The Nation Newspaper

Category: Femi Abbas

  • Nigeria’s Scripted Year

    Nigeria’s Scripted Year

    ”…Beware of a calamity that may afflict, not only the transgressors amongst you, but also the innocent ones, and, know that Allah’s retribution can be very severe…..” Q. 8:25

     

    Writing a drama is like conceiving a pregnancy in the womb of a woman. For the drama to be practically actable, the writer must take into consideration, not only the theme, the setting and the characters, but also the complications in such a drama as they build up spirally to the climax. The writer must also think of the anticlimax of the drama as well as its possible denouement.

    Nothing shows the ingenuousness of a playwright, as vividly as the crew of actors that put into action, the script that gives birth to the drama in question. The process is like delivering a pregnant woman of her pregnancy. If the delivery process is not carefully handled, the deliverer may end up becoming an undertaker. And, that is when a drama is said to be tragic.

    Brilliant students of literature must have perceived today’s entire world as a paradoxical theatre in which about eight billion human beings, including over 200 million Nigerians, are watching varieties of drama, in a single theatre. For either ecstasy or dismay the viewers may randomly roar into controversies or zoom into anxiety, as the drama progresses. But the main concern of each viewer is what may become of his favourite character.

     

    The Dramatic Colony

    In today’s global drama against which we had been warned in the Qur’an as quoted above, the concern of this columnist in today’s article is the ‘colony’ called Nigeria. This is not just because the colony is my immediate and paramount constituency but also because Nigeria is the heart of Africa. And, if anything negative happens to her, the whole of Africa will not be at rest.

    Today, it is evident that the federal government of Nigeria is not prepared to work for the country’s existence as a unified entity.

    Meanwhile, the colonialists who designed and imposed the guidelines of this country on its inhabitants had technically predicted the length of her existence as a country. The centenary anniversary of Nigeria, as a country, was expected to have come up at the beginning of 2014 when the country attained the age of 100 years. But, having gone beyond that predicted age, no one except the Almighty Allah, is sure of what may become of Nigeria subsequently. This is because the same deliverers of Nigeria as a country have prepared a mausoleum for her in anticipation of her funeral. A clandestine script was unveiled in 1995 predicting a tragic absurdity awaiting the most populous African country.

    The contents of the script revealed that this heart of Africa called Nigeria was heading for a break up by the year 2015 when she would be 101 years old. The designers of that devilish agenda had set a timeframe of 20 years for its execution without suggesting any positive alternative. And, to portray their dream as a realisable one, they kept hammering the probability of the success of that obnoxious project citing some hazardous occurrences in the land as reason. Incidentally, that was the year in which the evil proposition began to receive a helping hand by the government that proposed a dubious national confab with a hidden agenda.

     

    Imperialist Strategy

    For students of International Relations, such a prediction cannot be strange. It is part of the strategies often used by the imperialists, either to re-colonize some old colonies that had been granted partial freedom, or to scoop on, and, dominate the economies of such countries with a typical capitalist tendency. As a result of such an imperial strategy, Poland had once ceased to be a country for about 123 years when it was partitioned about four times by Russia, Prussia and Austria in 1772, 1792 and 1795. And, for well over a century, thereafter, the country was not in existence. But the Polish people never gave up the resilient spirit of regaining their independence until the country was fully revived after the World War I in 1918.

    In contemporary time, the modern day imperialists have been doing the same successfully in some other countries none of which is now firmly on her feet. Countries like Vietnam, Korea, Yemen, China, Iran, Syria, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, Somalia, Sudan, Palestine and lately the entire Arab nations, all of which have had their bitter share of the subtle pillage, can testify to this assertion.  It is a modern day equivalence of the 1884/1885 partition of Africa carried out in Berlin, Germany, by the European imperialists, which led to the colonization of the black continent.

    If any of the above countries had resisted that obnoxious project at the planning stage and stood their grand in objection to colonial imperialism, perhaps the world would have been spared the throat-cutting threats posed today by the United States and her NATO allies against what they perceive as lesser nations.

    Incidentally, the US had, once, been a victim of this same imperialists’ guillotine especially in the hands of Britain. Yet, the cult of capitalism which has now become their common bond would not allow the duo of Britain and US (which had been mutually antagonistic) to dwell differently because it is only in such collaboration that the gains of their common interest can be accomplished. Unfortunately, Nigeria doesn’t seem to have learned any lesson from countries that had been tricked into toeing the imperialists’ path hook, line and sinker.

    Rather than looking inwards for solution to our domestic problems as the US did in her time of resistance to oppression, our own government does not only beckon to Uncle Sam for solution even to a minor problem but also cries out randomly to the collective body of imperialists for help. The official behaviour of Nigerian government is just like that of a baby who has fully adapted to being spoon-fed, at all times, even while asleep. Today, Nigerian government can hardly think on anything without reference to American or European example.

     

    Deceptive Propaganda

    Whereas some progressive countries like Japan, China, India, Brazil and even the United States in their days of search for growth and development shut their doors to the world and made do with whatever they could produce internally which was why their sudden zoom into the limelight came to the world as a surprise, this has never taught Nigeria any lesson. Now, all that matters here is empty and monotonous noise about becoming one of the biggest economies in uncertain years even when it is crystal clear that such wishful aspiration can only end up in a forlorn. No truly progressive country in modern time has ever indulged in such wishful but empty propaganda without failing. What would have ordinarily justified such propaganda is a surprise zooming into the global economic stage as the above listed countries had done.

    It is only an intellectually handicapped country, which is ironically wealthy, materially, but lacking in vision, that can blindly embark on such hopeless propaganda, even when over 75% of her citizens wallow in penury.

    Rather than indulging in deceptive propaganda, what our government ought to have told us is how billions of Dollars allegedly voted for revamping our moribund electricity vamoosed without any resultant iota of power. Or better still, how was the billions of dollars allegedly recovered from General Abacha’s loot shared among the national thieves called leaders? At least we are yet to know what happened to multi-billion naira realized from the so-called privatization policy that threw our national economy into taters. We also need to know something about the scandalously embezzled billions of naira realized from the callous increase on fuel price in January 2012 and many others of the like.

    On the other hand, the government ought to have shown Nigerians the blueprint that triggered us to embark on an empty propaganda about year 2020, which ended up in another forlorn.

     

    Foreign Interference

    Now, by inviting some foreign imperialist powers including the US and Israel to help resolve the internal problem of insecurity in Nigeria, has the government not   admitted its incompetence in protecting the citizenry and thereby surrendering its authority to the invited countries while awarding contracts for image laundering abroad? And, with such plan has this not also begun to compound the existing problems by externalising those internal affairs? After all, these invited countries have their own internal problems which they endeavour to solve without contracting it to any foreign country. Security of a country is like the heart in human body. Handing it over to someone else is like paving way for one’s fortuitous death. No serious government will ever trivialize the existence of its nation to that extent. We all know that whoever pays the piper must surely dictate the tune. Iraq, Libya and Pakistan are living examples confirming that in diplomacy, a friend today may become an enemy tomorrow.

