The Nation Newspaper

Category: Femi Abbas

  • Problem of Tafsir

    Problem of Tafsir

    It is understandable that most of the Tafsir books available in the world today are in Arabic language. The language of the revelation of the Qur’an is Arabic. Most of the companions of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) who interacted closely with him and were privileged to deeply understand the interpretation of the Qur’an were Arabs. Arabic itself as a language is exceptionally rich literarily and semantically. For centuries after the revelation of the Qur’an, it was mostly the Arabs who assumed authority on its interpretation. Others, like the Persians (Iranians), the Indians and the Turks who tried to compete with the Arabs in the field of Tafsir, could only do so in Arabic language which they first had to learn as a second language.Thus, from the very beginning, Arabic had been the authoritative language of Tafsir.

    Therefore, in those days, whoever wanted to attain scholarship in the field of Tafsir ought to have mastered Arabic language. But the anomaly in this becomes very conspicuous when one remembers that over four fifth of the world’s Muslims today are non-Arabic speakers.

    This seems to have created some hurdles for humanity in understanding the practical meaning of the Qur’an and in appreciating its real essence.

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    There is nothing like being literate in one’s mother tongue. The Arabs have demonstrated this abundantly through Tafsir. But since Tafsir of the Qur’an is not meant for the Arabs alone,shouldn’t there be a means of making it available to majority of Muslims in the languages understandable to them?

    That is one major question which the global Muslim leadership was unable to answer for centuries but which technology has come to answer succinctly especially through the means of computer. Any Muslim scholar who is not computer literate today is therefore an illiterate who may not be strictly qualified to be called a scholar. 

    In this computer age, the world needs the Qur’an more than ever before. And it is only Tafsir that can justify that need. Muslims and non-Muslims alike should be able to read the interpretations of the Qur’an in languages other than Arabic. Read more on Tafsir tomorrow.

    RAMADAN KARIM!

  • Breaking In Error

    Breaking In Error

    For the first few days in Ramadan, every year, there is tendency for some Muslims to forget that they are fasting and thus break their fasts inadvertently during the day. Naturally, the possibility of eating or drinking accidentally due to sheer forgetfulness in the early days of Ramadan is apt. This often occurs to Muslims who hardly fast outside the month of Ramadan.

    If it happens to you, there should be nothing to worry about. As soon as you remember, just recondition yourself to the regulations of Ramadan and continue your fast. Do not tell anybody. Let it remain a secret between you and your Lord. It does not matter whether you remember while eating and drinking or thereafter. In Islam, actions are judged according to intentions. And who else judges both actions and intentions other than Allah, the All-seer and All-knower. Even in the five obligatory Salats observed daily by all genuine Muslims, provisions are made for rectification of errors made through forgetfulness. This is done in terms of ‘Sujudus-Sahwi’. But like in Salat, the forgetfulness in Ramadan involves neither drunkenness nor sexual intercourse nor cheating of any kind.

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    As a Muslim, you are not supposed to eat any forbidden food or drink any intoxicant in the first place, Ramadan or no Ramadan. To be drunk, therefore, in Ramadan, under the pretext of forgetfulness is a confirmation of hypocrisy or infidelity.

    As for sexual intercourse which should only occur legitimately between a husband and his wife, it is impossible to be done out of forgetfulness. At least if the husband cannot remember Ramadan, the wife should. Sexual intercourse cannot be done unconsciously.

    But if intercourse occurs in your dream and you suddenly wake up to discover that you are already wet, all you need to do is to clean up with Janabah (purification) bath. And, then, you continue your fast. Fasting, especially in Ramadan, is a means of rejuvenating spiritual consciousness and renewal of good intention. Anyone who breaks his/her fast in errord ue to forgetfulness should immediately repent and abstain from any situation that can cause its repetition. Allah is forgiving and merciful. •RAMADAN KARIM!      

  • Pa Makanju Abbas: A father’s legacy (2)

    Pa Makanju Abbas: A father’s legacy (2)

    “And your Lord has decreed that you should worship none except Him and be kind to your parents (especially) when one or both of them attain old age. Do not ever bully on them or shun them. Address them with gentle voice and humility. And always pray Allah to be compassionate with both of them as they were compassionate with you at childhood”. Q. 17: 22.

    Man after demise

    “Man surely becomes a subject of talk after his demise. Whoever is privileged to be alive should therefore endeavour to become a pleasant talk for those coming behind”. -By an Arab poet.

    Preamble

    Inna Lillah, wa inna ilayhi raji’un. We are all from God and to God we shall all return. Those whose fathers are still alive should conscientiously abide by the above quoted verse of the Qur’an. It is after such demise that one realizes that a father in the life of his children is like a sun beaming its rays to a farm and photosynthesizing the crops therein for nourishment and fruitfulness. At a stage, the scorch of such rays may become unbearable for the crops. But without the rays, those crops may lack the energy for growth and nourishment. Until the sun sets, the crops may not know its value in their lives.

    The Book of life

    Human life is like a book of many chapters. Each chapter often opens to another in what may constitute a smooth reading for those who are left behind to read it. Every human being is, consciously or unconsciously, a writer of a book and the readers are free to analyze or interpret the chapters of the book according to their understanding. 

    Pa Abbas’ resume

    At a time when birth records were hardly available, Alhaji Muhammadul Awwal Oyelola Makanjuola Abbas Abioye was born in Iwo, Osun state in about 1913. He was the second of his parents’ eight children, all of whom except one were males. Pa Abbas was one year older than amalgamation the country called Nigeria. He was not just a contemporary of Nigeria’s first indigenous rulers; he was actually a friend of some of them. Despite his limited literacy, he was particularly close to Obafemi Awolowo and Samuel Ladoke Akintola but more to the latter than the former. There was no official record for his birth but we (his children) were able to determine his age when he told us that his friend, Chief  S.L. Akintola was older than him by one year. And since the latter was born in 1912, we concluded that our father, Pa Abbas was born in 1913, a year before the amalgamation of what became Nigeria. Though, born in Iwo, he settled down for a living with his parents in Afaake, Ejigbo local government of Osun State.

    Through his peregrination in life, Pa Abbas came across many useful instances and met many people of substances. At a time, he was an apprentice in carpentry which became his first calling in life. It was he along with some of his artisan colleagues who carried out the carpentry work of our family house in 1954. He also led some other carpenters into fixing the carpentry works of our elementary school, Tajudeen primary school, Ilawo of which he was a board member.

     His travels

    Besides his brothers who sojourned in Abidjan and other cities and towns of Cote d’Ivoire, no villager from Afaake can claim to be more travelled than Pa Abbas whose journeys through apprenticeship and political traverses took him across regions in Nigeria including the North, the South-West, the then Mid-West and South-East. By the local standard of the 1950s and 1960s, he was a traveler par excellence. He climaxed those journeys with a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1975, the year in which a onetime Head of State, Murtala Muhammed performed Hajj.

     His artisanship years

    Apart from his engagement with carpentry, Pa Abbas was also involved in produce buying of cocoa and palm kernel which encouraged him to establish a big farm of cocoa plantation in Ondo state. That was in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

    Some years later, Pa Abbas discovered that the farmers in the village including his own father were not prosperous in cocoa farming because they depended fully on wild cocoa plantation that yielded few profitable products. He therefore invited some agriculturists to introduce cocoa nursery to his village, Afaake. With this, he gathered all the farmers in the village for tutorial on how to plant and nurse modern cocoa trees. From there, a cooperative emerged which was named ‘Egbejoda’ (short form: Egbeda), meaning ‘cooperative farming’. It was also Pa Abbas who introduced tobacco farming to Afaake farmers.

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     Impact

    This adjusted the focus of those farmers against the mono-product cash crops that cocoa represented in the late 1950s. Tobacco farming turned out to be so profitable that most farmers in the village almost forgot about cocoa. Yet, in the early 1960s, it was also Pa Abbas that introduced commercial pineapple farming to Afaake village in which both men and women were assiduously engaged. The pineapple farming reigned for quite some time as merchants came from Moore plantation and other relevant companies in Ibadan to purchase the products in bulk. All these activities opened the eyes of the village farmers to the value of agricultural commerce.

     Contribution to manpower development

    Pa Abbas’ inquisitiveness in life was not limited to agricultural endeavour alone; it extended to the building of human intellect and manpower. For instance, when adult education was introduced by the Action Group government in 1954, Pa Abbas was the one who invited the mobile teachers to Afaake village to teach the male and female farmers how to read and write in what was called adult literacy classes. Through that skill, some farmers in the village were able to read and write. Foremost among them was Pa Abbas himself. And when the same Action Group government introduced free primary education in 1955, it was the same Pa Abbas that championed the sighting of one of those schools in Ilawo to serve the three adjacent villages of Ilawo, Afaake and Inisha-Edoro.

    That was the beginning of civilization in the area. The school was named Tajudeen primary school, Ilawo.  

  • Pa Makanju Abbas: A father’s legacy

    Pa Makanju Abbas: A father’s legacy

    “And your Lord has decreed that you should worship none except Him and be kind to your parents (especially) when one or both of them attain old age. Do not ever bully on them or shun them. Address them with gentle voice and humility. And always pray Allah to be compassionate with both of them as they were compassionate with you at childhood”. Q. 17: 22.

    Man after demise

    “Man surely becomes a subject of talk after his demise. Whoever is privileged to be alive should therefore endeavour to become a pleasant talk for those coming behind”. -By an Arab poet.

    Preamble

    Inna Lillah, wa inna ilayhi raji’un. We are all from God and to God we shall all return. Those whose fathers are still alive should conscientiously abide by the above quoted verse of the Qur’an. It is after such demise that one realizes that a father in the life of his children is like a sun beaming its rays to a farm and photosynthesizing the crops therein for nourishment and fruitfulness. At a stage, the scorch of such rays may become unbearable for the crops. But without the rays, those crops may lack the energy for growth and nourishment. Until the sun sets, the crops may not know its value in their lives.

    The Book of life

    Human life is like a book of many chapters. Each chapter often opens to another in what may constitute a smooth reading for those who are left behind to read it. Every human being is, consciously or unconsciously, a writer of a book and the readers are free to analyze or interpret the chapters of the book according to their understanding. 

