The Nation Newspaper

Category: Femi Abbas

  • Redefining Nigeria’s identity

    “Man is history after his demise. Therefore, endeavour to be a pleasant history for others to read after you might have left the stage”. 

    Arab poet

    PREAMBLE

    Man is both a product and a producer of history. He lives by history and leaves history behind as his legacy at the time of his departure from this ephemeral world. This confirms the fact that man and history are like Siamese twins. The one cannot do without the other. History makes man just as man makes history. The synergy between the two makes them look like a pair of scissors in which one blade cannot effectively function without the other.

    This is a period in Nigeria when recalling history is a necessity. How did Nigeria come into being as a country and as a name? Is this name fitting and appropriate for the country that bears it? Can the name be changed and can changing it make any reasonable difference? These are some of the questions that ‘The Message’ seeks to answer today.

    Accident of history

    On January 8, 1897, an article appeared in Financial Times which suggested a name for the vast land around river Niger which had then been colonized by the Royal Niger Company on behalf of the British Empire. The suggested name was Nigeria and the author of the article was one Miss Flora Shaw, a 45-year-old journalist. She was then the colonial editor of Financial Times as well as the writer of a weekly column named ‘The Colony’ in that newspaper.

    In coining the name Nigeria, Flora Shaw logically took many facts into consideration. One: the area in question had no specific name by which it could be called other than a protectorate of the ‘Royal Niger Company’. Two: She considered an earlier suggested name ‘Central Sudan’ as an aberration since that name already belonged to an area around the Nile River occupied by a population of Black Africans now called Sudan. She equally considered the name ‘Slave Coast’ which the colonialists had attempted to give to this area as derogatory and finally settled for ‘Nigeria’, which she coined from ‘Niger Area’.

    Flora Shaw’s profile

    Born at 2, Dundas Terrace, Woolwich, England on December 19, 1852, Miss Louisa Shaw (fourth of her parent’s fourteen children) was a novelist and frontline, versatile female journalist who gained fame through her pungent analyses of African colonial economy. She was later to become ‘The Honourable Dame Flora Lugard, the wife of Frederick John Deatry Lugard of Abinger who colonised Nigeria and amalgamated its southern and northern parts in 1914.

    Flora was six years older than Frederick who was born in India on January 22, 1858. The two historic personalities married in 1902 and lived together without children for the rest of their lives.

    Historical facts

    Four historical facts are manifest here. First: the name Nigeria had come into existence far away from England and long before the country that now bears that name became a country.

    Second: the name was coined five years before Flora Shaw married Frederick Lugard. Therefore, contrary to the general erroneous belief that it was Mrs. Lugard who named our country Nigeria, Flora was Miss Shaw and not Mrs. Lugard when she coined the name.

    Third: it can be said that Nigeria came into existence through the efforts of a bachelor and a spinster who later became a couple.

    Fourth: by sheer coincidence, Nigeria’s second First Lady, Flora Azikiwe, the wife of Nigeria’s first President, shared the same first name with the wife of Lugard: FLORA.

    Lord Fredrick Lugard’s profile

    Baron Frederick Lugard was a military adventurer and an ardent administrator who played a major part in Britain’s colonial history between 1888 and 1945, serving in East Africa, West Africa, and Hong Kong. His name is particularly associated with Nigeria, where he served as High Commissioner (1900-06) as well as Governor and Governor-General (1912-19). He was knighted in 1901 and raised to the peerage in 1928.

    As at the time of Lugard’s incursion, most of the vast region of over 300,000 square miles (800,000 square km) was still unoccupied and even unexplored by Europeans. In the southern areas were mostly animists and in the northern areas was predominantly a Muslim population with big towns and large walled cities.

    Lugard’s intention

    Lugard’s intention was to merge these two areas and people of diverse cultures and spiritual inclinations together and manage them as a single people in a single nation. Within three years of his expedition, he had established a British control over the large territory by diplomacy or by swift use of his meager force.

    Although in hastening to take the major states of Kano and Sokoto, he engaged the hands of his more cautious home government, only two serious local revolts marred the widespread acceptance and cooperation that he later enjoyed. His policy was to support the existing native states and chiefdoms with their laws and their courts but at the same time forbid slave raiding and severe punishments for minor offences as well as to exercise control of central authority using the native rulers as agents. Thus, to achieve his objective, he merged the Southern part of what later became known as Nigeria with the Northern part with a tacit approval for the Christian religionists to mobilise their evangelical machinery – the Christianisation of the animist Southern part of the new colony.

    Historic marriage

    After Lugard’s historic marriage to Flora Shaw in 1902 and the latter could not stand the Nigerian climate, Lugard felt obliged to leave Africa and accept a junior position of the governorship of Hong Kong which he held from 1907 to 1912. That was like stepping down as president to accept the post of a governor which no African Head of State has ever tried even if to display statesmanship.

    And on arrival in Asia, this daring British adventurer from continued his surprising degree of success to such extent that most historians of his time became nonplused. He founded the University of Hong Kong and ensured its standardisation as well as its sustainability. Today, that University is one of the best in the Commonwealth of Nations.

    A Centenary hoax

    Ever since the exit of the British colonialists in 1960, Nigeria has remained a country without focus, despite the enormous resources at her disposal. In less than half a decade after independence, the crude hands of African inexperience had begun to show conspicuously in governance as ethnic and religious flavours started to reflect vividly in a republican ethos. Then, an insuperable mountain of corruption crept in with overwhelming tenacity on the citizenry and turned all hopes into a forlorn even till today.

    Now, after 100 years of the indigestible absurdity called merger, why does Nigeria continue to wallow hopelessly in a paroxysm of despair as the last 17 years of the so-called fourth republic has shown an unprecedented history of relentless corruption with unbridled impunity?

    As if in a nightmare, we suddenly found ourselves in a situation where figure 16 politically became higher than figure 19 and open theft was officially defined and treated as being outside the framework corruption. Billions of dollars were growing wings and flying away from our national and state treasuries through the artful pens of our so-called leaders. Thus, our foreign reserves were daily being depleted even as Legislators, Judges, Ministers and other governmental cronies began to compete with one another in living like princes and princesses under a clueless ‘Emperor’.

    A Democratic tenure

    Four years is a long period in a democratic tenure of a nation. It is long enough to lay a solid foundation for a nation. It is long enough to build a formidable edifice that can be inherited from generation to generation. If 17 years of a democratic dispensation cannot do any of these in Nigeria of today how can one be sure that a whole century will do? If a journey of one year cannot take a traveller off the spot of embarkation who says 10 years may be able to take him to his destination?

    As an OPEC country, we have abundant oil wealth but we must import refined fuel for domestic consumption from individual Nigerian refineries built outside Nigeria from which we are compelled to import and theft is not considered as part of corruption. We have a massive army of unemployed youths and we cannot provide electricity to enable them be self-employed. Yet, we are insisting that we must continue like this even as billions of dollars are being stolen daily. Where are we going from here?

    Government’s failure

    Perhaps no one in the recent past has analyzed the problem of Nigeria more succinctly than Mrs. Hillary Clinton. When she visited Nigeria in 2010  as America’s Secretary of State, she took time to speak directly with ordinary Nigerians in a ‘Town Hall’ forum. At that forum she said among other things that: “….Nigeria, Africa’s biggest energy producer and second-largest economy, “faces a threat from increasing radicalisation that needs to be addressed. And describing corruption in Nigeria as unbelievable, she reiterated that the government’s failure to deliver basic services helped to foster extremism in young people…adding that: “The failure of the Nigerian leadership over many years to respond to the legitimate needs of their own young people, to have a government that promoted a meritocracy, that really understood that democracy can’t just be given lip service, it has to be delivering services to the people. She lamented poor governance and deteriorating living conditions which she said made Nigeria’s disaffected young people ripe targets for militants looking for recruits to attack the West.

    Substantiating her assertion, Mrs. Clinton said, when she met with a group of Nigerians in the capital city of Abuja, “people were … standing and shouting about what it was like to live in a country where the elite was so dominant, where corruption was so rampant and criminality was so pervasive”. And “that”, according to her, “is an opening for extremism that offers an alternative world view”.

    Poverty knows no tribe, religion, gender or age. It cuts across all strata of human life with no exception. That was the belief that spurred one time Chinese leader, Mao Zedong, in the 1960s, to transform China into a formidable nation of today. Any country that cannot feed her people will have no moral right to urge such people to think of a solution to any problem. A hungry person is an unreasonable person.

    Obama’s advice

    In his own direct presidential address to Nigerian populace on Tuesday, March 24, 2015, the American President Barrack Obama said of tomorrow’s elections and the subsequent ones as follows: “Hello.  Today, I want to speak directly to you – the people of Nigeria.

    Nigeria is a great nation and you can be proud of the progress you’ve made.  Together, you won your independence, emerged from military rule, and strengthened democratic institutions.  You’ve strived to overcome division and to turn Nigeria’s diversity into a source of strength.  You’ve worked hard to improve the lives of your families and to build the largest economy in Africa.

    “Now you have a historic opportunity to help write the next chapter of Nigeria’s chapter of history by voting for progress or further retrogress in the upcoming elections.  For elections to be credible, they must be free, fair and peaceful.  All Nigerians must be able to cast their votes without intimidation or fear.

    “So I call on all leaders and candidates to make it clear to their supporters that violence has no place in democratic elections and that they will not incite, support or engage in any kind of violence-before, during, or after the votes are counted.

    Against violence

    “I call on all Nigerians to peacefully express your views and to reject the voices of those who call for violence.  And when elections are free and fair, it is the responsibility of all citizens to help keep the peace, no matter who wins. Successful elections and democratic progress will help Nigeria meet the urgent challenges you face today.  Boko Haram – a brutal terrorist group that kills innocent men, women and children-must be stopped.

    “Hundreds of kidnapped children deserve to be returned to their families. Nigerians who have been forced to flee (their habitats) deserve to return to their homes.  Boko Haram wants to destroy Nigeria and all that you have worked to build.  By casting your ballot (correctly), you can help secure your nation’s progress.

    “I’m told that there is a saying in your country: ‘to keep Nigeria one is a task that must be done’. Today, I urge all Nigerians – from all religions, all ethnic groups, and all regions – to come together and keep Nigeria one.  And in this task of advancing the security, prosperity, and human rights of all Nigerians, you will continue to have a friend and partner in the United States of America”.

    The columnist’s comment

    Ordinarily, such a cross-Atlantic presidential speech would have been unnecessary if we had learnt from the examples of great African leaders such as Nelson Mandela of South Africa, Sam Njoma of Namibia, Julius Nyerere of Tanzania and Ahmadu Ahidjo of Cameroon. With the political change guards in 2015, most people assumed that the woes of Nigerians were over. It was hardly remembered that it is not enough to plant a crop to be qualified as a farmer. The real farmer is the one who imbibes the patience with which to wait and harvest the crop at the right time of fruition. The time of harvesting is almost here. With or without the presidential sermon of an American Obama, the reality on ground requires only a little more patience to end Nigeria’s woes of hunger. It took a long time of greed and avarice to build up the wall of hunger. It must take a reasonable time of patience to demolish it. Whatever name we now give Nigeria, positive or negative, we should not relent in saying: God save Nigeria! And we shall eventually surmount the problem of the moment.

  • Islam and global warming

    “We have not left anything untouched in the Book (Qur’an). Then unto their Lord shall all be reassembled”   Q. 6:38.   

    PREAMBLE

    The Allah’s last revelation to mankind called the Qur’an is the ultimate cornerstone which the ignorant ones continue to subject to undue controversy in the building of their ultimate homes. This Book is like the beaming Sun the existence of which some blind people continue to query. Whether they see it or not, the Sun remains scorching in its effect and magnanimous in its photosynthesis. Yet, the denial of its existence cannot stop the blindness in the blind. The Qur’an is the mother of all encyclopaedias without which the existence of humanity will be a mere anathema.

    Reviewing the esoteric connotation of the above quoted verse of the Qur’an with divine guidance any thoughtful and sincere human being will nod his/head in absolute agreement. Nothing is left untouched by Allah in the Glorious Qur’an.

    Meteorological explanation        

    From its very inception, Islam has been very explicit on the issue of environment and meteorology. This further confirms the fact that this divine religion is not for a particular time or people. It is a religion of knowledge for all times and all races. The meteorological explanation rendered by Islam is not meant for this column today. It will be brought in full in the very near future In sha’ Allah. But at a recent international conference on global warming an Islamic scholar gave some Qur’anic insight into the causes and effects of global warming thus:

    “One of the issues that give the world a concern currently is global warming. Experts around the world have been warning about this for decades and have been urging governments to act faster in slowing down the rate of global warming. They warn that there is a 75% risk that global temperatures will rise a further two to three degrees in the next 50 years. The consequence of this would be dramatic. In fact a rise of just one degree would melt the Greenland ice sheet and drown the Maldives, but a three degree increase would kill the Amazon rainforest, wipe out nearly half of all species facing extinction and wreak havoc with crop yields due to weather changes”.