    Yes, in the name of solving Nigeria’s problem even when they have been unable to solve theirs, the invited countries may bring their arsenal to subdue some government’s perceived and imaginary enemies. But what is likely to happen thereafter is the question which many generations of Nigerians may not be able to answer for decades, if not for centuries, in future. This has happened in most of the countries which solicited for military intervention of the imperialist countries. Today, those countries are biting their fingers in total regret. Yet, Nigeria’s ruling class which sees power as a matter of life and death is bent on forcing the country into the league of hopeless nations through desperation.

    A government is said to be in power only if it is believed to be capable of protecting its citizenry and defend the territorial integrity of the concerned nation. Any government that is incapable of doing this, but rather decides to throw the gate of the nation’s security open to foreigners for whatever reason, is unfit to be called a government.

     

    The Qur’an Speaks

    Globally, the US and Israel are known for their belligerence and implacable transgression against nations that refuse to comply with their imperialist policies. And, it is probably in reference to such imperialist powers that Allah had warned mankind in the Qur’an over a millennium and a half ago thus: “When imperialists enter a territory they audaciously pillage and brutally destroy it even as they subjugate the juggernauts therein to the level of servitude”. Q. 12: 22

    The real problem of Nigeria is neither the destructive anti-economic activities of the South-south militants, nor that of the greedily callous South East Kidnapers nor even that of the heartless bloodletting vandalism of Boko Haram. It is rather the willingness of the so-called government to reduce the country into an incubator of problems while relying on foreign imperialists for solution, even when such imperialists cannot solve their own domestic problems. It is like the case of an infamy who consumes poison while depending on an antidote for safety. In an axiomatic stanza, an Arab poet once opined thus:

    “We all blame our time for our misdemeanour; whereas, the misdemeanour blamed on our time is actually in us; We smear time with all types of iniquities and yet expect time to cleans us of any blame; Were time endowed with mouth to comment about us; it would have blamed us for generating all crimes; No hyena eats the flesh of fellow hyena; as human beings eat the flesh men that eat fellow human beings with impunity”.

     

    Governmental Atrocities

    The truth of the matter is that the roots of the multi-dimensional problems confronting Nigeria, today, are traceable mostly to the corridors of our government. Of all the vices that currently constitute insuperable problems for Nigeria, particularly corruption and injustice, none originated from a source other that of the government. The calibre of people involved in various high profile corruption cases since 1999 have confirmed this assertion. How, on earth, can any sensible person justify the case of immunity clause deliberately injected into our constitution to protect stealing of public funds either by the President or Governors in a country where overwhelming majority of people are so wretched that they can hardly afford even one meal per day despite the enormous wealth with which we are naturally endowed? And this so-called constitution was never subjected to any referendum as a way of assessing its general acceptability in the first instance.

    The real absurdity in that immunity clause is not just in chasing around the protected public thieves after vacating office but also in setting up anti-corruption agencies as a political camouflage. For God’ sake if a person aids a thief in casting away his property has he not become an accomplice in stealing that property? What justification will such a person have in wanting to prosecute such a thief? Those who injected immunity clause into our constitution as well as those who are in positions to remove it but rather choose to retain it are together accomplices in the entrenchment and spread of corruption in the land. Ordinarily, such people should never have moral right to talk of fighting corruption because they are its creators and sustainers but we live in a shameless country where conscience does not matter.

    We are our own problems. We know the sources of what we call problems and we incubate them.  We know how to proffer solution to those problems but like ‘lotus eaters’, we are so much drunk of illegality that it has become so difficult, if not impossible, for us to part with it. Now, as we are planning to start importing imperial mercenaries into the country to solve our immediate problems, we must not forget the social and financial implications of such a venture. And, we must remember that those mercenaries will like to find a permanent seat here even if they will have to invent new problems for us in order to justify their profitable stay.

    This admonition may taste bitter, especially, to those in government, who may have hidden agenda, but Allah’s words will never be in want of relevance. They are regularly accompanied by relevances. Allah warns us in Qur’an 13:11 thus: “Surely, Allah will not change the situation of a nation or a community until the citizens therein have resolved to change their obnoxious attitudes that warrant the need for change”. Whoever wants equity to prevail must come up with clean hands. Inviting certain imperialists to come and act the imperialists’ evil script, in Nigeria, as a way of obliterating insecurity, will do no one any good.

    Think before you act. God save Nigeria!

     

     

     

  • SELF ASSESSMENT

    SELF ASSESSMENT

    Like any aspect of human life, Ramadan is a test which every Muslim should endeavour to pass. Without waiting to be asked, a good Muslim must be able to sincerely ask him or herself in this sacred month the following vital questions? What was my spiritual status at the commencement of this year’s Ramadan and what is it at this stage of the sacred month? There are many reasons for this:

    Ramadan has become a transit period for most Muslims especially in Nigerian society.Whenever the month of Ramadan comes around most Muslims just dust up their instruments of observing Salat and pretend to be genuine Muslims. At least for the first few days in the sacred month Mosques are full of worshippers to the brim. Such nominal Muslims come from all strata of the society to join serious Muslims in observing  Salatu-t-Tarawih in the Mosques. They endeavour, if pretentiously, to do away with drinking alcohol publicly even as they discard fornication or adultery as well as other crimes temporarily during the days of the sacred month.

    Even when some of such pseudo Muslims do not find Ramadan fasting interesting, they do pretend and play along. Such people are easily recognizable by their uncultured attitudes in the sacred month. For instance, most of them do not wake up for ‘Sahur’ in the night. Neither do they involve their mental and physical beings in fasting. To them, abstaining from eating and drinking should be enough as fasting. Thus, as long as they go about with empty stomach, fasting is on course.

    Such people are like self-deceptive students who believe in marking their own scripts after writing examinations. The question is this: can they award themselves the needed certificates? If they can, who will recognize such certificates? Thus, sincere self-assessment in the month of Ramadan is a way of of reassuring oneself of right performance in the sacred month of Ramadan.

    The first ten days of the month were for free blessings of Allah. The second ten days were for forgiveness against all sins and iniquities and, the third ten days is for full spiritual emancipation of man from the manacles of Satan.

    If Allah can grant unlimited blessings to fasting Muslims in those first ten days of Ramadan, one should, at least work for forgiveness before the last ten days when fasting Muslims will be granted total spiritual liberation fom the shackles of Satan. Therefore, to be sure of being on the right course, during this spiritual journey, a self-assessment at this stage is a sine qua non.

