Okay Auwal. One last question: If I end my prayer with ‘In the name of Mohammed’, would you say ‘Amen’?’ I quickly said, ‘No sir. Although God sent Islam, as we practice it today, through Muhammad SAW, he himself says that he is ‘only’ a Prophet of God. So invoking his name is not something that even he, the Prophet, would accept.’ As God would have it, this last bit did the job. He thanked me profusely and went his way – away from the School of Engineering! I smiled and entered my office happy that I have probably helped my Christian brother to understand more about the ways of Islam. But as soon as I settled in my seat, the elderly Muslim walked in. He was also old enough to be at least my elder brother and he always treated me as such. He took one of the guest seats as I stood up to welcome him. ‘No, no, no. Sit down,’ he said. I sat down noticing the creased brows and the scolding eyes. ‘Why did you ask us not to pray before starting the meeting?’ he asked disapprovingly. ‘I only said we should all take a minute to pray according to our Faiths,’ I began to explain. He wouldn’t let me finish, ‘But you said ‘quietly’. Why would you say that? Do you know the reward of reciting the Qur’an audibly? And when they pray in Jesus name, you say ‘Thank you.’ Why would you say that? You are a Muslim, you know Jesus is not a son of God. He is not God. Why say thank you when they pray? They don’t say ‘Amin’ when we pray. Why not just keep quiet like we do?’ And on and on. Out of respect, I waited another three minutes for him to finish before responding. I said, ‘Sir, I only said ‘quietly’ because if we all were to begin praying simultaneously, it would be a bit rowdy. One may distract another. I believe that if the prayer is directed at God, He would hear it whether we shout it out or not. I did not like the sight of two people praying while others appear unconcerned, and then when the other three are praying, the others are like sitting on thorns. It does not project a united picture, a togetherness of purpose. It only accentuates our differences, when we all need to move towards one true God of the three Abrahamic faiths. That was why I suggested that we should all take a minute and do it at once. If I did not value the position of prayers in our lives sir, I would have suggested striking it off the Agenda given that our reason for meeting is not exactly religious. ‘And the reason I thank them is because I believe they have the best of intentions – just like you. He was essentially praying that God should make our meeting fruitful. I would like that to happen, so the least I could do was to thank him.’ My ‘elder brother’ adjusted himself before saying, ‘Well, you have a point. But it is not our fault alone. They don’t say ‘Amin’ too when we pray. Why should we say, ‘Amin’ when they pray?’ That was when it dawned on me that I should answer his question with a question. I asked, ‘Sir, while Oga [name withheld] was praying, you heard all that he was saying and understood them. There was nothing Islamically objectionable there except invoking the name of Jesus instead of God. Yet you could not say ‘Amen’. Now turn the tables. You said your prayers entirely in Arabic. You recited Fatiha in which you were glorifying God and asking him to guide us to the right path in whatever we do (including the meeting) and then exalting God’s name some more. He doesn’t speak Arabic. He probably guessed you were reading the Qur’an, but he had no idea what you were saying. Why should he say ‘Amin’ to your prayers?’ ‘Because he is my friend and he knows I will never wish him harm,’ he answered confidently. I had to laugh a little. I then said, ‘Sir, place yourself in his shoes. You, that understood everything he said, did not say ‘Amen’ to his prayers and did not bother to explain why – how could you expect he that did not understand a single word from what you recited to have faith in you and just say ‘Amen’?’ The office fell silent for a while. ‘I think you have a point, Auwal. Yes… you have a point,’ he said, standing up. His face has suddenly brightened up. And then he added, ‘The next time we meet, I will support you. Let us just take a minute and pray according to our faiths. But if they don’t agree with that, I will have to translate my prayer into English, before repeating it in Arabic… And I will explain to them that I was just repeating my prayer in Arabic because of the special place of reciting the Qur’an in Arabic in the spirit of Islam.’ ‘Thank you sir,’ I said. ‘Thank you Auwal,’ he said. Ibraheem A. Waziri, Abdulaziz Abdulaziz, Osita Udenson, Bucky Hassan, Petra Iyabo Akinti Onyegbule, Zainab Magaji, Chika Omeje and other dear friends. litepoemsandprose.blogspot/2014/12/nigerians-and-prayers-between-amen-and.html
Posted on: Fri, 26 Dec 2014 11:14:26 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015