Category: Femi Abbas

Worried by the big vacuum which the refusal of most Nigerian Muslims to pay Zakah has created in the society, the Muslim Community of Bodija Estate (Ibadan) and its environs organised a public lecture last Sunday to educate its members on the nitty gritty of that third pillar of Islam. And yours sincerely was invited as the guest lecturer. The venue was the premises of the ultra-modern Mosque of the Community strategically located on Awolowo Avenue. In the lecture which drew a rapt attention of the audience, I stated inter alia as follows:

Perhaps no institution in Islam has brought as much harmony to human societies as Zakah. Its divine decree and revelation to Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in the 5th year of Hijrah was a social revolution coming to mankind with an ecstasy of delight. That decree was the Fatwah that ushered Zakah into the world and made it the third pillar of Islam.

Hitherto, there was no organised system of redistribution of wealth for the purpose of alleviating poverty in any society. Although the Prophet had introduced Sadaqah as a pecuniary bridge among the Muslim social strata, this was voluntarily done according to the whims of the rich. It had neither time nor measure.

While in Makkah, the Prophet was limited to only two pillars of Islam. These were ‘Iman’ (Faith) and Salat (observance of five daily prayers). The three other pillars came to him through divine revelations in Madinah. Of the three, Ramadan first came in the third year of Hijrah while Zakah followed in the fifth year. Both were finally anchored by Hajj in the 7th year. However, Zakah is our immediate concern here.

Zakah is not about the rich and the poor alone. It is also about harmonious social interaction of individuals and groups in the society to boost tolerance, love and concord. With the coming of Zakah as an obligatory pillar of Islam, the mutual suspicion between the rich and the poor was brought to its barest minimum. And the instrumentality of governance was formidably strengthened. Zakah is the only pillar of Islam that affects other people. Faith, Salat, Sawm (fasting) and Hajj are all personal. They cannot be shared with anybody. It is only Zakah that requires the give and the recipient to the benefit of the latter.

Life without Zakah

Without Zakah, it would have been much more difficult to enforce law and order as the rampancy of overwhelming poverty among the people would have been generally viewed as an act of insensitivity on the part of the rulers. And this would have randomly engendered rebellion against the authorities.

The word Zakah which means purification of wealth is mentioned 35 times in the Qur’an. And about 30 times out of these are mentioned along with Salat. This is to enable the Muslims attach as much importance to Zakah as they do to Salat. Though Zakat is meant for only those who have excess annual income, just a few Muslims who can afford its payment care about it despite being one of the five pillars of Islam. Many people have performed Hajj so many times that it has virtually become their annual hobby. Yet, they have never paid Zakah even once in their life time.

No pillar of Islam is meant for the rich alone. Allah knows that more people will have less material resources and therefore designs a means of redistributing wealth among all while making it obligatory so that the givers will not see themselves as superior to the recipients. Like the other four pillars of Islam, Zakah becomes obligatory on all Muslims who are privileged to make legitimate excess annual income. What makes the difference between the givers and the recipients of Zakah, therefore, is the little excess recorded in personal income by the supposed givers. After all, a recipient this year may become a giver next year and that does not necessarily make him a rich person. This further confirms that Zakah is not exclusive to the rich.

Hajj is the last pillar of Islam. It is expected of whoever will perform Hajj to have fulfilled the obligations of the other four pillars of Islam before jumping to the last one. But due to lack of understanding of Islam and the seeming glamour in Hajj performance, most Nigerian Muslims, out of sheer ignorance or misconception or even whim, have performed Hajj several times at the expense of Zakah by substituting the latter for Sadaqah.

Problem of Nisab

The main problem of Zakah in the world today is in the controversy over the interpretation of Nisab (i.e. the minimum taxable amount from which Zakah is supposed to be paid) as prescribed by Prophet Muhammad (SAW).The controversy over that amount is the bane of Zakah and the main cause of the glaring poverty among the Muslims.

Some modern scholars have become so lazy and perhaps so intellectually retarded that they only rely on research carried out by primordial scholars some centuries ago for the exhibition of their own intellectualism. They believe that the research carried out according to the situation of those periods should suffice to project of Islam today. Thus in matters of Zakah, such scholars are so rigid on using gold as the measure for determining Nisab that they do not care if Zakah is no longer paid and the five pillars of Islam are technically reduced to four. Such scholars have ignored the fact that the same Prophet Muhammad (SAW) who prescribed gold as a measure of Nisab for sellers and buyers of gold also prescribed silver (as a measure of Nisab for the sellers and buyers of silver as well as the majority of Muslims who are engaged in other businesses). That same Prophet even went further to name the amount of Nisab in certain currencies available during his time.