     

    • RAMADAN KARIM!
  • Zakatul Fitr

    Zakatul Fitr

    Linguistically, the Arabic word Zakah simply means charity. But semantically, it means the spiritual purification of wealth in one’s possession which some other people are not endowed with.

    In Islam, there are two types of Zakah. One is called Zakatul Mal (meaning charity paid on possessed wealth), the other is Zakatul Fitr (meaning feasting charity). The one is a whole pillar of Islam while the other is an attribute of another pillar of Islam called Ramadan fast.

    As for Zaatul Fitr which is an organ of Ramadan fast, its payment is obligatory on all Muslims (adult or minor, male or female).

    This Zakah is called Zakatul Fitr (feasting charity) to facilitate a festive mood for the poor once in the society.

    Zakatul Fitr can be doled out in grains or in cash. Although the preference is for grains, nevertheless, if you give grains to a wretched person who cannot afford any amount of money to turn it into an edible meal how will grains alone be useful for him? This is why some jurisprudential Islamic scholars thought of applying the principle of Qiyas (analogical deduction to it) and it is not illegal in Islam. To say that Zakatul Fitr must be paid only in grains is to be extreme especially when the recipients of such charity may be forced to sell the grains given to them for cash.

    The Prophetically recommended measure of grains to be given as charity is called Muddu and each person must give four of it out in terms of valid grains.

    Zakatul Fitr must be given out either on the eve of ‘Idul Fitr or before observing Salatul Fitr on ‘Id day. Completing Ramadan fast without paying Zakatul Fitr is a spiritual question mark which a Muslim must be ready to grapple with before Allah.

    • Ramadan Karim!
  • MATING IN RAMADAN 1

    MATING IN RAMADAN 1

    This article ought to have been published at the beginning of this year’s Ramadan. But an oversight as a human factor set in as a cause of delay. However, it is still very much relevant even at this stage.

    One of the most important aspects of marriage is mating. It is the means of procreation of children as legitimized by consummation of marriage. Across nations, tribes and cultures, legitimate mating serves as the lotion of love. It is also perceived as the natural balm with which to soothe the aching areas of matrimonial conflicts. A matrimonial home without sexual intercourse is like a wild desert without an oasis. Therefore, Ramadan should not be used as an excuse to abdicate legal matrimonial responsibility by abstaining from the matrimonial bed.

    In Islam, sexual intercourse in the matrimonial home is so important that its constant denial by either party without any cogent reason is classifiable as a sin.

    Mating in Islam is not just for procreation of children. It is also a reconfirmation of love and fulfilment of nature’s promise. With matrimonial intercourse, paradise is attainable And, without it, paradise is deniable.

    While elucidating on the gains of Sadaqah, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) once told his companions that mating is Sadaqah if it is legitimately done. And legitimacy here means doing it with ones legitimate spouse. The prophet’s position on this is confirmed by Allah in Qur’an 2: 223 thus: “Your wives are your fields, enter them as you please…”. Denial of matrimonial intercourse to a spouse without reason is a violation of a fundamental marital right. Even where both spouses have tested positive to a disease like HIV/Aids, sexual intercourse should not be ruled out. And where only one of them is tested positive, the couple should reach an understanding on how to go about it medically.

    In Ramadan, a couple can be as sexually active as outside Ramadan provided it is done between dusk and dawn.

    It is, however, assumed that no serious Muslim will ever want to indulge in any unwarranted circumstance like intercourse to skip Salatus-Subh (early morning obligatory worship) by not taking Janabah bath at the right time. Allah judges deeds by intention. Whoever claims to be a Muslim must embrace Islam totally.

    However, necessary as sexual intercourse may be in a matrimonial home, it must not hinder any obligatory worship of Allah.

    • Ramadan Karim!
  • History of Ramadan Lecture in Nigeria

    History of Ramadan Lecture in Nigeria

    Preamble

    For every activity of man that yields success or ends up in failure, there must be a history from which others can learn a lesson. Sometimes, it is man that makes history and some other times, it is history that makes man. Whichever is the case, however, the symbiotic relationship between history and man is a confirmation of the fact that none of them can be separated from the other.

     

     Analysis

    There can be no history without man just as there can be no man without history. The genesis of Ramadan Lecture in Nigeria is one historic contribution of Nigerian Muslims to the popularity of the third (not fourth) pillar of Islam, called Ramadan Fasting. For Nigerian Muslims who have attained the age of 50 or 45 years, it will be noticed that one of the most prominent components of Ramadan month today is Ramadan Lecture. That component which was not in existence before 1984 is so rampant today that most African Muslims can hardly think of Ramadan without Ramadan Lecture. it has virtually become a spiritual phenomenon strongly waxed into the fabric of the sacred lunar month called Ramadan. Whether in Lagos, Sokoto or Calabar or even in Abidjan or Harare or Kinshasha, once Ramadan arrives, every year, most African Muslims engage themselves passionately in Ramadan Lecture, either as preachers or as programme sponsors or as radio audiences or television viewers.

     

    Genesis

    Incidentally however, the genesis of that phenomenon does not seem to be of any concern to many Muslims who see it as just an addendum to the sacred month of fasting. Even when it is an undeniable fact that Ramadan fasting, as a pillar of Islam has been in existence for almost one and a half millennia, it hardly occurs to most African Muslims of today, that Ramadan Lecture which began in Lagos in 1984 is Nigeria’s own contribution to the enhancement of the liveliness of the third pillar of Islam called Ramadan Fasting.

     

     Question

    How did the idea of Ramadan Lecture, which many African Muslims are now taking for granted, come about? Who were the inventors of this ingehuous idea that has become a global heritage and, what was actually the role of Bashorun MKO Abiola in this historic invention?

     

    How Ramadan Lecture Started

    The world is dynamic, not just intellectually or religiously, but also environmentally. Its dynamism varies from time to time and from place to place. The tendencies for that dynamism are what have perennially come to constitute the accessories of human progress in the act of worship in Islam. This is not peculiar to a period in history or a section of the earth in the geography of the world. Without such tendencies, the rapidity of human progress, spiritually, would not have been in synergy with the propensity of man to attune to the genesis of Ramadan lecture.

    Incidentally, however, the genesis of that phenomenon does not seem to be of much concern to many Muslims who see it as just an addendum to the sacred month of fasting. Even when it is an undeniable fact that Ramadan fasting, as a pillar of Islam, has been in existence for almost one and a half millennia, it hardly occurs to most Nigerian or African Muslims of today, that Ramadan Lecture, which began in Lagos in 1984, is Nigeria’s own contribution to the enhancement of the liveliness of the third pillar of Islam called Ramadan Fasting.

