USA Africa Dialogue Series - Fwd: [NIgerianWorldForum] Re: ADAMU'S IDIOTIC TIRADE AGAINST WOLE SOYINKA

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: ozodiosuji <ozodiosuji@yahoo.ca>
Date: Tue, Feb 21, 2012 at 7:04 PM
Subject: [NIgerianWorldForum] Re: ADAMU'S IDIOTIC TIRADE AGAINST WOLE SOYINKA
To: NIgerianWorldForum@yahoogroups.com

 

I must confess that this is an intriguing subject. However, I must walk carefully before I get into trouble. Why carefully? It is because I admire Wole Soyinka a great deal (in 1987, after he obtained his Nobel I and some colleagues invited him to Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, to give a lecture; he did a superb job of literary appreciation of African literature). I admire the man but do not necessarily have respect for his field, literature!

I only consider the physical sciences worthwhile education. I was not trained in the physical sciences. I have PhD in organizational Psychology (Business Psychology, administration matters etc.) from the University of California. I have been a professor of business administration etc. Nevertheless, I believe that my education was a mistake and a waste of time. I have sent myself back to School and at present believe that I have enough understanding of physics and chemistry that I can teach them at college level (especially physics which I find myself very good at).

I believe that our secondary school system misled us. My secondary school did not really have good science laboratory. Thus, I gravitated to just reading (and was good at it, actually). But I consider that a mistake. Our schools should have been equipped for education in the sciences for they are really what matters in the contemporary world. Unless you understand physics, chemistry, biology and earth science (and their language, mathematics) you really do not understand how the world is put together and works.

By the time I was through with form six I could discuss Chaucer, Pope, Milton, Hardy, Jane Austin, Walter Scott, Charles Dickens, George Elliot, Oliver Goldsmith, Sheridan, Swift, Stevenson, George Orwell, Victor Hugo, Alexander Dumas, Pushkin, Mark Twain (and of course our African writers, such as Soyinka…probably the best African writer… Achebe, Ngugi etc.). But what good are those to me if I do not understand how the physical universe is put together?

We live in the world of matter, space and time. We must understand the physical universe instead of tell fairy tale stories about it (as literature does). Given the choice, I would redirect our school system to emphasizing the sciences and paying less attention to literature and social science.

Asian countries such as China, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, Japan etc. emphasize the sciences (30% of Korea's college graduates are in engineering, that is, applied science…so can you now understand why they are building cars, ships, computers etc…what is the percent of Nigerian college graduates in the sciences and applied sciences, and if small can you now understand why we are unable to build anything in Nigeria).

Soyinka is a great mind. I enjoy reading his books. But at the back of my mind is always: what a waste, I wish that that guy had studied classical and new physics; given his obvious great mind he would have made significant contributions to science ( our top scientists are Democritus, Archimedes, Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Huygens, Tyco Brahe, Newton, Harvey, Boyle, Dalton, Thomson, Faraday, James Clark Maxwell, Boltzmann (last night I was reading up on his theory of gas and statistical mechanics and thermodynamics, heat), Max Planck, Einstein, Rutherford, Bohr, Broglie, Schrodinger, Heisenberg, Dirac, Pauli, Born, Eddington, Lemaitre, Hubble, Chadwick, Otto Hahn, Lise Meitner, Fermi, Gamow, Oppenheimer, Fred Hoyle, Lavoisier, Mendel, Fleming, Watson, Crick, John Bell, Hugh Everett,(I just wrote an article on his many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics), Feynman, Murray Gell-Mann, John Wheeler, Weinberg, Alan Aspect, Alan Guth etc….if you cannot explain what each of these folks contributed to science you are simply scientifically illiterate and living in the dark ages.

I am saying that I admire Soyinka but tend to think that his brain, like most of our African brains, was misdirected by the British…they gave us liberal arts education; useless education in the extant world…but we should not waste our time blaming them; what we can do is correct the situation and train ourselves in the physical sciences (Economics is somewhat useful although if you remove the statistics it is shrouded in, it is simple to grasp and in my opinion does not deserve a Nobel Prize).