And since payment of Zakah is not about money alone subjecting the Nisab (minimum taxable amount of money) to the market price of gold is like surrendering a whole pillar of Islam to the whim of the Jews who are determined to obliterate Islam by all means. It is generally known throughout the world that the principal traders in gold are the Jews. And they are the ones determining its price from time to time. While some scholars insist on waiting for the current price gold to be able to determine Nisab only a few people know that as of today it requires just a minimum of about 200 UAE Dirham which is an equivalence of $54.5 or N8,656 as the net amount saved or owned in kind in a year from which Zakah is to be paid. And only two and a half per cent of this amount is payable annually. The figure here is based on 200 UAE Dirham in accordance with the Prophet’s prescription. By this, only those who have less than N8,656 net in a year will not pay Zakah. Yet Nigerian Muslims prefer to spend thousands of dollars on Hajj annually without paying Zakah. The irony in this is that such people are just wasting their money on mere tourism which fetches no reward whatsoever.

Zakah compared to Hajj

Paying Zakah annually before consideration for Hajj is like making provisions for one’s household before embarking on that holy journey. Not making necessary provisions for the family before embarking on Hajj automatically renders such Hajj invalid. It is better and more rewarding to pay Zakah and leave Hajj if a choice of opportunity cost must be made between the two. Hajj is for self alone while Zakah is a social venture which affects the lives of others.

There is a conditional alternative to Hajj but Zakah has no alternative at all. The Prophet was reported to have said that anybody who is able to observe all the Jum’ah (Friday) prayers dedicatedly in a year without missing any will have the reward of a Muslim who performed Hajj once in a life time. No such alternative can be related to Zakah. Its payment is a trust between the payer and Allah the Supreme Giver.

To be sincere, how many workers in Nigeria actually save less than N8656 in a whole year? The amount of money spent on GSM recharge cards alone by some people in a month is much higher than that Nisab. In some other religions 10% is paid as tithe on gross income as many times in a year as there is income. In Islam, Zakah is paid on net income only (and not on gross income) only once in a year. Yet, two and a half per cent or 1/40 of the net income is the prescribed amount to be paid after bearing all necessary expenses and payment of outstanding debt.

Due process

In Islam, everything is done by due process. And Zakah cannot be of any exception. The process of paying Zakah includes the following:

· Being a genuine Muslim

· Attainment of the age of maturity

· Intention to pay Zakah and not Sadaqah;

· Timeliness (i.e. after one year of accumulating the wealth from

which Zakah is to be paid);

· Paying the correct amount (i.e. abiding by the rule of Nisab);

· Ensuring that the Zakah paid is collected by the recipient;

Disbursing such Zakah locally to deserved beneficiaries

The wealth on which Zakah must be paid are basically seven. These include: gold; silver; cash income; agricultural products; livestock; property and mineral resources.

Every male or female Muslim who has a net income of at least N8656 which is an equivalence of 200 UAE Dirham prescribed by the Prophet as reported by Ali Bn Abi Talib, the third Caliph. The Prophet was quoted as saying that if you have a net income of 200 Dirham or 20 Dinar you are liable to the payment of Zakah. The fact that he mentioned Dirham which was coined in silver before Dinar which was coined in gold confirms that he gave preference to silver over gold as a measure of Nisab. And based on the quoted Hadith, Umar Bn Khattab also laid emphasis on silver during his caliphate.

Both Dirham and Dinar are still very much in use today in some Arab countries. For instance in countries like the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Syria and Morocco, the currency in use is Dirham while countries like Jordan, Iraq, Libya and Kuwait use Dinar.

Most of the prescriptions of Nisab by today’s Nigerian scholars are based on the current global market value of gold. This is contradictory to the position of the second Caliph (Umar Bn Khattab) who adopted 200 silver-based Dirham prescribed by the Prophet to enable as many people as possible pay Zakah even as he did not prevent those who preferred gold as measure from using it. (For reference, see the section of Zakah in Bulughul Marami and Riyadus-Salihin).

Insisting on gold as a universal measure of Nisab in today’s world is nothing but an ambush for that third pillar of Islam as well as a clandestine collaboration with the enemies of Islam to ditch the third pillar of that divine religion. The Prophet had guarded against this by considering the implications of not paying Zakah before he prescribed Dirham and Dinar. Going by the current market value of gold some Nigerian scholars now insist that the Nisab for Zakah this year should be about N710000 while others are prescribing various other amounts. In a nutshell, there is no uniform Nisab based on consensus. Yet because of its dynamism as a religion, Islam had adopted for statutory sources for its law (Shari‘ah). They are the Qur’an, Hadith, Ijma‘u (consensus of opinion) and Qiyas (analogical deduction). These sources are applied in order of their arrangement.

Why Dirham?