     

    Ramadan Glamour

    Perhaps, nothing gives more glamour to the month of Ramadan in Nigeria today than Ramadan Lecture. But only a few Muslims know that the idea of that concept emanated fortuitously from a probing question once raised by the late Alhaji Saka Fagbo, the late General Manager of NTA Channel 7, in Tejuosho, Surulere, Lagos, in 1984.

    It was the needed answer to that question that prompted the actualization of that concept, to the amazement of most old cadre Muslims in Nigeria.

     

     In Retrospect

    The whole story started with the gathering of some Muslim brothers, including the late Alhaji Saka Fagbo, Alhaji Mojeed Sofola, Alhaji Abdul Kabir Ayomaya (#ll the three were then staffs of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA). And, yours sincerely from Concord Newspaper was in that accidental gathering. At that occasion, Alhaji Saka Fagbo raised an inquisitive question that engendered what came to be called ‘Ramadan Lecture’ in 1984. The group was later to be joined by Alh. Tunji Mojeed and Abdur-razaq Gawat (both of NTA).

     

    The Historic Question

    The Historic question that sparked off the glorious idea of ‘Ramadan Lecture’ went thus: “What can we do to give seasonal happiness to Nigerian Muslim children that would be similar to that of Christmas Carol which Christian children enjoy in December every year?” Ater some hours of deliberations on that challenging question, the brothers harmonized their thoughts and concluded that festive happiness could not be meant for children alone and, as such, an Islamic programme would be more beneficial to all and sundry if it was well packaged with Islamic knowledge and intellectualism that could enhance Muslims’ understanding of Tafsir. To give that new idea a befitting publicity, yours sincerely was mandated to brief the then Baba Adini of Yoruba Land, Bashorun MKO Abiola, who was also the publisher of Concord Press. At that time, yours sincerely was also Bashorun Abiola’s Special Adviser on religious Affairs).

    After briefing Bashorun Abiola, on the new idea, I also advised him to take up the sponsorship of the proposed programme. And, as expected, Bashorun Abiola did not only accept to sponsor the programme, on television and radio stations in Lagos State, he also voluntarily offered to be the permanent sponsor of Tafsir on radio and television stations throughout the 30 days of the month of Ramadan every year in all the Southwest States plus Kwara and the then Bendel states, for as long as he was alive.

     

    Catalyst

    Bashorun Abiola’s historic acceptance to sponsor that programme became the catalyst for the mobilization of Muslim groups and communities in the southwest of Nigeria where Ramadan lectures were being organized. And, with time, the idea of organizing ‘Ramadan Lecture’ was adopted in other parts of the country and thus became a National affair that some other Countries in the West African Sub region started to emulate.

     

    Spiral Effect

    Today, ‘Ramadan Lecture’ is like a summer rainbow beautifying the Islamic Sky across the Continent of Africa in the sacred month every year.

     

    First Ramadan Lecture

    The very first Ramadan Lecture in Nigeria was delivered by the late Alhaji Abdus-Salam Olatunde, then of the National Hajj Commission, at the main auditorium of the University of Lagos. Thereafter, some other Muslim philanthropists joined the train by organizing and sponsoring similar programmes during the month of Ramadan, in their respective vicinities.

     

    The Innovation

    The innovation called Ramadan Lecture is a further confirmation that the real bastion of propelling Islamic religion in Nigeria is in the Southwest, particularly Lagos. It should be recalled that some of the most prominent Islamic organizations in Nigeria today, such as the Muslim Students Society of Nigeria (MSSN), Ansar-ud-deen society of Nigeria, Anwar’ul-Islam society of Nigeria, Naiwa-rud-deen society of Nigeria, zumratul Islamiyyah society of Nigeria, NASFAT, Fathu Quareeb, FOWMAN, The Criterion, The Companion and many others emanated from Lagos.

     

    Prayer

    It is our prayer that ALLAH should preserve the souls of those who have demised among the innovators of ‘Ramadan Lecture’ as well as the originators of the above mentioned Muslim organizations and grant them all everlasting bliss while guiding the only living one amongst the inventors of ‘Ramadan Lecture’ (yours sincerely), towards further progressive efforts in projecting Islam in Nigeria.

    RAMADAN KAREEM!

     

     

  • ABOUT TAFSIR

    ABOUT TAFSIR

    From the beginning of Ramadan, every year, Muslims congregate in various Mosques or Learning Centres where the exposition of the Qur’an (Tafsir) is rendered by learned Muslim scholars. This is in accordance with the Prophetic tradition which encourages better understanding of the Qur’an.

    Linguistically, Tafsir means exposition. But technically, it means the comprehensive analysis of the Qur’an, spiritually, linguistically, logically and semantically. In other words, Tafsir is the comprehensive exposition of the contents of the Qur’an, as usually done by learned Muslim scholars especially during the month of Ramadan throughout the Muslim world.

    Because of the coded language of the Qur’anic revelation, it became necessary for the verses of that sacred Book to be decoded for the purpose of thorough understanding by the Muslim Ummah when the Prophet was alive. And, the example of this was laid by Prophet Muhammad (SAW) himself to the great delight of his companions.

    From the explanation above, it therefore becomes clear that the revelations of the Qur’anic chapters and verses were the immediate causes of intellectual research in Islam. For instance, Arabic, the original language of the Qur’an, had no grammar prior to the revelations of the divine message. The grammar of that language evolved only from the contents of the Qur’an.

    With time, the challenge which the Qur’an threw to humanity in all spheres of life led to serious competition among scholars. Thus, each time a revelation came, the Companions of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) were always eager to know why and how of every what. And this led to their very close association with the Prophet who paved the way for them towards that intellectual research.

    Although the formal study of Tafsir as an independent intellectual discipline did not begin until many years after the demise of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), he (the Prophet) nevertheless, started its process. He did not only educate his companions about the exoteric and esoteric meanings of the revealed verses of the Qur’an, he also explained their applications to the daily life of man as well as the implications of same.

    It was the prophet who decoded most of the coded areas of the Qur’an for proper understanding of the ordinary Muslims. Through his utterances and actions which were later to be known as Hadith and Sunnah, the contents of the Qur’an became more and more understandable to the Muslims even as further researches continue today.

    Thus, after the prophet’s demise, Hadith and Sunnah together became an independent subject of research paving man’s way to higher firmaments in civilization. And, this has helped, in no small measure, to expand the scope of Tafsir. It is from Qur’anic researches that, all new discoveries and new frontiers in knowledge became adapted to the study of Tafsir until Tafsir itself became an estuary through which every stream of knowledge was passed to mankind. But what problems does Tafsir face in the contemporary time? Read the answer to this question in this column tomorrow in sha’Allah.

