Category: Friday

TODAY’s article is not new. It is only being recalled here due to popular demand. When it was first published in this column some years ago, many Muslim couples in Nigeria saw it as a true mirror of their matrimonial homes. Many others took it for a matrimonial handbook capable of serving as a guide for the conduct of their homes. Yet, many who missed the article at that time but only heard of it from those who read it have severally called for its repetition in this column. Thus, because of the value it may add to Muslim homes and the role it may play in resolving conflicts in those homes, ‘The Message’ decided to re-publish it here today for the benefit of all and sundry. Here it goes:

“A radical 20th century India-born British journalist and novelist, George Orwell, wrote a famous allegorical novel entitled ‘ANIMAL FARM’ in 1945. His focus in that novel was mainly on the Russian revolution of 1917 which he satirized venomously. While writing the novel, that social critic never thought that any possible ripples could arise from it which might have a backlash effect on the entire human social life in the 21st century. But, ironically, with the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR), in 1991, the application of that book became manifest on the entire social life of today’s mankind. This will be explained shortly.

 

Institution of Marriage

Perhaps no institution in human life is as temporally or spiritually valuable as marriage. This is an indisputable fact across nations, races, cultures and religions. Marriage is the main axis around which the continuity of human existence on earth rotates. It is either a pivotal source of decency or a clear cause of malfeasance in any given society. Without marriage, human societies would have been like Orwell’s Animal Farm. And were Orwell alive today he would have probably redirected the setting of the play in his novel towards the matrimonial homes globally.

 

Rate of Marriage Dissolutions

Nowadays, the rate of dissolution of marriages is by far higher than the rate at which marriages are consummated. At least, going by the local customs of the various tribes in Nigeria, one can conclude that marriages are conducted weekly throughout the country as against the daily occurrences of their dissolution. This means that marriage, especially, in contemporary time, is the chimney through which the smoke of divorce oozes out to pollute matrimonial environments.

 

Definition of Marriage

Some people define marriage as legalization of intercourse and procreation of children without any reference to its divine sanctity. Others call it a social contract culturally or legally consummated between two consenting adults opposite genders. The latter definition is also silent on the obligation and responsibilities of such a union. In Islam, marriage is much more than the two definitions quoted above. It is on the one hand, a promise made by the male gender who is soon to become the husband and on the other, a trust personified by the female gender who is soon to become the wife in the custody of a husband. Thus, marriage is an agreement between two families aimed at creating an avenue for continuity of social life through a common social venture jointly managed by the two representatives of both families in their bid to set up a home of their own. The key word in marriage is COMPATIBILITY via effective communication.

 

Marriage as a Balloon

In the life of any serious human being, three events are fundamentally essential. These are birth, marriage and death. The three jointly form the axis around which the entire human life rotates. All other events in human life are merely peripheral.

Throughout the world today (Nigeria inclusive), marriage has virtually become a balloon which can be casually inflated in one minute and deflated in the next minute. It has been taken for a mere chess game played for the fun of the players as well as that of the onlookers. To most Nigerian city dwellers of today, marriage is not more important than dining, wining, singing and dancing. It has been reduced to mere fun and entertainment which many young couples see as a legitimate means of actualizing sexual urge that would have been perceived as a social aberration without passing through a formal matrimonial communion.

 

The Parable of Marriage

While conducting a society marriage in Lagos sometime in 2012, yours sincerely compared a marital couple to a pair of scissors which has two blades. Each of those blades faces a different direction. The one faces right while the other faces left. These positions are not naturally interchangeable. Yet, with the nuptial knot tying them together in the middle to seal their common destiny, the two blades jointly work assiduously in their move to certify the essence of that togetherness.

Looking at a pair of scissors very carefully, one will discover that the two blades therein sometimes stick closely together and sometimes stand out separately. Their meeting and parting randomly accentuate the essence of their togetherness. Through those meeting and parting moments, the two blades of the pair of scissors communicate effectively and mutually function dutifully. When they stay apart, the tendency is for some intruders to assume that they cannot jointly function again and therefore attempt to penetrate the gap between them. But as soon as that intruder comes in, the two blades of the scissors quickly come together to crush it. There is a marital lesson for human beings to learn from this.

 

Division of Labour

No husband can play the role of his wife and no wife can play the role of her husband without experiencing a hitch. The division of labour in the matrimonial home as naturally ordained is the main determinant of the separation of powers in that home.

Just as the two blades of a pair of scissors face different directions but work intimately together, so should any marital couple do in the interest of matrimonial sustenance. If the two blades of a pair of scissors stick together permanently without opening and closing, the tendency is for the scissors to rust away and become useless to users. And, if on the other hand, those blades stay apart consistently thereby giving room for a permanent gap the scissors may never be able to jointly carry out the assignment for which it is manufactured. Thus, it is through random meeting and parting of those blades, that the pair of scissors is able to perform its duty without any hindrance. And as the blades grow older, they become weaker and less active. That is the situation with all marital couples irrespective of race, tribe, religion, ideology or culture.