The Message as a column chose the UAE Dirham in this case because of Nigerians’ familiarity with it. Many Nigerians either travel to Dubai for business transactions or pass through that globally acknowledged transit city on their way to some other countries. Through this, they become familiar with the UAE currency called Dirham which the Prophet recommended as a matter of priority. The argument that the Dirham of the Prophet’s time was different from today’s Dirham is as pedestrian as saying that since the Prophet did not mention Naira in the measure of Nisab, Zakah should not be paid in Naira. Can anybody prove that the available gold or silver during the Prophet’s time was not the same as that of today? Just as gold is gold whether during the Prophet’s time or today so is Dirham or Dinar the same.

What is statutorily payable from N8,868 is N221.7 (which is 21/2% or 1/40) of that amount. Today, the Dirham used in the United Arab Emirates is globally recognised as denominated in silver just as the Dinar used in Jordan and Iraq is recognized as denominated in gold.

With regards to landed property, no Zakah is paid on residential building that is not commercialised. If however, a part of it is commercialised and made a source of income (i.e. a part of it is let out) Zakah should be paid on the amount realised from the income so generated. If an open land is rented out commercially, Zakah should be paid on the amount realised from it provided that amount reaches the prescribed measure (Nisab). But if the property is sold out the payable sum on it should be 21/2% or 1/40 of the amount realised from its sale.

Other properties on which Zakah should be paid include machinery leased out which generates income or a plot of land leased out on commercial basis or a well of water used for commercial purpose. Whatever is realised from any of these should be assessed according to the prescribed measure and 21/2% or 1/40 of its net balance be paid as Zakah after deducting all expenses incurred on its process and payment of any debt.

As for the agricultural products, the prescribed minimum quantity from which Zakah should be paid is 653 kilograms. Such products include cash crops, legumes, fruits as well as tuber. There is no payment of Zakah on anything less than that weight. And the measure to be paid on agricultural products generally is 10% if the farm is not irrigated. But if irrigation is involved, only 5% is to be paid. This is to enable the farmer to cater for the cost of irrigation. The Zakah on farm products is paid immediately after harvesting. Payment of Zakah on agricultural products, especially crops, may be more than once in a year because it is a matter of pay as you harvest.

In the case of livestock, the quantities from which Zakah should be paid vary from animal to animal. For instance, one cow is given as Zakah out of every 30 cows. One goat or one sheep is given as Zakah out of every 40. One year old goat or sheep is given as Zakah on every five camels.

The minimum taxable Nisab on gold is 20 Dinar. Out of this, half of one Dinar, which amounts to 1/40 of 20 Dinar is payable. Anything in excess of 20 Dinar is calculated accordingly. Besides gold and silver, there is no Zakah on mines until they have been converted into cash or cash-able values. Zakat may also be paid on expected payment of debt if the debtor is reliable and trustworthy.

In an Islamic environment, collection of Zakah is done by the ruling authorities or their appointees. Such appointed collectors should be highly responsible men and women of truthful and trustworthy characters. Men are to collect Zakah from men. Women are also to collect from fellow women. The Zakah so collected should be deposited in the central treasury for onward distribution to the qualified beneficiaries.

The beneficiaries, are contained in Qur’an 9 verse 60 as follows: “Verily, Sadaqah (obligatory alms) are only for the poor and the needy and those who work on its collection and those whose hearts are to be reconciled (i.e. new converts) and to free those in bondage and the heavily indebted and in the path of God and the wayfarers; a duty imposed by God; God is all-knowing, all seeing”.

The administration of Zakah to these people should be done by the State authorities in Islamic societies or committee headed by Muftis of each locality or Chief Imams of area Mosques in non-Islamic societies.

The wealth on which Zakah is to be paid must have been acquired from a pure, legitimate source (Halal). And the modality for distributing it must also be based on purity both esoterically and exoterically.

In a non Islamic environment, there is hardly a definite calendar year for Zakah payment. This is arranged on a Mosque to Mosque basis or organized privately by societies and individuals.

It is better to dispense Zakah within the extended family or in the neighbourhood than to carry it outside one’s environment. In countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan, Indonesia, Iran and the likes, the time for paying Zakah is set to coincide with Ramadan period. This does not however mean that every Zakah time must fall in Ramadan.

Generally, the business of Zakah is as serious with Allah as it is in the lives of the poor masses that will benefit from it. Thus, it is not a topic to be fully treated in a single day column of this type. It may therefore be continued in this column in the near future.

And when our messengers came to Lot, he was grieved for them because he could not protect them against the sacrilegious acts of his townsmen (who were neck deep in homosexuality). Lot concluded: ‘this is a day of woe.’ And as the evil doers came rushing towards him he said: ‘’my people, here are my daughters; they are (sexually) more lawful to you than your fellow men. Have fear of Allah and do not humiliate me (with your sacrilege) before my guests. Is there no single good man amongst you?

