03/06/2026
POVERTY AND DISBELIEF
After the video of a once online Arabic language tutor who used to be a Muslim but now follows the propagators of idolatry in southwestern Nigeria went viral, some of his former colleagues and those he taught have come out to give poverty and financial issues as the source of his apostasy.
Personally, I feel this is not totally correct from my personal encounters with Abdul-Malik. It is true that poverty could get to a level that it affects one capability to have an informed decision. A statement was attributed to the prophet that he said "Poverty almost take the place of disbelief" "كاد الفقر أن يكون كفرا" i.e poverty impairs one decision making that it it could lead anyone to disbelief.
Al-Imām Al-‘Ayni said in ‘Umdat al-Qari' in his explanation of this hadeeth:
"And that is because poverty may drive its possessor to engage in things unbecoming of people of religion and chivalry. It may push him to fall into any haram without care, and it may even drive him to utter words that lead him to disbelief."
قال العيني في عمدة القاري: وذلك لأن الفقر ربما يحمل صاحبه على مباشرة ما لا يليق بأهل الدين والمروءة، ويهجم على أي حرام كان ولا يبالي، وربما يحمله على التلفظ بكلمات تؤديه إلى الكفر.
And, this was apparent in the prophets prayers saying "اللهم إني أعوذ بك من الكفر والفقر" "O Allah, I seek refuge in you from poverty and disbelief ".
There are many people whose condition is far worse than Abdul-Malik's ,but they never left their faith because they have a good grasp of what Islam is all about.
ABDUL-MALIK'S PROBLEM.
I got to know him on Facebook when he started saying things about the verses of the Qur'an, the accuracy of the stories in the Qur'an, and the core message of Islam itself. A number of brothers tagged me to his videos since he wasn't on my friend list, which I responded.
What I noticed from our back and forth was that Abdul-malik was trying his very best in Arabic language sciences but very poor in the fundamentals of Islamic sciences. These two are usually confused for one another. And individual can be very good in Arabic sciences like An-Nahw, As-Sarf, Al-Balāghah, Al-Mantiq ...but very poor in fundamentals of Islamic sciences like The exegesis of the Qur'an and its fundamentals (This was his poorest) , Islamic jurisprudence, Islamic creed (Al-a'qeedah), Sciences about the traditions of the prophet.... and others.
Yes, the knowledge of the Arabic language is an important tool in understanding the Islamic sciences because the important Islamic sciencestects are written in Arabic language without which you can't understand these texts. However, no matter how good you are in the English language, for example, as a course, you can't take the place of a lawyer if you never studied law.
For you to understand, the first academic professor of Arabic language as a course in Nigeria was not a Muslim. Also is that there are many christain Arabs whose primary language is Arabic.
At some point, I had to go listen to some of the recordings he had on his telegram page back then where he explained Islamic texts, I listened to a couple and pointed out some of his grievous errors in interpretations of the texts to him. But like our fathers in yorubaland say, " The dog that will stray will not hear the whistling of the hunter."
Let me give an example for reference sake, Abdul-Malik usually quote verses of the Qur'an like "..اقتلوهم حيث ثقفتموهم" "...Kill them wherever you come across them" to say "Allah commands Muslims to kill every non-Muslim wherever they come across them"!!
He was completely ignorant of the context , sababu An-nuzūl (occurrence surrounding the revelation) of the verse... And more importantly, he failed, either ignorantly or intentionally, to mention that Allah already said:
{ لَّا یَنۡهَىٰكُمُ ٱللَّهُ عَنِ ٱلَّذِینَ لَمۡ یُقَـٰتِلُوكُمۡ فِی ٱلدِّینِ وَلَمۡ یُخۡرِجُوكُم مِّن دِیَـٰرِكُمۡ أَن تَبَرُّوهُمۡ وَتُقۡسِطُوۤا۟ إِلَیۡهِمۡۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ یُحِبُّ ٱلۡمُقۡسِطِینَ }
Allâh does not forbid you to deal justly and kindly with those who fought not against you on account of religion nor drove you out of your homes. Verily, Allâh loves those who deal with equity.
[Surah Al-Mumtaḥanah: 8]
He also forgot that Allah warned that those to be killed are those who fought and fight the Muslims and that Muslim shouldn't go to the extreme even while defending themselves fighting.
Allah said:
{ وَقَـٰتِلُوا۟ فِی سَبِیلِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلَّذِینَ یُقَـٰتِلُونَكُمۡ وَلَا تَعۡتَدُوۤا۟ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَا یُحِبُّ ٱلۡمُعۡتَدِینَ }
Fight in the way of Allah against those who fight you and do not transgress. Verily, Allah does not like the transgressors.