    Pa Abbas’ resume

    At a time when birth records were hardly available, Alhaji Muhammadul Awwal Oyelola Makanjuola Abbas Abioye was born in Iwo, Osun state in about 1913. He was the second of his parents’ eight children, all of whom except one were males. Pa Abbas was one year older than amalgamation the country called Nigeria. He was not just a contemporary of Nigeria’s first indigenous rulers; he was actually a friend of some of them. Despite his limited literacy, he was particularly close to Obafemi Awolowo and Samuel Ladoke Akintola but more to the latter than the former. There was no official record for his birth but we (his children) were able to determine his age when he told us that his friend, Chief  S.L. Akintola was older than him by one year. And since the latter was born in 1912, we concluded that our father, Pa Abbas was born in 1913, a year before the amalgamation of what became Nigeria. Though, born in Iwo, he settled down for a living with his parents in Afaake, Ejigbo local government of Osun State.

    Through his peregrination in life, Pa Abbas came across many useful instances and met many people of substances. At a time, he was an apprentice in carpentry which became his first calling in life. It was he along with some of his artisan colleagues who carried out the carpentry work of our family house in 1954. He also led some other carpenters into fixing the carpentry works of our elementary school, Tajudeen primary school, Ilawo of which he was a board member.

     His travels

    Besides his brothers who sojourned in Abidjan and other cities and towns of Cote d’Ivoire, no villager from Afaake can claim to be more travelled than Pa Abbas whose journeys through apprenticeship and political traverses took him across regions in Nigeria including the North, the South-West, the then Mid-West and South-East. By the local standard of the 1950s and 1960s, he was a traveler par excellence. He climaxed those journeys with a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1975, the year in which a onetime Head of State, Murtala Muhammed performed Hajj.

     His artisanship years

    Apart from his engagement with carpentry, Pa Abbas was also involved in produce buying of cocoa and palm kernel which encouraged him to establish a big farm of cocoa plantation in Ondo state. That was in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

    Some years later, Pa Abbas discovered that the farmers in the village including his own father were not prosperous in cocoa farming because they depended fully on wild cocoa plantation that yielded few profitable products. He therefore invited some agriculturists to introduce cocoa nursery to his village, Afaake. With this, he gathered all the farmers in the village for tutorial on how to plant and nurse modern cocoa trees. From there, a cooperative emerged which was named ‘Egbejoda’ (short form: Egbeda), meaning ‘cooperative farming’. It was also Pa Abbas who introduced tobacco farming to Afaake farmers.

     Impact

    This adjusted the focus of those farmers against the mono-product cash crops that cocoa represented in the late 1950s. Tobacco farming turned out to be so profitable that most farmers in the village almost forgot about cocoa. Yet, in the early 1960s, it was also Pa Abbas that introduced commercial pineapple farming to Afaake village in which both men and women were assiduously engaged. The pineapple farming reigned for quite some time as merchants came from Moore plantation and other relevant companies in Ibadan to purchase the products in bulk. All these activities opened the eyes of the village farmers to the value of agricultural commerce.

     Contribution to manpower development

    Pa Abbas’ inquisitiveness in life was not limited to agricultural endeavour alone; it extended to the building of human intellect and manpower. For instance, when adult education was introduced by the Action Group government in 1954, Pa Abbas was the one who invited the mobile teachers to Afaake village to teach the male and female farmers how to read and write in what was called adult literacy classes. Through that skill, some farmers in the village were able to read and write. Foremost among them was Pa Abbas himself. And when the same Action Group government introduced free primary education in 1955, it was the same Pa Abbas that championed the sighting of one of those schools in Ilawo to serve the three adjacent villages of Ilawo, Afaake and Inisha-Edoro.

    That was the beginning of civilization in the area. The school was named Tajudeen primary school, Ilawo.

    After the establishment of that school, Pa Abbas took it upon himself to ensure the enforcement of attending the school by every child in Afaake. And he did not stop there, he also wrote to those who settled in Cote d’Ivoire to send their children and wards home for enrolment in the school.

    Effect of education

    Many children who attended that school including yours sincerely have risen in life to become men and women of positive identities. Through those invaluable efforts, the family of Abbas Abioye has become a towering citadel of knowledge that no tempest can wipe off the scene. At least, there is no notable profession today in which the children of Abbas are not found. Among his children, his grandchildren and his great grandchildren and their spouses are professionals like Lawyers, Accountants, Doctors, Engineers, Lecturers, Civil servants, Farmers, Businessmen and women, as well as communicators like yours sincerely. If any human tree of value can be regarded as a reference point in both Western and Islamic education in Osun state today, Abbas family will be foremost courtesy of Pa Abbas’ effort, despite his half-literacy. This confirms the verse of the Qur’an which goes thus;

    “Have you not seen how your Lord has planted a seed of words like a gargantuan tree standing gorgeously with its roots firmly planted in the belly of the earth and its foliages sprouting gorgeously into the firmaments of the sky…?”  Q. 14: 24.

    His contribution to religious development

    It was the same Pa Abbas who initiated the idea of building a mosque in Afaake and led a team of other carpenters to package the carpentry apparel of the mosque. He also introduced madrasa system of education into the mosque and championed the hiring of a mu’allim (malim) to teach the village children who were attending Tajudeen primary school. Pa Abbas’ contribution to human and material development of the village was quite legendary and the evidence is still vivid today. He did not only encourage children to attend school for Western education, he also geared them towards acquisition of Islamic education through attendance of Madrasah. Thus, most of the children who attended Tajudeen primary school also attended Madrasah as Pa Abbas believed that acquisition of Western education was incomplete without Islamic education.

    His philosophy of life

    In his philosophy of life, Pa Abbas believed that no matter how much was realized from farm products, it could not be as valuable and as lasting as education. He does advised all other farmers in the village to invest in the education of their children, pointing to them that the future of those children would depend on the education they were given. He therefore invited the then headmaster of Tajudeen primary school, Mr. Bisi Akande, who later became the deputy governor of bigger Oyo state and later governor of Osun state to enlighten those farmers on the importance of education. And the latter did that dedicatedly in style.

    Although Pa Abbas was not quite literate, his exposure through travels made his philosophy of life a pattern of that of an American statesman and intellectual, Williams Webster who stated thus inter alia:

    “If we work marble, it will perish; if we work upon brass, time will efface it; if we rear temples, they will crumble into dust. But if we work upon immortal minds and instil in them just principles, we are then engraving that upon tablets which no time can efface but will brighten to all eternity”.

    Were it possible for the demised to look back and evaluate his contribution to human growth and development, Pa Abbas would have heaved a sigh of relief even while approaching the gates of paradise with confidence.

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    “Who shares his life’s pure pleasure and walks the honest road; who trades with heaping measure and lifts his brother’s load; who turns the wrong down bluntly and lends the right a hand; he dwells in God’s own country and tills the Holy Land”. We are living witnesses.

    The old man (Pa Abbas) passed on quietly in his sleep at about 4 a.m. on Thursday, August 10, 2017 at the ripe age of 104 and he was interned at about 3 p.m. same day.

    God bless the souls of way-pavers. God bless the rightly-guided followers who handed over the baton to other rightly-guided men and women. God bless the soul of Pa Abbas and his likes.

     Conclusion

    That is the legacy of a father who had a vision not only for his own children but for the children of others as well as adults who aspired to make the world a pleasant place to live in. That vision was not just a dream, but also the realization of a dream. As a worthy son of this great father, if I did not write this article in commemoration of a man who left a footprint on the sands of time to show gratitude for good deed, who else should do it? If this is an ode to a gold mind who continues to live in glorious history, let those who value glory read it again and again. This legacy is indelible and we thank Allah for it.

     Appreciation

    The entire family of Abbas Abioye home and abroad seizes this opportunity to thank all relatives, friends and well-wishers who attended the Janazah or attempted to attend it despite the short notice. We also thank those who sent messages of condolence praying Allah to stand by them all in all circumstances of life. God bless you all.

  • The Message

    The Message

    Preamble

    ‘My service to my people is part of the discipline to which I subject myself in order to free my soul from the bonds of the flesh…For me the path of salvation leads through the unceasing tribulation in the service of my fellow countrymen and humanity’. Mahatma Ghandi (1869-1948)

    The above quoted statement by the late Indian Statesman and sage, Mahatma Ghandi, epitomizes patriotism in all its ramifications. However, it requires life, hope and sincerity of purpose to be so dedicatedly determined. Perhaps, if Ghandi had been a Nigerian he would not have made such a statement or if it was necessary, he would have made it with reservation and that is if circumstances of life would ever permit him to make it at all. This indicates that an Indian of Ghandi‘s status and intent might be an aberration in Nigerian environment. Detailed analysis on this may be left for another day.

    On May 22, 2013, the compulsory National service scheme in Nigeria generally known as National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) was 40 years old. It was another time for the federal government to roll out drums characteristically in celebration of the occasion with pump and pageantry. And the cost, as usual, was though not disclosed, must have run into billions of naira. From that jamboree, new millionaires or even billionaires must have emerged while bank accounts of some government officials must have swollen beyond imagination. Yet, we are fighting corruption tooth and nail.

    The Value of 40

    Forty years is universally acknowledged as the age of maturity. It is the age of mature reasoning when man is expected to handle matters with little supervision. It is the age at which the mistakes of the adolescent years and early adulthood are corrected. Incidentally it is the age at which every Prophet of Allah except Isa (Jesus) was commissioned to deliver Allah‘s message to mankind. Any man at that age who can still not think before acting is called ‘a fool at 40‘. Ditto a government or a nation.

    The establishment of the NYSC scheme by the military government under the leadership of General Yakubu Gowon was not fortuitous. With the promulgation of Decree 24 of 1973, the scheme was established on May 22 of the same year not only as a demonstration of the government‘s genuine intention to fulfil the regime‘s post civil war policy of ‘Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Reconciliation’ (otherwise called three ‘R’) but also to accelerate the country‘s socio-economic development as well as to foster national unity and integration.