“Then, the Angels said: ‘Lot! We are the messengers of your Lord; they shall not touch you. Depart with your kinsfolk in some part of the night and let none of you look back, except your wife. She shall suffer the fate of the others. Their appointed time is the morning. And, is the morning not near? And when our judgment came to pass, we laid them (and their towns) upside down and let loose upon them a shower of burnt stones bearing the tokens of your Lord. Such is not far off from all evil doers”. Q. 11: 76, 77, 81 & 82.

The above Qur’anic quotations are in reference to the people of Prophet Luth (called Lot in the Bible) and the consequences of their evil deeds. But as the last quoted verse indicates, the story of such evil machination did not end with them and its consequences will surely not end with them. Every civilisation has an elasticity limit. And the end of any civilisation is signalled by audacious confrontation with God. Now, the imperial West with its open adoption of sodomy as civilisation seems to be heading for eternal perdition. Having reached the elasticity limit of its civilisation the West now thinks that, contrary to the Qur’anic and Biblical provisions, the men of Sodom and Gomorrah were afflicted by the above mentioned calamity either because they were not clever enough or they had no nuclear power with which to fight God.

Gay crusader

Before now, the known chief gay crusader of this era was no less a personality than the Prime Minister of Britain, David Cameron whose campaign for free homosexuality and same sex marriage was being internationalised. At the Commonwealth Heads of Governments Meeting held in Australia in 2011, Cameron’s preoccupation was to sell the constitutional entrenchment of free homosexuality to other Heads of governments, particularly those from Africa. He threatened to withdraw his government’s technical and financial aid to any country that refused to allow gay freedom in her constitution. The so-called champion of democracy did not see any despotic tendency in that intimidation.

Calling the bluff of devil

The first reaction to the devilish threat came from the then Ghanaian President John Atta Mills who publicly and eloquently told his fellow countrymen that his government would not tolerate the linkage of foreign aid to promotion of gay rights. President Mills open denunciation came after David Cameron boasted in the British Parliament that he had sold the concept of gay rights to the Commonwealth countries. President Atta Mill asked: “If the aid is going to be tied to things that will destroy the moral fibre of our society, do you really want that?”

Ghana was not alone in such denunciation. Uganda, at that time, also asserted in reaction that she would rather suffer any economic backlash from anywhere over her opposition to gay rights. Both countries then separately went ahead to proscribe homosexuality and consigned Cameron’s threat to the refuse bin.

Out of the 54 members of the Commonwealth at that time, 41 maintained laws banning homosexuality, with many of those laws dating back to the British colonial rule. Uganda in particular described Cameron’s threat to cut bilateral aid as bullying tactics. And Ghana, which enjoyed some 36 million British pounds aid the previous financial year, said it would not compromise on immorality and bastardization of cultural value. It will be recalled that Cameron had been harping on gay rights since assuming office as Prime Minster of Britain. He was apparently sponsored by the gay cult on the promise to take the campaign for gay rights to the outside world, convinced that the British point of view on this evil venture was the law by which all her former colonies must abide. In that case, Britain’s point of view was considered to be more salutary than Africa’s.

When, shortly after the Australian Commonwealth Conference, Malawi, another African Country, sentenced two homosexuals to 14 years imprisonment with hard labour, David Cameron quickly responded by slashing $30 million from that Britain’s aid to that country.

Personal contact

Yours sincerely first heard of the presence of a gay group in Nigeria in 1998 when the preparations were in top gear for the take off of the Fourth Republic. On investigation as a journalist, I discovered that the Headquarters of the group was then in Ibadan. And in my search for a scoop, I endeavoured to meet the leader of the group but my efforts proved abortive. However, I was able to get his telephone number (not GSM) through which I spoke with him from Lagos. During our conversation, he told me boastfully that all hands were already on deck to get same sex marriage legalized in Nigeria through the National Assembly. He told me that the group had money, men and power to back up its demand emphasizing the status of the ranks in the group.

The group’s Headquarters then was somewhere off Osuntokun Avenue in Bodija, Ibadan. But when I tried to locate the place about two years later, I discovered that the group had relocated to Abuja where it could closely monitor the legalization of its project through the National Assembly. Thus, I was not surprised when an attempt was first made in 2003 to sponsor a bill in the National Assembly for the legalization of same sex marriage in Nigeria.