    • RAMADAN KARIM!.
  • THE THREE SEGMENTS OF RAMADAN

    THE THREE SEGMENTS OF RAMADAN

    At the beginning of this sacred month, 11 days ago, an analysis was done in this column classifying the 30 days of Ramadan into three segments. The first segment was said to contain the first ten days during which the blessings of Allah come to the faithful Muslims freely and in abundance. Except for meeting that segment with faith and good intention, there is no working for the blessings therein. That segment ended yesterday paving way for the second segment that begins today.

    As from today, Sunday, May 25, 2021, fasting Muslims, all over the world, will start working for the master key to their final abode (Al-Jannah) through forgiveness. That is the essence of this second segment of the month of Ramadan. During this period, Muslims are expected to intensify worship (Ibadah) by spending their days and nights repenting on their misdeeds and iniquities while seeking Allah’s forgiveness through the chanting of Istighfar. But such forgiveness is neither automatic nor free.

    Usually, there are conditions attached to it. One of such conditions is that one must admit his misdeeds and repent on them. The second is that he should voluntarily and genuinely seek forgiveness. And the third condition is for him to resolve never to return to such misdeeds again. To seek Allah’s forgiveness during that time, a Muslim should follow the guidance of Allah as exemplified by Prophet Muhammad (SAW) who reportedly said that “if you want to speak with Allah, make your request on prostration. And, if you want Allah to speak to you recite the Qur’an”. No one who abides by the above conditions and follows the Prophet’s counsel will ever be disappointed. Allah is both promising and fulfilling. He never reneges on His promise. In Qur’an 2:186 He promises thus: “…when my servants ask you (Prophet Muhammad) about me, tell them that I am very close to them. I answer the prayers of all who seek my favour if they pray to me (without any intermediary). So, let them expect my favourable response and trust in me so that they may be rightly guided”

    The second ten days segment of Ramadan is not just to consolidate on the blessings of the first ten days. It is also to prepare the fasting Muslims for the last ten days when they are expected to be fully liberated from the evil manacles of satanic forces. For genuinely dedicated Muslims, in this sacred month, the prayer for that liberation in any language and in a condition of purity is a sine qua non.

     

    RAMADAN KARIM

  • When tomorrow comes

    When tomorrow comes

    Monologue

    Let there become of you a nation that shall call for righteousness, enjoin justice and forbid evil. Such are people that shall surely triumph (in the end)”. Q. 3: 104.

     

    Preamble

    This is not just an article. It is rather a letter of admonition coming from ‘The Message’ column to Nigerian politicians. Similar letters had been written through this column to this same generation of politicians in the recent past. But letters of this type seldom come to an arena of politics where conscience is banished and virtually everything in Nigeria’s political life is based on whim engendered by self aggrandizement with impunity, which you consider as your ultimate goal. Coming up at this precarious time of political labyrinth in Nigeria, this letter is necessitated by the current frightening political tension wrapped in unprecedented insecurity that is fast becoming a bubble that may burst anytime from now unless the Almighty Allah comes to the rescue of our country with His divine mercy.

    If you, Nigerian politicians, think that you can escape any calamitous consequence of your ceaseless political machinations which you are tendentiously weaving around Nigerian vestige without an iota of remorse, you may be day-dreaming. The evil plans of those who engaged in similar machinations before you, in this same country, had ended up in an irreversible forlorn. And, you are supposed to know that through history unless you have discarded the role of history in your lives. It is assumed that some of you might be wise enough to learn a lesson from the ugly political experience that gave the military boys the opportunity to highjack the governance of Nigeria for decades while abandoning their own statutory duty of securing the country.

     

    Functions of Conscience

    “Conscience”, according to Sheikh Uthman Dan Fodio, “is an open wound which only the truth can heal”. But one can talk of healing a wounded conscience only where and when that wound has not become cancerous.

     

    Signs of Hypocrisy

    Prophet Muhammad (SAW) once gave a vivid description of the signs by which hypocrites can be identified.

    He said “hypocrites are known by three signs: When they talk they lie; when they promise they renege and when they are trusted they betray”. In other words, conscience is an unbefitting garment for any hypocrite. If you reflect deeper on the above quoted Prophetic assertion, you will surely agree that most of you,

    Nigerian politicians so much typify that description of hypocrites. And, that may force you to wonder if the Prophet had Nigerians in mind when he was expressing that axiomatic Hadith.

     

    Deceptive Motive

    It will be recalled that when most of you politicians started agitating for a return to democracy in Nigeria, for the fourth time, in the late 1990s, your seeming focus was on liberation of the Nigerian citizenry from the crushing claw of military despotism. But hardly had you succeeded in leading the Nigerian masses to drive away the military boys than you began to create a negative political enclave for yourselves, to feather your selfish interest. You did that under the protection of your political godfathers or godmothers who warmly embraced you, not minding your hidden agenda, especially when such agenda were beneficial to them. In doing that, you did not realizewas th that by claiming deceptively that you wanted to serve the people, you had deceptive lured ordinary Nigerians into a covenant, not just between you and the people you claimed to want to serve but also between you and the Almighty Allah who knows every manifest and hidden agenda. And, surely, Allah will hold you accountable for whatever agenda you adopt to exploit the innocent masses of this country, unless you repent and stop your current evil machinations.

     

    Lawlessness as Law

    To you, it does not matter whether you were genuinely elected or surreptitiously smuggled into office through the back door by your godfathers, thereby depriving others (who are more qualified than you), of their legitimate rights. Such could not have mattered to you since the constitution under which you operate politically today is, itself, shrouded in a cloak of uncertainties. What else is called despotism?

    Perhaps, you need to know that whether you knew it or not, you will eventually be judged, not just by history but by the AlmightyAllah whose divine judgment cannot be appealed.

    And, the prayer of a cheated person, according to Prophet Muhammad (SAW), never suffers a denial.

     

    Reminder

    As some of you once shamelessly graded figure 16 higher than figure 19, sometime ago, and audaciously classified unbridled theft as a lesser crime than corruption, all in the name of politics, you must remember that Allah’s justice can neither be manipulated nor subverted. And no matter how long it may take, Allah’s justice will take its course perhaps when you least expect in life.

    In words and in actions, you have evidently demonstrated that you are not in anyway, qualified to bequeath any sensible legacy to the future generations, of this country, an indication that once you can satisfy your satanic greed, the future is no more of any concern to you.

    If anything, your thoughtless public utterances, your shameless public actions and counter actions as well as your devilish body languages are more destructive to Nigeria’s future than ever imagined. In fact, you can be called any name other than patriotic gentlemen and women of honour that you deceptively ascribe to yourselves. As a result, you are unprecedentedly a disgrace, not only to Nigeria as a country, but also to the entire civilized mankind. However, since you have permanently enlisted immorality as a vital political instrument without thinking of its consequences, you are free to behave like typical intoxicated horses gallivanting aimlessly around without reins.