    Purpose of NYSC

    The Scheme was charged with the responsibility of mobilizing, deploying and administering Nigerian Youths who must have graduated from tertiary institutions. Their duration of compulsory national service was scheduled to be one full year during which they are to be groomed for leadership. The objectives of the Scheme which compel the youth graduates to serve in States other than those of their origin are as follows:

    •To inculcate discipline in Nigerian youths by instilling in them a tradition of industry at work and of patriotic service to Nigeria in any situation they may find themselves

    •To raise the moral value of Nigerian youths by providing them with the opportunity to learn about higher ideals of national achievements as well as social and cultural improvement

    •To develop in the Nigerian youths, the attitudes of mind acquired through shared experience and suitable trading which will make them amenable to mobilization in the national interest •To enable Nigerian youths acquire the spirit of self reliance by encouraging them to develop skills for self employment

    •To contribute to the accelerated growth of the national economy

    •To develop common ties (among Nigeria youths) geared towards the promotion of National unity and integration

    •To remove prejudice, eliminate ignorance and confirm, at first hand, the many similarities among Nigerians of all ethnic groups and

    •To develop a sense of corporate existence and common destiny of Nigerian people

    The Cardinal Points

    There were four cardinal points upon which the scheme is based. These are Mobilization, Orientation/ Induction Course, Primary Assignment/Community Development Services (CDS) and Winding Up/Passing Out. Through these cardinal points the scheme mobilizes Nigerians below the age of 30 years who are graduates of Universities and Polytechnics (at a time, graduates of Colleges of Education were involved) for a one year national service in any part of the Country. Such qualified Nigerians are given an instrument of mobilization otherwise known as Call-Up letter which shows the state in which to serve and other particulars relating to the prospective Corps members.  Also, a three weeks training programme primarily designed to prepare corps members for the one year national service is provided and the training takes place in venues called Orientation Camps located in all the States of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

    The orientation course provides a platform for interaction among Nigerian Youths of diverse backgrounds and inclinations. Then, at the end of the Orientation exercise, corps members are posted to serve in both the public and private sectors. During this period, they provide skilful assistance in meeting the much needed man-power in the rural and urban Communities.

    The corps members are distributed to all the communities which now make up the 774 Local Government Areas in the 36 states of the Federation plus the Federal Capital Territory.

    In addition, a Community Development Scheme was designed to be carried out by the Corps members along with their Primary Assignments. The CDS was planned to bring development to the host Communities through the activities of the Corps members for whom a day was set aside in a week to carry out Community Development initiative based on community need and to provide a platform for sustainable development in active cooperation of host communities. Finally, a winding up/passing out programme was designed to draw the curtain over the service year and bring the corps members together once again to enable them share their experiences during the service year and deliberate on their individual future agenda. This is an opportunity for most corps members to exchange contact addresses and thereby establish permanent relationships. Thus, from such relationships, intertribal marriages and business partnerships emerged. The scheme remains one of the greatest achievements of General Yakubu Gowon  as Nigeria‘s military Head of State.

    Policy Formulation

    At the time of formulating the NYSC policy, Nigeria was still a country plagued by a myriad of problems generally known with underdeveloped countries such as poverty, mass illiteracy, acute shortage of high skilled manpower (coupled with most uneven distribution of the skilled people that are available), inadequate socio-economic infrastructural facilities, terrible housing shortage, lack of water and sewage facilities, roads, healthcare services, and effective communication system.  Faced by these almost intractable problems, which were further compounded by the burden of reconstruction after the civil war, the government and people of Nigeria set for the country, fresh goals, and objectives aimed at establishing a new Nigeria from the debris of the old. The aim was to build a united, strong and self-reliant nation; a dynamic economy; as well as open opportunities for all citizens in a free and democratic society.

    It must be remembered that only six Universities existed in Nigeria by that time. These were the University of Nigeria, Nsukka; University of Ibadan,

    Ibadan; Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria; University of Lagos, Lagos, University of Ife, Ile Ife and University of Benin, Benin City. All these Universities, except University of Ibadan, (which was left behind by the colonialist as a national heritage) were forcefully acquired by the federal military government from their regional owners. And the inadequacy of needed manpower supplied by these Universities warranted the inclusion of graduates of Higher National Diploma (HND) from Polytechnics and later, the holders of National Certificate of Education (NCE). (The latter was however excluded with time following the establishment of more Universities and Polytechnics).

    These universities and other institutions of higher learning are normally expected to serve as training grounds for future leaders, besides being committed to the advancement of learning and knowledge as well as training of people for good citizenship. Perhaps the deviation experienced from this expectation  ab initio led to the accusation levied by members of the public against the products of those institutions of being too elitist in their outlook and of not identifying with the plight of the common man by appreciating the predicament of the vast majority of the citizenry who live in the rural areas.

    Besides the reasonable policy of emulating compulsory national service from some civilized countries, the year 1973 symbolized the foundation of many great thoughts that would have made Nigeria a great African nation. That was the year in which Nigeria could be said to have gained economic independence by changing the national currency from pounds and Shillings inherited from the colonial masters to Naira and Kobo. It was also the year in which Nigeria‘s oil boom began.

    Corps members were paid a monthly stipend of N100 which was only a little less than the new salary of a fresh University graduate at that time. That stipend was not to be increased until the 1980s when inflation began to force the corps members to agitate for more. And for most of the 1980s the stipend paid to corps members was not more than N200 per month. It was only in the 1990s that the stipend attracted some major reviews. And, besides the stipend paid by the federal government and private companies also paid some token to those deployed to them for service. That was in addition to accommodation provided. All these are no more as corps members are now deployed at their own expense. The idea is that they should bear all their expenses from the N19500 or thereabout paid to them monthly. As a matter of fact, the new policy just formulated and which will take effect in November 2014 is that every Youth Corps must pay the sum of N4000 to the federal government for accepting to serve the same government. The newly imposed amount may be reviewed upwards in the near future. That is an evidence of patriotism in Nigeria.

    Irony of Life

    Ironically, some so-called former militants of the South-South who are virtually illiterates without any skills and are not engaged in any job are paid N60000 per month for doing nothing other than laying down their weapons of vandalism. The implication of this is that any youth who wants to share in the federal government‘s largess can just carry arms and engage in vandalism and then be invited to negotiate with the government for a regular monthly salary in lieu of violence. Those who were being forced to serve their country for paltry monthly N19500 were University graduates. And those who were paid N60000 per month for doing nothing were stark illiterates not even qualified to aspire to future leadership. Yet after one year of compulsory service by those corps members, there is nothing for them in terms of job even while the ex-vandals will continue to enjoy their largess of N60000 per month. What an irony? What a country?

    Apart from preparing corps members for formal post graduation jobs and managerial administration in theory, NYSC is also supposed to serve as a major employer of labour by opening doors for many job seekers to be employed across different cadres. But is this the case now? There are hundreds of thousands of University graduates who have served their fatherland only to end up loitering around and riding motorbikes on commercial basis. Is this how to develop a nation? If University graduates are rendered so useless in a country where sheer mediocre are glorified what future is expected of such a country?

    The year 1973 in the history of Nigeria can be called the turnaround year. But how much of that turnaround was utilized for the benefit of the country is a different question.

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    During the celebration of the 20th anniversary of NYSC scheme in 1993, the need to reassess and upgrade the scheme arose. Thus, Decree 51 was promulgated on June 16, 1993 to replace Decree 24 of 1973 with which the scheme was originally established. The aim of the new Decree was to look beyond the immediate present and think of the future leadership of the country for which the corps members were being groomed. This was done with a view to giving them the proper guidance and orientation relevant to the needs of the country. But now, 51 years after the establishment of NYSC, what is the result?

    Deep down in the hearts of the formulators of the NYSC policy the scheme was primarily to inculcate in Nigerian Youths the spirit of selfless service to the community, and an emphasis on oneness and brotherhood of all Nigerians, irrespective of cultural, social or religious backgrounds. The history of our country since independence has clearly indicated the need for unity amongst all our citizens. And, looking at the scheme retrospectively, it is evident that its real effect is vivid not only in the understanding of the cultural settings of certain tribes by corps members from other tribes but also in the settlements of some of those corps members in some parts of the country which, hitherto, could never have been in their dreams.

    Pertinent Questions

    Now, over 50 years after the commencement of this visionary scheme how much of the country‘s objectives have been achieved? Does the scheme truly remain a national service that it was design to be or a servitude to a political clique called leaders? In its early days, NYSC was the pride not only of the serving corps members and undergraduates looking impatiently towards their turn to serve but also that of the nation. Does that still obtain today? Has corruption not derailed the original purpose of that laudable scheme? Are the genuine graduates of Universities and Polytechnics not being replaced by ghost graduates as characteristic of Nigerian system? Are graduates qualified for the service not being delayed for a year or two to enable corruption thrive by bringing in hoodlums and political thugs at the expense of the nation?

    Have factors like nepotism and tribalism not crept into the scheme today? Have stories of embezzlement and other financial scams not disorientated potential corps members and devastated the zeal in them to serve their nation? And what has become of hundreds of thousands who have served in the past many years? Are Nigerian graduates useful for Nigeria today as originally planned?

    Further Questions

    Is Nigeria really reaping the fruits of the NYSC scheme today? Should compulsory service to the nation be an end or a means to an end? And now that corps members are incessantly becoming sacrificial lambs either at the slaughter slabs of some barbaric elements in the north or in the dragnets of some brutal kidnappers in the East shouldn‘t there be a review of the law guarding that scheme if only to safeguard humanity and civility? Should parents continue to lose their children at that level to barbarism and unwarranted brutality in the name of non-existing national unity? Some people sat down to plan the establishment of this scheme. But besides planning to use the scheme as an instrument of embezzling money what plan does the current government have for sustaining it and safeguarding the lives of the youths being compelled to serve the nation? 

    Conclusion

    These and many other questions are begging for urgent answers from the current government while some elements in the government are getting richer by the day. If the pleasant past produced the agonizing present to the benefit of a clique of misfits let no one assume that the agonizing present will produce any hopeful future. The days of life are never the same in other countries. They cannot be the same in Nigeria.

    ‘Allah never changes the situation of a people (or a nation) until those people have sincerely repented and refrained from their iniquities’. Q. 13:11

  • Whenever The Sultan Speaks…

    Whenever The Sultan Speaks…

    The Sultan of Sokoto and President General of Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), His Eminence, Dr. Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, CFR, mni, would be 68 years old in August, a date he shares with the late Bashorun MKO Abiola, the Nigerian President-elect who was prevented from assuming office.