Thank God for David Mark

However, we thank God that the Senate President David Mark, maintained his dignity and upheld the cultural honour of Nigerians by not allowing any debate on such an obnoxious bill. Even his Deputy who was initially rumoured to be working in favour of the evil bill promptly denied it and cooperated with the moralists in the Senate to ensure that no evil law emerged from that legislative arm of government. In his remark while the bill remained on the table, Mark told his colleagues that such a bill was not only incompatible with African culture but also antithetical to religious beliefs in Nigeria. Bravo! Allowing a debate on such a sacrilege would have brought any image left for the Senate at time to its lowest ebb. The point here is that not all who bear the name David can be devilish or angelical at the same time.

It could be assumed that for David Cameron to have championed such a desecration, he must have also been a gay. And what can be strange in having a gay as the Prime Minister of Britain when publicly known Gays are consecrated as Bishops in the Church of England which is headed by the Queen. And despite the hue and cry on Cameron’s heretic action, the Queen who is the Head of State remains silent an indication of consent on her part.

Political consideration

A political school of thought suggested that David Cameron might have been noticed the rising population of gays in his country and therefore driven by blind ambition to win election through that under the disguise of campaigning for gay rights. But if that is true of his campaign for the sacrilege inside his own country what votes does he expect from African countries? An analyst said he needed the acceptability of the Commonwealth countries as a springboard for his gay rights campaign at home. At least if he told Britons that almost all the Commonwealth countries had accepted to include gay rights in their constitutions that might ginger the British electorate towards voting for him. After all, he had also taken his gay crusade even to the secondary school level in England saying that teaching children about equality for gay people and the importance of civil partnerships should be “embedded” in Britain’s school curriculum.

The irony of Cameron’s new crusade is that he had, in the past, opposed any inclusion of gay rights in the British constitution. Even as recently as 2003, he voted for the retention of section 28 of the British acts which prohibited gay rights in Britain.

But in a sharp departure from his Tory past, Cameron came out shamelessly to apologise for supporting that section and turned round to say that teaching about equality was an important way of combating homophobic bullying.

Museveni’s u-turn

Incidentally, David Cameron was not alone in his U-turn mazy odyssey. Even the same Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni who first vehemently opposed any legislation allowing freedom of sodomy in his country has now turned round to speak from both sides of his mouth. He is deploying his presidential power to block any official prohibition of sodomy in Uganda an indication that he has become a convert of the gay cult. What is true of Museveni here is equally true of President Barack Obama of the United States. The latter was once an ardent campaigner against homosexuality. His changed attitude to that obnoxious evil came to the fore only last year. It is not clear yet what informed that change of attitude but in a capitalist world where anything, including evil trade by barter is quite possible, anything could have happened.

Cameron’s changing attitude towards homosexuality was highlighted in a study by the National Centre for Social Research which found that 36% of respondents thought sexual relations between two adults of the same sex were “always or mostly” wrong. This is down from 63% in 1983.

Cameron’s disciple

Long before carrying his gay campaign to the Commonwealth meeting in Australia, Cameron had secretly done a lot of homework in that direction. For instance, a well known unrepentant gay woman, Ruth Davidson, 32, had been elected as leader of the Scottish Conservative Party at the instance of Cameron after the entire membership of the party had rejected her leading rival’s radical proposals to create a new centre-right party.

She is widely seen as David Cameron’s favourite chosen to lead the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party by a comfortable margin after a most bitterly-fought and divisive leadership campaign in the party history. Officials in London believe that Davidson, a lesbian and the youngest of the four candidates, would be able to freshen up the Tories’ faltering appeal to Scottish voters. Her victory saves the prime minister from the embarrassment of watching the UK party being split by Davidson’s rival for the leadership, Murdo Fraser.

France of evil

The case of President Francois Hollande of France is however neither strange nor surprising. France and her leaders are permanently known as champions of evil around the world. And they have a way of justifying their evil acts at any given time. France is the foremost European country in the persecution of Muslims. With about 10% of the country’s population (6.5 million Muslims) the French government has never found any deserving human rights for Muslim women to wear hijab legitimately. Ironically, the French gay cult with a population of about 5.4 million is granted an official legitimacy in the constitution under the guise of human rights. This confirms that the so-called human rights are a euphemism for indecency and satanic machination in France. And, of course, Hollande is its flag bearer.

For initiating a bill forbidding homosexuality in Nigeria, both the Federal House of Representatives and the Senate deserve kudos. The heroes of that landmark law are the Senate President David Mark and Speaker of of the Parliament the Rt. Honourable Aminu Tambuwal who championed its enactment and President Goodluck Jonathan who actually signed it into law. History will always keep them alive for this.

NSCIA’s reaction

In an appreciative reaction to that law, the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) opined through a press release as follows: We (in the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs) hereby commend the two national legislative houses (Reps and Senate) for passing the bill forbidding same gender marriage or illicit same gender sexual relationship according to the popular wish of Nigerians. We also praise and support President Goodluck Jonathan for signing the bill into law at a record time even against evil pressure from the Western leaders. The law is a further confirmation that Nigerians will hold on to the chord of God at any time no matter whose ox is gored. We urge Mr. President to surge ahead with his good intention on this law and count strongly on God’s support and further guidance as Nigerian Muslims will always queue behind him in fighting such satanic vices…..”