So, what am I saying? I am saying that we should respect Soyinka but redirect our attention to what matters in the contemporary world we live in: science and applied sciences.

Cheers,

Ozodi Osuji

PS: Nafata Bamaguje, as usual yours is a good write up. The question is not whether literary writers do a good job at what they do or not, obviously, they do, but that what is needed in the contemporary world is science. You can sing the praises of our writers all you want but the fact is that unless we can build cars, ships, airplanes, computers, send men into space, build nuclear factories (do you understand the process of bombarding the nucleus with neutrons to cause chain reaction hence split the nucleus and release energy…if not a twenty year old Caltech Student who does will have access to nuclear weapons and rule you despite your excellent writing). I thank you for your excellent writing and your obvious African nationalism but the fact is that what Africa now needs are men of science, not men of letters. See, on this forum anyone with any kind of training in the writing arts knows that Fubara David West is an excellent writer, but what good is he to the improvement of Nigeria? Nigeria needs engineers and scientists: builders' not mere eloquent writers. God bless,

--- In NIgerianWorldForum@yahoogroups.com, aauwnycpres@... wrote:
>
> Thank you sister Tosin for asking the crucial question
>
> - what are we each contributing as scholars to facilitate the literacy and scholarship our children and youth?
>
> Best
> Nkechi
>
> Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
>

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tosin Mustapha <tosinmustapha40@...>
> Sender: NIgerianWorldForum@yahoogroups.com
> Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2012 08:15:37

> To: <NIgerianWorldForum@yahoogroups.com>
> Reply-To: NIgerianWorldForum@yahoogroups.com
> Cc: <OmoOdua@yahoogroups.com>
> Subject: Re: [NIgerianWorldForum] Re: ADAMU'S IDIOTIC TIRADE AGAINST WOLE SOYINKA
>

> Dr. Abba and Mr. @Yeyerolling@...,
>  

> I know both of you know that it is not only scientists and economists who are regarded as intelligent in a real world so Nobel prize in science is not the only prize that should matter to both of you. I have my background in Microbiology, won awards in science, economics and I can teach all subjects including Fine Arts and Music

> .Wole Soyinka`s Nobel prize testifies to intellectuals all over the world that majority of Nigerians are prolific writers. Believe me, I have met many people in this world and what most of them will say they cannot take away from Nigerians is their understanding of literature which they believe Nigerians have mastered from early childhood. Both of you should be promoting literacy in areas where literacy is low in Nigeria not putting down Soyinka`s prize. We need more Nobel prize winners in Nigeria. I believe Dr Abba is doing some science projects in northern Nigeria but what about the over 50% who are still illiterates who can not read or write at all? What plans do you have for them(illiterates) as a world scholar?
>  Tosin
>  
>  
>  
> --- On Tue, 2/21/12, Yeye Rolling <yeyerolling@...> wrote:
>
>
> From: Yeye Rolling <yeyerolling@...>

> Subject: Re: [NIgerianWorldForum] Re: ADAMU'S IDIOTIC TIRADE AGAINST WOLE SOYINKA
> To: "NIgerianWorldForum@yahoogroups.com" <NIgerianWorldForum@yahoogroups.com>
> Date: Tuesday, February 21, 2012, 3:50 PM
>
>
>

>  
>
>
>
>
>
> What does it mean to Nigeria?   
>
>
>
>
>
>
> From: "babasope@..." <babasope@...>

> To: NIgerianWorldForum@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Tuesday, February 21, 2012 10:50 AM
> Subject: Re: [NIgerianWorldForum] Re: ADAMU'S IDIOTIC TIRADE AGAINST WOLE SOYINKA
>
>
>

>  

>
> Folks,
>
> When Professor Wole Soyinka won the Nobel Prize in 1986 a certain Sheikh Abubakar Gumi said the prize "does not mean anything to us". A quarter of a century down the line it is clear that his followers are yet to be reconciled to the fact that the Nobel Prize does indeed mean something. Do you still wonder from where the philosophy of Boko Haram draws its life-blood? And is there any use engaging these characters in a debate?
>
> KS

> Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.
>
>
> From: "Adisa" <oluwayomi2008@...>

> Sender: NIgerianWorldForum@yahoogroups.com
> Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:26:36 -0000
> To: <NIgerianWorldForum@yahoogroups.com>
> ReplyTo: NIgerianWorldForum@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [NIgerianWorldForum] Re: ADAMU'S IDIOTIC TIRADE AGAINST WOLE SOYINKA
>

>  

>
> Abba,
> If you think it is cheap to be awarded the Nobel peace..try and get one as quick as you can.Professor Wole Soyinka defended many many that
> are not yorubas, possibly one from your tribe.
> All your arguments are without foundation.
>
> Adisa Oluwayomi
>

> --- In NIgerianWorldForum@yahoogroups.com, Kunle <kunleade@> wrote:
> >
> > Professional tribalist Abba Babandi Gumel calling Wole Soyinka a tribalist!
> > Wonders shall never cease.
> >
> > Kunle Adegboye
> > www.a-speedwireless.com
> > The Wireless Superstore
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ________________________________
> > From: Abba <abba2007@>

> > To: NIgerianWorldForum@yahoogroups.com
> > Sent: Tue, February 21, 2012 8:39:28 AM
> > Subject: Re: [NIgerianWorldForum] ADAMU'S IDIOTIC TIRADE AGAINST WOLE SOYINKA
> >
> >
> > Thomas Jing,
> >
> > We live in a democracy. Everyone has the right to opine on any topic, and you
> > have every right to disagree with me. I did not win, and can never ``win" one
> > (not because my discipline is not among the categories considered by the Nobel
> > Committee, but because I am of the intellectual calibre of GEJ and Biya
> > combined-:))).
> >
> > Abba
> >
> >

> > On 21 February 2012 08:28, Thomas Jing <thomasjing@> wrote:
> >
> >
> > >
> > >A Nobel prize is a Nobel prize and until you win one, you cannot make
> > >disparaging remarks against any winner. I am Cameroonian and a lover of Yoruba
> > >culture.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > ________________________________
> > To: NIgerianWorldForum@yahoogroups.com

> > >CC: nowa_o@; africantalk@yahoogroups.com; elewuoye@;
> > >salihumustafa@; olakassimmd@; waleojolanre@;
> > >udeamauche@; yakubu.usman@; adamuadamu@;
> > >ozodiosuji@; TalkNigeria@yahoogroups.com;
> > >naijapolitics@yahoogroups.com; naijaobserver@yahoogroups.com;
> > >nigerianid@yahoogroups.com; nigeria360@yahoogroups.com; piusadesanmi@;
> > >meochonu@; nwadike2@; lawcareer2002@;
> > >yagazhie@; segundogunro@
> > >From: abba2007@

> > >Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2012 08:08:10 -0600rere
> > >Subject: Re: [NIgerianWorldForum] ADAMU'S IDIOTIC TIRADE AGAINST WOLE SOYINKA
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >Nafata,
> > >
> > >With all due respect to Wole Soyinka, but his Nobel Prize (in literature) isn't
> > >exactly anything to brag about in the grand scheme of things. If he had won on
> > >subjects that truly matter...such as Chemistry, Physics or Medicine, then
> > >yes...we will all shout hooray (the Nobel in Chemistry, Physics, Medicine, and
> > >to some extent, Economics are the ones most celebrated...I cannot recall anyone
> > >who pays much attention to awards in Literature; and if you press me, I cannot
> > >name two winners in the literature category). What Africa needs is real
> > >advances in science and technology...and not the art of story telling (with all
> > >due respect to those whose job/hobby it is to tell stories or to entertain us
> > >with their prowess in the language of Shakespeare). Besides, there are many
> > >others in Africa who are probably as, or even more, deserving of the literature
> > >prize (Achebe is surely one).
> > >
> > >Disclaimer: I consider Soyinka to be a tribalist of the highest order. So, you
> > >may wish to read the above bearing this in mind. I strongly doubt, though, if
> > >my view about the importance of the literature prize (vis-a-vis Africa's
> > >development) will change regardless who the recipient is. I like and respect
> > >the art...greatly; but I also know that what we do need, and need
> > >desperately, at the present time in Africa is excellence in science and
> > >technology...Nobel prizes in those areas are the ones that truly matter to us
> > >(and dare I say everyone else).
> > >
> > >Netters, I do not intend to offend anyone...I just felt we should place things
> > >in proper context.
> > >
> > >Abba
> > >
> > >