    His Eminence was about 50 years old when he ascended the exalted throne of the great Sokoto Caliphate in November, 2006 as the 20th Sultan of that  great Caliphate. But typical of his exemplary humility and dedication to man’s humanity to man, His Eminence does not celebrate birthday for two reasons:

    In emulation of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), he deliberately abstains from ventilating a joyous atmosphere for himself in a situation where many ordinary people are wallowing in penury.

    He personally perceives aristocracy of birth, if there is one at all, as a rare privilege rather than a right. To him, such a privilege must not be flamboyantly celebrated in a way to arouse any psychological chagrin in underprivileged people. Thus, instead of sitting down glamorously, to celebrate birthday in royal regalia, like his royal colleagues, His Eminence deliberated with the Governor in the Northern State and shared thoughts and ideas with him on how to settle the crisis in that State. That was because, as usual, the Sultan abhors any act of violence let alone killings and counter killings as a perennial case in that State.

    That is Sultan Mahammad Sa’ad Abubakar for you. And, he had embarked on similar mission severally in most parts of the country ever since he ascended the Sultanate’s throne in 2006.

     Preamble

    Leaders are not those who ascribe leadership to themselves politically by whim or by caprice. The real leaders are the very few ones who are sincerely acknowledged by their followers, publicly or privately, as effective leaders in intent and in action. This Sultan is a typical example of the latter category. The great man’s leadership traits are not, in anyway, hidden. He neither speaks just to be heard nor acts just to be seen. His utterances which are in tandem with his actions, are always timely and meaningful, not just for the Muslim Ummah in Nigeria, but also, for the entire black race. And, he combines certain qualities, the likes of which distinguished the second Caliph in Islam, Umar Bn Khattab, clearly among the first four Caliphs.

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    For Nigerian Muslims of today, Sultan Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar is a vivid reminder of Umar Bn Khattab’s leadership prowess at the early stage of Islam. This Sultan is a bold and charismatic soldier like Umar Bn Khattab. He is visionary, firm, humble and affable like Umar Bn Khattab. And, he believes so much in leadership by example just like Umar Bn Khattab. Perhaps that is why he is so close to the ordinary people in his day to day running of the Sultanate administration in Sokoto and that of the NSCIA just as Umar Bn Khattab was. 

    His Royal Antecedent

    Over a decade ago, Sultan Abubakar spoke passionately with touching concern, at a public function, on three important issues, each of which is now vividly manifesting in Nigeria. First, he advised the three tiers of government to use the then booming oil revenue to ventilate the economic environment for possible mass employment of the teeming youths in the country. Secondly, he warned the people in government, at that time, against sustenance of mass unemployment of youths which he described as a time bomb that could explode anytime. Thirdly, he attributed the rising rate of criminal tendencies in the country to mass unemployment of able bodied youths and ravaging poverty in the land. He then cautioned those in government against criminal consequences of that ugly situation. At the time the Sultan made that speech, the menace of banditry, kidnapping and Boko Haram /ISWAP insurgency had not become as much a threat as they are today. 

    Admonition

    On the occasion at which he delivered the above mentioned highly valuable speech, His Eminence also admonished Nigerian Muslims not to be bellicose towards non-Muslims in reaction to provocative utterances and obnoxious conducts of some disgruntled charlatans in the country who were masquerading in the cloak of religion.

    He counselled the Ummah to rather educate any non-Muslim who might want to tread the path of religious transgression against Islam than resort to hate speech and mudslinging. In that speech, His Eminence concluded that it was only in a peaceful atmosphere that people of diverse spiritual and temporal backgrounds could comfortably co-exist in a multi religious and multi tribal society like Nigeria.

     Impact of His Leadership

    Since his assumption of office as the Sultan the impact of His Eminence’s leadership both as a royal father and the Commander of Nigerian Muslim Ummah as well as the CUSTODIAN OF NIGERIA’S NATIONAL MOSQUE, has been unprecedented in history. This Dr. Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakr, CFR, mni, is one of the most mobile personalities in thoughts and in action in Nigeria as well as in the entire world. The reverberating echoes of the historic lectures about peace and harmony which he delivered at Harvard, Cambridge and Oxford Universities in 2011 are vehement attestation to the above assertion about his leadership.

     In Retrospect

    When this great man was five years old on the throne in 2011, yours sincerely wrote an article about him in this column which remains as relevant today as it was then. An excerpt from that article is as follows:

    “In every crowd of horizontal men there is always one vertical man who deserves honour not much because of his vertical position but because of the significant difference which that position makes in a society.”

     History and Man

    “History and man are like Siamese twins or a pair of scissors. The one cannot function effectively without the other. History makes man just as man makes history. And, the reciprocal baton that symbolises their togetherness continues to change hands between them as long as they remain in existence”.

    “In November 2006, an official announcement of the sighting of a human crescent which had remained hidden in the firmaments of the orbit was made. That crescent turned out to be the towering personality generally known today as the Sultan of Sokoto. His name, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar did not ring any bell in Nigeria before the referred historic announcement. But thereafter, he was crowned ‘The Sultan of Sokoto’ precisely on November 6, 2006.

    Thus, the emergence of Brigadier General Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar (rtd.) as the successor to the exalted throne of the great Sokoto Caliphate without any controversy came as a surprise to many Nigerians. At 50 years of age then, many people thought that he was one of the youngest men to ascend that throne in many decades. But he humbly disagreed with that assumption as he recalled that his own father, Sultan Abubakar Sadiq III who died in 1988 ascended the throne at the age of 37.

     His Pedigree

    With a sound military background coupled with a sound intellectual aristocracy and a high level diplomatic exposure, this Sultan has been perceived, since coming into office, as a millennial royal Commander divinely designated to pilot the affairs of Islam and the Muslim Ummah with unequalled success.

     Philosophers’ Assertion

    Given the qualities highlighted above, only a few people will want to disagree with the Philosophers who once asserted that every new century has a way of producing a great leader. The example of Dr. Abubakar is a manifest attestation to that assertion.

    Ever since he assumed the exalted royal office of the Sultan 18 years ago (2006), this great man has convincingly exemplified all the qualities of genuine leadership in an aura of personification. Every statement he has made socially, religiously or politically and every action he has taken publicly or privately has proved to be a school from which all well-meaning people continue to learn one lesson or another.

    As ABU Chancellor

    Five years after his assumption of office, the symbiotic relationship of history and man was reconfirmed in Zaria, on Wednesday, (November 23, 2011), when a galaxy of well-meaning men and women from all walks of life and from all parts of the world, assembled to say “we are here to bear witness”. That was the day His Eminence was installed as the Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria. The occasion was just one of many on which laurels that have been accruing to him since he assumed the royal office as Sultan.

    An American President, Harry S. Truman (1884-1972), once described a leader as “a man who has the ability to get other people to do what they don’t want to do and like it”. By his activities and functions so far, Sultan Abubakar has proved Truman right by demonstrating to the Ummah that the time has come for the reformation, not only of the NSCIA, but also of the Sultanate.

    Education in Islam

    In Islam, education is the first law. It is only through it that man can understand life in all its ramifications. That was why Allah’s very first revelation to Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in the Qur’an, ordained education for Muslims thus: “Read in the name of Allah Who created; He created man from clots of blood; Read! Your Lord is the Most Bountiful One, Who taught man by the pen; He taught man what he (man) did not know…”Q. 96:1-4.

    To further emphasise the compelling need for education in Islam, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was reported to have said in one Hadith that “knowledge is a lost treasure. Muslims should search for it and pick it wherever they could find it”.

    But information is the main source of education just as education is the source of knowledge. Without information there can be no education. And without education there can be no progress. That is why the Sultan started his reformation of the Sultanate from the premise of education. It is only with education that most problems in man’s world can be solved without much ado.

    Sultan Abubakar also believes that education without social harmony is like a virtue without value and that there can be no harmony in a society where people are overwhelmed by ignorance and poverty as in Nigeria. Thus, he has consistently focused on both.

    Installation as Chancellor

    At his installation as the Chancellor of ABU in 2011, Sultan Abubakar 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 fact that despite the nation’s unprecedented resources, development had failed to match the national wealth.

    In his words: “Corruption has emasculated our progress even as poverty and unemployment have pushed citizens to the brinks, fueling and confounding social conflicts even as inter-communal crisis has extracted heavy toll in both human lives and property”. He went further to say that: “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.” He also noted that no reformation of the tertiary education sector in the country could be effective without putting in place, the progressive developments required in the basic and senior secondary education sectors”. His Eminence 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.” He lauded the founding fathers of the ABU, particularly, the late Sarduana of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello, and urged the authorities of the school to continue to abide by the cardinal principles on which the institution was founded.

    Royal Voice Against Corruption

    This Nigeria’s renascent Sultan is a man who, though at the topmost echelon of the tree of comfort still feels so much concerned about the plight of the peasants who are hopelessly consigned to the weeding of the shrubs by official policies. He has never relented in his advocacy for good governance, denunciation of corruption and religious intolerance.

    Interfaith Engagements

    When His Eminence was invited in January 2010 to a religious seminar organised by the Nigerian Christian with the theme: ‘Knowing Your Muslim Neighbour’, he delivered an historic speech that reverberated meaningfully across the entire world. And in May, same year, he also invited the leadership of CAN to a special conference of the NSCIA held in Kaduna. The theme of that conference was: ‘Islam in the Eyes of the Christians’. He is the first Nigerian first class Monarch ever to engage in such an interfaith affair at the national level and his speech on that occasion was quite electrifying as usual.

    Electoral Reform

    In his special counsel to the National Assembly, and indeed all tiers of Government, His Eminence said those in government should not relent in their efforts to engineer electoral reform and to ensure that Nigerians have a genuine electoral process that guarantees free and fair elections. “Unless and until we do that, our nation will continue to be haunted by the unholy alliance between fraudulent elections and illegitimate electoral outcomes, the consequences of which we all know very well. We must break away from this vicious circle and confer on Nigerians the power and indeed the ability to decide, freely and willingly, who leads them at all levels of governance”.

    “….There is also the urgent need for us to re-evaluate our conception of leadership as a nation…. needless to add, that there is no way we can make genuine progress as a nation when a significant number of our populace wallows in abject poverty unable to secure the requisite means for their sustenance and to cater for the health and educational needs of their families. Democracy must build a humane society capable of looking after the legitimate needs of its citizenry. For it to be truly successful, it must be able to bring real progress to all sectors of our diverse society. “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”. Now, where is the role of birth in all these?