Conclusion

It does not matter that Britain, a once colonial empire is returning to the path of perdition and sinking with most NATO member nations. Neither does it matter that some evil-minded Nigerians are subjecting that law to devilish debate by subscribing to the Western woes. Such is however not strange since most Nigerians would do anything for money. What matters at this stage is majority of Nigerians have expressed their readiness to keep far away from the madding crowd of the insane West. Congratulation! Sodomy, according to the Qur’an and the Bible, is the straight path to Hell which pious Nigerians can’t afford to thread it.

If His (Allah’s) sign is that He created mates for you of your own kind that you may find peace of mind through them, and He has put love and tenderness between you. In that are signs for people who can reflect”.

Q.30:21

Modern civilisation seems to have given a new connotation to the word family.

By contemporary definition, that word has come to mean a man, his wife and children. This definition is contrary to that of Islam or what obtains in African culture.

In Africa as in Islam, family is an esoteric community that emphasises the web of a pedigree. Such a community may be by consanguinity, affinity or fosterage. The main essence of calling it a family is to give every member a sense of belonging and that of security. When family becomes larger than what a compound or a village can accommodate, it becomes a clan.

Islam does not only recognise family setting with its legitimate norms and characteristics, it also gives adherence to those norms a pass mark in faith.

In Islam, family is a major yardstick for measuring the seriousness of Muslims. That is why its definition transcends what the west now calls nuclear family. Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was reported to have said that: “Marriage is half of Islamic religion. Whoever is qualified to marry but refuses to do so is not part of me”. And, talking about family can only be in vain without reference to marriage.

Marriage

This discuss is not about marriage per se. It is rather about the family of a Muslim in all its ramifications, as prescribed by Islam.

Besides ventilating the atmosphere for harmony and concord, a family is supposed to resolve any conflict among its members. But where a family is afflicted by disharmony, Islam has an alternative means of resolving conflicts. That alternative is the Shari‘ah court.

Most Muslims, like non-Muslims, do not understand the essence of court beyond dishing out penalties or dissolving marriages. That is why most couples don’t take their conflicts to courts until they have reached the point of divorce. If Nigerian Muslims thoroughly understand Islam, they would have known that going to court over matrimonial conflicts does not necessarily entail bitterness. It is the duty of the family to resolve any matrimonial conflict before it gets out of hands. But where the family fails, it becomes the duty of the local Mosque to resolve. It is only where both the family and the Mosque have failed that a matrimonial conflict can be taken to court for adjudication. And, even that should not be with the intention of dissolving the marriage. For Muslim family, Shari’ah courts are not meant for marriage and divorce alone. They also serve as a forum of arbitration on knotty issues like business and inheritance.

How Muslims should write Will

One of the obligatory Islamic duties which most Muslims take for granted is the writing of will. For every Muslim adult, male or female, writing a will is not a matter of choice. It is incumbent. But not many Muslims know this. And the few who know do not seem to be comfortable with it.

The general thinking is that writing a will is only for old people who are close to death or those who are very rich. This does not only contradict the concept of Islam about death, it also contravenes the principle laid down in Islam about will writing. No one knows when death will come. An octogenarian may continue to live while a man or woman of twenties or thirties may die. The healthy may die while the sick lives. The circumstances of life in this age of technology which cause death are very unpredictable. Thus, death may come to anybody at any time.

One of the advantages of Tafsir in the sacred month of Ramadan is to disseminate knowledge especially on sensitive but fundamental issues often over-sighted by most Muslims. Writing a will is one of such issues. Will in Islam is called wisayah. It is a very significant means of providing a flexible instrument of transferring estate or a fraction of it to those who are not heirs. It is also a means of leaving a permanent instruction for one’s children, wives and siblings on how to conduct life after the legato might have been demised.

Wisayah basically means an instruction for posthumous implementation that contains a bequest of assets and debts to others after one’s death. It depicts the differences between hibah which means a gift in one’s life time and wirathah (inheritance). Hibah therefore is a voluntary gift delivered to the intended beneficiary after the death of the giver.

In Islam, writing a will is not about bequest of wealth per se. It is rather more about the explanation of certain things in the life of the will writer which were not known to his or her family members, relatives and close associates. For instance, if the concerned will writer did not pay Zakah when he was able to pay it, or if he was indebted but did not disclose it to his relatives or if something was entrusted to him without involvement of witnesses or if he made a promise to someone without the knowledge of his relatives, it is incumbent upon him to include such matters in his will. This is to clear any possible ambiguity or doubt about his relationship with other people while alive. The contents of such a will are never disclosed until after the death of the writer. A Muslim will can be written or oral. And it is forbidden for anybody to alter such a will in any form. Altering it is a crime punishable in Islam.