> > >On 21 February 2012 07:42, Nafata Bamaguje <bamaguje@> wrote:
> > >
> > >
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>ADAMU’S IDIOTIC TIRADE AGAINST SOYINKA
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>Adamu Adamu’s recent virulent attack on Black Africa’s only intellectual Nobel

> > >>laureate was immature, abusive and totally uncalled for.
> > >>It revealed a disturbing shallowness of mind unbecoming of even the pretentious
> > >>pseudo-intellectual that he is.
> > >>I am not privy to the full comments by our esteemed Nobel laureate on the

> > >>murderous Boko Haram that seemingly provoked Adamu’s uncouth ill-informed
> > >>diatribe - Soyinka: Still in Bo-ro-no state (whatever that means) â€" published in
> > >>the Northern Islamist rag â€" Daily Trust.

> > >>
> > >>
> > >>But going by the thrust of his article, it appears Adamu has been nursing a
> > >>grudge against Professor Soyinka and spoiling for a fight.

> > >>The Prof’s reported comments holding the northern leadership responsible for

> > >>Boko Haram, was just a convenient pretext for Adamu to vent his simmering hatred
> > >>and discomfort with the fact that in a nation in which over 99% of the people
> > >>identify themselves as Christian or Muslim, a pagan African traditionalist

> > >>emerges as the Black world’s only Nobel laureate that earned the accolade for
> > >>intellectual pursuits.
> > >>
> > >>Hence instead of specifically refuting whatever he disagreed about Soyinka’s

> > >>Boko Haram comment, Adamu deviated from the issue, abandoned all sense of
> > >>decorum and launched into an unprovoked malicious tirade against traditional
> > >>African spirituality, Yoruba culture and Soyinka, with slanderous personal

> > >>attacks â€" variously accusing the Prof of superiority complex, hubris, paganism
> > >>and other such balderdash.
> > >>
> > >>The closest Adamu came to rebuttal of Soyinka’s stance on Boko Haram in his
> > >>hogwash, was an off-hand remark that â€Å"Boko Haram... is opposed to all

> > >>constituted authority including that to be wielded by the Northern leaders that

> > >>were supposed to have founded it...�

> > >>
> > >>As if that would be the first time politicians in this country created a monster

> > >>they can’t control. It is common knowledge that many Niger Delta militants
> > >>started out as thugs for local politicians hell bent on ‘winning’ elections, and

> > >>several northern commentators pointedly state this fact. But when it comes to

> > >>Boko Haram, they put on their blinkers and can’t see the clearly evident

> > >>culpability of short-sighted parochial northern leaders.
> > >>

> > >>Fact one: Boko Haram’s agenda to impose Sharia is exactly the same as that of

> > >>northern politicians who have repeatedly rejected secularism, and nearly tore
> > >>this country apart a decade ago at the peak of the invidious Sharia agitation.
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>Fact two: The late Alhaji Buji Fai, former Borno state Sharia commissioner
> > >>appointed by then governor Ali Modu Sheriff, was a known sponsor of Boko Haram.
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>Fact three: The late Boko Haram leader, Mohammed Yusuf was reportedly killed in
> > >>custody after a jail visit by the former Borno governor Ali Modu Sheriff, which
> > >>suggests a cover-up to avoid Yusuf spilling the beans during any court trial.
> > >>
> > >>