    Grassroots Interaction

    Sultan Abubakar is, no doubt, a leader who knows the problems of his followers and associates with them in solving those problems. 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 under a competent and kind leader. And by speaking out incessantly against policies which seem to deliberately impoverish ordinary Nigerians across board, this Sultan has brought a rare hope to Nigeria and the Muslims are the luckiest for it. Such a leader deserves allegiance, loyalty and regular prayer from the Ummah. We pray for the elongation of his life with very sound health and continued Allah’s guidance. Amin!

  • Upholding Muslim Unity

    Upholding Muslim Unity

    The above quoted verse of the Qur’an is a vital obligatory aspect of Islam  which came directly, as a divine order, from the Almighty Allah, Who made the religion of Islam an act of worship for people who sincerely surrender themselves to His will. Thus, any deviation from that divine order is a cultivation of endless restiveness for self, in all circumstances.

    From this, it becomes clear that unity is a vital norm of Islam that no genuine seeker of societal peace would want to discard.

    Web of Unity

    If there is any time, in the history of Nigeria, when the largest Muslim Ummah of the black race, needs to build a most formidable web of unity, as a fortress, it is now.

    For centuries, most Muslims, in various parts of the world, have consistently deviated from holding unity as an Islamic principle while, at the same time, perceiving certain adherents of some religions, other than Islam, as their enemies. But, ironically, in reality, there are no enemies for Islam or Muslims, anywhere, other than the Muslims themselves.

    A thorough and sincere examination of this assertion will surely confirm this. In a nutshell, Muslims are the enemies of both Islam and fellow Muslims.

    Preamble

    Here in Nigeria, if anything is called Satan, and that diabolical entity truly lives in the midst of humans, Nigeria must be its abode.

    As a mysteriously damnable entity, Satan may not be physically perceivable, but his shadow is evidently vivid in the evil machination  generally called politics. And, certain elements, in the society, including some ambitious  Muslims, who are often proud to be called politicians, are the agents of that unperceivable diabolical entity called IBLIS.

    From whichever angle it is perceived, Politics, as played in Nigeria, by Nigerians, today, will be seen as infectious leprosy.

    Any contact it makes, with human fingers,  will surely render those fingers ineffective with contagious implication. Although, Politics, generally, is a social necessity that cannot be totally avoided in any human society because of its irreplaceable role in socializing humanity, nevertheless, the method of handling it in Nigeria, has practically turned it into a paradoxical slough of a snake which has no life of its own but scares the people around it, despite its empty appearance.

    Without the way politics is being played globally, today, the entire world would have been in perfect harmony.

    Reminiscence

    Since her independence in 1960, Nigeria has hardly experienced any social calamity that did not emanate from politics, directly or indirectly. Thus, like the Island of Ithaca of yore, in the Greek mythology, Nigeria, now, harbours a sphinx that frequently confronts all citizens with an unanswerable question. And, the inability to answer that question, correctly, by anybody, has become a desperate sphinx threatening to devour our country from time to time. For how long can we continue to cope with this situation before the bubble will finally bust, is a fundamental question that urgently requires a practically fundamental answer.

    Paradoxical Odyssey

    Today, politics in Nigeria is a paradoxical odyssey, the ship of which cruises dangerously on an ocean of uncertainty. And, the sailor of that ship is the stolen money desperately used by the minority, in pursuit of power, to the gross disadvantage of the majority of citizens.

    We are now in an era when the source of money being squandered on politics no longer matters as much as the money itself.

    What really matters, in today’s Nigeria, is not how decent you are, as a person, or, how valuable you are as an expert in any field of endeavour, but how rich you are, no matter the source of your richness. In a nutshel, a rich rogue is by far more relevant and more important to an  average Nigerian, today, than a gentleman without money.

    As a matter of fact, there is no gentlemanliness without money. It is actually the size of your purse, or that of your bank account, that determines the status by which you are recognized in the society.  And, that has now become the new definition of pedigree on the one hand, and, the secret god which most Muslims have adopted as an option.

    It is not surprising, therefore, that, even Muslim men and women of letters, as well as high caliber professionals are now struggling to become servants to mere nonentities who, by hook or by crook, have struck the opportunity to occupy public positions in a clueless government in order to control an enclave in Nigeria’s treasury.

    The world has changed so much that the same money which used to serve man in the past is

    now the master that man serves with relish. In the face of money, conscience has become a lost paradise that no one seeks again. And, with its disappearance, human dignity has also become an old wife’s tale. Whither Nigeria’s tomorrow, in all these, is a question reserved for the future to answer.

    The Wilderness of Avarice

    In the wilderness of  avarice and aggrandizement audaciously imposed by money, Nigerians of today have lost the culture of dignity highly cherished by Nigerians of yesteryears and there is no sense of nostalgia for it.

    No matter the solo or chorus that the song of this era may bring into today’s music of politics, it will still be discovered that the bottom-line of ambition and desperation, among Nigerian politicians, is nothing but satanic avarice.

    When a hopeful country finds itself in this kind of situation, she quickly resorts to the last bastion for solution. And, the last bastion, in the case of Nigeria, as presented by charlatans, is religion, which is being conspicuously, but undeservedly, displayed as the First Estate of the Realm.

    Sailors without Compass

    As far as religion is concerned, most of the so-called clerics in both Islam and Christianity, in Nigeria, today, are like sailors, on a strenuous voyage, who have lost the compass that should guide them in sailing through the tumultuous waves of water while their congregational passengers continue to pray fervently for safety on a turbulent  ocean.

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    To those clerics, religion is no longer the path to salvation but a short cut towards material wealth even as they have relegated morality to its lowest ebb. Here is a country where clerics do not only preach material prosperity but also live in stupendous affluence in the midst of their wretched congregations.

    Here is a country in which clerics are either known for trafficking in drugs or gun running or serve as patrons for suppliers of ammunition as in the case of a notorious episode of a mission to South Africa, in 2014, that suddenly ended up in a fiasco. Some of those clerics are even known for  taking corporate bribes from the politicians as in the case of an alleged N7 billion (when Naira had value) that caused wild brouhaha within the religious sphere, in Nigeria, in the same 2014. Here is a country where neither conscience nor morality has a role to play in religion, any longer, as the so- called clerics have technically banished both and, thus, become, not just accomplices of political rogues but mostly the barking dogs for those politicians.

    That is the situation which became an irresolvable bone of contention and breeder of disunity among Nigerian Muslims, over politics. Now, at the political crossroads, will this situation be further allowed to function at the expense of Islam? That is a question that will be further discussed in this column, in a foreseeable future, in sha’Allah.

  • Dreaming the past

    Dreaming the past

    Monologue

    When responsibility is entrusted to an incompetent person expect the end of time”. Prophet Muhammad (SAW)

    The above quoted Hadith was particularly in reference to leadership in any given society. When the Prophet was to send Mu‘az Bn Jabal to Yemen as Governor, he asked him a pointed question as a way of confirming that his choice was right. He said asking Mu‘az: ‘how will you govern the people in that country?. The latter said he would use the laws of Allah as contained in the Qur‘an. Then the Prophet asked: ‘and if you cannot find a relevant solution in the Qur‘an? Mu‘az said he would use the Prophetic tradition (Sunnah). Then the Prophet further asked: ‘and if relevant solution is not found in Sunnah? Mu‘az said he would adopt the consensus of opinions of learned scholars‘‘. Then, the Prophet asked: ‘and if you cannot get a consensus? Mu‘az said he would use analogical deduction based on the three sources of law mentioned above. Thus, with Mu‘az‘s satisfactory responses, the Prophet technically confirmed the four sources of Islamic law by which any leader in an Islamic society should govern. The summary here is that governance should be by law and not by whim. And that is how the four laws of Islam started.

    The Prophet’s Conclusion 

    Thereafter, the Prophet counselled him as follows: ‘when you get there, my dear Mu‘az, endear yourself to the people and do not be hostile. Be kind to them and do not be wicked. Be lenient with them and do not be harsh. Be considerate with them and do not be dictatorial. Be compassionate to them and do not be sadistic. Be sensitive to their plight and do not be indifferent. Be transparent and do not be seen as corrupt. Be a man of your words and do not be seen as a liar. Fulfil your promises to them and do not renege on such promises. Be trustworthy in utterances and actions and not be seen as a betrayer of trust. There are three signs by which a hypocrite is known. When he talks he lies; when he promises he reneges and when he is trusted he betrays. Remember that a leader is like a shepherd who cannot claim to be successful in a day until he has coasted home the last sheep in his flock. And every shepherd shall be asked by the Almighty Allah about what he does with the flock in his care’.

    Thus, the historic conversation between the Prophet and Mu‘az confirms that good leadership is the bedrock of peace, decency and progress in any society.

    In contemporary time

    Today, many countries including Nigeria are dangerously restive because of deviation from that yardstick by irresponsible leaderships. A nation without a responsible leadership is like a body without head. Such a nation is likely to wander aimlessly and indefinitely in the wilderness of life just like the Egyptian gypsies of yore even as her citizens wallow helplessly in abject penury.

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    Man ordinarily takes food for granted until he faces hunger where food is not available. He takes sound health for granted until he falls sick. He takes freedom for granted until he becomes a prisoner and he takes peace for granted until he faces war. One of the signs of living in a bad time is to keep remembering the good old days with nostalgia. Such is a confirmation that the past is better than the present. This is the situation in which overwhelming majority of Nigerians find themselves today in a country naturally and abundantly enriched with milk and honey.

    Ghana for instance

    Who could have believed some years back that this same country called Nigeria might become a beggars’ own country one day? When political calamity engendered by economic mismanagement struck Ghana in the 1980s, Nigeria was the only rescue haven in Africa for hundreds of thousands of Ghanaians who trooped into this country for all sorts of jobs including menial ones. Thus, from that experience, one would have thought that a lesson had been learnt by Nigerian leaders never to subject the citizens of this country to a similar misfortune. But alas, the situation in the past 40 years or there about has proved otherwise. Ironically, the reality today, is that the citizens of this sixth largest oil exporting country in the Africa have become beggars being deported from a onetime calamitous Ghana that sought and got economic rescue in Nigeria. The same Ghana is today a model for Nigeria virtually in all things that is decent and civilized.