Writing of will by Muslims is ordained by the Almighty Allah in Q.2:180 thus:

“It is decreed that when death approaches, those of you that leave wealth shall bequeath it equitably to parents and kindred. This is a duty incumbent upon the righteous. He that alters it (the will) after hearing it shall be accountable for his crime. Allah is all-Hearing, all-knowing.” The Prophet was also reported by Bukhari and Muslim as saying that “Any Muslim who has something to bequest should not pass two nights without writing his will”. And Ibn Majah also reported a narration from Jabir quoting the Prophet as saying those who die leaving will behind died in the path truth and righteousness and they shall receive the forgiveness of Allah”

Ordinarily, in Islam, a Muslim has no right to share his property among his off springs or relatives by his own whim. The Islamic way of bequeathing inheritance has been divinely spelt out clearly in the Qur’an. And that is a different topic entirely not to be lumped with the issue of writing will on this occasion.

Who should write a Will?

If a will must be written according to Islamic prescription then the writer of such a will must be a Muslim. He must have attained the age of maturity. He must be sane. He must use an understandable language and clearly identify himself in his will. He must also append his signature and date to every page of such will. There must be witnesses to the writing of the will and those witnesses must also identify themselves clearly and duly sign the space left for them as witnesses in the will.

How?

But if the will is to be orally recorded, the voice of the will recorder must be very audible with understandable language. The executors as well as the trustees of the will must be clearly named and if necessary, described to avoid any confusion that may arise from similarity of names. In that case, four original copies of a written will must be produced. And one each must be given to the four appointed witnesses. No one of the witnesses must know another and no photocopy should be produced for any reason. All available copies must be original. This is to prevent any possible leakage or connivance that may lead to betrayal of trust. Every appointed witness must be an acknowledged trustworthy person of integrity. Ditto the executors.

Contents of the Will

An Islamic will should contain the following facts as a matter of necessity:

1. Listing all the children if any

2. Listing all the available assets

3. Listing all liabilities including debts, unpaid Zakah, promises made but not yet fulfilled, entrusted property, illegal acquisition in the writer’s possessions

4. Listing the wives and relatives including parents, siblings and other beneficiaries who are alive and are qualified as inheritors

All these must be clearly spelt out without mentioning the amount or share due to each beneficiary.

5. Listing any special bequest and testamentary transfer and endowment as well as the names of the beneficiaries. All these must be clearly spelt out.

6. Appointing a guardian or trustee for minor children until such children attain the age of maturity

7. Specific sections of the will may be addressed to the wife/wives and children

8. Any written will must be updated from time to time and each latest copy must be given to the witnesses and the trustees while the old ones are withdrawn for destruction.

9. The executors must not know the trustees. And the trustees must not take part in the execution of the will. Their duty is to ensure that the executors comply with the letters of the will.

Outside the Will

Some facts not to be included in the inheritance aspect of the will of a Muslim are as follows:

A non-Muslim child of a Muslim will-writer or an illegitimate child or a murderer (one who kills his parents) should not be included in the list of those to inherit because they are not qualified to inherit a Muslim parent under Islamic law. If, however, the will writer feels strongly about giving his non-Muslim child something from his estate, this may be contained in the aspect concerning testamentary transfer. Ditto the non-Muslim wife and illegitimate child. But the total aggregate of what a Muslim can will out to those not qualified for inheritance should not exceed one third of the entire estate after the deduction of debts.

The idea of one third came about from a conversation between Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and Sa’d bn Abi Waqqas. The latter had sought the Prophet’s permission to bequest his entire estate to certain people and groups. The Prophet said ‘NO’. He, (Waqqas), then said what of half? And the Prophet said ‘NO’. Then he said what of one third? The Prophet at that stage reluctantly gave a node indicating that even the one third was too much concluding that “it is better to leave your heirs richer than poorer”. Thus, the final approval became as a Prophetic tradition which Muslim must abide by. This means that one third is the maximum a Muslim can bequest to anybody in his will outside the inheritance bracket.

Islam does not allow Muslims to bequest or make special provision in the will for those who are legitimately eligible as heirs. Therefore, anybody who is qualified to inherit cannot be included in the will for any gift.

The copies of the will may be given to banks or any other corporate institutions like courts for safe keeping without the knowledge of the beneficiaries. However, such copies must be accompanied by covering notes. But there must be witnesses to the keeping of such document in the bank or the court. A Muslim must not wait until death approaches before he writes his will since he does not know when death would come. Neither should he wait until he becomes rich before doing same since he does not know if he would ever be rich. For a genuine Muslim, writing a will must begin as soon as he marries. And what is applicable to men in this case is equally applicable to women. The issue of inheritance will be discussed in this column in the future in sha’Allah.

