Ustadh Fatiu Sambo, a lecturer at the Centre for Arabic and Islamic Studies in Ilorin, Kwara State, talks to FATTEH HAMID about the anger expressed by Muslims over a musical video posted on social media by celebrity artiste, Davido, for his signee, Logos Olori
There was outrage among Muslims across Nigeria a few days back over a musical video posted on social media by popular artiste, Davido. What do you think was wrong with the video?
Everything is wrong in the video released by the artiste. The video released is a mockery of what the Masjid (mosque) stands for. The Masjid stands for a place of worship. It is a sacred home where Muslims worship Allah. It is not a place for dancing. It is not a place for musical instruments like drums, guitars, pianos, and the like. So, it is embarrassing for the artiste to release such a video where some people were seen dancing and music was heard in the background. Again, it is a mockery of what Islam stands for and it is against the dictates of the religion.
How do the actions in the video affect the Muslim Ummah?
The actions in the video affect the Muslim Ummah because it projects our religion in the wrong way. That (musical video) is not our religion and it is a bad representation of who we are. We will not be silent when someone who is not a Muslim is trying to project Islam in the wrong way. Davido is not a Muslim. Why should he be concerned about how we worship? Why should he use our Masjid as an example? The Muslim Ummah must speak against this. He should not interfere with our religion and he is in no position to teach Muslims how to worship Allah. How can you give what you do not have?
Some people argued that it was probably a way of teaching other people how to pray. Do you agree?
The video is not one to teach Muslims how to worship. Where in the video did you see them doing a call to prayer? Where did you see them reciting Suratul Fatiha (the opening chapter of every prayer)? Where in the video did you see them reading subsequent verses from the Qur’an? Where in the video did they say the supplications that are meant to be said in between prayers? Nowhere! In that case, how can the video be a video to teach Muslims how to worship Allah? Also, the video has not passed any message as regards the observance of the daily prayers. No message at all. Hence, that insinuation is completely wrong.
Some also argued that many musical videos have been made in a church and there was no alarm raised. Why is it different with Muslims?
That argument is not tenable. The church and the mosque are not the same and they represent different ideologies in their entirety. As I said earlier, the mosque is a place to observe the obligatory daily prayers for Muslims. However, take the church for example. It is a place where Christians go for worship. When they go there, one of the activities that they do there is praise and worship which involves singing. When they sing, most of the time, they use musical instruments and when they do this, they dance. If anyone makes a video where they are singing and dancing in the church, there’s nothing wrong with it. After all, they do it in their day-to-day activities in the church; they sing and dance to praise God. It is a part of their doctrine but as far as Muslims are concerned, no one dances to praise or worship Allah. If you want to praise Allah as a Muslim, there are supplications to do using Allah’s name and not by singing or dancing. It is not comparable. They are not the same, hence, this comparison is totally weak. It is null and void.
Another music star, Seyi Vibes, is also known for using Arabic wording in his music. Many people have said the refusal of Muslims to condemn him for this is hypocritical. What do you have to say?
Arabic is a language and not a religion. If for any reason he used Arabic words for his music, that is his problem. Just as French, Spanish, Chinese, English, German, Yoruba, and other languages are used, Arabic is a language as well. We will be against him if he starts quoting the hadith or verses of the Qur’an while he is going about his music sojourn. But if he is just using Arabic, which is an ordinary language, why should we stop him from using the language? We can’t stop him. It is just a language like the others that I have earlier mentioned. Anyone is free to use any language.
Many people have also argued that since the owner of the music video, Logos Olori is a Muslim himself, the attacks on Davido should have been directed at him instead. What do you have to say about that?
The attack will be on Davido because it was released on social media by Davido. It was sponsored and produced by Davido and his record label. He will also take the glory of bringing the musician into the limelight. So, if he will take glory for it, he should also take the blame for the way the video was produced and the content. If he’ll take the glory, why not share in the blame?
Will you say that it is a lack of full knowledge as a Muslim himself that made Logos Olori make a video imitating observing prayers in it?
