DEATH OF KHASHOGGI AND ISLAAM

By

Sanni Kay Yusuf

The veteran journalist - Jamal Muhammad Khashoggi - walked into the Saudi consulate in Turkey. Days later, it was officially confirmed that the America-trained pen pusher had given up the ghost, although that was after accusations upon speculations. How was he downed? Strangulated? Beheaded? Dismembered? Slaughtered? None can say for sure except experts in suspicion and analysts of calumny who are usually quick to draw damning conclusions on matters involving the kingdom. Apparently, the condemnable inhumanity remains a mystery until the ongoing investigations by the Saudi Arabian and Turkish governments have been concluded and the world inundated with the facts.

"And whoever kills a believer intentionally, his recompense is Hell to abide therein; and the Wrath and the Curse of Allah are upon him, and a great punishment is prepared for him." Q4 V93.

No muslim will be aware of the above verse and support premeditated killing of a muslim, irrespective of the status of the culprit(s) - king, president, sheikh et cetera. It defies logic (to say the least) that murder (ceasing the life of a human) will be defended by any adherent of the Prophet. I don't think anyone in a state of sanity will ever do that. May Allah overlook the shortcomings of the demised soul and grant it Jannah.

My worry. How evidentially sure were those sharp writers who had claimed (before official confirmation by government) that the killing of the journalist was orchestrated by the Saudi Arabian government? I learned from the insighting libels by the dull-witted writers that the elimination of the man was done to permanently silence him of his heat criticisms of the administration of Prince Muhammad bn Salman and his father-king? How sure? It baffles that those who are at the forefront of the libelous, calumnious adventure are muslims who should rather know better, that a muslim does not uphold a phenomenon - especially a controvertial one like the subject matter - without facts. How would they bath themselves clean if eventually their speculations were found mendacious? 

The aforesaid, however, is no attempt to portray the accused as sinless as an infant. It is just a call on the pen lions to roar with caution so that their faeces is not involuntarily swallowed by them in the end. Neither the prince nor his father is saint to be free of the accusation. They are humans. And every national leader, however religious, has the tendency of cutting the wings of whoever is usually at the other end of their policies. They may come up with machinations to rope their critics in, or put up mercenaries to cease their breath. Leaders the world over do this evil. It is no peculiarity of any. I wonder how such luciferous elements will escape Allah's wrath on accountability day.

Khashoggi was a strong critic of the Saudi Arabian government. He was an advocate of democracy as against the land's monachical system. Apparently, neither the king nor his son would like such from a journalist whose writings were as powerful as the nation being criticised. But my question stands: how sure are the accusers that the devilish act was truly carried out by the accused when investigations are still ongong? "And be afraid of the Day you shall be brought back to Allah. Then everyone shall be paid what they earned, and they shall not be dealt with unjustly." Q2 V281. That's the Day your hands shall testify against you. May the perpetrators of Jamal's death be exposed. May they meet their Waterloo soon.

On a second thought, isn't it possible that some enemy is at work here. There may be a conspiracy to erupt some endless fracas between the two Islamic countries. The accused might obviously not like Khashoggi but the hate might not be to the extent of cutting his throat. They might pray that he died soon but might never have thought of making that happen from them. One may disagree with this, but it is one reality that is peculiar to all leaders. With this in mind, can we then rule out the possibility that some persons somewhere, somehow were the ones overtly behind this entanglement? They might use the rift between Khashoggi and the prince as a veritable tool to tarnish the international image of the kingdom, and by extension Islaam (Salaafiyyah). Maybe it is the seeds of their machinations that are germinating when some goons in whose heads lives derangement, suggested that Hajj (a pillar of Islaam) be boycotted on account of the lingering imbroglio. That's the pettiest thing I have ever heard all my life. And it's quite unfortunate that such could come and be upheld by muslims. I can't wait to hear them call for the boycott of Eemaan, Solaah, Zakaah and Ramadaan, too to balance up their clarion call. 

I wish the pen lions, especially the ones in Nigeria who rock the social media space with beautifully packaged shenanegans, could have a rethink over this matter and roar not at the lioness, or its cub. That will automatically amount to backstabbing oneself.