    Whilst the global climate goes through hot and cold cycles, what is worrying about the current phase is the pace of change that could send humanity first into a final spin. Although man has certainly benefited from technological advancements that have given us plastics, air travel and cheap food – what is important is to maintain a balance so that excessive consumerism does not ride roughshod over nature’s harmony.

    The role of man

    In Islam man is given the role of trusteeship over the earth, which is a huge responsibility. In the past, man had to be careful how he treated his local environment since excessive grazing or agriculture could bring ruin to his livelihood. His knowledge was also limited but in the event of a disaster either through ignorance or abuse, he could at least resort to moving elsewhere and start all over again. Now we should have no excuse for ignorance and we should have learnt from our past to avoid misuse. But what is worrying is that the impacts of our behaviour are not just local anymore, they are global. If we fail to act in a responsible manner then we cannot simply relocate because there will be nowhere to go. It is therefore vital that as producers, manufacturers and consumers, we ensure that we give due consideration to the impact of our actions. Such a responsibility is not just that of the east or the west but a responsibility for all across nations and continents.

    Qur’anic teaching

    Islam teaches us that God has continued and will continue to provide us with ample resources for all time. But through man’s misuse, this balance may change. It is this personal greed of man that makes them squander these resources and deprive others who may need those resources. The Holy Qur’an warns mankind in Chapter 7, verse 32 “O children of Adam! Eat and drink but exceed not the bounds; surely He (Allah) does not love those who exceed the bounds”

    The overall message of Islam is that it promotes harmony by advising moderation. It accepts that we need to use resources for our progress but this should be done wisely and in a sustainable manner, so that a satisfactory medium is found. Allah alluded to this in Chapter 25, verse 68 where He made reference to: “those who, when they spend are neither extravagant nor niggardly but moderate between the two”.

    Thus, as individuals, we should act on the Qur’anic injunction that promotes balance and prohibits excess even as nations need to be more willing to share knowledge for the sake of the planet rather than for profit and take collective action in line with their collective responsibility. By doing so we shall be able to win the pleasure of God and honour our trusteeship of the earth for the benefit of the present and the future generations”.

    Conference of world scientists

    A few years ago, a top scientist conference in Britain raised the stakes for the dangers of global warming, with concerned scientists outlining a timeframe for the massive horrors awaiting the globe unless swift actions were taken at the right time. The findings in that conference were not in any way different from the position of Islam on the subject over 1430 years ago.

    The three-day conference held in the south western British city of Exeter focused on scientists’ latest assessment of the global warming problem, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

    The conference was bluntly told that global warming would boost outbreaks of infectious diseases, worsen shortages of water and food in vulnerable countries and create an army of climate refugees fleeing uninhabitable regions.

    Scientists even gave a detailed timetable of the destruction and distress that global warming was likely to cause to the world, according to the British daily ‘The Independent’.

    Impacts of Environmental Degradation

    The scale of these impacts varies according to the speed and degree with which fossil fuel pollution is tackled as well the growth rate of the world’s population and how well countries can adapt to climate shift.

    Whole species of animals from frogs to leopards, living in vulnerable areas and with nowhere else to go, face extinction due to global warming, they said, according to the daily.

    “The study pulls together for the first time the projected impacts on ecosystems and wildlife, food production, water resources and economies across the earth, for given rises in global temperature expected during the next hundred years.

    “The resultant picture gives the most wide-ranging impression yet of the bewildering array of destructive effects that climate change is expected to exert on different regions, from the mountains of Europe and the rainforests of the Amazon to the coral reefs of the tropics.”

    What out for Year 2050

    According to a study quoted by Rajendra Pachauri, Chairman of the UN’s top scientific authority on climate change, by 2050 as many as 150 million “environmental refugees” may have fled coastlines vulnerable to rising sea levels, storms or floods, or agricultural land that may become too arid to cultivate, AFP said.

    In India alone, there could be 30 million people displaced by persistent flooding, while a sixth of Bangladesh could be permanently lost to sea level rise and land subsidence, according to the study.

    The Independent newspaper revealed that the conference was called personally by the then British Prime Minister Tony Blair as part of Britain’s attempts to move the climate change issue up the agenda during the UK presidency of the G8 group of rich nations, and the European Union.

    Disturbing warnings

    There were already disturbing warnings from the latest climate research, including the revelation from the British Antarctic Survey that the massive West Antarctic ice sheet might be disintegrating – an event which would raise sea levels around the world by 16ft (4.9 metres) per daily if it really happened.

    “Hare’s timetable shows the impacts of climate change multiplying rapidly as average global temperature goes up, towards 1C above levels before the industrial revolution, then to 2C, and then 3C.

    “It is when the temperature moves up to 2C above the pre-industrial level, expected in the middle of this century – within the lifetime of many people alive today – that serious effects start to come thick and fast, studies suggest.”

    In the second half of the century

    According to the paper, when the temperature moves up to the 3C level, expected in the early part of the second half of the century, these effects will become critical. There is likely to be irreversible damage to the Amazon rainforest, leading to its collapse, and the complete destruction of coral reefs is likely to be widespread.

    The conference, however, ended up on a positive note, with the forum showing how far the argument for carbon sequestration has come, with a series of experts insisting it could be transformed from fiction to fact. Whole species of animals from frogs to leopards, living in vulnerable areas and with nowhere else to go, face extinction due to global warming, they said, according to the daily.

    “The study pulled together for the first time the projected impacts on ecosystems and wildlife, food production, water resources and economies across the earth, for possible rises in global temperature expected during the next hundred years.

    Historical evidence of global warming

    “The resultant picture gave the most wide-ranging impression yet of the bewildering array of destructive effects that climate change was expected to exert on different regions, from the mountains of Europe and the rainforests of the Amazon to the coral reefs of the tropics.”

    The Earth’s climate has changed throughout history. Just in the last 650,000 years there have been seven cycles of glacial advance and retreat, with the abrupt end of the last ice age about 7,000 years ago marking the beginning of the modern climate era – and of human civilization. Most of these climate changes are attributed to very small variations in Earth’s orbit that change the amount of solar energy our planet receives.

    The current trend

    Through advanced researches, scientists have come to realize that the current warming trend is of particular significance because most of it is very likely human-induced and proceeding at a rate that is unprecedented in the past 1300 years.1

    Earth-orbiting satellites and other technological advances have enabled scientists to see the big picture, collecting many different types of information about our planet and its climate on a global scale. This body of data, collected over many years, reveals the signals of a changing climate.

    The heat-trapping nature of carbon dioxide and other gases was demonstrated in the mid-19th century.2 Their ability to affect the transfer of infrared energy through the atmosphere is the scientific basis of many instruments flown by NASA. There is no question that increased levels of greenhouse gases must cause the Earth to warm in response.

    Ice cores drawn from Greenland, Antarctica, and Tropical Mountain glaciers show that the Earth’s climate responds to changes in greenhouse gas levels. They also show that in the past, large changes in climate have happened very quickly, geologically-speaking: in tens of years, not in millions or even thousands.

    The rise in global sea level

    Global sea level, according to scientific research rose by about 17 centimetres (6.7 inches) in the last century. The rate in the last decade, however, is nearly double that of the last century.

    All three major global surface temperature reconstructions show that Earth has warmed since 1880. Most of the warming occurred in the past 35 years, with 15 of the 16 warmest years on record occurring since 2001. The year 2015 was the first time the global average temperatures were 1 degree Celsius or more above the 1880-1899 average. Even though the 2000s witnessed a solar output decline resulting in an unusually deep solar minimum in 2007-2009, surface temperatures continue to increase.

    The oceans have absorbed much of this increased heat, with the top 700 meters (about 2,300 feet) of ocean showing warming of 0.302 degrees Fahrenheit since 1969.

    Shrinking ice sheets

    The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have decreased in mass. Data from NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment have shown that the Greenland lost 150 to 250 cubic kilometers (36 to 60 cubic miles) of ice per year between 2002 and 2006, while Antarctica lost about 152 cubic kilometres (36 cubic miles) of ice between 2002 and 2005.

    Both the extent and thickness of Arctic sea ice has declined rapidly over the last several decades. Glaciers are retreating almost everywhere around the world – including in the Alps, Himalayas, Andes, Rockies, Alaska and Africa. If by year 2050 nothing significant is done to save this situation what will become of human existence? That is a food for thought.

     

    New Chief Imam for Folawiyo Mosque

    all is set for the decoration of Alhaji Imam Alli Olukayode Atanda with the turban as the Chief Imam of Abdul Wahab Folawiyo, Surulere (New Lagos) Central Mosque.

    The event will hold today at the mosque’s premises in Surulere.

    Imam Atanda will succeed the late Sheikh Abdul Quadri Moyosore.

    He was until his appointment the Imam of Oluwatoyin Mosque, one of the twelve Ratibi Mosques that are registered owners of the Abdul Wahab Folawiyo, Surulere (New Lagos) Central Mosque.

     

    Muslim Media holds lecture on good governance

    Good governance, among others, will dominate the 11th annual lecture of Muslim Media Practitioners of Nigeria (MMPN) Abuja chapter on Monday in Abuja.

    A statement by its chairman Alhaji Abdur-Rahman Balogun said the lecture, entitled “the Islamic position on good governance’’ will hold at National Mosque Conference Hall, Abuja.

    It would be delivered by the Chief Imam of the Nigerian Navy, Shaykh Taofiq Miqdad Gidado and chaired by Director-General, National Orientation Agency (NOA) Dr Garba Abari. Other guests expected include Voice of Nigeria (VON) former Director-General Alhaji Abubakar Jijiwa, FCT Minister Alhaji Muhammad Bello and Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) Secretary-General Prof. Is-haq Oloyede.

     

    10, 000 to attend Aqsa Day

    No fewer than 10,000 people are expected for this year’s Aqsa Day.

    The event, organised by the Muslim Awareness International (MAI), will hold on Monday at the National Stadium Surulere, Lagos.

    Federal Government yesterday declared Monday December 12 as public holiday.

    Alhaji AbdurRazaq AbdusSalam, a Deputy Director at Voice of Nigeria (VON) and Dr Odukoya Adelaja Odutola, a Senior Lecturer from the Department of Political Science, University of Lagos and institution’s Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Chairman are the guest speakers.

    MAI Director Luqman Balogun said the programme will also feature exhibitions as well as drama and ballad presentations which will centre on the unity of the Muslims as the panacea to Palestinian problems.

    He decried the occupation of Palestinian land by Israeli government.

    “The state of Israel was created on the basis of lies and deceit and has continued to struggle to sustain a half-century occupation over the land of the Palestinians in the face of universal opposition and condemnation,” he said.

    Balogun accused Israel and her allies of employing varying “ludicrous narratives and deplorable actions to defend their illegal activities in the occupied settlements.

  • Mosque leadership & management

    The title of today’s article in this column is not the coinage of yours sincerely. It is rather an adaptation of the title of a book recently published by the University of Lagos. The book was jointly written by some Muslim scholars and edited by Professor M. A. Bidmos (the Chief Imam of the University of Lagos Mosque) and Dr. I. A. Musa. Both editors are renowned scholars and contributing experts to the contents of the book.

    What actually motivated the writing of the book is the concern in many quarters about the methodology of managing the Mosque especially by Nigerian Imams and the effect of such methodology on the contemporary Muslim congregations. In its determination to put round pegs in right holes the University of Lagos decided to establish a special course through which prospective Imams could be properly trained on leadership and management of the Mosque. It is the very first of its type in Nigeria.

    Definition of Mosque

    The word Mosque is the corrupt English pronunciation of the Arabic word ‘MASJID’ (otherwise called ‘MASGID’ in Egyptian dialect) which literarily means a place of prostration. Contrary to the general misconception here in Nigeria, Mosque is not meant for SALAT alone. Therefore leading Salat alone does not really make a Muslim an Imam. Any Muslim who can recite Suratul Fatihah and some other Surahs or Verses very well can lead Salat. The Mosque, on the other hand, serves many purposes each of which has a fundamental significance. For instance the very first Mosque established by Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in Madinah was a multipurpose one. That Mosque named the ‘Mosque of Qubah’ did not serve as a place of worship alone. It also served as a school, a library, a bank, a clinic, a court of law and even a parliament for the Muslim community. Whoever will manage such a vital institution, therefore, must be adequately trained for it.

    Mosque as a source of

    knowledge and civilisation

    The very first University in the world, (University of Cordoba), established in the 8th century CE by the Muslims 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, (each of which is well over 1000 years old) started as Mosques. Thus, it becomes clear that one cannot seriously talk about human civilization without a fundamental reference to the Mosque as well as the Imams who happen to be its managers. Actually, nothing is called Mosque in the absence of Muslim congregations and their Imams.