    God, in His infinite mercy does not create any living thing without adequate provisions for its existence. He endows individuals and nations with wealth in time and space as a trust. But He does not physically come down to manage such wealth for anybody. Neither does He give anybody the authority to redistribute it. But in the end, the managers of such wealth will be asked to render account on how they manage it. Individuals and nations become humanly and materially rich only by Allah‘s will at the place and time divinely earmarked for it. Any manipulation of such wealth by certain greedy cabal can only pave way for an untold calamity.

    Fly in a botttle

    Like a fly in a bottle of wine which drinks and drinks till it dies in there, today‘s Nigerian rulers see their position as an opportunity to suck Nigeria‘s oil wells dry at the expense of the masses to whom those oil wells rightly and legitimately belong. These rulers have forgotten that if the oil reserve had not been divinely meant for this generation it could have been discovered and consumed by many generations long before ours.

    Nigerians of today have found themselves in a dream land. They are not only dreaming of what they ought to be as against what they are. They are also dreaming of the good old days in this same country that once gave them the confidence to build hope in their future as well as that of their children. That hope has practically become forlorn. Without necessarily sounding pessimistic, if there is any expectation for an ordinary Nigerian today, it is for death as despair is currently the song of destiny.

    Telling the history of Nigerian oil cannot end with the present generation. It surely extends to the future. Where are the founding fathers of Nigeria especially those who strove for the discovery of oil? Was the current situation their dream? Even as Prime Minister and Premier respectively, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto borrowed money from banks to purchase their cars and build their houses. They never possessed more than those even when their political contemporaries were accumulating empires. It is easier to be a legatee than to be a legator. The greatest spendthrifts are those who do not know the source of money in their possession.

    Oil wealth

    It is rather ironic that oil wealth which serves as the source of fortune for many countries is the main source of Nigeria‘s misfortune. At least this country was economically steady and progressive before the so-called oil boom. At least there was no oil money when Nigeria went through a civil war for 30 months without borrowing one kobo. Why has oil boom become oil doom?

    In his nine years in office as Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon took the price of PMS from 6k to 9.5k per litre. After him was General Murtala Muhammed an obvious man of the people who never tampered with the price of oil till his death in 1976. It was General Olusegun Obasanjo who first took oil price by a leap moving it from 9.5k to 15.3k in his three and a half year reign from February 1976 to October 1979. In his own four years and three months in office, President Usman Shehu Shagari never tampered with the price of oil. And General Muhammadu Buhari who succeeded him maintained the status quo as he never increased fuel price even by one kobo during his 20 month rule. Thus, between 1979 when Obasanjo left office and 1985 when Buhari was overthrown, the oil price remained same and Nigeria did not fail as a nation.

    When the self-styled Military President Ibrahim Babangida took over in 1985, his first focus was on oil. It was he who moved the price of PMS from 15k to 70k in his eight years of governance. But by far the greatest leap of oil price in Nigeria  was introduced by Chief Earnest Shonekan the then interim Head of State who took the price from 70k to N5 within the 87 days of his illegal rule.

    Then General Sani Abacha the maximum despot who forcefully hijacked power in October 1993 moved the price of PMS from N5 to N11 within his five years in office. That was an average of N1 increase per year. When Abacha died in 1998, General Abdul Salami Abubakar became the Head of State and virtually concentrated on oil. He can be called Nigeria‘s Head of oil fields. It was he who took the price of PMS from N11 to N20 within the ten months he ruled Nigeria. When General Obasanjo returned to office as elected President in 1999, his first port of call was oil. Capitalizing on the precedent laid by General Abdul Salami Abubakar, he went ahead to raise the price of PMS from N20 to N70 within eight years he spent in office.

    Ebele Jonathan

    Now, to prove that the removal of the so-called oil subsidy by previous rulers in Nigeria was a child‘s play, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan decided to surpass them all even if all Nigerians would go to the gallows. After consultations with various stake holders and interest groups including traditional rulers, religious leaders, Labour Unions, ASUU and NANS, all of whom objected to any removal of subsidy at this precarious time, Mr. President decided to go ahead with his plan not minding any contrary opinion. His argument was that facilities like roads, hospitals, schools, refineries and rail system must be provided even if at the expense of the lives of Nigerians. And such removal must be done at a time when the feeding allowance of his family and that of his deputy was unilaterally fixed at about one N1billion per year then. Mr. President was calling on Nigerians to sacrifice while the cost of his medical services in the Presidential clinic was then about N1.2 billion even as another N300 million was earmarked for replacement of his kitchen utensils. For his trips abroad in 2012 alone about N10 billion was earmarked.

    But to show a good example of sacrifice for the nation, he and his Ministers have resolved to cut their salaries by 25% though we are not told the amount of each cabinet Minister‘s salary. And nothing is said about their undisclosed allowances.

    That is exhibition of power for you.

    Thus by the signature of one man appended to an obnoxious policy imposed on the populace, it is certain that many lives would be lost, many marriages would collapse, many children would drop out of school and many agreements would crumble causing irreconcilable rifts. These did not happen in the time of Yar‘Adua because there was no cause for such.

    Yar’adua as President

    With Yar’adua as President, Nigerians did not see their newly rekindled hope ending up in a paroxysm of despair as the case of Goodluck Jonathan’s time. Until he came on board as President, every other person that ruled Nigeria except Shagari and Buhari had claimed that there was subsidy on oil.

    Due to his short time in office, Yar‘Adua might not have been perceived as a great achiever but the few achievements he recorded were quite remarkable.

    If those achievements had been sincerely inherited and maintained, Nigeria would not have been plunged into such a quagmire as Goodluck Jonathan’s time.

    At least with his few achievements, many ‘FIRSTS’ can be attributed to him in the history of Nigeria. For instance, he was the first Nigerian President to publicly declare his assets and those of his wife on assuming office. He was the first Nigerian President to publicly admit that the election which brought him into office was flawed thereby promising to reform the electoral process the machinery for which he sincerely put in place before his demise. And he congratulated the Labour gubernatorial candidate, Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State who won a court case against a PDP Governor Olusegun Agagu in the spirit of political sportsmanship. Yar‘Adua was also the first Nigerian President to confess that there was no subsidy on petroleum products and therefore reduced the price of PMS (petrol) from N70 to N65 per litre. Not only these, he was also the first Nigerian President to declare amnesty in a warless situation to ventilate a conducive atmosphere for permanent peace. If he was alive and remained in the saddle the situation of uncertainties would not have arisen. Perhaps that was why he called himself a servant leader.

    Yar‘Adua as a mortal being might have his own weaknesses, nevertheless, his short period as President wrought a remarkable foundation for this country.

    If he had not displayed the ingenuous tactics of declaring amnesty at the time he did, the story of Nigeria would have been quite different today.

    Nigerians continue to remember the good days of Yar‘Adua today because the foundation he laid for a new beginning in those days has begun to crumble so soon in the hands of his successors. Just two years before her centenary celebration as a country, the President iwa telling Nigerians that the security problem in the country was bigger than a civil war and he could hardly handle it.

    In such a situation, who will save Nigeria from the prediction of the West?

    Borno

    Meanwhile, the federal government has agreed in concert with Borno State government to pay a compensation of N100 million to the family of Muhammad Yusuf, the leader of Boko Haram who was killed by the police in their cell in 2009. The big question is WHY NOW? And who will compensate the families of several scores of many other Nigerians who were killed subsequently?

  • Dreaming the past

    Dreaming the past

    When responsibility is entrusted to an incompetent person expect the end of time”. Prophet Muhammad (SAW)

    The above quoted Hadith was particularly in reference to leadership in any given society. When the Prophet was to send Mu‘az Bn Jabal to Yemen as Governor, he asked him a pointed question as a way of confirming that his choice was right. He said asking Mu‘az: ‘how will you govern the people in that country?. The latter said he would use the laws of Allah as contained in the Qur‘an. Then the Prophet asked: ‘and if you cannot find a relevant solution in the Qur‘an? Mu‘az said he would use the Prophetic tradition (Sunnah). Then the Prophet further asked: ‘and if relevant solution is not found in Sunnah? Mu‘az said he would adopt the consensus of opinions of learned scholars‘‘. Then, the Prophet asked: ‘and if you cannot get a consensus? Mu‘az said he would use analogical deduction based on the three sources of law mentioned above. Thus, with Mu‘az‘s satisfactory responses, the Prophet technically confirmed the four sources of Islamic law by which any leader in an Islamic society should govern. The summary here is that governance should be by law and not by whim. And that is how the four laws of Islam started.

    The Prophet’s Conclusion 

    Thereafter, the Prophet counselled him as follows: ‘when you get there, my dear Mu‘az, endear yourself to the people and do not be hostile. Be kind to them and do not be wicked. Be lenient with them and do not be harsh. Be considerate with them and do not be dictatorial. Be compassionate to them and do not be sadistic. Be sensitive to their plight and do not be indifferent. Be transparent and do not be seen as corrupt. Be a man of your words and do not be seen as a liar. Fulfil your promises to them and do not renege on such promises. Be trustworthy in utterances and actions and not be seen as a betrayer of trust. There are three signs by which a hypocrite is known. When he talks he lies; when he promises he reneges and when he is trusted he betrays. Remember that a leader is like a shepherd who cannot claim to be successful in a day until he has coasted home the last sheep in his flock. And every shepherd shall be asked by the Almighty Allah about what he does with the flock in his care’.

    Thus, the historic conversation between the Prophet and Mu‘az confirms that good leadership is the bedrock of peace, decency and progress in any society.

    In contemporary time

    Today, many countries including Nigeria are dangerously restive because of deviation from that yardstick by irresponsible leaderships. A nation without a responsible leadership is like a body without head. Such a nation is likely to wander aimlessly and indefinitely in the wilderness of life just like the Egyptian gypsies of yore even as her citizens wallow helplessly in abject penury.

    Man ordinarily takes food for granted until he faces hunger where food is not available. He takes sound health for granted until he falls sick. He takes freedom for granted until he becomes a prisoner and he takes peace for granted until he faces war. One of the signs of living in a bad time is to keep remembering the good old days with nostalgia. Such is a confirmation that the past is better than the present. This is the situation in which overwhelming majority of Nigerians find themselves today in a country naturally and abundantly enriched with milk and honey.