> > >>Fact four: Madalla bomber, Kabiru Sokoto was arrested in Borno governor’s lodge
> > >>in Abuja.
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>Fact five: In the months preceding last year’s election, several northern

> > >>leaders repeatedly threatened fire & brimstone if Jonathan became president.
> > >>Hence the subsequent post-election violence and present escalation of Boko Haram
> > >>insurgency.
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>Fact six: By persistently refusing to embrace secularism which compels
> > >>moderation for religious harmony in our multi-religious nation, northern leaders
> > >>wittingly & unwittingly encourage the religious extremism that has erupted in
> > >>incessant orgies of religious violence over the last 3 decades, now culminating
> > >>in Boko Haram.
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>Fact seven: By condoning the culture of institutionalized child abuse (Almajiri)
> > >>that deprives our children of proper education required to function in a modern
> > >>society, the northern ruling class has unwittingly provided a powder keg of
> > >>disgruntled recruits for Boko Haram.
> > >>

> > >>Now to the thrust of Adamu’s detestable diatribe; his unwarranted incredibly

> > >>asinine attack on Professor Soyinka and traditional African spirituality. The
> > >>pseudo-intellectual nitwit misconstrues Soyinka exemplary exposition of Yoruba
> > >>culture in his literary works as Yoruba supremacy:
> > >>
> > >>

> > >>â€Å"Going by the themes of his literary output, he seems to believe that his race
> > >>is the greatest and the most cultured.�
> > >>
> > >>By the same token Chinua Achebe’s brilliant exposition of Igbo culture in Things

> > >>Fall Apart and Arrow of God makes him an Igbo supremacist. If the accomplished
> > >>Igbo author who has severally extolled pre-Christian Igbo culture, openly
> > >>declares for traditional African spirituality, Adamu would be compelled to go
> > >>after him.
> > >>
> > >>As a Muslim and clueless victim of Arab cultural imperialism, Adamu has no
> > >>problem with worshipping an Arab god, bearing Arab names, facing Arabia when he

> > >>prays to a false god that only understands Arabic. It’s alright for Arabs to
> > >>promote their vicious hate cult around the world, but it’s wrong for Soyinka to

> > >>proudly to do the same for our African heritage.
> > >>It takes mindboggling stupidity unbecoming of even a pretend intellectual like

> > >>Adamu to be oblivious of this blatant nonsensical double standard â€" Arab good,
> > >>Africa bad.
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>By the way Soyinka isn’t the only Yoruba traditionalist to have received notable

> > >>international acclaim. The late Afrobeat maestro, Fela Anikulapo Kuti was
> > >>another such icon. It is unfortunate that de-Africanized Arab wannabes like

> > >>Adamu can’t appreciate the obvious lesson in this - Yorubas who more than any

> > >>other Black African people have best preserved their indigenous African

> > >>heritage, have also produced some of Africa’s greatest minds.

> > >>
> > >>While Hausas whose indigenous culture has been virtually wiped out by the

> > >>violently intolerant Arab pseudo-religion they now subscribe, are among Africa’s

> > >>most backward people with incessant religious violence and a culture of
> > >>institutionalized child abuse (Almajiri) that has rendered over 10 million

> > >>children destitute…all in the name of the retrogressive Arab pseudo-religion
> > >>they stupidly embrace â€" Islam.

> > >> Given this appalling baggage of Islam in Arewa and the ongoing global Islamist
> > >>menace, Adamu has the impudence to deride African spirituality as primitive
> > >>paganism:
> > >>
> > >>

> > >>â€Å"what Soyinka holds aloft is not culture: it is paganism...But the possession of

> > >>a pagan past is no accomplishment. It is there at the centre and origin of every

> > >>type of primitiveness.�

> > >>
> > >>What the chic!!
> > >>Someone who subscribes to a false religion that is defined today by violent
> > >>intolerance, terrorism, honor killing, rape, paedophilia has the temerity to
> > >>call we African Traditionalists who never degenerated to such barbarism,

> > >>‘primitive.’ Does Adamu really understand the meaning of the word ‘primitive?’