    The Mosque and the Imam

    Mosque and Imam are like the message and the messenger. There can hardly be any access to one without going through the other. And if the one is afflicted by any disenchantment the other will surely feel the pain. In Islamic doctrine, the functions of a Mosque are both spiritual and temporal. For Muslims, none of these can be taken for granted or handled with levity.

    Imamate by Scholarship

    When Prophet Muhammad (SAW) described learned scholars as the heirs to the Prophets he was referring to Imams. This is because no genuine Muslim can statutorily be an Imam without first being a learned scholar. However, there is a sharp difference between a scholar and a learned scholar. The one can be self-arrogated. The other is intellectually evident.

    Becoming an Imam, if due process is followed, is like becoming a judge after a period of certified experience acquired subsequent to graduating from the Law School. It is not enough to graduate from a Qur’anic school and teach in a Madrasah for a few years to be qualified as Imam. Neither should attainment of Imamate be by heritage through a consanguine lineage. Lawyers do attend the Law School after graduating from the Universities and even practise in law chambers for a number of years before they become qualified for appointment as judges.

    Doctors undergo Houseman-ship after their graduation from medical colleges before they are formally admitted into the medical Profession. Other professionals also undergo practical industrial training in their respective fields of discipline before they can be qualified as practising professionals. Now, apart from graduating from Madrasah, where do our Imams undergo training to be statutorily qualified as Imams? This question indicates that a glaring vacuum exists in the methodology of Mosque management which Nigerian Muslim Ummah is yet to fill.

    Problem of Appointing Imams

    One of the first problems arising from appointing Imams in Nigeria is lack of leadership training. People are made Imam or assume the office of Imam only on the basis of what they learned from the Qur’anic schools. Besides the preliminary general Islamic knowledge which most Muslim clerics often claim to have acquired what else can be said to make a Muslim an Imam? In reality, the aspect of dealing with the complexity of human nature and the competent management of that aspect is the quality that is supposed to make a person an Imam. But incidentally, that is the real aspect that is missing in Nigerian Mosques today.

    Even after coming into office as Imam, no special training is ever organized to enable the Imam know the enormity of his duty and map out the strategy with which to handle it. It is a well known fact that no written documents are ever handed over to the new Imam to show where the last Imam stopped and where the new one should commence from. In other words, no records of activities or achievements are available in our Mosques except by oral transmission. How can there be progress?

    The need for training

    Whereas the intellectual sophistication of Imamate is such that requires periodic workshops, seminars, conferences and trainings, none of these is ever arranged to update our Imams and improve their quality. Thus, our Imams remain ignorantly static in the belief that they have reached the peak of Islamic knowledge having become Imams. This is not the case with the Christian counterparts who as a matter of obligation must undergo tutelage in Christian doctrines and Church management at specialized seminaries before becoming qualified as Pastors or Bishops. In the case of Imams, there is no such training and thus, imamate is seen as a meal ticket which provides the Imam an opportunity to cheapen the title and abuse the office. Perhaps that is why most Nigerian Imams shun self esteem as they struggle for crumbs under the tables of moneybags in the society. With such a degrading status, how can the leadership of an Imam be respected and his supposed guidance be followed?

    The Prophet’s recommendation

    Whereas Prophet Muhammad’s recommendation for Imamate is that one should only become an Imam when legitimately chosen and appointed as such, based on intellectual capability and exemplary mannerism, the situation in Nigeria today is the direct opposite of that recommendation. In the cause of appointing an Imam, factions of Muslim groups often gang up against one another just as families pick quarrels and hostilities against families having turned Imamate into an inheritable title within a clan. Yet, the claim is that they want to serve Allah. Must Allah be served desperately with ignorance and degradation?

     

    Implications of Imamate

    If those fighting to become Imams knew the implication of serving in that office and reporting back to Allah in the Hereafter, they would never have presented themselves for the post. An Imam is the spiritual guarantor of his congregation. He takes responsibility for any spiritual misdemeanour of that congregation before Allah.

    But like any other Nigerian public office, Imamate has been so grossly commercialized that the process of putting people in that office has been seriously corrupted. That is why most of our Imams are half-baked intellectually and even bankrupt morally.

    Though, the Prophet’s recommendation is for dedicated Muslims to compete for the office of the Muadhdhin (one who calls people to Salat and practically manages the Mosque), Nigerian Muslims prefer to slog it out with one another over the office of Imam just because of the pecuniary benefit accruing from that office.

    The objective of the training course

    It is in order to correct the anomaly in appointing Imams in Nigerian Mosques and to forestall the entailed danger embedded in that anomaly that the authorities of UNILAG came up with the idea of a training course for Nigerian Imams and invited experts to write the concise book entitled ‘MOSQUE LEADERSHIP & MANAGEMENT’ for the course. The book is both a curriculum for the training and a compendium of factors of knowledge and dignity in leadership and management.

    The Book

    The 165 page book consists of eight parts with each part classified into chapters. There are 21 chapters in all. Every Part in the book serves is a reference point for the tutorials to be provided in the classrooms at the end of which each enrolled Imam will be awarded a Diploma Certificate if successful. The eight parts are as follows:

    Part One: Imams and Imamate Responsibilities. Under this part are chapters such as: An Imam and Self Esteem; Qualifications and Qualities of an Imam; The Duties of Imam in the Light of ‘Maqasid Al-Sharia’ah. Under this part are chapters like:

    Part Two: Arabic Grammar for Khutbah Writing and Delivery. Under this Part are chapters like: The Importance of Arabic to Imam; Essential Nahw Concepts in Khutbah Writing and Delivery.

    Part Three: Noon of Islam. Under this part are the following chapters: An Overview of Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates; Appraising the Golden and Silver periods of Abbasid Era; Towards Restoration of Spirituality and Morality of Education.

     

    Part Four: Qur’an and Hadith Texts. Under this parts are the following chapters to be found: Ethics and Mechanism of flawless Reading of the Qur’an; Selections from the Sihahus-Sittah and other Collections of Hadith on Imamate.

     

    Part Five: Communication Skills in English. Under this part are chapters such as: Nature and Relationship between Language and Literature; Time and Tense in English; Essentials of Public Speaking; Guidelines for Essay Writing.

     

    Part Six: Approaches and Ethics of Da’wah. Under this Part are the following chapters: Approaches to Islamic Propagation; Conditions and Ethics of Da’wah Practice.

     

    Part Seven: Conducting Tafsir. Under this Part are chapters like: Qualities of the Mufassir and Types of Tafsir; Model Tafsir.

     

    Part Eight: Conducting Islamic Ceremonies. Under this part are to chapters such as: Overview and Methods of Conducting Nikah, ‘Aqiqah & Janazah Ceremonies to be found.

     

    It is necessary to hint here that getting a copy of the book and reading it inside out does not make a Muslim cleric a qualified Imam. There is much more to learn in the classroom than the book contains. The hood does not make the Monk. There is no short cut to knowledge.

     

    About the course

    For the first time in Nigeria, a University course for training Muslim clerics in the art of leadership and management of the Mosque debut at the University of Lagos. The course which is designed for a period of six months and hold every Saturday within the period commenced sometime in 2015. It is strictly meant for graduates of Higher Madrasah who possess at least Thanawiyyah/Senior Secondary School Certificates as well as University graduates who aspire to become qualified Imams. The cost of the course is N120000 and the cover price of the book is N1000. This course is a great opportunity for serious Muslim Organizations with Mosques to train their Imams or prospective Imams.

    The resource persons

    Most of the resource persons for this programme who are also co-authors of the book in question are not just renowned scholars they are also men of dignity and impeccable character. They are as follows:

    Professor M. A. Bidmos (Coordinator); Professor T. G. O. Gbadamosi; Alhaji M. O.Junaid; Dr. I. A. Musa; Dr. Nurain Alimi; Dr. Tajudeen Yusuf; Dr. Abdul Hakeem Adekunle; Alhaji Bashir Abdur-Rahim; Imam Abdullah Akinbode and Imam Zakariya Muhmmad Thanni.

    The first graduating set

    The first set of aspiring qualified Imams enrolled for the course as pioneering students in 2015 and graduated on Saturday, October 22, 2016. They were 20 in number. Every participant in that set who graduated last October has now become a qualified Imam with high sense of pride.

     Similitude of the Mosque

    The similitude of the Mosque is like that of a beehive. It ventilates the activities of the Muslims to solve their spiritual and temporal problems through interactions with their fellow brothers and sisters and through the guidance of their Imams if such Imams are well educated and do not constitute liabilities to their congregations.

    That our Mosques have not lived up to expectations in this sphere even in the 21st century is however, not the end of the story. Righting the wrong is one of the foremost characteristics of Islam. It is better to be late in doing the right thing than not to do the right thing at all. We can still start to put things right as from today by ventilating our Mosque atmospheres for social welfare; for education; for health care; for conflict resolution; for Zakah management; for spiritual guidance and counselling; for economic growth and skill building; as well as for information and publicity. It is only by doing these that our Imams and clerics can rightly claim to be engaged in sensible Da’awah.

    Conclusion

    As a Muslim community, we have lived with a system for hundreds of years without achieving the necessary objective of our religious mission. In the process, we have lost most of our best brains to the other side of the bridge. We cannot afford to surge ahead with an unprofitable venture at this twilight of the world. We must change the system! The Muslim Ummah must be made to see why they need the Mosque as much as why the Mosque needs them. Experimenting with a new system will not only put a stop to basking in the euphoria of the past, it will also engender a durable legacy for the current generation of Muslims. While congratulating the University of Lagos for this historic initiative ‘The Message’ column hereby implores all forward-looking Muslim Organizations in Nigeria to take advantage of this programme to lay a solid foundation for good management of the Mosque in Nigeria. Our Imams must meet the required standards by becoming qualified.

  • The seed of terror

    The seed of terror

    Preamble

    “Nights are pregnant. They give birth to wonders in the days. What we look is not what we see. Thus, our focus becomes dimmer and dimmer as the days and nights of life roll out spirally but gradually into permanent oblivion. And the living man is pronounced dead.”

    The results of America’s presidential election last Wednesday have confirmed the assertion in the above Arab poem. We live in a world that is both dynamic and ephemeral. Nothing is predictable with precision.

     Effect of language

    Yoruba language may have no plural or gender in its structural syntax. It may be poor in vocabulary and clumsy in grammar. But it is surely not lacking in proverbs and mythology. The speakers of that Kwa language can hardly express a sentence without enriching it with two or three proverbs. One of its famous proverbs has become an axiom in theory and practice. And many other languages have borrowed it for a token of experience. It goes thus: “A toddler who insists on preventing his mother from sleeping will surely not enjoy the serenity of the night rest”. This subtle axiom has its equivalence in English language. “A drastic problem requires a drastic solution”.

     Language and culture

    Language is the root of all human cultures. It is the means of communicating thoughts, ideas and experiences. A people without language can be said to be without culture. Take a man out of his culture and he will immediately become like a fish out of water. His next action will be to rebel against the new but strange environment. That is the kind of situation that is cloaking the world in form of terrorism today.

    From time immemorial, language has been like a double edged sword. At a time it is used to attack. At another, it becomes an instrument of defence. Concord and conflict as well as love and hatred emanate from the use of language. Without language, there can be no marriage or divorce. Neither can there be business or even government. As a matter of fact, no tribe or nation can lay claim to civilisation in the absence of language.

     Language in Islam

    In Islam, language is everything human, including life and death. That is why a stammering prophet like Musa (Moses) would need an interpreter like Harun (Aaron) in his mission. Buddhists, Hindus, Judaists, Christians and Muslims, all proclaim Holy Books in one form or another, through their endowed languages. Not only must a prophet possess the power of language, he must also be eloquent in it. Prophet Muhammad (SAW) recognised the enormous power naturally embedded in language and warned the Muslims thus: ‘Tongue is like sword, if you fail to hold it, it may hold you down”.

    A person’s first language is called mother tongue while a standardised dialect within a tribal language is said to be ‘received’. If there is one aspect of culture that is not substitutable, it is language. The greatest havoc ever done to any group of people in history, especially through slave trade and colonialism, is language substitution. Nothing is more enslaving than substitution of language. Once language is renounced or substituted, nothing else is left of culture with another language. The black citizens of the world, outside Africa, otherwise classified as Diaspora, are victims of this indelible psychological trauma.

    English speaking countries

    There are only four countries in the world today with English language as their mother tongue. These are Britain, the United States, Australia and Ireland. What would have been the fifth country is only partially English speaking. And that is Canada where other languages such as French and Spanish are spoken. All other countries that speak English as lingua franca today only adopted it. Believing English to be the language of modern civilisation, the rest of the world have tacitly adopted it either as a lingua franca or as language of business. Yet the natural speakers of the language don’t seem to be satisfied with this development.

