RELIGION IS NOT TERRORISM by Dramiga Herbert

It was seemingly a beautiful day for a long journey; the weather was pretty cool and fine not until all went wrong suddenly. It all started with a spirited prayer led by a pregnant lady in her jovial moods, she had the command of an evangelical preacher in her lyrical voice. Her posture was of the Holy Spirit possessed. We had all our ######### in honour of the Lord of our vessel of journey and the giver of life.
As the engine went into ignition, we realised it was time to say good bye to loving people waving safe journey greetings and sending flying kisses to loved ones aboard the bus. We felt them miss us. As the journey progressed, there was serene calm as all passengers seemed to have their minds in the dream lands or the destinies ahead; some had already taken off their leaves. It was total peace in the vessel, but this peace never was to be to the end.
A bystander waved down to the bus, of course there were empty seats to fill and the bus screeched to a halt and the passenger got in. So grateful that his long wait by the road side finally yielded, he took a deep breath. He greeted every one nobly with a heart-warming grin and had this to say after; AllahuAkubar and he gracefully took his seat. A passenger from the rear seat jetted up screaming …Jesus Christ…. a terrorist on the bus. There was pandemonium, all hell came packed in our bus. Well-wisher’s wrestled the new passenger to the floor of the corridor and disarmed his baggage, only to discover he had two pairs of trousers and a pair of slippers in a black polythene paper bag.
But this was too late for three passengers who had disembarked for safety through the bus windows in the event of the scuffle. Initially it was a disgrace as people stood to give apologies for the miscalculated error of identity. When they released him, he had already suffered a simple fracture on the arm and a bruised nose. So much pain and pity in his eyes with tears rolling down his cheeks he said, “Forgive me my people!”
This was a regrettable encounter with an innocent personality. As we searched frantically, my eyes could not meet my neighbour. The search of my eyes got a rude answer, he jumped and it was by the flip of my other neighbour’s finger that confirmed my suspicion that he was all gone through the bus window. Oh my God! What a sad landing on the tarmac road that must have been for him especially from a large container such as a bus on full speed locomotion was my imagination.
Our preliminary investigation as the bus halted revealed that one of the missing passengers was the pregnant lady who led the sermon at the start of the journey and the same lady who black mailed our Muslim brother…with the slogan terrorist. Our heart felts went out to her and sorry she did not make it she died as she was rushed to the nearest hospital.
Was this Allah’s anger for judging others?
Dramiga Herbert
Freelance Columnist
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