Educate girls, weapons of mass construction

One tries to find lessons and silver linings from tragedies. It is tragedies that bring people and communities together with a working "moral compass". The collective grief eventually inspires an inner resolve that sends a strong message of overcoming with hope around the corner.

The kidnapping of 270 Nigerian school girls, with promise to sell them into the market by Boko Haram, created a global virtual campaign, #bringourgirlsback! Boko is translated as western/secular education, and haram means prohibited.

The reaction to the kidnapping has reached and, genuinely, impacted the powerful, who may not be connected to these girls. Thus, the US First Lady, Michelle Obama, and former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, can be seen on twitter with handwritten sign about the return of these beautiful young girls.

The immediate question that comes to mind is why would Boko Haram cult deviate from their path of vigilante business model of "cataract injustice" executed by M&A – murders and assassinations? Why kidnap school girls and threaten to sell them?

Why extremist do not take on the military? Are they afraid of hellfire missiles, a precursor of their final destination?

Do the members of this cult not have mothers, sisters, daughters or were they hatched on a factory farm on an experiment that went horribly wrong?

Abduction

It is easier to kidnap the helpless than to help them. Some of the reasons for kidnapping school girls include:

• Existing modus operandi of the cult. Boko Haram does not have the game changing shock value, which means recruits and funds are running low. It may also mean that they are falling in the league table of atrocities, hence, reinvent itself via shock the conscious actions!
• Who are the most vulnerable and most precious members of humanity? Who lifts their families from the darkness of ignorance? Who is a change agent in families and their villages? Who is the force that keeps a family together? Young girls that become educated wives and mothers!

In the Quran, there is a whole chapter dedicated to women, al-Nisa, which deals with welfare, economic, and other important issues before they were recognised, acknowledged, and implemented in places, say, like the UK, on property or voting rights.

Notice, the same holy book has no chapter dedicated to man, which implies man’s ignorance of woman requiring divine intervention for the betterment of man!

Narrated by Abu Huraira, a man came to the Prophet and said,

“O Allah’s Apostle! Who is more entitled to be treated with the best companionship by me?”

The Prophet said, "Your mother."
The man asked, "Who is next?"
The Prophet replied, "Your mother."
The man asked again, "Who is next?"
The Prophet said, "Your mother."
The man asked for the fourth time, "Who is next?"
The Prophet answered, "Your father." (Hadith, Volume 8, Book 73, Number 2)

The Prophet institutionalised honour in motherhood, gained with the hadith, "Paradise lies under the feet of the mothers".

Thus, what book is Boko reading, assuming they can read and write?

Furthermore, at a secular level, there is a treasure trove of studies, from public and private sector, to show that investing in a girl’s education has the best sustainable return for the family, village, etc. The return is in variety of forms: smaller families, educated children, reduction from agriculture subsistence, higher income, etc. Putting it into today’s financial markets terminology, it’s a massive angel investor and venture capitalist exit, "pop", via an initial public offering (IPO)!

Extremist fears

Boko, and its equivalent elsewhere, are more terrified of educated girls than a bullet with their name on it. Why? For the simple reason, an educated mother instills lessons of reason and empathy, enjoining good and forbidding bad in her (daughter and) son, potential recruits.

For example, Malala Yousafzai, the brave teenager from Pakistan who was shot in the head by the "brave" Taliban, has become a global figure for girl’s education. Thus, the shot backfired, unfortunately Malala had to endure the horrible ordeal.

The Quran raises seeking knowledge as an obligation on every Muslim, male and female. For example, in Qur'an chapter 96 verses 1-5, which says:

‘Proclaim! (or read!) In the name of your Lord and Cherisher, Who created. Created men, out of a leech-like clot. Proclaim! And your Lord is Most Bountiful. He who taught by the Pen. Taught man that which he knows not.’

The pursuit of knowledge is an important part of worship, as Islamic civilization has contributed to vast number of fields during its Golden Age, including medicine, architecture, astronomy, chemistry, mathematics and philosophy, etc. Knowledge is closely connected with ethics and morality, which promotes virtue (enjoining right) and combats vice (forbidding wrong).

Basement/de-humanising

In many countries, the proverbial glass ceiling exists for women and minorities in the workplace. Boko’s school of management and ensuing actions suggests ceilings or even glass floors are too high for them, so they have opted for the opposite, the basement.

The basement may not have windows (to view the Creator’s bounty), rarely receives light (enlightenment), infested with vermins (self explanatory), and it's rare for one to escape its quicksand effect (would result in Hollywood movie).

Boko wants to pull these young girls into their quicksand of self implosion, whereas these they want to pursue self-actualisation. In kidnapping the school girls, they are physically and psychologically taking away their future. Their hope is these girls will always be fearful to step outside of their home to go to school. Thus, "pregnant, barefoot and in the basement kitchen" will keep girls financially and emotionally subservient.

Finally, to sell girls into the market place, detaching them from dignity and into a life of destitution, means Boko wants to (1) replenish its war chest of mayhem, (2) takes the education fight out of the girls and (3) sends a message of consequences for others.

It’s interesting to note, that the villagers have taken "vigilante justice" into their own hands against Boko, as the latter lives by the bullet, they will be killed by the former’s bullet.

For example, Nigerian northern state villagers, like in Kalabalge, possibly in reaction to the abductions, killed/detained a number of Boko "fighters" who were suspected of planning another attack. The villagers seem to have lost confidence in the military/police.

Conclusion

The Somali pirates seems to have more class than Boko Haram, at least they picked on someone their own size!

In abducting the school girls, the cult's aspiration has actually backfired, as they have raised the profile of the importance of girls, education and combined beneficial consequences.

Boko Haram looks at these school girls and does not see its mirror image, failure, but sees "weapons of mass construction", the ultimate nightmare of extremists! – May 15, 2014.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.