     Evil axis

    With the role which America played in bringing an end to slavery in the 19th century, the world had expected the self-styled ‘God’s own Country’ to be the messiah of the modern age. But that expectation has turned forlorn. Rather than championing the course of peace and tranquility, America has replaced Germany of the 1930s/40s as the greatest threat to humanity in the 21st century. And she has found an inseparable ally in Britain to form an ‘Evil Axis’ of untamable aggressors.

    Both English speaking countries had jointly piloted the modern world into a technological civilisation culminating in what is now known as global village. But they have used the same technology to turn themselves into ‘policemen of the world’.

    There is no part of the world today in which a suffocating effect of their presence is not felt. Like a pair of scissors, both countries have jointly subjected many nations and races to untold terror and humiliation thereby forcing countries to disintegrate and compelling friendly tribes to become foes all to further the course of their capitalist interest. Thus, they have planted the seed of terrorism in all corners of the world either in the name of capitalism or in the disguise of democracy.

    In the process of doing this, they have drawn the wrath of many nations, groups and individuals who now tend to react with venomous reprisal. If the militant liberators in Ireland or the patriotic defenders of motherland in Falkland are quiet today, it is not because they have been placated. The fact is that they have not got the power with which to demand for their rights. When they do, the situation may change.

    Propaganda

    Now, using their propaganda machinery to bully on the rest of the world, the US and Britain have almost succeeded in branding any revengeful reaction to their brigandage as religious terrorism. What was the religious connection in Britain’s claim of the Falkland Island far away in Argentina in the early 1980s? What is religious in America’s capturing of the ruling President Noriega of Panama in his country and taking him for trial in the US where he was jailed and had to languish in prison for years? What is religious in forcing monolingual countries like Korea and Cambodia to break into North and South? What is religious in invading Iraq even after it became evident that the poor country was not harbouring any deadly weapons as alleged? What actually qualifies the US, Britain and other Western countries to be nuclear powered and disqualify others?

    Even if a country chooses to use religion as her guide in governance as in the case of Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and Iran how does that affect Britain and the US thousands of miles away? Is Northern Ireland not a Christian country like Britain? Why the aggression against that country? And is Britain not using religion as an instrument of governance? Why does the Queen of England combine the two designations of Head of State and Head of the Church of England?

    If the truth must be told, the real problem of the world today is the greedy willingness of Britain and America to dominate the economy of other countries in a manner of brigandage. And that has led the duo to adopt military might as a means of cowing down some countries while subjecting others to imperial terror.

     Brunt bearers

    It is rather unfortunate that those who are bearing the brunt of these evil actions are innocent people who are going about their businesses legitimately. Otherwise, neither America nor Britain would have deserved any sympathy for the various terrorist attacks on certain targets in the two countries. Their plight would have been taken for merely reaping the fruits of their labour.

    Religion is being used as a scapegoat in the world today, not by Afghanistan or Ireland, but by Britain and the US because that is their most convenient alibi for unbridled aggression against weaker countries. No sooner had Donald Trump emerged as the new American President than Israel announced that with the new leadership in America the world should forget any thought of a Palestinian State. That statement was made subsequent to Trump’s disclosure that over 12 million people, especially Muslims might be expelled from the US.

     Who wants to die?

    No one loves to die deliberately in Palestine or in Iraq or in Afghanistan or in Ireland. But when you are forced to live without essence, the tendency is to ask yourself the need to live at all. And, to answer such a question some people might desperately conclude that if they must not live, those who are forcing them to die must also not live. “Man is not innately wicked, but when an attempt is made to consign him to the scrap-heap he shows resentment in no uncertain terms”. Terrorism begets terrorism. But what is one nation’s terrorism is another nation’s heroism.

    Allah warns against corruption and the acts of brigandage in chapter 8:25 of the Qur’an thus: “And guard against calamity that may afflict not only the wrong doers (but even the innocent ones among you). Know that Allah’s punishment can be very severe”.

    Solution

    How can we change this evil trend? This, perhaps, is the new reality which dawned on a former British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, when he was about to exchange baton with his predecessor, Tony Blair, some years ago.

    In a chat with Labour Party members in Manchester shortly before he assumed office as Prime Minister, Brown said he recognised the fact that global extremism could never be defeated by military force alone. His words:

    “Our foreign policy in the years ahead will reflect the truth that to isolate and defeat terrorist extremism now involves more than military force….it (terrorism) is a struggle of ideas and ideals that in the coming years will be waged and won for the hearts and minds here at home and around the world”. Many well-meaning, foresighted Nigerians have drummed the same warning to the ears of Nigerian government. But a government that is wiser than its subjects will never heed such a warning.

    When he was making the above statement, Brown never thought that Britain would soon come under a new terrorist attack. But just a few days after that famous speech, Glasgow Airport became a target of terrorist attack. And that was on the very day he formally assumed office as Prime Minister. What became clearer especially with September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, was that no country is actually immune to terrorist attack. History has not cited a single example of terrorism which was conquered on the battle field. Thus, since no power on earth can claim to have monopoly of terror peace would better be achieved by sharing the wisdom of others through dialogue in ending terrorism.

    Reality

    That is the reality to which the West, especially Britain and the US, had deliberately been blind. If that reality had become the spectacle with which the West viewed the world before now peace would have returned to its rightful place as the reigning force of human universe and the idea of manufacturing and supplying weapons to some people against others would have stopped permanently. Now, with the emergence of a new ‘Fuhrer’ in the US, hat reality seems to have become daydream.

    The religious world was once peaceful until America renounced her policy of isolationism in 1945. It took that country to join Britain in using the Press to invent labelling names and acronyms to derogate certain religions (particularly Islam) and to demoralise their adherents. One major fact which the world is yet to realise is that every religion is built on the foundation of culture.

    No religion can be attacked to the exclusion of its culture. And nothing in the life of man is called civilisation outside culture. That is why some people are ready to die when their religion comes under a violent attack from those who are ignorant of it.

    The Greeks, the Romans, the Assyrians and the Persians of the ancient world did not fight wars because of religion. Their motives were material but today they have all gone into irreversible oblivion. Today’s people who are bent on exhibition of power will eventually follow their way. Materialism is nothing but vanity which is invariably ephemeral. That is why Prophet Muhammad (SAW) or any of his disciples never crossed swords with Christians when they were alive.

    The very first international wars fought for religious reason which by necessity pitched Muslims against Christians were the Crusade Wars. And these were caused by sheer miscarriage of information. Yet, about one   thousand years after those unwarranted wars, their scar still remains indelible in the world today.

    Conclusion

    Violence on the basis of religion can terminate lives. It can destroy properties and ruin cities and towns as well as cause dislocations and relocations of people and settlements. But it can never win hearts nor change conviction. Truth is bitter and thus repugnant to people of falsehood.

    But despite all these, oppressed Muslims are ready to join other oppressed people of the world in welcoming a new initiative from the West with a view to forging peace for all and sundry. Donald Trump’s America must tread softly to ensure a peaceful continuity of the modern world.

  • Without a Leader like Him…?

    Without a Leader like Him…?

    Preamble

    All roads, national and international, led to Sokoto last Wednesday. The Caliphate city became like a Makkah of sort as thousands of people from near and far trooped into it. The occasion was to mark the 10th anniversary of Sultan Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar on the Caliphate throne.

    How time flies. It has been ten years since His Eminence, Dr.  Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, CFR, mni ascended the Sokoto royal throne as the 20th Sultan. The historic date was November 6, 2006. Until then, the lofty man’s name did not ring any bell in Nigeria. And he was probably not conscious of the royal blood in him. If he was ever conscious of that at all, his humble nature did not reflect it. But the thinking of man is quite different from the will of Allah. And when the thinking of man clashes with the will of Allah, the latter automatically prevails.

    Ascension to the Throne

    For Sultan Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, ascending the throne of the great Sokoto Empire was like the rise of the sun anon meridian. When it beams its rejuvenating ray over the world, all the stars in the galaxy take their bow.

    History and man are like Siamese twins. The one cannot do without the other. History makes man just as man makes history. And the reciprocal baton continues to change hands between them as long as they mutually remain in existence.

    Thus, the sudden emergence of the 50- year-old Brigadier General Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar as the successor to the exalted throne of the great Sokoto Empire without controversy came as a surprise to many Nigerians. His own father, Sultan Sadiq Abubkar ascended the same throne at the age of 37. Surely, the name ‘Muhammad Sa’ad’ played a significant role in the emergence of its bearer as Sultan.

    The Mystery in Name

    There is something mysterious about name which humanity is yet to comprehend fully. A puzzling secret seems to exist in the vocabulary of life which sticks to every man like a second skin. That secret, pearled in the yoke of name, is an effective evidence of destiny in man. Our names are the light that glows at night to lighten up our ways in the glares days through the threshold of life. And when the dawn comes to render the glowing light ineffective, the bearer bows out into the recluse of death leaving behind an indemnified signature on the sands of time.

    This was the case with Prophet Muhammad (SAW), the greatest man that ever lived on the surface of the earth. Even as an unlettered son of Arabia who was born in an era of blatant ignorance, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) introduced into the world, an unprecedented civilization that opened the eyes of humanity to everlasting guidance. In recognition of his human exemplariness, the Almighty Allah said of him in Q 33: 21 thus: “You have a good example in Allah’s Apostle for anyone who looks to Allah and the Last Day and remembers Him always”.

    Peculiarities in Name

    Sultan’s first name is Muhammad which he bears in emulation of the Prophet. His second name is Sa’ad meaning ‘Good ‘Luck’ which makes him a name-sake of one of the Prophet Muhammad’s companions (Sa’d BnAbi Waqqas) who was a great Army General of Islam. And his (Sultan’s) surname is Abubakar which means ‘father of youths’, an inherited name which he shares with the first Caliph in Islam (Abubakr Siddiq). In every one of these names is a profound meaning with profound influence on the personality and conduct of the current Sultan.

    As an Army General, like Sa’d Bn Abi Waqqas, Sultan is demonstrating the courage of a brave leader. As the father of the youths, like Abu Bakr, he is bridging the gap between leadership and follower-ship by breathing a breeze of hope into Nigerian Muslim youths from time to time.

    Identity of a Leader

    A leader is known, neither by the aura of the office he occupies, nor by the enormity of the power wielded in that office. Rather, a leader is known   by the magnanimity with which he exercises the power entrusted to him and the humility he demonstrates in his interaction with the people. This is the lesson that Prophet Muhammad’s leadership taught Muslim rulers in one of his Hadith when he said: “A powerful person is not the one who can suppress others (with the instrumentality of office) but the one who can resist the temptation to use such power”.

    Sultan Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar seems to have exemplified this prophetic teaching as a Muslim ruler and a faithful one for that matter. And through his humble interaction with all Muslims in Nigeria irrespective of tribal or geographical boundaries, he has become the first Sultan to create a strong feeling of a united Muslim Ummah in Nigeria under a competent leadership.

    An evidence of such unity is the powerful delegation of the entire Southern Muslim Ummah led by the Deputy President General (South) of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Dr. S. O. Babalola, OON, to the tenth anniversary of His Eminence’s coronation in Sokoto last Wednesday. Members of that delegation which included the Aare Musulumi of Yoruba Land,  Alhaji Dawud Makanjuola Abdul Salam Akinola and the President General of the League of Imams and Alfas of Yoruba Land were drawn from all the geographical zones in Southern Nigeria including the Southwest, the Southeast and the South-South.

    Philosophers’ Theory

    Philosophers who assert that every new century has a way of producing a great leader may be right after all. The example of His Eminence, Dr. Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, is a manifestation of that assertion. Ever since he assumed the exalted royal office ten years ago, this great man has convincingly exhibited all the qualities of genuine leadership by all standards. Every statement he has made socially, religiously or politically and every action he has taken privately or publicly has proved to be a school from which all well-meaning people of Nigeria have learnt one lesson or another.

    Reformation of NSCIA

    At the instance of His Eminence, a forward looking reformation has been going on. A number of committees have been set up to take charge of certain necessities concerning the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) and the National Mosque. These have given the Nigerian Muslim Ummah the needed comfort with which to surge ahead as a single body of believers.

    Besides, the Abuja National Mosque has also been reformed in such a way that no Muslim part of the country feels neglected again. Thus, today, the Friday sermon in that Mosque is not only delivered in the three major languages (Hausa, Ibo and Yoruba) in addition to Arabic and English, three deputy Imams have also been appointed to assist the Chief Imam in rendering the Jum’at sermon in rotation every Friday. These Deputy Imams were from the North, the Southwest and the Middle Belt respectively.

    As Chancellor of ABU

    At his first convocation as the 6th Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University in November 2010, His Eminence told the crowd that the current socio-economic indices in Nigeria were a clear indication that the country had begun to drift. He lamented the dwindling standard of education and the growing rate of poverty in the land despite the nation’s unprecedented wealth which he said had failed to aid national development.

