Forgeries generate fear and anger

Yesterday I was given a letter supposedly written by Juma’atu Nasril Islam (JNI) on 25 January 2010. This letter makes all kinds of claims about what Muslims are planning to do in Jos and thanks many big political leaders by name for their financial contributions to their causes. I passed the letter on to my Muslim colleague at JNI who immediately pointed out several things in the letter than demonstrate it could not have been written by a Muslim in JNI.

First, it was not written on any JNI letterhead paper. JNI would never send out a letter without being on a proper letter-headed paper. Second, the name of the organization was misspelled in two different places. Third, it supposedly came from the “Plateau State Chapter.” JNI does not use the word “chapter” but “branch.” Fourth, the letter begins with “Allahu Akbar.” My friend informed me that all Muslim correspondence begins with “As-Salamu Alaykum” (or some variant spelling since this is a transliteration from Arabic). He also mentioned several other inconsistencies in the letter. Therefore, the letter is obviously a forgery prepared by some non-Muslim to stir up fear and hatred and mistrust of Muslims.

My friend also told me that they had received a copy of a similar letter, supposedly written by Christians, which they also strongly believed was a forgery. The point is that we should be careful about photocopying and passing along these documents or forwarding on emails or text messages that only generate fear and anger and thoughts of evil.

Whereas we should always be cautious and careful about our safety, let us do things that will build peace in Jos and avoid things that will encourage mistrust and suspicion which lay the groundwork for retaliation and violence.

Grace and Peace!

Prof. Danny McCain
University of Jos