Femi Abbas

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 such Muslims just dust up their instruments of worship and pretend to be genuine Muslims. At least for the first few days in the sacred month Mosques are full of worshippers, regular and irregular. They come from all strata of the society to join other Muslims in observing congregational prayers especially Salatu-t-Tarawih in the Mosques. They endeavour, if pretentiously, to do away with drinking alcohol openly even as they discard fornication or adultery as well as other crimes temporarily in the month.

Even when some of such pseudo Muslims do not find Ramadan fasting interesting, they do pretend 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: 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 necessary means of reassuring oneself of the 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 are for forgiveness against all sins and iniquities.

If Allah can grant unlimited blessings to fasting Muslims in those first ten days, 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 course, during this spiritual journey, a self-assessment at this stage is a sine qua non. Ramadan Karim!

Femi Abbas

Preamble

Egypt has never been a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). She was not an oil-producing country until recently. The mainstay of her economy was agriculture which was well facilitated by her River Nile endowment.

This North African Arab country was in economic mess in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Her war with Israel had reduced her to a virtual beggar nation. Not only did her macro economy plummet, her micro economy also dwindled to the lowest ebb. No job for the rising army of highly skillful people and no income for the majority of the citizenry. Thus, the country looked like a famine- stricken one. The best residential houses were rented out to foreigners. And most vehicles on Cairo and Alexandra roads were terribly rickety.

It took an ingenuous management by President Gamal Abdul Nasir and later President Anwar Sadat to device a means of bailing out the country from what could have amounted to self-genocide. With the meagre amount of money accruing to the nation from agriculture and manpower export at that time, the government was able to set up a food distribution centre in each ward where every family in the ward was registered.

All varieties of foods, including meat, milk and eggs, were supplied to each family every week. And no family got less than what could suffice for one full week. The cost of those highly subsidized food were deducted from the salaries of those working while others were supplied free foods for survival. And to ensure that only the citizens benefited from the wonderful largess, the use of national identity card to qualify for supply was made compulsory.

 

Security and patriotism

This Islamic welfare business strategy did not only create a high sense of security in the citizenry it also spurred them to become die-hard patriots. With that strategy, Egypt was able to weather the economic storm of that time even as the war with Israel continued.

What could have been a major problem for the ordinary Egyptians at that time was the education of their children. But President’s Nasir’s government had taken care of that since inception.

 

Fundamental Policy

A fundamental policy of the Egyptian government introduced by President Nasir was free education at all levels. That policy which Chief Obafemi Awolowo copied for primary education in western Nigeria had put Egypt far ahead of all African and Arab countries. The policy became profitable for Egyptian government when the going became rough.

 

Manpower Export

The country began to supply all other Arab countries their needed man power such as teachers, doctors, accountants, pharmacists, engineers, nurses, and administrators. These experts were officially deployed to those other Arab countries on three years renewable contract. And each deployed expert was made to remit about 35 per cent of his/her income to the government of Egypt monthly. Such remittances were not difficult to make since those expert were well paid. The remittances were made directly by the employers who deducted the agreed amount from the salaries of their employees. Thus, in those days, manpower generated from planned education was more profitable than today’s oil wells. Yet, countries like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, United Arab Emirates and others that benefited from the programme found the arrangements convenient because they did not need to employ interpreters separately as would have been the case if they had employed Americans, French, Germans and Italians for the same purpose. At least, based on tribal affinity, their languages and culture were almost the same.

 

Social welfare

With the provision of social welfare for the people, Egyptian government of the 1970s, led by  Presidents Jamal Abdul Nasir and later, Anwar Sadat, was able to solve the problem of the three necessities of life: food, shelter and clothing. Not only that, the government was also very much aware that an idle hand was the devil’s workshop. It therefore provided soft loans for many university graduates to embark on small scale businesses that could boost the nation’s economy at the micro level.

With this, it became possible for most of those fresh graduates to be self employed while aiming high to mount the economic ladder of life to the very top. Today, some of those businesses have grown into gigantic industries exporting their products to many countries, including Nigeria.

If Egypt is not one of Africa’s poor countries today, it is because her government managed that nation’s economy to the benefit of her ordinary citizens, despite several decades of war with Israel. Compared to the industrialised nations, Egypt may not be called a rich country now, but her preparation for the future seems to be assuring her of a frontline economic position in the near future. Her unsurpassable investment on manpower through education is a confirmation of that.

 

Industrialization

What obtains in Egypt equally obtains in most other Arab countries, especially those of the gulf. For instance, Saudi Arabia has always known that oil would not flow forever in her wells. Thus as far back as the late 1970s, that country had diversified her economy by establishing two industrial cities of Yambu’ and Jubail commissioned in 1982, a project which the United states described as the most ambitious ever in the industrial history of mankind.