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

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

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

Brilliant students of literature must have perceived today’s entire world as a paradoxical theatre in which over seven billion human beings, including 170 million Nigerians, are watching a drama. For either ecstasy or dismay the viewers may randomly roar into controversies or anxiety as the drama progresses. But the main concern of each viewer is what may become of his favoured character.

The dramatic colony

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

Today, it is evident that the Federal Government is not prepared for the centenary anniversary of the country’s existence as a unified entity designed and imposed by the colonialists in 1914. The anniversary was expected to come up at the beginning of this year (2014) when the country is supposed to attain 100 years. But no one except the Almighty Allah is sure of what may become of Nigeria subsequent to her uncelebrated centenary anniversary. This is because the same deliverers of Nigeria as a country have prepared a mausoleum for her in anticipation of her funeral. A clandestine script was unveiled in 1995 predicting a tragic absurdity awaiting the most populous African country. The contents of the script revealed that this heart of Africa called Nigeria was heading for a break up by the year 2015 when she would be 101 years old. The designers of this devilish agenda had set a timeframe of 20 years for its execution without proffering any positive alternative. And to portray their dream as a realisable one they kept hammering the probability of the success of that obnoxious project citing some hazardous occurrences in the land as reason. Incidentally, that proposition is now being given a helping hand by the government through the proposal of a dubious national dialogue.

Imperialists’ strategy

For students of International Relations, such a prediction cannot be strange. It is part of the strategies often used by the imperialists either to re-colonise some old colonies or to scoop on and dominate the economies of such countries in a typical capitalist style. As a result of such an imperial strategy, Poland had once ceased to be a country for about 123 years when it was partitioned about four times by Russia, Prussia and Austria in 1772, 1792 and 1795. And for well over a century thereafter, the country did not exist. But the Polish people never gave up the resilient spirit of regaining their independence until the country was fully revived after the World War I in 1918. In contemporary time, the modern day imperialists have been doing the same successfully in some other countries none of which is now firmly on her feet. Countries like Vietnam, Korea, Yemen, China, Iran, Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, Somalia, Sudan, Palestine and lately the entire Arab nations all of which have had their bitter share of the subtle pillage can testify to this assertion. It is a modern day equivalence of the 1884/1885 partition of Africa carried out in Berlin, Germany, by the European imperialists, which led to the colonisation of the black continent. If any of the above countries had resisted that obnoxious project at the planning stage and stood their grand in objection to imperialism, perhaps the world would have been spared the throat-cutting threats posed today by the United States and her NATO allies against what they perceive as lesser nations.

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

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

Deceptive propaganda

Whereas some progressive countries like Japan, China, India, Brazil and even the United States in their days of search for growth and development shut their doors to the world and made do with whatever they could produce internally which was why their sudden zoom into the limelight came to the world as a surprise. This has never taught Nigeria any lesson. Rather, all that matters here is empty and monotonous noise about becoming one of the biggest economies in year 2020 even when it is crystal clear that such wishful aspiration can only end up in forlorn. No truly progressive country in modern time has ever indulged in such empty and wishful propaganda without failing. What would have ordinarily justified such propaganda is a surprise zooming into the global economic stage as the above listed countries had done.

It can only take a shameless country with so much wealth and without any visible progress in place to embark on such hopeless propaganda even as over 75% of her citizens wallow in penury.

Rather than indulging in deceptive propaganda, what our government ought to have told us is how billions of dollars allegedly voted for revamping our moribund electricity vamoosed without any resultant availability of power. Or better still, how was the billions of dollars allegedly recovered from General Abacha’s loot shared among the national thieves called leaders. At least we are yet to know what happened to multi-billion naira realised from the so-called privatisation policy that threw our national economy into taters. We also need to know something about the scandalously embezzled billions of naira realised from the callous increase on fuel price in January 2012 and many others of the like. On the other hand, the government ought to have shown Nigerians the blueprint that qualifies us for such empty propaganda about year 2020 since it is a Nigerian project.

Foreign interference

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

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

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

Qur’an speaks

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

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

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

Governmental atrocities

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

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

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

This admonition may taste bitter, especially to those in government who may have hidden agenda. But Allah’s words will never be in want of relevance. They are regularly accompanied by relevance. Allah warns us in Qur’an 13:11 thus: “Surely, Allah will not change the situation of a nation or a community until the citizens therein have resolved to change it through their attitude”. Whoever calls for equity must come with clean hands. Acting the imperialists’ evil script will do no one any good in Nigeria. Think before you act.