In his non-descript office in Broadhurst Industrial site, Al-Hasan Lentswe leans back and uses a colourful metaphor to explain one of the underpinning tenets of his faith ÔÇô the oneness of God.
“God is one. How is he going to give you countless religions?” he asks. “We are all children of Adam. God gave Adam a religion. How do you give a father one religion and the son a different religion? It doesn’t happen like that.”
He is making the argument to buttress an earlier assertion about the status of the Prophet Muhammad as God’s last messenger, and the Koran as the last revelation, which therefore makes Islam “the only religion recognizable before Allah”.
Outside, the lazy wintry sun is beating a steady retreat leaving in its wake a thin cold breeze. We have spent the better part of the day together and though he is observing the Ramadan fast, he does not show any sign of fatigue. Lentswe’s explanation of the significance of fasting is simple. Muslims fast because it has been divinely decreed, he says. He makes reference to an injunction in the Koran that enjoins every Muslim to fast in order to learn piety.
He points out that it’s also a tradition common to all prophets, and God’s revelation has always descended upon people in fast. For instance, Moses fasted for 40 days and 40 nights, and came back with the 10 Commandments. Jesus used to go for extended periods of fasting and seclusion. Muhammad followed the same tradition, which led to revelation of the Koran to him.
“If you fast correctly, you become less prone to committing sin. You gain a better understanding of the scriptures. You fear God more, and fear him as he deserves to be feared,” he says.
How did it happen that a former Roman Catholic altar boy ended up a Muslim? Lentswe traces his first contact with Islam to 1979 when his parents became Muslims. Though they did not try to convert him, he would eventually quit the church on his own. Interestingly, he insists that he didn’t leave the Church because of Islam, due to some doctrines that were not easy for him to accept.
Such as?
“Such as the issue of trinity and deification of Mary the mother of Jesus,” he answers. “I always viewed God as above all and everything is his creation. But whenever we repented in the Catholic Church, we would repent to God and Mary. I believe that Prophet Jesus is greater than his mother. Perhaps if they had said we should repent to Jesus I would have accepted it because he was a prophet. But to repent to God would have been more preferable.”
While the journey started slowly, it would gain momentum when he went to study Computer Systems in Britain after secondary school.
“In Britain, I observed the English people closely. I realised that the level of immorality where they came from was much higher than at home. That taught me that they were responsible for the decline in morality in our country. They brought us Christianity, and I thought they should be better at it. But they fornicated and cohabitation was not a problem. It was one of the things that brought a reawakening in me to see if my religion could deal with these problems. I started to read more and study more and practice it more,” he says.
For Lentswe, one of the major attractions was Islam’s teaching of the absolute oneness of God ÔÇô without a son, or any other relatives.
“He’s above his creation. You can’t raise the level of Prophet Muhammad or Jesus or Moses to that of God. Prophets are sent with a message that forms the basis of religion. In practising that religion, it’s [a relationship] direct with God, not through the prophets. He’s all seeing and all hearing. You don’t need a mortal to supplicate on your behalf. This is a concept that explained everything and appealed to me,” he says.
This is where he takes issue with Christians for their insistence in praying to God “in Jesus’ name”.
“Why do things in Jesus’ name?” he asks. “He didn’t teach that.”
He faults the Christian doctrine of trinity for elevating Jesus to the status of son of God and to being God. He traces what he calls distortion of the Christian message to the Book of Acts, when Paul, who had previously persecuted the believers, converts to the faith and begins to preach. Lentswe argues that it is noteworthy that the disciples had rejected Paul when he first showed up, and continued to keep a distance from him. He says even Barnabas, who had been sympathetic to Paul, later realised that Paul’s teaching contradicted the disciples ÔÇô and withdrew.
“This, in my opinion, was the beginning of dilution or pollution of the message because we know now that scholars have said three people are responsible for propagating the trinity, and these are Paul, Athanasius and Constantine,” he says.
The case against the three is as follows. Paul first made it possible for people to think of Jesus as son of God. The Bishop of Alexandria, Athanasius, formulated the Athanasian Creed, a statement of belief which was the first creed in which the equality of the three persons of the Trinity is explicitly stated. Constantine, the first Christian Roman emperor, accorded the religion the status of the empire’s official religion. As the empire became imperialist and expanded, the Church grew with it.