    In his words: “…Corruption has emasculated our progress even as poverty and unemployment have pushed citizens to the brinks thereby fuelling social conflicts and inter-communal crises which have extracted heavy toll in both human lives and property…. ”He went further by saying: “Persistent insecurity has generated panic and anxiety; our social and physical infrastructures are far from meeting the needs of the nation; the country appears to be adrift and at the core of all these is moral decay engendered by ignorance and greed.”

    His Emphasis on Education

    To further emphasize his fervent belief in education, he also noted that the reform of the tertiary education sector in Nigeria could not be effective without putting in place the required progressive developments at the basic and senior secondary education levels. He insisted that: “our state governments, especially those of the North, must begin to realize the enormity of the challenges facing the education sector and take urgent and necessary steps to address these challenges.”

    That is a renascent Sultan for you, a man who is at the topmost echelon of the tree of comfort but feels so much concerned about the condition of the peasants who feel deliberately consigned to the weeding of shrubs at the bottom of that tree by the system in place.

    At home in Nigeria, he has never relented in his advocacy for good governance and denunciation of corruption and religious intolerance just as he has consistently campaigned for religious peaceful coexistence at the international forums.

    His Royal Agenda

    In what looked like his royal agenda in respect of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, His Eminence rolled out at that conference certain fundamental programmes to the utter delight of all Nigerian Muslims. Please read an excerpt from his speech at the above mentioned Interfaith Conference as presented below:

    “….we initiated, as we had done for the Jama’atu Nasril-Islam (JNI), a thorough review of the activities of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs [NSCIA] and an extensive reform of its structures”.

    “It is our firm belief that these reforms are not only desirable but necessary to reposition the Council to play its strategic role as the apex Islamic body in the country and to respond, effectively and meaningfully, to the challenges facing the Muslim Ummah in a multi-cultural and multi-religious society. We have had extensive consultations over the last one year and have received very useful inputs on the reform agenda from all the constituent bodies of the Council. Our strategic objectives in this exercise had been and shall remain the following:

    • The promotion of Muslim Unity and Solidarity to accord the Ummah the ability to speak with one voice and to act and work together for the advancement of Islam.
    • The development of Education and Economic Enterprise, to enable the Muslim Ummah play an active role in the socio-economic life of Nigeria.
    • Promotion of peace and religious harmony both within the Muslim Communities and between the adherents of Islam and Christianity.
    • Establishment of effective linkage with Government, at local, state and federal levels, to safeguard the interest of the Ummah and to build consensus on those vital issues that bind us together as a nation….”

    “It is therefore our hope that as we bring this reform process to its logical conclusion, we will receive the support and patronage of the entire Muslim Ummah as well as the co-operation of all stakeholders, including state governments and indeed the Government of the Federation”.

    “Finally we must all work hard to limit the influence of wealth in our society and to support those values that promote social responsibility, excellence and hard work”.

    Conclusion

    That is Sultan Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, a leader who knows the problems of his followers and associates with them in solving those problems. Without a leader like this, the Nigerian Muslim Ummah would have gone asunder.

    This column, ‘The Message’ and its teeming readers hereby join millions of other Nigerians home and abroad in saying CONGRATULATIONS to His Eminence on his tenth anniversary on the throne of the great Sokoto Empire. We pray the Allah to continue to guide him aright in his life’s odyssey.

    Long live the Sultan! Long live the NSCIA! Long live Nigeria

  • Ekiti: A visit by deputation

    Ekiti: A visit by deputation

    Preamble

    It was a trip by deputation penultimate  Friday and Saturday. His Eminence, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar CFR, mni, the Sultan of Sokoto and President General of Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) had been scheduled to visit Ondo and Ekiti States on those two days. But due to some unforeseen circumstances, he could not undertake the journey in person. He   however delegated his Southern Deputy at the NSCIA, His Excellency Alhaji (Dr.) S. O. Babalola, OON, to represent him (Chief (Dr. S. O. Babalola became NSCIA’s Deputy President-General for Southern Nigeria in August 2016).

    He, also being the President of the Muslim Ummah of Southwest Nigeria (MUSWEN), was accompanied by a retinue of Muslim leaders in the Southwest including Dr. Jibril Oyekan, Alhaji Kunle Sanni, Dr. Wole Abbas, Alhaji Mustafa Olawuyi, Alhaji Kola Uzamo, Barr. Yakubu Sanni, Alhaji Sulaiman Afolabi Ogunlayi, Alh. Tajudeen Alabede, Alh. Hafeez Timehin and yours sincerely, on the trip. The Oba of Ayede Ekiti, Alhaji Abdul Mumini Adebayo Orisagbemi Abolokefa IV otherwise known as Attah of Ayede had invited His Eminence to the celebration of his ten year   anniversary on the throne with the laying of the foundation of his new palace and a Mosque. Part of the trip was to pay a courtesy visit to the Deji of Akure, Oba Ogunlade Aladetoyinbo Aladelusi, Odundun II and join the Muslim Community of Ondo State in observing the Jum’at prayer.

    In Deji’s palace

    At the palace of Deji where the delegation was rousingly received, Chief S. O Babalola delivered the following speech on behalf of His Eminence, the Sultan:

    Your Royal Majesty, today’s visit to your palace is historic. Ordinarily, I would have accompanied the President General of Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) and Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, CFR, mni to this palace on this occasion. But due to circumstantial development, he had to delegate me to represent him being his deputy here in Southern Nigeria.

    I therefore wish to express his regret and unreserved apology for not being able to be here in person as earlier planned. Man only proposes. It is God that disposes.  We hope that another chance will come to warrant His Eminence’s presence on this kind of occasion in the near future.

    Nigerian situation

    Your Royal Majesty, this occasion is a confirmation of a well known fact about Nigerian situation. Of the major existing institutions in Nigeria today only that of the traditional rulers is solidly stable. It is evident that there are incessant ripples in other major institutions including the executive wing, the legislative wing and the judiciary wing mostly to the discomfort of the nation. This is because the traditional institution anywhere in the world is permanent and unshaken except where there is an accident of history.

    The current cooperation among the royal fathers in the Southwest region and that of the entire nation is highly appreciated by all, and sundry. And the role of His Eminence in this is conspicuously notable. Since he ascended the Caliphate throne ten years ago, His Eminence, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, has paid his royal colleagues in the Southern parts of the country unprecedented courtesy visits thereby laying a solid foundation for royal friendliness and cooperation among the traditional rulers in the country. He is generally known today as a national bridge builder.

    A national bridge builder

    Your Royal Majesty, there is no State in the Southwest or any other Southern region for that matter that His Eminence has not visited with open hands of friendliness and brotherhood. This is an indication that contrary to what is daily published in Nigerian media, there are people who still believe in the unity of our country and are working hard to ensure that unity.

    Your Royal Majesty, your readiness to receive His Eminence in your palace and the evident preparation for that reception is also a confirmation of the unity of this country at the royal level. If this good example is emulated by the political class, the usual tension in the political arena would have been less and the polity would have been more conducive. Therefore, the traditional institution is hereby implored to further strengthen its unity as a model for all other institutions in the country.

    Constitutional role for traditional rulers

    Meanwhile, I want to call on the legislative arm of the government to revisit the constitution with a view to giving the traditional rulers in the country a more prominent role to play in the governance of the country. If such a prominent role had been facilitated in the constitution, the spate of violence that we witness across the country on a daily basis would have been reduced to barest minimum. There is no gain saying the fact that no other institution is as close to the people and as much respected in Nigeria than the traditional institution.

    Comparison

    Looking at the political situation in Nigeria today, vis-a-vis that of the traditional institution, one will discover that the difference is very clear. While ripples continue in the political waters, the institution of traditional rulers is calm and clement. There is a reason for this. Traditional rulership has no definitive tenure that can easily be challenged by any rival. It is rather an institution that operates on era basis. And the dignity accorded to it is not temporary. In other words, a king is a king as long as he is alive and on the throne. Even after his demise, history still treats him with reverence as a onetime king.

    Your Royal Majesty, we thank God for your life, your health and your royal dignity and we pray the Almighty to continue to endow you with the needed  wisdom, courage and equanimity with which to govern your kingdom for a long time. Long live the Deji of Akure! Long live the Sultanate of Sokoto! Long live the traditional institution in the country! Long live Nigeria!

    In Ayede Ekiti

    At the palace of Attah Ayede in Ekiti, His Excellency Chief S. O. Babalola delivered a speech entitled ‘The Place of the Mosque in Islam on behalf of His Eminence the Sultan as follows:

    “…..Your Royal Majesty, the Attah of Ayede Ekiti, the Attah in Council and all indigenes and residents of Ayede Ekiti, let me greet you in the well known Islamic tradition by saying, Assalam alaykum wa rahmatullah wa barakatuhu”.

    “History is being made here today not just because I am here to lay the foundation of a Mosque in a palace but also because this is the first time that a Muslim Oba is on the throne and on ground in this city of Muslim minority to receive and play host to the leader of the  Nigerian Muslim Ummah”.

    “Today, in the name of Allah, we are laying the foundation of a palace Mosque here in Ayede Ekiti in emulation of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) who laid the foundation of the first Mosque in Islam called the Mosque of Quba in Madinah in 622 CE. Whereas a palace in the life of a Muslim is temporal and ephemeral, a Mosque is spiritual and everlasting”.

    Functions of the Mosque

    From the inception of Islam, the Mosque has always been like the foundation of a house. Without foundation, no house can stand and serve its purpose as an abode for rest, peace and tranquillity. The main source of the Muslim civilization is the MOSQUE which is the origin of all achievements and glory in Islam.

    It was from the Mosque that all intellectual, spiritual and temporal successes of Islam emanated. Mosque is not for SALAT alone. It also serves as the centre for all activities of the Muslim community, whether temporal or spiritual. Mosque should serve as a school, as a library, as a court of justice, as a treasury, as a clinic, as a parliament and as a chamber of commerce. This makes the Mosque like a beehive for Muslims, male and female, old and young. Let the Mosque be properly and fully utilized for the purpose of its existence.

    The Mosque and the Imam

    The Mosque and the Imam are like the message and the messenger. There can hardly be any access to the one without going through the other. No one can seriously talk about the Mosque without making a fundamental reference to the Imam and the congregation that he leads. Actually, nothing is called Mosque without the Muslim congregation and the Imam.

    When Prophet Muhammad (SAW) described learned scholars as the heirs to the Prophets, he was referring to Imams. This is because no genuine Muslim is supposed to be an Imam without first being a learned scholar. However,   there is a sharp difference between a scholar and a learned scholar. The one can be self-arrogated. The other is intellectually evident.

    Becoming an Imam, if due process is followed, is like becoming a judge after a period of certified experience acquired subsequent to graduating from the Law School. It is not enough to graduate from a Qur’anic school and teach the junior ones for a few years to be qualified as Imam.

    Training for Muslim clerics

    We shall notice that Lawyers are trained in the Law School after graduating from the Universities just as Doctors undergo Houseman-ship after their admission into the medical Profession.  Other professions have also devised means of training their upcoming members through what they now call industrial training. In the same way, our Imams should also be encouraged to undergo clerical training that can assist them in guiding the affairs of their congregations. The absence of such training in the Mosque is adversely affecting the propagation of Islam in our society. I therefore call on all State Muslim communities as well as Muslim Organizations in Nigeria to give the training of Imams a priority through periodic seminars, workshops and conferences. This is not a suggestion. It is a major prescription by Islam for anybody who may aspire to become an Imam.

    The issue Muslim minority

    Since the inception of Islam, Muslims have always lived as minorities in any new environment they found themselves. It is only after they might have settled down and established themselves that, by the leave of Allah, their display of unity and their positive contributions to the development of their community, they may become majority.

    At the initial stage of Islam, when Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and his companions were forced to migrate from Makkah to Madinah for safety from the persecution of the pagan majority in Makkah, they were in the minority. And when they reached Madinah, they remained a minority despite the support given to them by some good people of that city who invited them there.

    They were also in the minority when they established the world’s first Islamic democratic government headed by the Prophet in the city of Madinah. They were in the minority when they entered Spain as mere migrants in the 8th century and turned that country into the global haven of civilization. And if we look critically at the world today, we shall discover that the most active Muslim population is the West where Muslims are in the minority. This further confirms that people in the minority are more active because they enjoy unity and cooperation in the face of threat.

    I, therefore, want to urge the Muslims of this great city to remain good ambassadors of Islam and act as patriotic members of the community. You have your share of the responsibility to take this city and indeed Ekiti State to greater heights.

    I congratulate His Royal Majesty, the Attah of Ayede Ekiti and the entire people of this city for today’s historic event and successful outing in the way of Allah. I wish Your Majesty long life with sound health and continuous Allah’s guidance in conducting the affairs of your kingdom. I also implore the people of Ayede Ekiti to further cooperate with His Royal Majesty in facilitating peace and harmony in this clement city.