    Ghana for instance

    Who could have believed some years back that this same country called Nigeria might become a beggars’ own country one day? When political calamity engendered by economic mismanagement struck Ghana in the 1980s, Nigeria was the only rescue haven in Africa for hundreds of thousands of Ghanaians who trooped into this country for all sorts of jobs including menial ones. Thus, from that experience, one would have thought that a lesson had been learnt by Nigerian leaders never to subject the citizens of this country to a similar misfortune. But alas, the situation in the past 40 years or there about has proved otherwise. Ironically, the reality today, is that the citizens of this sixth largest oil exporting country in the Africa have become beggars being deported from a onetime calamitous Ghana that sought and got economic rescue in Nigeria. The same Ghana is today a model for Nigeria virtually in all things that is decent and civilized.

    God, in His infinite mercy does not create any living thing without adequate provisions for its existence. He endows individuals and nations with wealth in time and space as a trust. But He does not physically come down to manage such wealth for anybody. Neither does He give anybody the authority to redistribute it. But in the end, the managers of such wealth will be asked to render account on how they manage it. Individuals and nations become humanly and materially rich only by Allah‘s will at the place and time divinely earmarked for it. Any manipulation of such wealth by certain greedy cabal can only pave way for an untold calamity.

    Fly in a botttle

    Like a fly in a bottle of wine which drinks and drinks till it dies in there, today‘s Nigerian rulers see their position as an opportunity to suck Nigeria‘s oil wells dry at the expense of the masses to whom those oil wells rightly and legitimately belong. These rulers have forgotten that if the oil reserve had not been divinely meant for this generation it could have been discovered and consumed by many generations long before ours.

    Nigerians of today have found themselves in a dream land. They are not only dreaming of what they ought to be as against what they are. They are also dreaming of the good old days in this same country that once gave them the confidence to build hope in their future as well as that of their children. That hope has practically become forlorn. Without necessarily sounding pessimistic, if there is any expectation for an ordinary Nigerian today, it is for death as despair is currently the song of destiny.

    Telling the history of Nigerian oil cannot end with the present generation. It surely extends to the future. Where are the founding fathers of Nigeria especially those who strove for the discovery of oil? Was the current situation their dream? Even as Prime Minister and Premier respectively, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto borrowed money from banks to purchase their cars and build their houses. They never possessed more than those even when their political contemporaries were accumulating empires. It is easier to be a legatee than to be a legator. The greatest spendthrifts are those who do not know the source of money in their possession.

    Read Also: Activists blame past govt for #EndSARS protests

    Oil wealth

    It is rather ironic that oil wealth which serves as the source of fortune for many countries is the main source of Nigeria‘s misfortune. At least this country was economically steady and progressive before the so-called oil boom. At least there was no oil money when Nigeria went through a civil war for 30 months without borrowing one kobo. Why has oil boom become oil doom?

    In his nine years in office as Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon took the price of PMS from 6k to 9.5k per litre. After him was General Murtala Muhammed an obvious man of the people who never tampered with the price of oil till his death in 1976. It was General Olusegun Obasanjo who first took oil price by a leap moving it from 9.5k to 15.3k in his three and a half year reign from February 1976 to October 1979. In his own four years and three months in office, President Usman Shehu Shagari never tampered with the price of oil. And General Muhammadu Buhari who succeeded him maintained the status quo as he never increased fuel price even by one kobo during his 20 month rule. Thus, between 1979 when Obasanjo left office and 1985 when Buhari was overthrown, the oil price remained same and Nigeria did not fail as a nation.

    When the self-styled Military President Ibrahim Babangida took over in 1985, his first focus was on oil. It was he who moved the price of PMS from 15k to 70k in his eight years of governance. But by far the greatest leap of oil price in Nigeria  was introduced by Chief Earnest Shonekan the then interim Head of State who took the price from 70k to N5 within the 87 days of his illegal rule.

    Then General Sani Abacha the maximum despot who forcefully hijacked power in October 1993 moved the price of PMS from N5 to N11 within his five years in office. That was an average of N1 increase per year. When Abacha died in 1998, General Abdul Salami Abubakar became the Head of State and virtually concentrated on oil. He can be called Nigeria‘s Head of oil fields. It was he who took the price of PMS from N11 to N20 within the ten months he ruled Nigeria. When General Obasanjo returned to office as elected President in 1999, his first port of call was oil. Capitalizing on the precedent laid by General Abdul Salami Abubakar, he went ahead to raise the price of PMS from N20 to N70 within eight years he spent in office.

    Ebele Jonathan

    Now, to prove that the removal of the so-called oil subsidy by previous rulers in Nigeria was a child‘s play, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan decided to surpass them all even if all Nigerians would go to the gallows. After consultations with various stake holders and interest groups including traditional rulers, religious leaders, Labour Unions, ASUU and NANS, all of whom objected to any removal of subsidy at this precarious time, Mr. President decided to go ahead with his plan not minding any contrary opinion. His argument was that facilities like roads, hospitals, schools, refineries and rail system must be provided even if at the expense of the lives of Nigerians. And such removal must be done at a time when the feeding allowance of his family and that of his deputy was unilaterally fixed at about one N1billion per year then. Mr. President was calling on Nigerians to sacrifice while the cost of his medical services in the Presidential clinic was then about N1.2 billion even as another N300 million was earmarked for replacement of his kitchen utensils. For his trips abroad in 2012 alone about N10 billion was earmarked.

    But to show a good example of sacrifice for the nation, he and his Ministers have resolved to cut their salaries by 25% though we are not told the amount of each cabinet Minister‘s salary. And nothing is said about their undisclosed allowances. That is exhibition of power for you.

    Thus by the signature of one man appended to an obnoxious policy imposed on the populace, it is certain that many lives would be lost, many marriages would collapse, many children would drop out of school and many agreements would crumble causing irreconcilable rifts. These did not happen in the time of Yar‘Adua because there was no cause for such.

    Yar’adua as President

    With Yar’adua as President, Nigerians did not see their newly rekindled hope ending up in a paroxysm of despair as the case of Goodluck Jonathan’s time. Until he came on board as President, every other person that ruled Nigeria except Shagari and Buhari had claimed that there was subsidy on oil.

    Due to his short time in office, Yar‘Adua might not have been perceived as a great achiever but the few achievements he recorded were quite remarkable.

    If those achievements had been sincerely inherited and maintained, Nigeria would not have been plunged into such a quagmire as Goodluck Jonathan’s time.

    At least with his few achievements, many ‘FIRSTS’ can be attributed to him in the history of Nigeria. For instance, he was the first Nigerian President to publicly declare his assets and those of his wife on assuming office. He was the first Nigerian President to publicly admit that the election which brought him into office was flawed thereby promising to reform the electoral process the machinery for which he sincerely put in place before his demise. And he congratulated the Labour gubernatorial candidate, Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State who won a court case against a PDP Governor Olusegun Agagu in the spirit of political sportsmanship. Yar‘Adua was also the first Nigerian President to confess that there was no subsidy on petroleum products and therefore reduced the price of PMS (petrol) from N70 to N65 per litre. Not only these, he was also the first Nigerian President to declare amnesty in a warless situation to ventilate a conducive atmosphere for permanent peace. If he was alive and remained in the saddle the situation of uncertainties would not have arisen. Perhaps that was why he called himself a servant leader.

    Yar‘Adua as a mortal being might have his own weaknesses, nevertheless, his short period as President wrought a remarkable foundation for this country.

    If he had not displayed the ingenuous tactics of declaring amnesty at the time he did, the story of Nigeria would have been quite different today.

    Nigerians continue to remember the good days of Yar‘Adua today because the foundation he laid for a new beginning in those days has begun to crumble so soon in the hands of his successors. Just two years before her centenary celebration as a country, the President iwa telling Nigerians that the security problem in the country was bigger than a civil war and he could hardly handle it.

    In such a situation, who will save Nigeria from the prediction of the West?

    Borno

    Meanwhile, the federal government has agreed in concert with Borno State government to pay a compensation of N100 million to the family of Muhammad Yusuf, the leader of Boko Haram who was killed by the police in their cell in 2009. The big question is WHY NOW? And who will compensate the families of several scores of many other Nigerians who were killed subsequently?

  • Stoning to Death

    Stoning to Death

    Laws are like spider’s webs. If anything small falls into them, they ensnare it. But large things break through and escape. By Solon, Athenian statesman and poet (638-559 B.C)

    Europeans who likened law to an ass may have generalized that opinion but they are surely not far from the truth after all. Laws generally are what human beings make them through  interpretation. No law in any given society is naturally controversial. What brings about controversy is interpretation. All human laws, written or conventional, emanate from societal norms. Those norms only become laws when they are backed up by governing authorities.

    In Islam, the body of the laws that govern the lives of Muslims is called Sharia. This constitutes what is known as Islamic law or culture. It is derived from the following four sources:

    •Qur’an, the direct words of Allah revealed to Prophet Muhammad (SAW) through the Arch-Angel Jubril

    •Hadith, the divinely guided but personal expressions of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), which give interpretations to the contents of the Qur’an.

    •Ijma’, the consensus of opinions of the learned Muslim scholars which must conform to the first two sources above.

    •Qiyas, a scholarly analogy deduced from the first three sources above.

    These sources are in sequence of authority. Qur’an is the first and foremost among them. No other source can supersede or equal the authority of the Qur’an. If any other source contradicts the Qur’an, that source automatically becomes null and void.

    Because the Qur’an was revealed in coded language, the need to decode it for the purpose of understanding necessitated the adoption of Hadith as the second source of Islamic law. No one was as competent to give accurate interpretation of the Qur’an as the Prophet who received its revelations from Allah through Arch-Angel Jibril. The Prophet himself acquired the knowledge of interpreting the Qur’an through informal interactions with Arch-Angel Jibril who gave him tutorials as well as the informal revelations he received while sleeping which are called ‘Hadith-ul-Qudsi’

    The third source is the consensus of opinion of highly informed Muslim scholars (Ijma’) based on the provisions of the Qur’an and Sunnah. It came into being as a result of scholarly understanding of the first two sources by credible Muslim clerics. This source became necessary for the harmonization of Islamic jurisprudence even if environments and circumstances would still leave room for variations in language and presentations.