     

    Life without Justice

    In Islam, three issues are fundamentally sacrosanct, noneof which Allah takes lightly. These are non association of anything with the oneness of Allah, sacredness of life and dispensation of justice. It is almost an unforgivable iniquity for any human being, especially Muslims, to associate anything with Allah or engage in murder and injustice under any guise. Thus, anybody who kills fellow human beings extra-judicially, in the name of religion, ethnicity, politics or even economy is nothing but an agent of Satan. In Islam, killing a fellow human being deliberately under whatever guise, without passing through a due process of law, is such a grievous sacrilege that cannot and should not be perpetrated without commensurate penalty. If such a penalty is not applied here on earth, it will definitely be applied in the hereafter. Yet, killing fellow human beings directly or clandestinely is the major political means of gaining power and access to illegal wealth by you Nigerian politicians.

     

    Allah’s Wrath

    Besides paganism, nothing draws the wrath of Allah faster than the two crimes mentioned above which Satan may continue to ask you to ignore at your own peril. Murder is physical termination of the life of a fellow human being. Injustice is killing a person mentally, psychologically, politically, economically or even spiritually by denying him his legitimate right. Now, which of these have you not employed officially and privately in the course of your political journey? How will you explain these to Allah?

     

    Legislative Duty 

    In Islam, rule of law is the foundation of justice but legislation is the material with which that foundation is built. Those of you who voluntarily chose to legislate for the rest of us hardly see yourselves as the foundation layers of justice who should not betray the course of justice. As legislators, you are looked upon by most Nigerians as honourable leaders neither because you are more qualified intellectually than those for whom you legislate nor because you are wiser and more experienced than them. What makes most of you, Nigerian legislators at the Federal and State levels is sheer expediency arising from queer inadequacies sadly fostered by our so-called political system which gives room for open gerrymandering and audacious manipulation. If such opportunity comes your way illegally, let it not be mistaken for good luck. It may rather be a calamity waiting to strike your lives in the near or far future.

    And when it strikes, no one except Allah can tell the extent of its effect. At least you can see how the consequences of the heartless annulment of June 12, 1993 Presidential election have become a draconian spectre chasing the ghost of every Nigerian today even almost three decades of licking the political wound inflicted on our country by that satanic annulment.

     

    Subversion

    Due to lack of conscience, most of you may have forgotten, but you need to be reminded that shortly after you took oath of office either in 1999 or 2003 or 2007 or 2011 or 2015, you started subverting the covenant into which you voluntarily entered with the people who sincerely elected you into office, in trust. That covenant was, according to you, to serve them (the people) diligently. And, in a civilized society, people who so choose to serve are seen as nothing other than servants. But, in your own case, no sooner had you been sworn into office than you started calling yourselves leaders and not servants again. By implication, you have so dangerously promoted desperation and impunity to the front burner of Nigerian politics that whoever thinks of serving the country today, through any public office, is seen as a devil that must be kept at an arm’s length. That is where most of you belong. From your public conduct, any right-thinking person can vividly see the types of families you are raising for the nation.

     

    Executive Duty  

    As members of the Executive arm, when some of you travel abroad officially, at people’s expense, you are never alarmed by the way the systems work in those countries. You never bother to ask questions about the effective functions of electricity, the smoothness of roads, the flow of portable water and the excellent educational system that promotes probity and decorum in those countries. Rather, your primary concerns are the personal ephemeral gains that may be accruable to you at the expense of Nigeria’s present and future. For the past 22 years of Nigeria’s fourth republic most of you have been at the saddle of government directly or indirectly without being able to show, in concrete terms, what value has that length of time added to the lives of ordinary Nigerians. Your emphasis is on display of power with impunity rather than good governance, and, you often go about it in such a manner that gives the impression that government is much more about destruction than construction. Your brutish law breaking rather than clement law making is an attestation to this fact.

     

    Nigeria as an OPEC Country

    As political leaders that you call yourselves, you do not even feel ashamed that Nigeria has remained the only OPEC country that imports refined petroleum products for domestic consumption simply because you are beneficiaries of the corrupt device which you deliberately put in place to ensure the workability of that device.

    Even if Nigeria never had electricity before 1999 and you decided to start one at the commencement of the fourth republic to boost economy, is a period of 22 years not enough to provide a functional electricity especially given the enormous amount of wealth with which this country is endowed? In modern time, no technological device provides as much opportunity for jobs and economic growth as electricity. Yet, it is that major device that you deliberately hold down to deprive the populace of the wherewithal to rise mentally and intellectually. And, that is to enable you to turn the citizens of your country into perpetual slaves to be ruled forever. In such a situation, why wouldn’t corruption be unconscientiously legislated into legitimacy? And now, Nigeria is held to a standstill because every one of you must personally have a chip of juicy future now without caring about what may even become of your own children in that future.

    As fathers and mothers, most of you will say amen when people are praying for responsible men and women, yet, you have nothing in you that can serve as good examples for your children, to accentuate your shout of amen.

    You tell lies with relish. Yet you want your children to be truthful. From where do you expect them to inherit truthfulness? You steal public funds with unbridled audacity. Yet you do not want your children to be called thieves. What other names should the children of thieves bear other than thieves?

     

    Sermon

    From the pulpit of genuine conscience, ‘The Message’ column hereby implores you Nigerian politicians to search your consciences if you have any at all and fear the Almighty Allah in your own interest. Remember that some people had governed this country in the past. Among them were those who tried to combine the roles of the executive, the legislative and the judiciary arms together, in the name of military rule, made possible by coup d’état and the barrels of gun. Where are they today?

    Governance has its tenure. At the commencement of a tenure, in a Presidential system, four years may look endless, but for the wise, it is not more than a flash of lightening which only a fool will rely upon to walk his way through the darkness of the night. You are in government today, but remember that you will soon become former this or former that just like those before you.

     

    Duties of public Servants

    Ordinarily, the duty of Civil Servants as government officials, whether in the executive, legislative or judicial arm, is to serve your country in such a way that you can create a historical window for yourselves and your children through which the future generations can retrospectively peep into your service lives with reverence. But since everything in Nigeria has been peculiarly monetized (courtesy of Obasanjo regime), it has become a rule that those who hold sway in government, in whatever capacity, are the Lords who must take the lion’s share of our national cake through our lean annual budgets. That is why you randomly but embarrassingly throw some damaging pebbles into our political brook to cause unnecessary ripples in the serenity of that brook to the total disadvantage of today and tomorrow.

     

    Observation

    Some of you, legislators, think or talk of impeachment only when your salaries, allowances or extra budgetary largess suffers a reduction or delay. And some other times, your thoughts along that line are devilishly influenced by blind ambition for power grabbing. It does not matter to you whether or not the entire workforce in Nigeria remains unpaid for years. Once you are able to amass whatever comes your way legally or illegally the rest of the populace can go on hunger strike forever. It is rather shameful and disappointing that even some of you who claim to be Muslims are participating in such an evil charade despite your proclamation of Islam.

