BETWEEN ISLAM AND MUSLIMS: HYPOTHETICAL CONFLICT OF IDENTITY Bismillah Ar-Rahman Ar-Rahim Glory be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. Abundant blessing be upon the noble Messenger Muhammad, his household, companions and the entire genuine followers of his way till the Day of reckoning. The Hadith of the Prophet (SallaLlahu Alayhi Wasallam (SAW)) posits that: 'Islam began almost strange and it shall soon be estranged as it started but congratulations to those who stand by it at that condition'. The provision of the Hadith places before us enormous task particularly in the area of prolitization of religion which by extension affect day to day activities. Given the background that: 'You are the best of peoples, evolved for mankind, enjoining what is right, forbidding what is wrong, and believing in Allah...(Qur'an 3:110)' and 'Thus have We made you an Ummah justly balanced. That you might be witnesses over the nations, and the Messenger a witness over yourselves... (Qur'an 2:143)' that prescribe duties expected of Muslims, several questions come to minds in view of the incessant difficulties currently facing the Ummah.Islam is by essence a moderation and balance. As a source of civilization, its envious position prime Islam as the father of Western civilization. Countless of Western word ideations, notations, numerations, and philosophical were offshoots of interactions of the West with Islamic civilization but with little or no allegiance to the roots. This informed Salman Dawud's position that: 'If son would deny the father, for the organic relations between the two Western culture would be a bastard (Islam and the Future, p251).Nonetheless the situation, how capable is Islam in facing the challenges at interplanetary travel, Information & Computer Technology, Artificial Intelligence, and Tangible and Intangible Ingenuities that had gone beyond imaginations? The room for self-examination before being examined pitch the Muslims to the predetermined total silent suicide! The dress, drinks, drugs, foods, mentality, instruments, time management and governance in today's world are rather out of proportion of the Muslims. Men have become utterly robots; short of feelings, neither hate nor love, love nor rest not to talk of having any form of self-expression! The only remedy at the Muslims' disposal appears taking moral reforms and truth to regain control of the world civilization. The adventure of Westerners in Islamic world, do you call them 'Orientalist' who carted away most of the meadows in the Muslim world only to rebrand same and using them to recolonize us, would be open to contest. But any contester would have some structural questions to respond to in preparation for the task ahead. Across history, Muslims had been defeated only in the situation of wane faith and corrupted mentality, it made them vulnerable...! We have lost counts of several declines that occured to dynasties and caliphates when the principal actors have defeated Islam in their minds. It is philosophically asserted that: 'Is it not better to cry out for Muslims than Islam'. To a large extent, Muslims who care about their religion should first mend themselves. This is for a unique fact that Muslim's defeats were always based on fable faith, body giving way to defeat and he pursues personal interest in the way of Allah. A poet aptly captures the situation painted above when he exclaims: 'وان كنت لا تدري فتلك مصيبة # وان كنت تدري فمصيبة اعظم meaning: 'If you had not been aware of responsibility the lesser the evil; but your awareness eventually made the evil more compounded'. The intent of the quoted line is not to enmesh the value of knowledge, but instrumentation of knowledge makes it fruitful. What value is a kind of power at hand and we allow an opponent to claim it and use same to dominate the hitherto bearer? This is the appalling situation the Muslims found themselves the world over.Herdeger, a leading Muslim philosopher of the 20th century put the situation in perspectives when he submitted: 'This age is like 'towering palace in depressing setting, whose masters suffer from anxiety, and insomnia, while the servants suffer from disease, ignorance and hunger (Salman Dawuud, Islam and the Future, p251)'. Contextualizing this to Nigeria, the recent move by the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) to launch $1 trillion Halal Economy was cut short amidst needless and unnecessary comments and controversies. Part of these abracadabra theories include probable Islamization bid against the vehement Christianization on ground. Timing insensitivity was also claimed in view of the alleged Christian Genocide Conspiracy by USA against Nigeria, an allegation which had been debunked by FGN as unfounded. Another plot in this situation is that the policy is Arabic and that Nigeria is not an Arab country. Despite that many Halal Industries saw in the Halal economy thrusting Nigeria into multi-trillion Dollar investment. And the halal policy had since been adopted by nations of mure secularity like UK, USA, Brazil and lots more. Are Nigerian Christians more holier than those?More importantly, such halal institutions in the country as JAIZ, TAJ, LOTUS and others operating in the nation can boast about 50% of employed workers as non-Muslims. Not only that, data shows that not less than 60% of beneficiaries from the investment dividends of these institutions are non-Muslims. This and many more onslaughts interprete the Qur'an Ayah which says: 'Never would Jews or Christians be pleased with you unless you follow their way... (Qur'an 2:120)'.It behoves Muslims to be more alive to religious duties as the pivotal of all civilization but with concerted efforts in the right proportion and direction to re-direct energy to proper arena. Unless Muslims go back to the drawing board to move in line with the renaissance, much of the dominations might be perpetuated beyond normal level. Till we meet again in the next edition, thank you for being there always. #IslamandMuslims#Christianconspiracy#ChallengetoMuslimsDR. RAZAQ BOLAWAYE UTHMAN, IMAM & MISSIONER ANSAR-UD-DEEN SOCIETY OF NIGERIA IPAJA BRANCH LAGOS STATE NIGERIA. ©2025https://www.slaipaclass.com