The Learner

By Muhsin Ibrahim   I have observed a disturbing development among some young Muslims on social media. As soon as they read some philosophy books, they begin to question their faith and condemn their ‘conservative’ culture.    The youth view anyone disagreeing with them as ignorant, uneducated and uninformed. That enrages some of their followers, who, in turn, insult them (back), and things fall apart. Both sides are wrong.   First, I call on those youth not to rush in their conclusion on matters they barely understand. I, for instance, passed through a similar stage. While growing up and reading voraciously, I imagined myself as more learned than I actually was. In public (especially online fora), I challenged some people, including a professor many of you here know. I was wrong. Second, those who respond to those young guys in kind (by abusing them back) should change their approach and tactics. We need to listen to them. We must find ways to answer them with wisdo...

By Muhsin Ibrahim Religion was central to Bola Tinubu's emergence as the APC's candidate for the 2023 presidential election. We discussed the issue as if it would not end. Since the 1993 annulled election of Abiola/Kingibe (both Muslims), no major candidate and his running mate have ever come from the same religion until now: Tinubu/Shettima (both Muslims). But, as the election approaches (we are, in fact, counting hours), only a few people talk about that. However, religion will play a significant role in the voting pattern. The wild popularity of Labour Party’s Peter Obi on social media and his appeal to foreign media has something to do with his religion. I know this may sound controversial, but it is so. The three other front candidates are Muslims, while Obi is a Christian. Besides this, I can't see a glaring difference between him and NNPP’s Engr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso per se. Tinubu and PDP’s Atiku Abubakar are in their 70s, while Kwankwaso and Obi are in their 60s. T...

The Dilemma of a Plucky Philosopher-Wannabe Muhsin Ibrahim muhsin2008@gmail.com The world has never been short of the irresolvable arguments of and on philosophy as a field of study. While many people cherish the beast, many more others hate it like they abhor their death. The social media, especially Facebook, has become a platform where raging rows often break out on the relevance or otherwise of studying Philosophy. This argument is nothing that new, unexpected or shocking, at least to me, in this 21 st century. What is astonishing is the way some Muslim brothers and sisters perceive the whole drama, treated by others, while many are left baffled and muted. However, scholars should speak out because not doing so leads many ignorant Muslim youths to reject the religion. This postmodern world is full of challenges posed by the (Western) media peddling post-truths, depicting Muslims as the embodiment of everything evil, Islam in acrimonious light and so on and so forth. ...