    Conscience, though invisible, has a mirror which only a few people know of. That mirror is shame. A person without shame is a person without conscience. And that is the main distinction between a genuine Muslim and a nominal one.

    Prophet Muhammad (SAW) once admonished the Muslims as follows, in respect of shame: “once you are bereft of shame, you can go ahead to do whatever you like”. This means that without shame you are a nonentity who can even strip naked in a market place in readiness for a brawl. We can all see the example of this in a former President of this country who is now menstruating through both sides of his mouth at any public place, and any time, even as an octogenarian.

     

    Admonition

    Dear Nigerian politicians, let it be kept permanently in your brain that the only thing which keeps people alive in history even long after their demise is service to humanity. Prophets Isa (Jesus), and Muhammad (SAW), had neither bank accounts nor estates to bequeath to anybody. Their legacy is more than any material wealth inherited by the entire world today. That heritage is service to humanity. What is your own planned legacy if only for posterity? That is a big question which only people with conscience can answer. And, as Muslims or Christians, you should be able to answer it if you truly follow the right guidance of those noble men of impeccable character.

    Remember that you are in a ship already cruising actively on the high sea, towards the shore of disembarkation. And, at that shore are fierce customs officers waiting to check the contents of your luggage and your cargo. Remember that if you cultivate friendship with Satan he will favour your wish. But if he grants you one favour, he will surely collect ten from you in return. Be Muslims by name, conduct and mannerism. Whatever you do as Muslims will affect the image of Islam in one way or the other. One of you, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum has stood out of your pack, as model to be emulated by any standard. Like him, I hope some of you you will have the courage to return home, from your political odyssey, as Muslims and not as renegades. Remember all these and adjust now that you may be able to raise your head aloft when tomorrow comes.

     

     

     

     

  • THE GLORIOUS QUR’AN

    THE GLORIOUS QUR’AN

    Reading any book has a purpose and a method. No good reader will ever read a book without taking note of its author, its publisher and its date of publication. And to read any new book, the very first point of call is its contents page which tells you the topics and the subjects you will read about in it. One of the major purposes of Tarawih is to serve as a reminder of the contents of the Quran.

    The word Qur’an means continuous recitation. It is so called because of its inimitable origin which makes it a compelling daily reading throughout the world, across nations and ages. It contains the unsurpassable words of Allah not only in the grandeur of its diction and splendour of its rendition but also in the depth of its meaning, substance and profundity.

    The revelation of the Glorious Book called the Qur’an to mankind through an unlettered desert Arab, Muhammad (SAW), the son of Abdullah and Aminah, began in 610 CE. It lasted 22 years and three months (10 years in Makkah and12 years plus three months in Madinah). The book contains 114 chapters and 6236 verses (not 6666 verses often quoted by most Imams and Alfas in Nigeria. Of these 114 chapters, 86 were revealed in Makkah and 28 in Madinah. But the 28 chapters revealed in Madinah constitute two thirds of the entire Book. This is because the Makkah chapters are short, rhythmic and poetic while those of Madinah are long and prose-like.

    Although the Qur’an was revealed orally, its writing began almost immediately the revelations started. The writing was however done on primitive materials like planks of wood, animal hides, back of trees and other materials of the like which were then readily available. It was shortly after the demise of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), that those writings were collated and rendered into a book form after corroboration with the memorised ones. However, one of the wonders of rendering the Qur’an into a written form is the classification of those revelations into chapters and verses by the Prophet himself despite his illiteracy.

    The Qur’an’s main appeal is to man’s intellect, feelings and imagination. But it also gives insight into some natural phenomena like spherical and revolution of the earth (Q. 39:5), the formation of the rain (Q. 30:48); the fertilization of the wind (Q. 15:22); the revolution of the sun, the moon and the planets in their fixed orbits (Q. 36:29-38); the aquatic origin of all creatures (Q. 21:30); the duality of the sex of plants and other creatures (Q. 36:35); the collective life of animals (Q.6:38); the mode of life of the bees (Q. 16:69) and the successive phases of the child in the mother’s womb (Q. 22:5 & 23:14). Yet, the purpose of this Glorious Book is not to teach history, astronomy, philosophy or sciences but to broaden the horizon of man for thorough understanding of the world vis a vis its supreme Creator. That is the Qur’an for you, a book that is incomparably divine through all ages and times. Whoever needs to read the Qur’an must know its features as stated above. Otherwise, just reading the Qur’an may be like swimming in a pool without any knowledge of its depth.

     

    • RAMADAN KARIM!
  • Welcoming the Guest of all Seasons

    Welcoming the Guest of all Seasons

    Monologue

    Nights are pregnant. They give birth to wonders in the days. The paradoxical issues between days and nights are like those of the cloudy sky which is earnestly expected to pour down rain water, in torrents, for crops to grow. If the rain falls, it is not because of human expectation. Rather, it is because the Almighty Allah has a message to pass to a section of the world through the rain water. After all, the cloudy sky could have throbbed through the environment either with a wild storm or a devastating tempest, if not for Allah’s mercy.

     

    Preamble

    As human beings, we do many things without noticing the role of a third eye around us called destiny. It is only when the effect or outcome of such a role becomes manifest that we try to adjust, either by increasing the tempo of our efforts, for posterity sake, or by inadvertently relenting, out of sheer complacency.

    Remarkable Events

    Two remarkable events came up two years ago (2020). Each of those events warranted profound appreciation to people who played distinguished roles in them, directly or indirectly.

    One was a special prayer which the Muslim Ummah of South West Nigeria (MUSWEN) organised for the success of a trusted brother, Barrister Zikrullah Kunle Hassan, the current Chairman of National Hajj Commission (NAHCON), in piloting the affairs of Hajj operations, despite the threat of a deadly artificial ailment code-named COVID-19 pandemic. The motive of the prayer was to invoke the mercy of Allah in bailing out Nigeria from the multi-faceted calamity that was then ravaging the corporate existence of Nigeria, as a united, indivisible country.

     

    Second Event

    The second event was the recognition of yours sincerely as the ‘Nigerian Muslim Media Person of the Year, last year (2021). The selection of yours sincerely for that spectacular recognition was done by a foremost Nigerian Muslim Online Media Outfit called ‘Muslim News’ in collaboration with the Muslim Media Practitioners of Nigeria (MMPN). The latter is the highest professional ‘Muslim Media’ body in Nigeria. Although both events came up within the days of Sunday, February 7, 2021 and Monday, February 8, 2021, respectively, the ratification of their conceptions had been done in the serenity of the preceding nights. And, that was a confirmation of the assertion that nights are pregnant.

     

    The Third Eye

    Who could have thought that the paltry messages dished out to the world from this column, every Friday, since 1982, has been attracting the attention of some observers with a mark of notice?

