Why I Admire Islam, Honour Prophet Muhammad (SAW), by Reno Omokri

Someone asked me why, though I am not a Muslim, I love Islam and respect Muslims. He said it was ‘eye service’. Specifically, a ‘campaign gimmick’. But here is the issue: I was this way before becoming a political player. And there is a paper trail to prove it.

Why do I have a high appreciation for Islam? Here is my answer. I am a follower of the Jewish Rabbi who was named Yeshua while on Earth. However, when I study Islam, it has guidelines for everything a person will do from the moment they come out of their mother till the moment they return to Mother Earth.

How to wake, pray, bath, use the toilet, eat, drink and work. Who to marry, when, and why. What to do in sickness and health. How to treat wealth and endure or escape poverty. Even how to be buried and what becomes of your estate.

In the short span between birth and death, Islam provides guidance without ambiguity. This clarity gives your life stability. It is like a manual for life.

I will follow Yeshua until I die. Yet, I can read the entire Tanakh (what some call the Old Testament) and the Gospels and have direction on many things. But al-Quran and/or the Hadiths give Muslims instructions on the proper way to do something as quotidian as taking a bath or how they should urinate and what to do afterwards.

Another thing is that, and here there are exceptions to the rule, Muslims tend to respect prophet Muhammad, Sallallahu Alayhi Wasalaam, more than Christians or Jews rever Yeshua (Jesus) or Moses.

You will hear Christians (largely with the exception of Orthodox Christians) call the name Jesus or Jesus Christ when they are angry, irritated, or using profanity, or in any number of casual situations. And some Jews will say things like ‘Holy Moses!’ as an exclamation to express surprise, amazement or cluelessness.

Catholics are stereotyped for using the exclamation ‘holy mother of God!’ to express their bewilderment.

But have you ever heard that from a Muslim with the name of their prophet? It is hard to expect others to respect your prophet or Saviour when many of your adherents do not even reverence their Names.

In terms of what will happen to you when you leave this world, I do not believe that anybody, living or dead, gave as much clarity as Yeshu’a, although He did not write a book, and we have to rely on reported accounts, which when passed through translations are VERY EASY to manipulate.

However, on the matter of how to live life on this physical world we call planet Earth, I have yet to see a body of inspired literature as detailed and all-encompassing as the Quran.

The issue here is that most Christians and Jews have padlocked their minds against any form of unbiased study of the Quran, and too many Muslims have the same attitude against the Torah and the New Testament.

This failure to understand each other has led to Muslims observing dogmas of different so-called Christian denominations and concluding that those precepts represent what Nabi Isa taught.

On the opposite side, many Jews and Christians have observed the behaviours of extremists and juxtaposed those behaviours on all Muslims.

And that means that malevolent spiritual forces, which, for want of a better word, we can call satanic, are so happy that humanity is divided based on ignorance.

For example, if you, as a Christian, say you can never study Islam because you reject it, then you are not Christlike. Why do I say so?

Yeshua did not accept the Samaritan religion at all. Yet, He was completely aware of all facets of that faith, and we see this in John 4:22:

You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.

Additionally, even though Yeshua did not validate the Samaritan faith, when asked to define who a good neighbour was, He cited the example of the Samaritan that Christians have nicknamed the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37.

What do we learn from the account of the Good Samaritan? That others can have a religion to which you disagree, yet they can still be good.

If this were not so, then the account of the Good Samaritan would be invalid. By virtue of his religion, he should have been bad. Yet, Yeshua described him as a good neighbour.

Imam Abubakar Abdullahi, who in 2018 saved 262 Christians in Barkin Ladi, Plateau State, when armed herders came to avenge the alleged killings of their people, is a good neighbour.

Not too far from Imam Abubakar Abdullahi, live the Jukuns and the Tivs, who are both overwhelmingly Christians. In the same year that Imam Abubakar Abdullahi saved 262 Christians, Christian TIVs and Jukuns slaughtered each other in their tens and probably hundreds in Wukari, Taraba State.

They are bad neighbours.

In 1492, King Ferdinand and his wife, Queen Isabella, promulgated the infamous Alhambra Decree, ordering the expulsion of all Jews from Spain.

King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella were Catholics and naughty neighbours.

That same year, the Moorish Muslims of North Africa and the Ottoman Muslims of the Turkish Empire gave the expelled Jews asylum without the condition of converting.

They were good neighbours.

What lessons do we draw from the accounts of the Good Samaritan to the heroism of Imam Abubakar Abdullahi and the history of the Spanish Inquisition?

That the goodness of a person does not come from their religion. It flows from their character.

This means that if your character is good, you have nothing to fear from studying other religions. Not for the purpose of conversion, although if you choose to, that is not bad, but for the goal of understanding your neighbour so you can collaborate with them to make this world a better place.

And that, my friends, is why I study Islam and read al-Quran in English and Arabic with the help of my wife, who is an Orthodox Tewahedo Christian who speaks, reads, and writes fluent Arabic.

Reno Omokri

Gospeller. Deep Thinker. #TableShaker. Ruffler of the Feathers of Obidents. #1 Bestselling author of Facts Versus Fiction: The True Story of the Jonathan Years. Hodophile. Hollywood Magazine Humanitarian of the Year, 2019. Business Insider Influencer of the Year 2022. 21st Most Talked About Person in Africa, 2024.