    “Let there arise from you a nation that calls for righteousness, enjoins justice, and forbids evil. Such men shall surely triumph”. Q3:103. The strength of any group of human beings anywhere in the world is unity and not disunity. The Muslim Ummah in Nigeria cannot be an exception. God bless you all.

    The foundation of the Mosque was laid by His Excellency, Chief S. O. Babalola on behalf of the Sultan.

  • How Saudi prevented Hajj fatalities

    Several Nigerian Muslim families wore melancholic looks around this time, last year. The sad experience was occasioned by the twin tragedies recorded in the holy city of Mecca, almost in quick succession.  Consequently, there was a sudden increase in the number of widows, widowers, orphans and others with various dimensions of bereavement among Muslims across the world and Nigeria was not an exception. One of the two tragedies was the crane crash recorded in the open prayer ground of the Grand Mosque known as the Holy Ka’bah while the other concerns the numerous fatalities of the pebble casting rite at the Jamaraat.

    There were both name-calling and blame-apportioning and the Saudi Hajj authorities were brazen and horrendous in “enlightening” the world about the “true story” of the tragedies. Notwithstanding, the two incidents of fatalities and almost irreparable casualties continued to earn the Saudi Hajj authorities pen-bashing and tongue-lacerations for a long time thereafter. It may be stated for the record that the present writer did not equivocate in interrogating the Saudi stance as he lent his voice to the international discourse generated in that regard by contributing several articles published in some of the leading outlets in Nigeria and overseas.

    Almost instantaneously, the Saudi Hajj authorities remorsefully began to address the various issues emerging from the comments and debates attracted by the accidents.  Today, the 2016 hajj rites have reached their climax and there has not been a recurrence of the last year’s tragedy at the Jamaraat.  It behoves a critical mind to ask, what were the measures involved? Four main measures may be enumerated among several others minor ones. One of such measures was strict implementation by the Saudi authorities of the departmentalization of the hi-tech Jamaraat  Bridge into six levels to ensure smooth flow of pilgrims for the pebble-casting rite,  in a manner that has no potential to facilitate overcrowding or stampedes.

    The strength of this measure lies in the dispersal of several thousands of pilgrims at various levels of the Jamaraat Bridge for the purpose of connecting them to the roads and streets that lead easily to their destinations, after the performance of the rite. This arrangement is not really a new measure. Effective implementation was rather the missing link in previous hajj operations.  Another measure was the enhanced level of monitoring involved in the scheduling for movement to Jamaraat. Again, the measure is not new altogether. Rather, the degree of efficacy offered by the measure this year was essentially an instrumentality of the enhanced quality in the performance of the Saudi Hajj coordinators technically called “mutawwifun”. The heart of the argument here is that there had always been some degree of non-challance  in the handling of the Jamaraat schedule by both the Saudi Hajj coordinators and state hajj officials from various countries, even though there also had always been some exceptions.

    Three, and most importantly, the elaborate re-engineering of hajj operations by the Saudi authorities in a fashion that altered the landscape of rites especially with regard to the status of each ritual performed at specific sanctuaries. This is where Saudi Arabia recently did the most impressive job and offered the most creative interventions in consonance with the available body of Islamic jurisprudential provisions.

    In some of my earlier interventions, I had thought it appropriate to provide information concerning what I know of the Saudi Arabian Government attitude to issues bordering on the safety and security of the pilgrims while in the Holy Lands.  It may be relevant to reiterate that one of the factors that put me in a good stead to contribute to this discourse is that I relate closely with the Saudi Hajj authorities in the capacity of an Accredited Translator/Interpreter, have had access to documents on Saudi rules and regulations on Hajj safety and security through my services to the Establishment for the Coordinators of Pilgrims from Non-Arabic Speaking African Countries, and can therefore attest to the fact that Saudi Arabia is neither negligent over nor insensitive to the plight of the pilgrims. It should be pointed out however, that this position does not claim that there could not have been some deficiencies or inadequacies in the Saudi official preparations for Hajj. It may be a bitter truth that I cannot claim not to have noticed one or two shortcomings during my association with Hajj authorities, even though some of such inadequacies are not of safety orientation.

    Against this background I argued during the 2015 hajj operations that “the bitter truth is that, the Saudi Hajj authorities erred in 2015, and even in few earlier instances (2008 to 2014) that did not record such a huge number of fatalities”. Why?  The answer, to my own mind, as  earlier argued by me: No pilgrims’ movement  from Makkah to Muna can materialize unless it is facilitated by Saudi Hajj authorities. Similarly, no pilgrims’ movement from Muna to ‘Arafah can materialize unless it is effected by the Saudi Hajj authorities who are also actively involved in pilgrims’ transportation to Muzdalifah from where any individual or group of pilgrims can decide to do whatever he likes and move to anywhere he wishes either to return to Muna or advance directly to Jamaraat without any regard for any official schedule, grouping, or time-tabling. So, the Saudi authorities seem to relax their operations at the Jamaraat until when a  major calamity is recorded and they wake quickly from their slumber. This pattern could be noticed in 1991, 1992, and 1993 as well as 1995, 1996, and 1997 (as far as Jamaraat was concerned) and 1999, 2000/2001 accident-free at the Jamaraat.  The impact of the 2006 tragedies spurred the Hajj authorities into massive, comprehensive and all-encompassing safety measures that proved efficacious before diminishing returns set in. By 2014, it had become a mantra on the lips of men and women that Hajj had become much safer than it used to be. That was when Jamaraat Safety measures attained their peak, reached their zenith or full capacity and therefore necessitated a renewal, rejuvenation, enhancement, or improvement especially with regard to how and when pilgrims can enter and exit the Jamaraat.

    Today pilgrims perform hajj rites in comfort at the Holy Ka’bah and the Jamaraat both of which witnessed last year’s tragedy. It is only fair to underscore the high sense of responsibility demonstrated by the Saudi hajj coordinators in this connection. As regards the Holy Ka’bah, it is interesting to note that the expansionist project is a product of the need for more space for the accommodation of the increasing number of worshippers at the Holy House. Such a long-felt need occasioned the intervention of the Custodian of the Holy Mosques, King Abdullah Bn Abdul-Azeez Al-Sa’ud who decisively took up the challenge of bringing about the desired expansion for the purpose of ensuring easy observance of rituals at the mosque whose current carrying capacity for the circumambulation section is far above the earlier estimated 48,000 worshippers.

    In an audio-visual release from the Saudi Arabian Hajj Ministry, the expansionist project was described as having being scheduled for execution in three phases in keeping with the First and Second Saudi Arabian Development Plan. In specific terms, the ground floor now attracts a 30% additional capacity and the first floor, 75% while the repositioning of pillars has now brought about a total carrying capacity of additional 44%.

    As regards the Jamaraat-related safety and security measures taken by the Saudi Hajj authorities, it should be noted that that really where Saudi Arabia deserves plaudits for performing up to global expectations. The Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah has embarked on an aggressive campaign of various orientations and directed its organs such as the Establishments for Hajj Coordination to implement fully all the measures targeted at facilitating an accident-free pebble casting at the Jamaraat.  The present writer has the honour of being charged with the responsibility of translating from Arabic to English some of the highly sophisticated instruments developed for that purpose. The outcome of this year’s hajj operations, with regard to Saudi performance, may arguably be a testimony to the efficacy of such instruments.  Having been so critical of the perceived deficiencies in the Saudi performance in the year that witnessed huge fatalities, the present writer deems it fair enough to expose some of the strengths that have now supplanted the weaknesses of the recent past. Hence the rationale for what follows.

    Saudi Hajj authorities hold that Islam is committed to the elimination of discomfort from human life. They argue that that explains why it seeks to protect the human soul against destruction and prevent the occurrence of anything capable of ruining it. They maintain that It is pursuant to such a rationale that Allah permits eating from a lifeless animal in the absence of food, given that such an exigency permits the prohibited so that the forbidden becomes permissible, owing to the constraint involved.

    The Saudi Hajj authorities believe that the ever increasing population of pilgrims on an annual basis has culminated in the stampeded nature of Muna during the pebble casting rite on the ‘Id day (10th of Dhul-Hijjah) and the following three days of the same month, noting that this experience has led to injuries and fatalities.

    They rationalize that there is an urgent need to embrace discomfort-eliminating provisions of Islam with regard to the rites involved. This necessitates an arrangement for a stay at Muzdalifa till midnight, as prescribed by the Holy Prophet Muhammad, before advancing to Muna for pebble casting. They argue that this provision has the potential to prevent stampede and exposure of pilgrims to excessive heat especially in the face of high temperature. As for those who remain in Muzdalifa till daybreak, they are advised to return to their tents in Muna, in order to avoid a stampede, and thereafter leave to for pebble casting in consonance with the schedule carefully and painstakingly prepared by the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah, in the interest of pilgrims.

    Concerning pebble casting during the three days that follow the day of ‘Id, they observe that road and human congestion is normally occasioned by the insistence of most pilgrims to perform this rite immediately after mid day especially on the 12th of Dhul-Hijjah owing to most pilgrims’ wander-lust to perform the rite early in order to disperse before sunset. The Saudi Hajj coordinators find no strain in identifying this as one of the factors instrumental to several injuries and fatalities, as well as unbearable discomfort.

    They are of the opinion that the Islamic Law does not favour the hurting and inconveniencing of mankind especially during acts of worship. This, they believe, makes mandatory the articulation of Shari’a provisions in that regard for the purpose of enlightening the pilgrims about such provisions in order to facilitate a gentle and tranquil observance of Hajj rites.

    They rely on the fact that the Holy Prophet and all the prophets before him emphasized the virtue of protecting human soul against discomfort and destruction and the fact that the Almighty Allah enjoined this in the Qur’an where He says “Do not expose yourselves to destruction by your own hands”. The implication of this, in their estimation, is that any act or action contravening the protection of human soul is reprehensible.

    Along this line, the Holy Prophet was reported as casting his pebbles after mid day, even though   he did not prevent the observance of the rite at an earlier time of the day nor did he stipulate a terminal time for the rite. This accounts for the divergent nature of opinions in stipulating the timing for pebble casting, among jurists and leaders of Islamic theological thoughts. In specific terms, the Saudi Hajj authorities rely on Islamic jurisprudential provisions articulated below.

    Imam Baqir favours pebble casting after sunrise while Atta’ and Tawuus whose opinion was favoured by Rafi’iyy and Isnawiyy among the Shafi’ites, permit its performance before mid day. Ibn Al-Jawziyy and Ibn ‘Aqeel, both of Hambalite orientation, favour the same position. However, Imam Abu Hanifah maintains that the time of pebble casting starts shortly before mid day and continues till dawn even though he has a second opinion to the effect that it is permissible to observe it before mid day.  To Imam Shafi’iyy, the timing starts from mid day and extends till the sunset of the 13th of Dhul-Hijjah.

    Given that the lives of pilgrims are a trust to Hajj coordinators, Saudi authorities enjoin them to equip pilgrims and their guides with these Shari’a provision in order to facilitate pilgrims’ comfort.  It is instructive to note that is not the best to be closed-minded in the articulation of Hajj rules to pilgrims in a fashion capable of exposing them to danger, which is why it is permissible to embrace the most convenient of all the opinions offered in that connection. A superior argument is determined by the circumstances surrounding the experience involved. So, Muslims are enjoined to be promoters of glad-tidings and do not make Islam inconsiderable. The Holy Prophet was known for his practice of embracing the most convenient of all issues.

    Accordingly, the Saudi Hajj authorities promoted the fact that it is not mandatory to cast the pebble immediately after mid day especially when the path is crowded and mammoth. They also argue that it is rather permissible to delay the performance of the rite to evening or after sunset and infact to the late hours of the following day and even after sunrise till the sunset of the 13th day of Dhul-Hijjah, as stipulated by the Shafi’ite School.

    The foregoing is in consonance with the prophetic practice remaining in Muna till the 13th day. However, whoever wishes to hasten departure on the 12th may embrace the view that permits the performance of the rite before mid day and therefore cast his pebble early in order to leave. They also made known the fact that whoever wishes to perform the rite after mid day, is permitted by Imam Abu Hanifa whose timing for pebble casting extends to dawn. As for those who choose to perform the rite after in the evening or after the ‘Isha’ prayer and thereafter leave Muna, the Saudi Hajj authorities posit that their decision is justified and they needn’t wait to pass the night or perform the rite for the 13th.

    It should also be noted that whoever is incapable to go for pebble casting such as the sick, the infirm or aged, he is allowed to assign the performance of the rite to another individual. As regards the main circumambulation rite known as tawaf al-ifaada, pilgrims are enjoined to delay it to a later time when they can perform the rite conveniently rather than join a heavy congestion. Afterall, there is a long and wide latitude in timing, with regard to this particular ritual which is not restricted to the next three days after ‘Id.