Much more have since been put in place for the benefit of the future generations. And, travellers who have visited countries like Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Libya, Yunisia, Morroco, and Algeria will confirm that the future of global wealth will definitely find its seat in the Middle East courtesy of the above mentioned countries. But the greatest assets of those countries are manpower which their free education programme is providing from primary schools through the University with impeccable foresight.

 

Other Examples

Despite her limited natural resources, Japan has shown that no material wealth can equal education. And, the Arabs had learnt that lesson after centuries of derivation from what used to be the greatest Islamic heritage bequeathed to mankind.

With the recent bulk-passing between the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on remittance of the crude oil money and the ceaseless rampancy of oil theft at the highest government level can Nigeria ever learn any lesson from the above narration? Economic growth is neither by dreaming nor by empty promises.

 

Shameless deception

Long before now, a promise of economic leap was made in respect of year 2000. That year came to pass without any fulfillment. Then another promise was made in respect of year 2010. The year also came to pass without any fulfillment. Following that was the promise of year 2020 which has also come in our own life time with a gloomy irony. And the irony  is an emphatic despair. Haba! Is that not a shame on the so-called rulers in Nigeria? Has it not become evident that the speedy economic train of the modern time waits for no crawling nation like Nigeria?

 

Blind trust

Long before the Western world knew anything called “blind trust” at all, Islam had educated the Muslims in details on that subject. The great religion had foreseen the possibility of manipulating this term to the advantage of the exploiters in certain societies and, had thus, forbidden it.

In Islamic jurisprudence, “blind trust” simply means the transaction of business illegally between a seller and a buyer to the detriment of either of them. In this case, the buyer or seller may be an individual or a group. “Blind trust” is like a coin with two sides. In it, either the seller or the buyer can cheat. An example is a situation where a product is sold in wrapped cover without allowing the buyer to examine what he wants to buy before paying. This may occur in any sector of the economy. In agriculture for instance, it is forbidden to sell tubers like yam and cassava without uprooting them for examination by the buyer. Such a business is often done on a mere assumption, thereby putting either the seller or the buyer at a great risk and disadvantage.

Blind trust may also occur in an ordinary market of quantity grains like rice, beans, millet, bally salt, cocoa or groundnuts where and when the instrument of measure is manipulated with the intention of reducing the quantity of its contents while receiving the payment in full. Also, selling wrapped dresses or textile materials without indicating their qualities, sizes, yardage or fault may amount to “blind trust”. Even, those who engage in the sale of electronics without allowing the buyers to test the products before paying are trading in “blind trust”, which is illegal in Islam. In a nutshell, any business that entails some elements of doubt and does not allow for transparency is “blind trust” prohibited in Islam. And, anybody who is engaged in such a business is deemed to be a criminal.

 

In Retrospect

It must be remembered that the people of Madyan whose Prophet was Shuayb, faced the wrath of Allah and became perished because of trading in “blind trust”.

In modern times, the term “blind trust” has been given a new connotation through a new operation. Not only has the chain of businesses deliberately bcome elongated to allow for more middlemen’s operation  to create unnecessary inflation, the sale and purchase of public shares on behalf of some people without the knowledge of those people is also being treated as a legitimate norm in capitalism in Nigeria.

This is a concept now being arrogantly flaunted in our own country with a view to enable some exploiter have their cake after eating it. “Blind trust” as introduced by Obasanjo regime and as operated in Nigeria today is not only a rape of the constitutional provision which demands for the declaration of assets on assumption of public office and exit from that office, it also prohibits conflict of sane interests. Thus, such is an audacious way of telling the public that only ‘might is right’. Whoever wants to demand for equity must come up with clean hands. In Islam, there is no connotation for blind trust other than public theft. And whoever uses the rein of power to escape human justice on this fundamental injunction will surely face the call of Allah’s justice sooner or later.

 

Epilogue

Now, with the current prevailing global calamity called COVID-19, it may not be too late for Nigeria to change her economic gear by rectifying the political strategy of governance e if for the sake of posterity. It is impossible to get any different result from persistent repetition of a method. God save Nigeria.

Femi Abbas

Nights are naturally pregnant. They give birth to wonders in the days. In human life, the essence of night is not just to sleep and rest. It is also to plan how the next day is to be meaningfully spent. Thus, the great things that men do in the days are conceived in the nights.

This is confirmed by the Almighty Allah in Qur’an 97:3 thus: “The Night of power is better (and more prosperous) than one thousand months.” That revered Night of power, commonly known to Muslims as Laylatul-Qadr, is the mother of all nights.

It is the night in which the secret of human destiny is concealed. It is the night that combines all three divine features of Ramadan: blessings, forgiveness and emancipation of the faithful from the claw of Satan. It is the night in which Allah’s favour is granted to His obedient servants.

If only a single night (Laylatul-Qadr) is more prosperous, for Muslims, than 1000 months according to the Qur’an, then meeting that one night once in a life’s time is enough for a true believer to gain entry into Al-Jannah. And, by analogy, it means that the average life span of modern man as determined by Allah is 83 years and four months. That is what 1000 months amount to in calculation of years.

