a Christian or a Muslim?

Sayo Aluko 

Are you a Christian or a Muslim? 

The question that should never be asked;

Seemingly harmless, but it's hatred's fundament,

For which the die gets cast,

A limitary insignia, erasing peace so fast.

A Christian or a Muslim?

Creed over humanity, religion over benevolence;

Buoyed by the weighty flak of dogma,

Creed crept into our vantage,

and Humanity, polluted with lethal chasm.

A question, designed to dignify division (how can?);

An open question, but now a cover, 

Perfect shade for terror, exact camouflage for malevolence,

Hijacked by the precociously wicked,

No respite for tears shed.

Asked by Mr. Paranoia, answered by Mrs. Disdain,

Tethered to doubt, tendered with partisan enthusiasm,

Oh! What a show of confident fear,

Where honest folly is laid bare.

A Christian, or Muslim, is that how far we can fare?

Are you a Christian or a Muslim?

Seemingly simple, at first glance; but,

What motive lies behind its asking? 

What advantage does its answer give? 

At second glance, it's seen laden with the nothingness of conceit.

A Christian or a Muslim?

The divisive question that sows the discordant seed,

Yes, surreptitiously;

Now, what a bounteous harvest we've got!

Chibok, Nyanya, Jos, Madalla, UN building, Wuse II, the likes,

Blast, Bomb, Blast, Men, just Barbecued....Harvest!

Are you a Christian or a Muslim?

Oh No! ask me no more!

I am MAN, all you need to know,

I am MAN, all you need to understand,

I am a Man, information so enough! So sufficient!

Had Kindness to Man not these calibrated with the cadence of creed,

Had Love to Man not these rationed with the condition of religion,

Maybe bombs wouldn't have kept going off at every whim,

Maybe it wouldn't be so fat, the extremism,

while the chances of humanity's existence remain so slim,

But, oh no! Not again... “Are you a Christian or a Muslim?” 

No, I am a Lover, my religion, Love;

The immediate neighbour, my commandment, 

Gauge-less compassion, my testament,

Random kindness, my sacrament,

No hostility, no argument.

If God is love, if Allah made Man,

Then, Love made Man, love makes Men

Men, Muhammad, Jesus, Ghandi, Mandela, Theresa,

Men, who simply loved, no drama, no dogma.

Why then create warring divides with a bogus question?

And stray into bigotry away from the exemplary?

And prey into idolatry away from true worship of divinity?

Oh! How the Gods must NOT be crazy, we are.

He calls this blasphemy, Yes, he who is a terrorist,

She holds this in derision, Yes, she who is an abetting simpleton;

A religious hater, A religion racist,

Wielding divisive dedication.

Are you a Christian or a Muslim?

Ask no more, answer no further;

Take it out of the questionnaires, remove from the forms, 

Leave out of the curriculum vitae, excise from our norms.

What does it matter, other than scatter?

How does it better, other than embitter?

A Christian or a Muslim?

We shouldn't have asked.