‘Dahiru’ and Inferiority Complications -By Hussein Adegoke

While at work, recently, a random boy who posed to be a watchman accosted me. He claimed to have heard my name and recognized that I was a Muslim. He was blushing. The countenance he wore could almost not commensurate with the gist of that moment. “So, you are Hussaini?” he bursted out. I nodded. “My name is Dahiru” he went again. To replicate one good gesture known from an acquaintance and to yield to a friendship quest, I asked of which country part my newest friend came from. “Bauchi State” he quickly replied.

From intuition, I knew Dahiru would be an individual who was losing and yearning for his own identity. I was not wrong! The next day at work, a young female honked and waved at this gatekeeper and was asking of his name. “Young man,” she called, “I have always meant to ask of your name. What is it?”
“Emmanuel!”, Dahiru posited with an utmost confidence.
“Emmanuel?!”, the lady alarmed.
“Yes. Emmanuel.” Dahiru affirmed, with his set of white teeth prying out as he simpered. I was marvelling at one wonderness in the land. I guess the lady’s own shocker was borne out of the every-day belief of a Southern Nigerian that every Northerner (buttressed by their appearance) would be a Muslim.

My confoundment was, of course, not that. How a name I learnt had transformed itself into another within just 24 hours held an utter disbelief. The said lady had no other reason to refute ‘Emmanuel’s’ claims’, so, she zoomed off. I called this watchman—Dahiru, Emmanuel, or whatever. “What is your true name?” I was stern. As instead of a reply, I got some sheepish smiles in response. It dawned on me there are many like ‘Dahiru’ whose identities have been carted away as they are fond of hiding it where they have become different.

A difference would be between one who believes in the accountability of his actions and one who does not, in their approaches to matters arising and in their general life conduct. It is this fact that should be rooted in the minds of theists. I could recall later asking Dahiru if he had observed his Zuhr (noon) prayers. He said he had not. His reasons were as disconnected from the question as Minneapolis is from Lagos; very baseless and flimsy. “You know, most people here are Christians” he posited. When I asked how that would have affected his faith, he was foaming in the mouth. I realised instantly that his problem was his inferiority complex.

I think it makes more sense that we all strive to be steadfast in our beliefs. There is no point having a faith and denying it. If you, as a Muslim, would have to pray five times a day, why hold worry about another who had sworn not to as they watch you from a vantage? I don’t get this. Why would some believers not just hold enough confidence to exercise and enjoy the privileges of their faiths?