> > >>
> > >>
> > >>Nations like Japan, China, Korea, India which have retained the essence of their
> > >>pagan heritage are far more scientifically & technologically advanced than any
> > >>Muslim or African nation. If we Africans had done the same and stuck to our rich
> > >>indigenous traditions rather than mindlessly ape Arabs, Jews & Europeans; we
> > >>would have been much better off.
> > >>
> > >>Even the nominally Christian West has a healthy relationship with its
> > >>pre-Christian pagan past that is sometimes celebrated in modern pop culture. The
> > >>annual Halloween festival, movies like the Harry Potter and Thor, as well as
> > >>several TV series are all rooted in their pre-Christian pagan heritage.
> > >>It is only here in culturally disoriented Black Africa where we have been
> > >>brainwashed to despise our ancestral heritage that a blithering idiot like Adamu
> > >>masquerading as an intellectual would publicly on the pages of a major newspaper
> > >>shamelessly blurt out this inanity:
> > >>
> > >>

> > >>â€Å"what is this Yoruba culture in which people like Soyinka take so much pride?�

> > >>
> > >>Since Adamu has no Hausa culture to be proud of - as it has all been obliterated

> > >>by the violently intolerant Arab creed he now espouses â€" Soyinka’s erudite

> > >>exposition of Yoruba culture is completely lost on his retarded mind. He fails
> > >>to appreciate that for those of us whose African heritage have been lost to the
> > >>systematic onslaught and cultural genocide by intolerant alien creeds (Islam &
> > >>Christianity), scholarly works like those of Soyinka and Achebe provide valuable
> > >>insight to our collective African heritage.
> > >>
> > >>Yorubas after all can be considered a microcosm of black Africa. Stripped to its

> > >>fundamentals, Yoruba culture isn’t that different from Igbo, Nupe, Edo, or even

> > >>pre-Islamic Hausa. Hausa historical tradition even asserts that our South West

> > >>kin are part of the larger Hausa family â€" Banza Bakwai. It’s not for nothing

> > >>that the Dagi Arewa, a traditional motif that is emblematic of the North, is
> > >>also commonly embroidered on Yoruba agbadas.
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>Even non-Africans appreciate that the insightful works of Soyinka and Achebe
> > >>enrich us all, hence their international acclaim. But narrow minded bigots like

> > >>the Daily Trust Islamist hack can’t see beyond religion, hence this idiocy
> > >>- â€Å"After the advent of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, there is nothing more to
> > >>glory in animistic heathenism�
> > >>
> > >>Really!! Somehow Africa’s paganism which is defined by religious tolerance that

> > >>allows for harmonious peaceful coexistence of differing spiritual traditions
> > >>(ignorantly derided as polytheism); is inferior to the monotheistic intolerance
> > >>of Islam and Judeo-Christianity that have over several centuries killed a
> > >>hundred times more people in the names of their false gods (Allah, Yahweh) than
> > >>all pagan religions combined.
> > >>

> > >>As for ‘animistic heathenism,’ how does one describe mandatory Muslims prayers
> > >>towards a stone (Kaaba) in Mecca, if not animism? It’s alright for Muslims to

> > >>venerate a rock in the desert, but if for some historical reason we African

> > >>traditionalists do the same, its ‘animistic heathenism.’

> > >>
> > >>The truth is that pagans pioneered human civilization and laid down the values
> > >>that now define the so-called Western civilization. Pagans in ancient Egypt,
> > >>Greece, Persia, Babylon, India, Rome and even here in sub-Saharan Africa
> > >>pioneered mathematics, astronomy, medicine, physics, democracy, religious
> > >>freedom and all other positive human endeavours that define modernity today.
> > >>
> > >>On the contrary, when allowed free reign both Islam and Christianity have
> > >>historically stifled intellectual advancement and societal progress.
> > >>After Christianity was imposed on Rome as state religion, an inexorable decline
> > >>followed as Christians persecuted non-Christians into extinction. Rome soon fell
> > >>to the barbarians and Europe lapsed into the Dark ages (400-1100AD) during which
> > >>it stagnated as the Church had absolute control. Galileo was imprisoned,
> > >>Giordano Bruno was executed and countless others were burnt at the stakes as