[Surah Al-Baqarah: 190]
Another very funny one was when he said the Qur'an was not accurate in its his historical details. He said, "Allah said no one knew about the story of prophet Nūh before prophet Muhammad"!! because Allah said in the Qur'an:
{ تِلۡكَ مِنۡ أَنۢبَاۤءِ ٱلۡغَیۡبِ نُوحِیهَاۤ إِلَیۡكَۖ مَا كُنتَ تَعۡلَمُهَاۤ أَنتَ وَلَا قَوۡمُكَ مِن قَبۡلِ هَـٰذَاۖ فَٱصۡبِرۡۖ إِنَّ ٱلۡعَـٰقِبَةَ لِلۡمُتَّقِینَ }
These are some reports from the unseen (events), which We reveal to you. You did not know them before this, neither you nor your people. So, be patient. Surely, the end is in favor of the God-fearing.
[Surah Hūd: 49]
He said, "How could this be true when christains and the jews already have the story of prophet Nūh and his Arc documented in their books.
Now, anyone who doesn't understand the fine details of how Allah speaks in the Qur'an will also follow his caricature reasoning (he always appear to be logical to a novice but he is actually very lazy in reasoning). What he didn't understand were two words in the verse "قومك" "Your people" i.e prophet Muhammad's people; and أنباء الغيب Hidden details of an information". He just did a literal translation saying Allah said all the Arabs never knew about prophet Nūh and his arc.
The exegets of the Qur'an agreed Allah was talking about the people of Quraysh specifically and not just every Arab. Also, Allah was not talking about them hearing about prophet Nūh and the arc, but the finest details about what transpired between him and his people, which the Qur'an mentioned.
Al-Imām Al-Qurtubi said in his exegesis of this verse:
"And it was said: He meant their ignorance of the story of Noah's son, even if they had heard about the command of the flood in general."
[ أَرَادَ جَهْلَهُمْ بِقِصَّةِ ابْنِ نُوحٍ وَإِنْ سَمِعُوا أَمْرَ الطُّوفَانِ [فَإِنَّهُ] عَلَى الْجُمْلَةِ.
Ash-shaykh Ibnu Ā'shūr said in his At-tanweer:
*"Nor your people"* is a step up in emphasis; because among his (prophet Muhammad's )people, there were those who mixed with the People of the Book (Jews and Christains) and those who could read and write, yet none of them knew much of what was revealed to you from this story.
OUR DUTY
Abdul-Malik is just one out of many individuals like this who are often misunderstood as students of Islamic knowledge, but in the true sense are just students of Arabic language. But we call anyone with a scull cap or Turban speaking Arabic Alfa. You might have seen some of these so-called Alfas doing Al-I'rāb in a naming ceremony!!!.
We as a people need to start making a distinction between a student and teacher of Arabic language as a language just like English language; and a student and teacher of Islamic sciences. The two are not actually the same in reality, even when we have muddled everything up to look the same.
The fact that someone is fluent in the Arabic language doesn't mean he is a good student of Islamic sciences. I am sure you won't prefer a fluent student doctor in English. Do your surgery while you have a senior surgeon with a strong toruba accent available.
Secondly, we need to raise our kids to either learn a trade, have a skill, or get certified training even when they are Arabic language students or Islamic sciences students. This is because our environment does not reward this knowledge so much, it is usually believed that the reward of the beholder of this knowledge is in heaven except if they perhaps get a lecturing job or get a scholarship to study abroad which will not be applicable for a larger percentage of these students.
LASTLY
I hope Abdul-Malik can ponder over his actions, have a rethink, and retrace his steps. Allah forgives all sins, even disbelief, so long one is not already dying. Following the onise's will take him nowhere but misery in the end. When the chips are down, graves are not the same, and our standings will be different. I know he is actually an atheist. He is only following the onises for the goodies of this world. The goodies that won't last forever.
لا شيء مما ترى تبقى بشاشته # يَبقى الالهُ ويفنى المالُ والولد
Nothing of what you see will remain in its splendor
Only Allah remains, while wealth and children perish.
لم تُغن هرمز يوماً من خزائنه # والخلدَ قد حاولت عادٌ فما خلَدوا
The treasures of Hurmuz did not avail him one day
And ‘Ad sought immortality, but they did not last.
ولا سليمانَ إذ تجري الرياح لهُ # اللإنسُ والجنُّ تجري بينها البُرُدُ
Nor did Sulayman — though the winds moved with him
And men and jinn marched between them in robes.
أينَ الملوكُ التي دانت لعزَّتها # من كل أوب إليها وافدٌ يفد
Where are the kings whose might was submitted to
From every direction, delegates came to them?
حوضٌ هنالك مورودٌ بلا كذبٍ # لا بدَّ من وردِه يوماً كما وردوا
Overthere (day of judgment)is a basin (of the prophets of Allah on the last day) that will be approached without falsehood
You must approach it one day, just as they approached it.
© Olatunji Ibrahim