    Last Monday, February 8, 2021 was a rare day of a common message from various countries around the world. And, the message had only one tone: CONGRATULATION!

    That message was in reaction to the fortuitous announcement of the name ‘Femi Abbas’ as the ‘Nigerian Muslim Media Person of the Year 2020’. The announcement was made through the blog of the ‘Muslim News of Nigeria’.

    The magnitude of the barrage of congratulatory messages that bombarded me through the throbs of android phones, the Email and the Social Media generally, from all parts of the world, cannot be vividly described here. Although I am personally averse to conferment of awards, as a matter of principle, the fact that a fast growing Muslim Media outfit like ‘Muslim News’ came up, fortuitously, with such recognition, could not be ignored, if only to encourage the continuity of excellent media work by Muslim professionals who are aspiring to become worthy successors.

    It had always been my fervent wish and prayer to see a well groomed, vociferous media outfit like ‘Muslim News’ to take the mantle of competence with which to surpass the old generation and become a successor to ‘The Message’ column. Thus, when ‘The Lagos-based ‘Muslim News’ emerged with an incredible ability to keep the flag flying. I considered it as an act of ingratitude to Allah for enabling the emergence of the laudable activities of that outfit with a befitting appreciation. After all, it takes only a sound mind to recognise good performance in other people. And, in journalism, it is your work, rather than your boastful words of mouth that shows who you are in meaningful terms.

     

    Growth of Ability

    Ability to speak or write is a special gift from the Almighty Allah. With time, such ability may grow to become a hobby which may be developed into a specialised skill. And, with further training and advanced experience, the skill may become an appreciable profession that will be emulated by thousands of others.

    Speaking, no matter how eloquently it may be, cannot be as important as getting audience for it. A speaker can be classified as an orator only by his audience. Radio and television broadcasters as well as public motivational speakers can testify to this assertion.

     

    Writing Skill

    The similitude of an orator, on a radio or television station, is like that of an author of books or a weekly columnist in reputable newspapers or magazines. Thus, as a writer, he/she can be celebrated or denigrated only by his readers. That is why, any writer who takes his readers for granted can only do so at his/her own peril. Such a writer may not be qualified for an author or a columnist.

     

    Reminiscence

    Ever since yours sincerely was privileged to continue the writing of this column (The Message) in ‘The Nation’ newspaper, in September, 2006, no week has passed by without receiving a barrage of reactions from many countries. Even on some occasions, when the column was not published, for one reason or another, reactions never ceased to come in torrents.

    The reason for this was not just because I called the column a participatory one in its maiden edition but mostly because some ardent readers who had long been familiar with it, since its inception, in the now defunct Concord newspaper, 40 years ago (1982), appreciate its quality and acknowledge the methodology and style with which it is presented to showcase Islam, to the world, every Friday. For instance, on a particular article entitled: ‘NO! MR. PRESIDENT, NO!’, which was published in this column, on February 2, 2007, when a onetime Army General, (Chief) Olusegun Okikiolakan Aremu Obasanjo was at the twilight of his second tenure of four years in office, as a Nigerian President, and, he was alleged to be clandestinely planning for an unconstitutional third term in office, I received 189 phone calls, 107 text messages and 143 written comments through the e-mail, all in one day. That was about five months after the resumption of this column in The Nation newspaper, in 2006.

     

    Comment

    After I left Concord newspaper, in 1989, most readers of this column followed it to other newspapers such as, ‘The Vanguard’, the Monitor and ‘The Nation’. Some even followed it to some foreign magazines such as ‘The Inquiry’, ‘Al-Afkar’, Africa Now, ‘At-Tawheed’ and a host of others including academic journals. Thus, questions, observations and comments were consistently coming into the column from various parts of the world in form of reactions.

    This is a confirmation that it is only a bad writer that will close his ears or eyes to readers’ comments, even if such comments are reprobate.

     

    Appreciation

    While thanking all the readers of this 40 year old column, particularly those who have been reacting to it from home and from abroad, since its inception, for their encouragement and well wish. I pray the Almighty Allah to appreciate their good intentions and encouraging spirit, as He (Allah) alone, can reward them abundantly.

     

    First Meeting with the Sultan

    It came as an undreamt surprise when my telephone rang at exactly 11.50am on the first Sunday in February, 2007. My first reaction after picking the call was: “who is on the line, please?” especially when the call came without a recognisable identity. In answering my question the caller only identified himself as SA’AD ABUBAKAR. I immediately searched my brain for a possible familiarisation with that name. But while doing that, I did not know that I was repeating the name ‘Sa’ad Abubakar’ in a seeming soliloquy until His Eminence said: “Ah! Don’t you know anybody bearing that name?” And, in my reaction, I said “well! the only person I can think of, that bears that name is the new Sultan”. It was then that His Eminence said: “alright, this is the Sultan”. At that moment, I became so dumfounded that I did not know what to say again. The only clear words that I could utter were “Your Eminence!” before I went stammering. I was simply overwhelmed.

    In that telephone conversation, His Eminence expressed deep appreciation of my writings with a tone of royal commendation saying he had been reading my column since its days in the now defunct Concord Newspaper. He counselled me never to relent, especially in calling a spade a spade as I had been doing. And, as the Commander of the Muslim faithful, (Amirul Muminin), he showered me with royal prayers and promised to be calling again in future.

    That was one telephone call that made, not just my day, but probably my year. It was one reaction that confirmed my observation expressed in this column about His Eminence, shortly after his installation in November 2006.

    By that surprise call alone, the Sultan added to the chain of “FIRSTS’ which I had listed in the mentioned article. In my 25 years of experience in journalism, (as at that time), I could not remember an occasion when any public figure of Sultan’s status ever made a similar call to any ‘common journalist’ except when seeking a media favour.

     

    A Lunch with His Eminence

    About two weeks after the above narrated encounter with him, His Eminence called again to invite me to Kaduna for a lunch with him, in Kaduna, This great Sultan sat down with me on bare carpet where we took a special lunch together. That was my first experience of royal conduct in Nigeria’s Sultanate.

     

    Conduct and Actions

    By his conduct and actions since he came to the exalted throne, Sultan Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, CFR, mni, has shown, by all means, an exemplary leadership for other Nigerian leaders or aspiring leaders to emulate. With him, we are being reminded of the Caliphate time of Umar Bn Khattab and Umar Bn Abdul Aziz as a confirmation that leadership is neither by vicious display of force nor by crude bully and animalistic brutality. May the Almighty Allah be merciful to Nigerian Muslim Ummah by preserving the life of this Sultan for the good of this world and that of the Hereafter. I also pray that the flame of His Eminence’s crescent glows brazenly for a long, long time to come without experiencing an eclipse. Amin.