> > >>‘heretics’.
> > >>
> > >>Similarly, Medieval Islam’s so-called ‘Golden age’ which largely thrived on the

> > >>rich intellectual traditions of conquered non-Muslims (Persians, Assyrians,
> > >>Indians, Spaniards etc), was relatively short lived. With the forced
> > >>Islamization of these conquered non-Muslims and persecution into extinction of

> > >>the Mutazilites â€" an ancient Greece influenced unorthodox Muslim sect that

> > >>ranked reason above the Quran - scientific and technological progress in the
> > >>Caliphate came to a screeching halt.

> > >>Hence Pakistani physicist, Pervez Hoodbhoy rightly points out that â€Å"No major

> > >>invention or discovery has emerged from the Muslim world for well over seven
> > >>centuries now."
> > >>
> > >>In an unusually candid 2009 interview, Sheik Ibrahim Al-Bulehi, a former member
> > >>of the Saudi Shura council acknowledged that the intellectual accomplishments of

> > >>the Muslim hyped ‘Golden age’ had absolutely nothing to do with Islam:

> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>"What I want to clarify is that those achievements were not of our own (Muslim)
> > >>making, and those exceptional scholars were not the product of Arab (Islamic)
> > >>culture, but rather Greek culture. They were outside our cultural mainstream and
> > >>we treated them as though they were foreign elements. Therefore we don't deserve
> > >>to take pride in them since we rejected them and fought against their ideas.
> > >>Conversely, when Europe learned from them it benefited from a body of knowledge
> > >>which was originally its own because they were an extension of Greek culture,
> > >>which is the source of the whole of Western civilization."
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>As Al-Bulehi rightly points out above, Western civilization has become the
> > >>dominant force it is today largely because it returned to the rich intellectual
> > >>traditions of its pagan roots in ancient Greece. Today that pagan tradition of
> > >>unfettered religious & intellectual freedom is captured in secular democracy. By
> > >>the way, historians as far back as Herodotus assert that the intellectual

> > >>prowess of ancient Greece had its foundations here in Africa â€" Kemet (ancient

> > >>Egypt).
> > >>Muslims on the other hand who refuse to embrace secularism with its attendant
> > >>religious & intellectual freedom have not only remained backward relative to we
> > >>infidels, but have also become an impediment to human progress.
> > >>It is because of Muslims we have to endure long hours of arduous security checks

> > >>and invasive body searches at international airports. It’s because of Muslims
> > >>several Western nations have promulgated draconian legislations like America’s

> > >>Patriot Act that infringe on civil liberties.
> > >>It is because of Muslims and their absurd conspiracy theories about Jewish

> > >>vaccines that we can’t eradicate polio in Nigeria. It’s because of Muslim

> > >>paedophiles several northern states have blocked the Child Rights Act intended
> > >>to protect our children.
> > >>
> > >>Worst of all, Islam is the greatest threat to world peace today as it is the

> > >>number one cause of violent conflict around the world â€" Somalia, Pakistan,

> > >>Afghanistan, Middle East, Russia, Phillipines, Thailand, USA, Europe and of
> > >>course here in Naija where Boko Haram threatens the continued unity of our dear
> > >>motherland.
> > >>
> > >>With such deeply entrenched Muslim aversion to intellectual freedom required for

> > >>societal advancement, it’s no surprise they lag behind we non-Muslims in all

> > >>positive human endeavours - science, technology, democracy, human rights etc.

> > >>It’s also no surprise our Islamist north is unable to produce intellectual

> > >>giants like Soyinka and Achebe. Not with small minded pseudo-intellectuals like
> > >>Adamu Adamu perpetuating the mental enslavement of our people in intolerant
> > >>bogus alien creeds.
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>Nafata Bamaguje
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
>

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