    The fourth and last source is analogical deduction (Qiyas) which arose from peculiar situations in which clerics might find themselves at certain times and in certain places. This source allows for logical deductions that could be derived from the first three sources without contradicting any.

    In sequence of authority, therefore, it becomes clear that only in the absence of Qur’anic provision can Hadith become the supreme legal authority in Islam. And, neither ‘Ijma’ nor ‘Qiyas’ can become a point of reference where the Qur’an and Hadith are available. (Hadith is the collection of the divinely guided utterances of Prophet Muhammad while Sunnah is his exemplary conducts that Muslims are supposed to emulate).

    Classification of Shari‘Ah

    Like any other law, Shari‘ah is classifiable into civil and criminal aspects. As relevant here, adultery is within the criminal aspect of Sharia. In Islam, it is a crime which incurs a severe sanction. And the sanction is clearly prescribed in Qur’an 24 verse 2 as follows:

    “The woman and the man who are guilty of adultery, give each of them one hundred lashes of the cane. Let no compassion in their case prevent you from obedience to Allah, if you truly believe in Allah and the last day; and let their punishment be witnessed by a number of believers”.

    The above quoted verse is Allah’s prescribed punishment for adulterers and adulteresses as well as for fornicators (male and female). In Arabic language, there is no distinction between an adulterer and a fornicator. The word for illegitimate sexual intercourse generally is ‘zina’ which is a crime in Islam. An adulterer is called ‘zani’ while an adulteress is called ‘zaniyah’. And those are the precise words used for the two respectively in the Qur’an. The two words are equally used for fornicators.

    As is general with all laws, the interpretation of this verse of the Qur’an varies from scholar to scholar and from school of thought to school of thought. While some scholars believe that the quoted verse refers to unmarried people others contend that since the word zina applies to both fornication and adultery, the verse must be in reference to the two categories of people (married and unmarried).

    Proof of Law

    As for stoning, no specific chapter or verse of the Qur’an can be cited as evidence for its application. In other words, the Qur’an does not prescribe stoning as punishment for adulterers and adulteresses as it is in prescribing flogging.

    Islamic law, as mentioned earlier, is a combination of sources. And we had been warned by Allah that:  “It is not for true believers, male or female, to have a choice (but to abide) when Allah and His Apostle decree on an issue. Whoever disobeys Allah and His Apostle has strayed far indeed”. (Q. 33, verse 36.)

    There are many narrated versions of how and when stoning as punishment for adulterers and adulteresses became a law. All the available evidences advanced in favour of this law are based on Hadith and Sunnah. But when did the Prophet’s expression or action authorise stoning vis a vis the Qur’anic revelation on flogging quoted above?

    Was it before or after the revelation? If it was after, could the Prophet have given a verdict that would contradict the contents of the Qur’an? If it was before, shouldn’t such Hadith or Sunnah be superseded by the Qur’anic revelation that came after it? Yet, there is the issue of homosexuality and lesbianism and the punishment prescribed for them by the Qur’an and Sunnah.

    With good knowledge of Islam and thorough understanding of Islamic jurisprudence, the issue of stoning as punishment for adulterers should not, ordinarily, generate any controversy. The position of the Qur’an on this issue, as revealed by Allah, is very clear. What brought controversy into it is the interpretation of that revelation as attributed to several Hadith relayed in various versions.

    Given the antecedence of the record of Hadith, any informed Muslim must be careful in using Hadith against the contents of the Qur’an especially as a legal code in Islam. Statutorily, Hadith is meant to complement the Qur’an and not vice versa. Where the former seems to conflict with the latter, the Qur’an prevails.

    If any of these two major sources of Islamic law was ever controversial it could only have been the Hadith and not the Qur’an.

    And, it was for this reason that Hadith was subjected to such serious scrutiny that led to scholastic separation of the wheat from the chaff in what came to be known as science of Hadith.

    Documentation of Hadith

    It must be remembered that the official compilation and documentation of Hadith did not take place until several decades after the demise of Prophet Muhammad. And what led to that exercise by great scholars like Al-Bukhari, Muslim, Ibn Maja, Abu Daud, At-Tirmidhi, An-Nisai and a host of others was the rampant fabrication of statements attributed to the Prophet by some mischievous elements.

    Unlike the Qur’anic revelations which were promptly documented officially as instructed by the Prophet himself, Hadith and Sunnah were not authorised for documentation by the Prophet. His (Prophet’s) position was that such documentation could lead to a conflict of Hadith with the contents of the Qur’an and therefore cause confusion among the Muslims. That fear was never fully allayed after all, despite the efforts of the mentioned scholars. And, today, we still have thousands of Hadith classified as ‘weak’, ‘unauthorised’ and ‘rejected’. Yet, they bear no names other than Hadith.

    In such a melee, it will be foolhardy to depend exclusively on Hadith in giving a verdict as fundamental as stoning to death especially when the Qur’an is silent on it. Though I am not a Mufti, I personally believe that if Allah had intended stoning as penalty for adultery, He wouldn’t have left its pronouncement to the Prophet since He (Allah) was categorical in respect of flogging for adulterers.

    Categories of Adultery

    In Islam, adultery is not limited to married men and women alone. The acts of homosexuality (i.e. man to man sex) as well as lesbianism (i.e. woman to woman sex) are equally treated as adultery. And this is where the logic of stoning becomes questionable. It is through the Qur’an that we came to know of a whole city of the people of Prophet Lut (Lot) which Allah wiped out for committing homosexuality otherwise called ‘sodomy’. The Qur’an does not tell us of a similar punishment meted out to any group of adulterers in history. Yet, homosexuals and lesbians are still given the opportunity to repent with a promise of Allah’s forgiveness.

    This is how the Qur’an put it: “Against those of your women who commit adultery (lesbianism), call witnesses, four in number, from among yourselves; and if they bear witness, then keep the women in confinement until death release them or Allah shall make for them a way out of it. And if two (men) of you commit it (homosexuality), then punish them both; but if they repent and show remorse, leave them alone. Verily, Allah is forgiving, compassionate. Q. 4:15-16.

    Fabricated Hadith

    Many versions of Hadith were relayed in respect of stoning. One of them was that of a married woman once reported herself to the Prophet confessing adultery. The Prophet pretended not to hear until the woman repeated herself three times, saying she had become pregnant as a result. The Prophet thereafter asked her to come and repeat the confession after delivery. It was thought that the woman would never come back having known the implication. But surprisingly, she came back after delivery and repeated the same confession three times.

    There and then, the Prophet was said to have ordered some of his disciples present to pelt her with stone. This act was carried out as the woman took to her heels. When those disciples returned to inform the Prophet that they had stoned the woman to death, he was alarmed and scolded them for carrying out such a dastardly act saying he did not send them to kill her.

    One would wonder why the Prophet who was so compassionate and cautious about anything life would rush to give such a verdict without investigating the matter conclusively. For instance, nothing in the referred Hadith tells us anything concerning the woman’s sexual partner (i.e. the man who impregnated her) before the judgment was allegedly given. That is not the exemplary Prophet described by Allah in the Qur’an thus: “you have a good example in Allah’s Apostle for anyone who looks to Allah and the last day and remembers Allah always” (Q. 33: 21).

    Relevant Questions

    Some questions can be raised in respect of the process of applying the penalty for adultery. Some of the questions are as follow: when can a man or a woman be pronounced an adulterer or adulteress? How can such a person be tried? Who should pass judgment on him or her?

    To ascertain that a man or a woman has committed adultery, there must be convincing evidence. One such evidence is for the married woman to be pregnant outside the wedlock. Another is for the woman or the man to voluntarily confess to adultery. However, the sexual partner must also voluntarily admit that adultery was actually committed between both of them. The third is for other people to prove catching them in action. Anybody who came up with such allegation without proof must bring four male witnesses or eight female witnesses. Each of the witnesses must have seen the accused duo in action. This means they must have all seen the physical insertion of the male organ into the female organ. And they must be made to swear to on oath that they actually saw the act. This is to avoid any possibility of conspiracy.

    Anything less than that should be considered mere suspicion which cannot warrant any penalty because adultery is not committed in the open.

    If, through open evidence (like pregnancy outside wedlock) or voluntary self-confession by both sexual partners, a man or a woman is found guilty of adultery, the next step is prosecution in a Shari‘ah court. In the absence of an official Shari‘ah court the accused person should be tried by a judicial committee of a Mosque headed by a Mufti.

    Such an accused person must have attained puberty, he or she must be sane and the act must have been committed with his or her consent.

    In the case of the woman becoming pregnant, the court or the Mosque must allow her to deliver the child before any judgment is executed.

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    And if she alleges rape, she is automatically free if her claim is found to be true. But the best is to defer the judgment till after delivery to avoid any psychological complication that may affect the child in her womb. Such deferment will also allow for thorough investigation before judgment is given.

    As for the male partner, the penalty may be carried out as soon as the judgment is delivered, if enough evidence is established against him.

    That penalty as prescribed in the Qur’an is flogging which should be done publicly and witnessed by members of the community in order to serve as a deterrent to others.

    However, banishment from the community for one year after flogging may be waived, according to Imam Hanafi, if the culprit repents sincerely and promises never to repeat the crime, depending on the discretion of the judge or the Mufti.

    Essence of Punishment

    The essence of any punishment in Islam is to enable people repent and desist from evil deeds. But what is amazing about the application of Islamic punishment for adultery is that only the lowly people in the society are caught and punished for it even when it is obvious that adultery is more rampant among the makers and shakers of the society especially the law givers. Why is it that no single highly placed person has ever been caught and punished for adultery either in Nigeria or elsewhere?

    Besides ‘shirk’ (associating something with Allah), no act is more annoying to Allah than miscarriage of justice, especially against the helpless people. Adultery is a very grievous crime in Islam and no true Muslim will solicit for adulterers or adulteresses. But, in applying the law against this monstrous crime, due process must be followed without any discrimination. Justice is the hallmark of Islam.

    Let those who administer justice fear Allah.  Like many other Hadith fabricated and credited to Prophet Muhammad (SAW) for authenticity, the commonly quoted Hadith about stoning sounds very much fabricated because it contradicts logic and misrepresents the just personality of Prophet Muhammad (SAW).