The particular night that is called Laylatul-Qadr in the month of Ramadan is not specified. This is to enable the faithful ones make efforts in seeking the favour of Allah, by searching for it.

When Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was asked about Laylatul-Qadr, all he could say was that Muslims should search for it among the odd nights of the last ten days of Ramadan. Those are the 21st, 23rd, 25th, 27th and 29th of the month.

But since no one is really sure of which of those nights actually makes Laylatul Qadr the best way out is to wake up in all the last ten nights. Each night is spent by observing Nawafil (superogatory Salat), recitation of the Qur’an and the chanting of Allah’s glorification: Tasbih, Tahmid, Istighfar, Tahlil and Salat ala-n- Nabiyyi.

According to Prophet Muhammad (SAW), in the night of power, thousands of Angels are dispatched into our own world (the earth) to say Amin to the prayers being offered by sincere Muslims. Every Muslim should endeavour not to miss it. Ramadan Karim!

Femi Abbas

As stated in this column yesterday, the intention of rectifying material indebtedness by proxy must be in the name of the debtor and the source of funding must be pure.

As for moral indebtedness, it may come in form of promise or reciprocation of good deed. In Islam, promise, especially a voluntary one is a debt, which must be paid. For instance, a deferred dowry in marriage is a debt that must be paid no matter how long it takes. Ditto the case of an orphan’s property under one’s custody which is promised to be returned. Both must be paid as at when due based on fear of Allah. There are many other forms of promises.

All these types of debts are between man and Allah. They need no witnesses except where evidence is required. The one which requires witnesses is contained in chapter 2:282 of the Qur’an. It is about money and other material matters. This verse (the longest in the Qur’an) deals extensively with the issue of indebtedness and emphasizes the documentation of such a debt between the creditor and the debtor in the presence of witnesses who must append their signature or thumb printing to the document. It does not matter whether the debt in question is between a husband and his wife or between a mother and her daughter. The intention is to create a peaceful co-existence, within the Muslim community, which no debt should interrupt. It is better not to make promise than to change one’s mind after making a promise without explaining to the person to whom promise is made.

Another form of debt is the boycott of sexual intercourse either by the husband or wife for an untenable reason. From the day a marriage is consummated a knot of legitimate sexual indebtedness has been tied. And except for a very cogent reason which must be understandable to both parties, no one of them should boycott intercourse deliberately. Ramadan fasting, therefore, or any religious activities in the sacred month should not be used as an excuse for refraining from intercourse without getting the consent of the other party. Whoever does that has deviated from the fulfilment of a major promise. And, that, in itself, is a major debt which must be paid. Ramadan Karim!

Femi Abbas

Whether in Ramadan or outside it, Mosque in Islam has both temporal and spiritual functions, none of which can be taken for granted. The word Mosque is the corrupt English pronunciation of ‘MASJID’ as derived from the Egyptian dialect (‘Masgid’) which means a place of prostration.

Mosque is not just a building in which Muslims worship. It is rather any pure place where observance of Salat can be done as an act of worship. As a place of congregation, Mosque serves many legitimate purposes each of which has a fundamental significance. For instance the very first Mosque established by Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in Quba, Madinah was a multipurpose one. That Mosque did not serve as a place of worship alone. It also served as a school, a library, a clinic, a court of justice and even a parliament for the Muslim community. And, ever since its establishment as a centre of congregational worship, Mosque has continued to serve all those purposes throughout the Islamic world.

That was why the very first University ever established in the world, the University of Cordoba in Spain, started as a Mosque. And, it will be recalled that even the three oldest Universities in the world today: Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt; Qarawiyyin University in Fez, Morocco and Zaytuniyyah University in Tunis, Tunisia, all started as Mosques.

Using the above yardstick to judge what the Mosque is in our societies today as against what it ought to be, therefore, one can sincerely conclude that our Mosques in Nigeria are grossly underutilized.

Hardly can we find in our society today, a Mosque that is used as a court of justice, a library, a madrasah, a parliament and a hospital. Whereas Islam is a dynamic religion and the Mosque is supposed to be a symbol of that dynamism, this is rarely considered when it comes to establishing Mosques in our society.

Today, we need Mosques at different echelons of our our societies, not just for Salat and thorough Islamic education but also for sound vocational training and good orientation for our youths, women and children. In fact, we need Mosques to backup Muslims’ proper home training and empower the trainees as a way of reforming our society.

That is why we must provide, in every Mosque, those amenities mentioned above if only to give our children the best education they deserve, in our own little way of making our society a worthy place to live in.

In our Mosques, we need tutorial classes for our Imams, our callers to prayers (Muadhdhins) as much as we need   good libraries for reading and research centres for our children.

For Islam to continue to play its dynamic role as originally designed, enabling environments must be ventilated for the training of those children spiritually and temporally. Such provisions are the necessary attractors of our youths to our Mosques without forcing them. Ramadan Karim!