There is a popular saying that, HIV NO DEY SHOW FOR FACE;
well so is religion. You can’t just see people and conclude on their faith
based on their looks, dressing, tribe or accents. I go to a lot of places and I
keep getting that comment that “you look like a Muslim” or I thought you were a
Muslim because of how you dress. This has kept reoccurring and I felt I should
write something on it.
The faith
one belongs to cannot be shown on a dress except for priests because they have
a particular dressing code. People see me on kaftan, the normal Hausa man
attire and run into conclusion that I am a Muslim, because they have held unto
the notion that northerners are all Muslims. Dressing can be attached to ones
cultural background and not faith. When you came into the world, your first
identity is the home you were born into, this gives you a native and a religion
because you were still a baby, but as you grow you can change to other
religions but you cannot change your tribe. The next time you see someone
dressed in cultural attire, don’t run into conclusions of faith, because it has
nothing to do with natives. The same way one can decide to dress in any other
cultural attire and you can’t conclude that he is from that particular ethnic
group. Religion is not in looks, rather a man’s heart.
The most
pressing one is the attribution of beards to Islam. Well Islam might have
something to do with beards but that doesn’t mean that anyone that keeps long
beards is a Muslim. I love beards so much that I don’t care what people say
about how long my beards are; sometimes it feels like belonging to a beard gang
is there is anything like that LOL. People keep beards because they look finer
with beards or because they want to look older than their age, and a lot of
other reasons best known to them.
After my
first conversation with some people in my native language Hausa; I keep getting
that I thought you were a Muslim from the way your Hausa is fluent. Sorry not
all Hausa people are Muslims; there are a lot of Hausa Christians, same way
there are lots of Muslims in the South and east. Ones belonging to a particular
faith is choice, as every single Nigerian has right to freedom of faith. You
tribe doesn’t not define your religion; you grow to know your fundamental human
right and attach yourself to a faith that best befit you. Accents might point out your roots but not
your fruits.