    Consequently, the Saudi Hajj authorities enjoin Hajj coordinators and religious guides to enlighten pilgrims about this and enjoin them to keep to the schedule provided by the Ministry of Hajj and ‘Umrah, for their comfort and easy performance of their hajj rites.

    The enlightenment provided in this connection proved highly rewarding to both the pilgrims and their coordinators in the 2016 hajj operations.   That explains why the arrangement put in place to achieve such a laudable Hajj experience should be applauded. If there had been a recurrence or even a minor replication of the tragedies of last year, this year, there would have been vituperations upon and condemnation of the Saudi Hajj authorities, from various quarters. And now that the reverse is the case and the outcome, impressive, it is only fair that the Hajj   thinkers and operators whose services have been engaged by the Hajj authorities, be associated with reverence and plaudits. Bravo, Saudi Arabia, for Hajj 2016!

     

    • Saheed Ahmad Rufai,

     Ag. Dean, Faculty of Education,

     Sokoto State University, Sokoto.

  • When tomorrow comes

    Preamble

    This is supposed to be a letter of appeal coming to Nigerian politicians from the pulpit of ‘The Message’ column. A similar letter was written in this column about four years ago to this same group of people. Letters of this type seldom come to the arena of politics where conscience is banished and everything in life is based whim even as self aggrandizement is considered to be the ultimate goal. Coming up at this precarious period of political labyrinth in Nigeria, this letter is necessitated by the current frightening political tension that is fast becoming a bubble which may bust anytime from now unless the Almighty Allah decides to save our country by His special Grace.

    If you politicians think that you can escape any calamitous consequence of your ongoing political machination which you are tendentiously weaving around Nigeria you may be day-dreaming. Those who engaged in similar machinations before you in the 1960s, 1980s and 1990s never survived its consequences.

    The function 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 it has not become cancerous.

    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”.

    Most of you (Nigerian politicians) so much typify this Hadith that one wonders if the Prophet had Nigerians in mind when he was expressing that axiom.

    Deceptive motive

    It will be recalled that when most of you started agitating for a return to democracy in the late 1990s while a despotic military demagogue held sway, your seeming focus was on liberation of the Nigerian citizenry from the crushing claw of military despotism. And you did that in the name of freedom fighters or human rights advocates. But hardly had you succeeded in leading the masses to drive away the military boys than some of you began to agitate for your selfish interest by claiming to want ‘to serve your people’.

    Thus, based on that claim, your godfathers or godmothers warmly embraced you not minding your hidden agenda especially when such agenda did not contradict theirs. That claim, which turned out to be the bait with which you deceptively lured ordinary Nigerians into the struggle that ended up in raising your own political pedestal to the height upon which you stand today was a covenant. And that covenant was 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 He will surely hold you accountable for it.

    To you, it does not matter whether you were genuinely elected or surreptitiously smuggled through the back door by depriving others who were more qualified than you of their legitimate rights.

    Your original claim before you were smuggled into whatever position you occupy today will be weighed against your action or inaction in that position or after you might have left the stage. And you will be judged accordingly.

    Just as you will call on God for justice if you were in the shoes of the deprived ones so they will take your case to God’s court in quest of justice. And the prayer of a cheated person, according to Prophet Muhammad (SAW), never suffers a divine denial.

    Remember

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

    As fathers and mothers who politically arrogate the nation’s leadership to yourselves without thinking of the lessons that the younger ones can learn from your conduct on their way to the top you have evidently demonstrated that you are unqualified to bequeath any sensible legacy to the future generations.

    If anything, your thoughtless public utterances, your shameless public actions and counter actions as well as your devilish body language are more destructive to Nigeria’s future than ever imagined. In fact, you can be called anything but patriotic gentlemen of honour which you call yourselves and as such you are unprecedentedly a disgrace not only to Nigeria as a country but also to Africa as a continent. But since you seem to have permanently enlisted immorality as a vital

    instrument of politics without thinking of its consequences and thus behaving like intoxicated horses without reins, you are left to your conscience if you have any.

    Life without justice

    In Islam, two issues are fundamentally sacrosanct both of which Allah does not take lightly. These are sacredness of life and dispensation of justice. It is a great iniquity for any human being to engage in murder and injustice under any guise. Thus, anybody who kills fellow human beings extra-judicially in the name of religion or politics is nothing but an unbeliever of a sadistic nature. 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 not here on earth, definitely in the hereafter.

    Besides paganism, nothing draws the wrath of Allah as fast as these two crimes 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 or spiritually by denying him his legitimate right. Now, which of these has not occurred officially and severally in the course of your political sojourn? How will you explain it to God?

    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 are legislating nor because you are wiser and more experienced than them. What makes most of you legislators in the lower or upper chambers of the legislative arm of government is sheer expediency arising from queer inadequacies sadly fostered by our so-called political system which gives room for gerrymandering and 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 in 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 even after almost two decades of licking our political wound.

    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 even 2011, you started subverting the covenant into which you voluntarily entered with the people who elected or nominated you directly or indirectly. That covenant is to serve them (the people). And those who serve are nothing but servants.

    But 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. From your public conduct, any right-thinking person can vividly see the types of families you are breeding for the nation.

    Executive duty

    As members of the Executive arm when 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 of educational system that promotes probity and decorum in those countries. Rather, your primary concerns are the personal ephemeral gains accruable to you at the expense of the present and the future. For the past 16 years of Nigeria’s fourth republic you have been at the saddle of government 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 power rather than governance and you often go about it in such a manner that gives the impression that government is much more about destruction than construction.

    Nigeria as OPEC member

    You do not even feel ashamed that Nigeria is 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 in the name of subsidy. Even if Nigeria never had electricity before and wanted to start one to boost her economy, is a period of 16 years not enough to provide a functional one especially given the enormous amount of wealth with which she 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 so that you can turn them 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 any juicy future now without caring about what may become of your own children in future.

    Most of you as fathers and mothers will want your children to grow up as responsible men and women, yet, you have nothing in you that can serve as good examples for those children. 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 called thieves. What other names should the children of thieves bear other than thieves?

    Sermon

    The Message hereby implores you Nigerian politicians to search your conscience and fear God. 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 legislature and the judiciary together, in the name of military rule, made possible by coup d’état. Where are they today?

    Governance has its tenure. 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, your duty as government officials, whether in the executive, legislative or judicial wing, is to serve your country in such a way that you can create a historical window for yourselves through which the future generations can retrospectively peep into your lives with reverence. But since everything in Nigeria has been peculiarly monetised (courtesy of Obasanjo regime), it has become a rule that those who hold sway in government, in whatever capacity, must take the lion’s share of our national cake through our lean annual budget. 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.

    Political vendetta

    Some of you think or talk of impeachment only when your salaries, allowances or extra budgetary largess suffers a reduction or delay. 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) admonished the Muslims thus 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 the market place. We can all see the example of this in a former President of this country who is now menstruating through his mouth at any public place.

    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 heritage is more than any material wealth for the entire world today. That heritage is service to humanity. What is your own planned heritage 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.

    Conclusion

    Remember that you are in a ship already voyaging on the high sea towards the shore. And at that shore are fierce customs officers waiting to check the contents of your cargo. Be always at alert.

    Remember that if you cultivate friendship with Satan he will favour your wish. But if he grants you one favour, he will take 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. I hope you will return home as Muslims that you claim to be and not as renegades. Remember all this and adjust now that you may be able to raise your head aloft when tomorrow comes.

  • Opium of a nation

    Opium of a nation

    Preamble

    History is an invisible object with two wings flying across generations in time and in space. One wing is positive, the other is negative. With history, the present becomes the heritage of the past even as the future awaits the baton of continuity from the present. No living nation or tribe or even individual can dream of a realizable future without a viable present based on the experience of the past. The web of life is like a magnet which no iron element can bypass on its way to ornamental glory.

    Fabric of uncertainty

    Against what ought to be her heritage, Nigeria is, today, passing through a fabric of uncertainty as she rolls back the fibres of the future into those of the present and weaves both into the vestiges of the past. Such is a sign of a dead nation waiting to be interned. What war is not ravaging Nigeria today in spite of Allah’s abundant bounties? The forces of the present seem to have connived with those of the past in planning to wrestle the future aground thereby depriving the generations yet unborn of any hope of existence. From all indications, Nigerians live in a country where the ruled are evidently enslaved to their rulers.

    For decades, this country had been forced by her so-called rulers to fight wars ranging from political to economic to social and to ethnic without winning any. Now, a religious war with political bayonet is being added. Religion is likened to an opium in human beings because of its seeming addictive effect on an average believer. Literally, opium means a brownish gummy extract from unripe seed of the opium poppy that contains highly addictive narcotic alkaloid substances like morphine and codeine. When such a substance is mixed with an unstable powdery matter, it turns it into a disadvantageous hardened substance.

    A Land of curses

    Thus, like a billow vigorously storming around at the instance of an invisible tempest, a melee of religious hullabaloo engendered by a vicious political Pandora has virtually turned Nigeria into a land of curses.

    Ordinarily, by its design and intent, religion is supposed to be not only a panacea for all human psychological ailments but also a soothing balm for any spiritual ache. But ironically, it has been turned into a poison in our society which seemingly has no provision for an antidote. And through our attitudes, we seem to be bent on swallowing the pill of that poison without minding its consequences.

    Factors of opium

    The factors that culminated in what we now variously call religious militancy, extremism, fanaticism and terrorism emanated only from the yoke of injustice audaciously engendered by bad governance. And could anything have influenced bad governance as much as ignorance? Yet ignorance would not have had a role to play in our religious or political lives if we had demonstrated the will to genuinely follow the tenets of our religions and learned from the lessons of history without banking on mere assumption and rumour. History as a teacher always has a lesson to teach those who are ready to learn. But unfortunately, most human beings especially Nigerians refuse to learn any lesson from history and the price is what we are paying today.

    From the archive

    In 1962, Nigeria’s Governor General, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe (who later became Nigeria’s first President), paid a three day official courtesy visit to the Premier of Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello in Kaduna. He was accompanied by his wife, Flora. The host Premier mobilized all the paraphernalia of office in honour of his guests whom he gave an unprecedented hospitality. The visit enabled their wives to become so familiar with each other that Flora also invited the Bellos to the East on a similar visit. By the end of the visit, Dr. Azikiwe had become so much impressed that at the point of departure he held Ahmadu Bello’s hands and gently told him to “Let us forget our differences”.

    In response to that emotional but infatuating gesture however, Sir Ahmadu Bello said in an equally gentle but emotional baritone voice: “No sir! Rather than forgetting our differences, let us understand them. I am a Muslim from the Northerner and you are a Christian and a South. It is only by recognizing and understanding those differences that our friendliness can truly endure”. There and then, Dr. Azikiwe nodded in agreement with his host’s logic and accepted the fact that one could not forget what is not understood.

    Lesson to learn

    The lesson to learn from this experience is that of mutual understanding without pretentiously sweeping anything under the carpet. That is the principle upon which the marriage of political strange fellows who find themselves in the same political party is often based in Nigeria. It is also the principle upon which the partnership of many Nigerian businessmen and women is based despite their cultural diversity and incompatibility of interests.

    Effect of ignorance

    For thousands of years, peoples of all races and tribes across the world thrived vaingloriously on cultural ignorance attributing their calamities to mysterious forces and blaming such mysteries on what they called witchcraft. Here in Nigeria, millions of children were forced to die in infancy as designed by their own parents out of sheer ignorance while the same parents turned round to blame on what the Yoruba called ‘ABIKU and the Igbo called OGBANJE’ and the Hausa called MUTIETENDA for the mass infanticide. With time, however, education and knowledge of science brought about the invention of various vaccines with which children are now immunized against all diseases thereby acquiring the mechanism for survival. And this has enabled us to know today that the mystery once called ‘ABIKU or OGBANJE’ was a euphemism for ignorance in the days of yore.

    But now that the days of cultural ignorance seem to be over, Nigerians have devised another means of restiveness by shifting to religious ignorance which enables them to replace the infanticide of the yore with modern day genocide in the name of religion. It is however hoped that one day, knowledge will also help us to overcome the spectre of religious ignorance and enable tomorrow’s generations to tell the story of ignorance as we are telling the story of ‘ABIKU or OGBANJE’ today.

    Allah’s design

    If it had pleased the Almighty Allah to make all human beings one single race with one colour, one tongue and one religion, He would have done so without receiving any query from anybody. But as the Omnipresent and Omnipotent, His decision to diversify His creatures cannot be faulted as it is from that diversity that all creatures have consistently derived benefits. In the world today, there are different races and tribes of human beings with different colours, languages and cultures each functioning as predestined and yet they all interact positively with one another to the benefit of all and sundry. This is in accordance with the words of Allah in Chapter 49 verse 13 of the Qur’an thus: “Oh mankind! We have created you from a male and a female and classified you into races and tribes that you may interact with one another (and thereby draw from the advantages therein). Verily, the most honourable of you before Allah is the most pious among you. Allah is All-knowing and He is most acquainted with all things”.