Absolutely. I’ll say it is a lack of full knowledge of Islam. The artiste who appeared in that video and everyone who was on that set lacked Islamic knowledge. I do not believe that they are Muslims and if they are, they need to repent sincerely. If they know about the religion, they will do no such because what they did is barbaric and embarrassing. If it was done by a Christian, we would condemn it in its totality and to know that it was done by a Muslim makes it even more condemnable.
If the video is wrong because of the music and dance, does Islam frown at music?
Definitely! Music, specifically, the one that has to do with musical instruments is haram (forbidden) in Islam. If one is to compose a song where the person would just pronounce the lyrics and there is no musical instrument or dancing whatsoever, this wouldn’t be termed haram. It becomes haram when the use of a musical instrument is involved and when dancing is involved. And we all know that there’ll be no way musical instruments will be involved and there’ll be no dancing because for you to dance, you need to listen to sound and the sound comes from instruments. It is the introduction of musical instruments that makes it forbidden. One can write a song and use no sound, which is widely referred to as waka in the Yoruba language and is more or less a poem and there is a difference between a poem and music.
But many Muslims listen to music and dance to these tunes. Isn’t that contradictory?
The fact that there are many Muslims who listen to music, sing along, and also dance doesn’t make it permissible in Islam. After all, we have people across the world who engage in fornication and adultery and that doesn’t mean that their holy books permit it. Is there a religion that permits fornication? All religions across the world, including Christianity and traditional believers, do not permit fornication, yet, people fornicate. The fact that some Muslims sing and dance doesn’t make it permissible. Islam frowns totally at it.
After the outrage, Davido deleted the video from his social media accounts. Did that show that he accepted his wrong?
Deleting the video is a very great move by Davido and we praise and thank him for doing that. It means that he has listening ears and he has listened to the concerns of the Muslim faithful and has taken the decision to take down the video; that was necessary. That was a good move and we applaud him for doing that.
Despite deleting the video, some Muslims said it wasn’t enough and demanded an apology for ridiculing Islam. Do you think this is still necessary?
To the best of my knowledge, deleting the video is enough. Deleting the video is a form of remorse itself and it is an apology itself. The call for him to now tender another apology, I don’t think it is necessary. But if he is to do so, it means a lot to the Muslim Ummah but the one he has done by deleting the video is sufficient.
Some people were seen destroying the posters of the music star to express their anger. Do you think they went too far?
It is unlawful for people to start destroying banners and stands of Davido to demand an apology by all means. It is unlawful to do so because we do not want anyone destroying the property of the Masjid as well. If the supporters of the musician start doing the same thing to our mosques, then it’ll lead to an uproar in society which is not good. So, no one should destroy their property, and whatever we have to do to show our concern should be made known via social media about what we frown at. Destroying property is not a good way to go.
How best can such an incident be avoided in the future?
There should be a body regulating the activities of musicians. They should not go beyond boundaries. Religion is very special to adherents. Muslims take Islam seriously and Christians take Christianity seriously. Musicians should steer clear of doing anything that contradicts the beliefs of adherents of different religions. They should steer clear of mocking religion and that is the permanent solution to this menace. Don’t bring embarrassment to Islam, Christianity, or any other religion; let our religions remain sacred as they are.
Finally, I’ll like to advise musicians to research anything concerning their crafts that has to do with religion. Let scholars of religions be consulted. Let them meet with Islamic scholars, pastors, deacons, reverends, bishops, and others. They should make these findings in order not to embarrass themselves in public. This is not the first time that musicians will be portraying Islam, particularly in the wrong way. There was a time an artiste, Falz, made a mockery of the hijab. This time, another artiste is making a mockery of what a Masjid stands for. This is totally embarrassing. We hope that in the future, this will not repeat itself. The body that regulates music in Nigeria should ensure that artistes who go against this should be fined as deemed appropriate. This should be a punishable offence by law such that it will not repeat itself. This is not for Islam alone but for Christianity and every other religion.
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