“We know now that the Catholic Church is by far the most powerful church in the world, financially and politically. It is all due to Constantine. It has managed to influence all churches, even those that broke away from it,” Lentswe says.
Assuming that the message has been distorted, why did the whole Christian body countenance such distortion?
“I leave that to the Christians,” he answers. “Suffice to say throughout history believers are few; those who follow the correct creed. Noah escaped the floods with just his family [because] the rest of the people were disbelievers. Religiously, there is no comfort in numbers.”
What then would Jesus think of his followers?
Lentswe counters that Jesus long answered this question in Mathew 7:21-23. This is where Jesus warns that on Judgment Day many will declare that they prophesied, cast out demons, and did many wonders in his name ÔÇô and yet he would declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from me, you who practise lawlessness”.
“Do you know why he will reject them?” Lentswe asks and pauses before providing a rejoinder. “These are his followers who used to say, ‘in Jesus’ name’. They will say, ‘did we not do wonders in your name?’ Why is Jesus saying this? You know why? Because they address him as Lord, yet the Lord is God. Islam does not allow you to say Lord to a creation of Allah.”
So the inference is that if Jesus showed up in Gaborone he would, in all likelihood, not worship in any of the cathedrals and churches but would head for the mosque, right?
“Yes,” Lentswe answers. “The people who have upheld his teachings are the Muslims. He would worship in the mosque. Not only do we look like him ÔÇô we grow a beard like him, we dress like him, we still follow the concepts he came to teach us, and we worship the way he worshipped not by kneeling down, but by prostrating.”
He makes the point that Islam is the original monotheist religion, and that every prophet since the beginning of time was sent to bring a stage of the religion ÔÇô with Muhammad bringing the last phase. He points to John 16:12-14, when Jesus tells his followers that as he leaves, another one, the Spirit of truth, will guide them to all truth. In the Christian theology, this is interpreted to mean the Holy Spirit, an interpretation that Lentswe says is erroneous. He argues that it’s not in the nature of God to send spirits with his message, but prophets in human form. In that case, he interprets the passage to proclaim the eventual coming of Muhammad.
Lentswe contends that contrary to popular convention, Islam is not new to Batswana. He asserts that if a study were made, it would show that either Batswana were originally Muslims or they had a strong Islamic influence.
“There is too much in common it can’t be chance. When I was growing up, my grandmother didn’t eat pork. I never understood why until I was older. Batswana are not a pork eating people. Pork only came with colonial masters. That’s why even rearing of pigs is not widespread among Batswana and they have to learn it, which is unlike sheep, goats and cattle. Batswana have never been known for alcohol consumption. This is a new development. Batswana circumcised. There was strong emphasis on marriage. They had something that looked more like a Muslim society than a western society. Batswana call an elderly person by the name of their child. This is the way of Islam. They ululate, which is Arabic culture. Batswana name their children to explain the attributes of God. When you hear Setswana names you realise these are believers, and Setswana didn’t come with Christianity,” he says.
Lentswe points out that it is due to this common ground that many Batswana are converting to Islam, other attractions being that its teachings are easy to relate to, and it’s practical. He argues that the religion has solutions to all the problems confronting Botswana today. To that extent, he finds it unfortunate that President Ian Khama did not include Muslim leaders on the Commission on Moral Revival, which comprised Christian and traditional leaders.
“We have the solutions to the problems the president wanted to address,” he says. “It’s evident in our community. We are the most sober, the least of fornicators, and we circumcise, which has recently been prescribed to curb HIV infection. If you look at the world map of HIV/AIDS prevalence, you will find that Muslim countries are the least infected areas with prevalence rates between zero and 10 percent. This tells you that the Muslims have something that this country could learn from them.”
Will Islam eventually be the dominant religion in Botswana?
“It will be the dominant religion, if Allah wills,” he answers. “If world trends are anything to go by, it will be. It was previously said that Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. About 20 ÔÇô 30 years ago, it was said there were half a billion Muslims in the world. Now there are 1.5 billion. This is amazing. According to some demographics, Christians are 2 billion. Those who make forecasts say by 2015 Islam will be the dominant religion in France, and other countries in Europe will follow. The irony is that France is the one that is currently placing controls on Islam and where Muslims are experiencing problems.”