    Parable of an arable land

    What is true of human beings here is equally true of other creatures. For instance we can all see that on a single arable plot of land, a variety of plants may grow to form an orchard but each with different foliages and fruits. Some of those fruits may be sweet, some may be bitter and some may be sour. Some plants may be fruitful and some may be fruitless. On that same plot of land some plants may grow to become trees of gargantuan posture while others may not grow beyond ordinary shrubs and legumes. Yet they are all fed by the same soil, watered by the same rain and photosynthesized by the same sun. Their different foliages, sizes, heights and tastes notwithstanding, they all function effectively and advantageously according to the purpose for which they are created.

    Similitude of ecosystem

    In the ecosystem, no tree in an orchard will ever accuse another of bearing fruits different from its own and no animal will blame another for carrying a different feature or wearing a different colour. Neither will a whale denigrate even a fingerling in the ocean for sharing the same water with it. Ditto the world of birds and that of insects. Even as plants, animals, aquatics, birds or insects they all know that for everything Allah creates there is a purpose which may not be known to them as creatures. It is only among human beings that discrimination and segregation exist based on ignorance.

    In Islam, all revealed religions are believed to be like an embassy established by a nation in another nation to strengthen her relationship with the host country. The Ambassadors appointed to manage such embassy, may be changed from time to time just like the foreign policy which guides those ambassadors. But the embassy remains intact barring any unforeseen circumstances. So is the case with the Prophets of Allah. They might have come at different times, and from different lands and tribes. They might have brought different books and spoken different languages but their mission was one and the same.

    Muslims believe that all the Prophets and Messengers who have come into the world to guide mankind were from one and the same God who created the universe. Thus, Prophets Ibrahim (Abraham), Ismail (Ishmael) Ishaq (Isaac), Musa (Moses), Daud (David), Isa (Jesus) and Muhammad (SAW) as well as others who preceded them or came in-between them brought the same message of monotheism through which mankind was counseled to worship one God and be upright in conduct.

    Apostles of Allah

    As a Muslim, you cannot believe in one of those Apostles and disbelieve in others. Neither can you believe in one of the revealed Books while disbelieving in others. That is why no true adherent of Islam will ever express foul language against the person of Jesus or that of any other Apostle of Allah for that matter. Though the modalities for worshipping may differ from faith to faith and from sanctuary to sanctuary this does not change the course of their faith in only one God. Thus, the rivalry between Muslims and Christians especially in Nigeria over who is spiritually right or wrong is a product of ignorance which opium feasts upon.

    Similarities

    As taught by Christianity and Islam through their respective revealed Books, the areas of life that need the cooperation of their respective adherents are by far more comprehensive than those in which they differ. For instance, both the Bible and the Qur’an counsel humanity to worship one God. They preach good relationship with other fellow human beings in public and in private irrespective of religious lineage. They advocate good care of our parents, our children, the aged ones amongst us and the handicapped. They urge kindness to our wives and leniency with our adversaries. They admonish us against cheating and any form of corruption. They forbid theft, adultery, fornication, homosexuality, lesbianism and above all the killing of fellow human beings extra-judicially for whatever reason. They also warn us against provocation, aggression, exploitation and transgression even as they emphasize the ephemerality of this world and the eventuality of the hereafter. In all these, Muslims and Christians have a common affinity to jointly dwell temporally and spiritually.

    Dissimilarities

    The few areas in which they differ are abstract and quite personal. They are not areas in which human beings are given the power to pass judgment. Only the Almighty God can judge on them. Such are the areas which we believe will pave our ways towards the Paradise. But since paradise is a matter of choice for individuals and groups why are we fighting each other? After all, no one can tell with precision those who will go to Paradise or go to Hell. Such is the prerogative of God which He has not assigned to any human being and which no human being can and should arrogate to himself or herself except one who wants to play God.

    As an adherent of a religion, you can only perceive your God according to your faith and that should not cause any rancour between you and adherents of any other religion. As Nigerians, we dwell in the same country, eat the same foods, drink the same water, wear the same dresses, trade in the same markets and spend the same money. Our children attend the same schools, write the same examinations and obtain the same certificates. We intermarry across tribes and ethnicities as well as religions. All these form a stronger bond that ought to unite us much more than the abstract ones which often threaten to divide us. In a situation where the factors of life that unite us grossly surpass those that divide us will it not be stupid to sacrifice unity and embrace disunity?

    Conclusion

    This is the time for change. We cannot wait any longer. Let the Christians in Nigeria engage in Crusade and the Muslims in Jihad against all vices in the society which their two revealed Books (Bible and Qur’an) abhor. Let all of us jointly work towards upholding the values of life as contained in the Bible and the Qur’an that we may find ourselves in a new world of peace and harmony as from now. It is only by so doing that we can progress rather than retrogress.

  • A festival in despair

    Preamble

    This article was meant for publication in this column last Friday. It was meant to prepare the minds of Nigerian Muslims for last Monday’s Eid-il-Adha. But due to problem of contact especially since yours sincerely was not in Nigeria, it could not be published as scheduled. However, because of its relevance, I decided to publish today for the benefit of readers. Here it goes:

    Monday, September 12, Muslims all over the world celebrated ‘IdulAdha subsequent to Arafah day which will come up on Sunday, September 11. But unlike their brothers and sisters in other parts of the world, overwhelming majority of Nigerian Muslims will celebrate that festival without any festivity. At the instance of injustice based on avarice and unbridled aggrandisement on the past the past rulers, the ingredients of festivityhad been banished in this country. Thus, many worshippers will spend the festival season in hunger and nostalgia for the good old days.

    This iron period in which the present government is forced to repeatedly promise emancipation of the masses from the scourge of hunger is an indicator of a tough time ahead that must train the citizenry to become tough in their determination to survive in order to be able to keep going while the going gets tougher.

    Egypt for Instance

    Egypt has never been a member of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). She was not an oil producing country until recently. The main stay 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 as most vehicles on Cairo and Alexandra roads were terribly rickety.

    It took an ingenuous management by President Gamal Abdul Nasir and that of his successor, 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 that country 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 subsidised 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 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 proper care of that since inception. 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 tough.

    The country began to supply all other Arab countries their needed man power such as teachers, doctors, accountants, pharmacists, engineers, nurses, and administrators, agriculturists, journalists, name it. Those experts were officially deployed to those other Arab countries on three years renewable contracts. 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 based on official agreements. Thus, in those days, manpower generated from planned education was more profitable than today’s oil wells as diaspora became Egypt’s major source of income. Yet, countries like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Libya 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 or Europeans for the same purpose. As their language and culture were almost the same.

    Social welfare

    With the provision of social welfare for the people, Egyptian government of the 1970s, led by President 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 soon. Her unsurpassable investment in manpower through education is a confirmation of that.

    Industrialisation

    What obtains in Egypt equally obtains in most other Arab countries, especially those of the gulf region. For instance, Saudi Arabia has always known that oil would not flow forever in her wells. Thus as far back as the late 4970s, that country had diversified her economy by establishing two industrial cities of Yambu’ and Jubail, 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 be 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 Universities with impeccable foresight.

    The example of Japan

    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 as did by the immediate past bovernment.

    Nostalgia

    Generally, there is nostalgia in Nigeria today, not only for the days of oil boom when life was relatively comfortable for all and sundry but also for the era of abundant farm crops when the thought of feeding was taken for granted by most citizens. Nigerian Muslims and non-Muslims alike are today yearning for the return of those days when wives could confidently ask their husbands for festival gifts and children could demand for new dresses, shoes and wrist watches from their parents. Those were the days when festival seasons were really festive and the graph of marriage carried some indices of value. Those were the days of friendliness among neighbours, good wishes among colleagues, mutual confidence among spouses as well as general peace and tranquility in the society.

    Now, those days seem to have gone forever. Today, we have found ourselves in a situation against which we had long been warned in a couplet rendered by an Arab poet quoting two disciples of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) i. e. Ubayyi bn Ka’b and Abdullah bn Mas’ud. The couplet goes thus:

    “This is the period against which we had been warned in the admonitions of Ubayyi bn Ka’b and Abdullah bn Mas’ud; A period in which truth would be rejected in its totality while falsehood, corruption and betrayal of trust would be held aloft; should this period further linger with its woes and tribulations, the world, might soon assume a situation where no one will rejoice over the birth of a new baby or grieve over the demise of a dear relative”.

    Observation

    What can we say of a man who fixes his eyes on the sun but does not see it? Instead, he sees a chorus of flaming seraphim announcing a paroxysm of despair. That is the parable of the country called Nigeria. Like the Israelis of Moses’ time, Nigerians have become gypsies wandering aimlessly and wallowing in abject poverty in the midst of abundance. What else do we expect from Allah beyond the invaluable bounties with which He has blessed us?

    Nigeria is not lacking in forest and arable savannah. She is rich in seasons, vegetations, rivers and mountains all of which are great resources for people who are seeking reasonable comfort and are not self-deceptive. What she had consistently lacked was a responsible and patriotic government that could sincerely highlight its priorities according to the yearnings of the ordinary people. That food is becoming a threat to Nigerians today is an irony emanating from selfishness, naivety and massive corruption of our past governments enspecially from 1999 when the current democracy commenced to 2015 when a change of gear became compelling.

    Cost of governance

    In Nigeria today, the cost of running the government alone is enough to render the country bankrupt. The retinue of ministers and a galaxy of Presidential Advisers are major causes of poverty in the country. Even America with her huge economic resources, large population and financial muscle does not have more than ten ministers? Why must we retain an obnoxious immunity clause in our constitution which facilitates monumental corruption for the serving Governors who are hypocritically chased around but never caught for trial on the allegation of embezzlement after they might have left office?

    Besides, what informs the idea of the so-called constituency allowances for legislators, which run into billions of naira without anything to show for it at a time when innocent women and children are crying for food? No one would have thought in 1999 that artificial hunger could be added to the abysmal level of poverty in Nigeria despite the increasing rise in price of oil in the international market. The ubiquity of beggars and lunatics in our cities and towns is a confirmation of this assertion.

    Until now, governance in Nigeria had ‘become an artful trick adopted by a cabal to bamboozle the populace into blind submission. The propaganda in the 1980s was almost hypnotizing: ‘food and shelter for all in year 2000!’ That slogan was changed in the 1990s to: ‘Vision 2010!’ And when year 2010 was approaching, the slogan again changed to: ‘Vision 2020!’

    Self-deception

    Even as recently as 2014, without roads, without electricity, without functional rail transportation system for the masses, without jobs for majority of the able-bodied citizens and even without food on our tables, we were still being cajoled into believing in the illusion that Nigeria, a country without coins, would become one of the 20 biggest economies in the world in year 2020. Isn’t that a deliberate and callous deception? No country in history has ever been known to have achieved economic vibrancy by magic wand. Nigeria cannot be an exception.

    An FAO report in 2008 revealed that about 300 Nigerians were dying of hunger daily in their own country. Only God knows what that figure might have become now. Given its seeming seriousness and sincerity of purpose, the current total cooperation of the people to enable it rebuild this country once and for all. A fire brigade approach to food crisis in a country like Nigeria is a shameful reaction to an avoidable melancholy.

    Irony of life

    It is ironic that people who live by the river bank can’t get water to drink when those living in the desert can find a reliable oasis to combat any drought. Given all the resources with which we are endowed, Nigerians should have no business with material poverty let alone food crisis.

    Capitalism, which was once an economic ideology propelling mercantilism, has moved a step ahead, especially in Nigeria where official theft has become a profession. Capitalism is now a religion through which its adherents worship money. To such adherents, accountability is a mere riddle which only the poor may wish to unravel.

    It is only in the interest of those in government, especially those in the executive and legislative arms who are most active in sharing public funds, to let the national wealth spread across board legitimately if only to avoid the current Nigerian elite situation where every house has become a prison in which the occupants are voluntarily jailed. To ignore the rule of law and shun justice in a land blessed with milk and honey is to cultivate trouble with insecurity in all its ramifications.

    Conclusion

    Nigeria needs to learn a lesson from the Egyptian example and find a solution to her overwhelming problem as did the Egyptians at their time of difficulty. Problems are meant to be solved. And there is no problem without solution. But people who always want to eat their cakes and still have them can never overcome their problem. Defending corruption in the guise of ethnicity or religion cannot see Nigeria through the Cape of Good Hope. Let the thieves of this country return the loot and face the consequences of their evil acts. The alternative if for Nigeria to remain as it is forever.