 

Implications of Marriage

Today, marriage has become like the country called Nigeria where projects are hurriedly executed to satisfy the secret (under the table) terms of contract without any consideration for the quality and maintenance of such projects. When two young people of different genders and backgrounds are coming together to become a marital couple, they hardly think of the implications of such a union in terms of individual differences and the possible challenges that may emanate from those differences. Young couples of today mostly perceive love either from beauty point of view of the pleasure of sexual intercourse. And that is a way of misconceiving infatuation or enjoyment of sexual intercourse for love which is usually the cause of marital collapse.

 

Marital Love

In marriage, love develops only gradually with mutual understanding especially when it becomes evident that one spouse accommodates the weaknesses of the other through tolerance and compromise. The attraction which beauty or intercourse engenders can only at best generate tentative LIKENESS and not LOVE in the real sense. This is where the foundation of divorce is often laid even before the consummation of marriage. There is nothing called love in a matrimonial home in the absence of thorough understanding of each other through effective and sincere communication as well as tolerance. The Prophet’s recommendation

In his recommendation to Muslim men searching for wives, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was reported have said: “Wives should be married on the basis of four factors: beauty, wealth, family background and faith”. He however emphasized (Islamic) FAITH as the strongest factor for Muslim couples. He did not recommend such factors to women knowing the difficulties that women might face in making choices of men but he strongly recommended that a woman’s consent in her marriage is germane. The Prophet then concluded that any marriage without such consent is invalid. This means that forcing a girl into marriage without her consent is illegal in Islam.

Marriages are globally collapsing at an alarming rate today because families have closed their eyes to two key factors in maintaining the matrimonial homes of their wards. These factors are COMMUNICATION and MUTUAL RESPECT. No marriage can ever survive or succeed without a thorough pre-marital counseling by parents, guardians or religious clerics who must not only tutor potential couples but also demonstrate practically to them how marriages are sustained using their own marriages as examples. Newly married couples often dream of building their homes on the models of certain older couples in the society. The consummators of new marriages in the Muslim community must be part of those models.

 

Effective Communication

There can be no matrimonial peace in the absence of adequate communication between husband and wife based on mutual respect. Nothing signals the collapse of a marriage more than communication breakdown in the home. A marriage without effective communication is like a house without doors. Of course, the children from such homes are mostly the victims of any ensued divorce. If a marriage is initiated and consummated without effective communication, how can anybody think that such a marriage can be sustained with mere wishes and assumptions?

 

Spiritual Togetherness

In Islam, one of the most potent ways of ventilating communication in the home is to worship and pray together at least twice in a day (morning and evening) especially if the Mosque is far from residence.  A Muslim husband must, at least, be knowledgeable enough to lead his family in Salat and to preach and pray for the family daily. It is through such worship and prayer that many knotty matrimonial issues can be untied. And, besides, the children will be able to learn to be good-mannered and to resolve any disagreements among themselves. That is one of the reasons why Muslims are urged to acquire knowledge about their religion.

 

The Role of Mosques in Marriages

By remaining indifferent to the rate of divorce among Nigerian Muslims, the Mosques are surely shirking one of their foremost responsibilities. It has been said repeatedly in this column that Mosques are not meant for Salat alone. As a matter of fact, Salat can be observed congregationally or individually anywhere that is clean and not necessarily in a building called Mosque. A Mosque in Islam does not have to be a building if its purpose is just to observe Salat. That is why Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was quoted as saying that: “the entire earth has been made the Mosque for Muslims once it is purified”.

One of the fundamental duties of a Mosque is to sanitize the society by finding resolutions to conflicts. And since no conflict can be more devastating to any society than that of matrimonial home, it becomes incumbent on every Mosque to have a Conflict Resolution Committee constituted by learned scholars and headed by an Islamic jurist.

As a duty, an Imam of a Mosque must also be well educated enough to guide the congregation in his Mosque on the need to take their matrimonial conflicts to the Mosques or Shari‘ah courts where such conflicts can be solemnly resolved rather than to local customary courts where marriages are dissolved with fiat. Matrimonial conflicts are not new to any modern society. What seems to be new and worrisome about them is the geometric leap they are taking these days.

 

Conclusion

Today, Nigerian society is prone to danger of insecurity mostly because of matrimonial instability. And the more marriages are consummated, the more matrimonial homes crumble. Who, then, will save the society by saving our matrimonial homes? That is the biggest question of this time which is begging for a very positive answer. The security of Nigeria as a country depends very much on the stability of matrimonial homes. That is why emphasis should rather be laid on stability of homes than on distribution of contraceptives for the purpose of reducing procreation. There can be no peaceful nation without peaceful homes. This is a panacea for national insecurity. The battle for peace in Nigeria’s future is rather in the matrimonial homes than in the Sambisa forests of this world (which is the enclave of the vandals called Boko Hram). God bless our homes.

 

No sensible human being ever restricts his itinerary to aparticular habitat; to keep moving and migrating from place to place is the secret of human progress.     –    Arab poet

 

Preamble

Today’s article is a change of focus through which ‘The Message’, chooses to migrate psychologically from the insanity of Nigeria’s political, economic and religious rigmarole to the arena of an on-going global tempest if only for a change. After all, elasticity has its own limit. And by so migrating, though temporarily, a breeze of relief may blow on readers of this column over the current suffocating economic heat in the country devilishly being devilishly fuelled by religious bigotry. For now, that is a way of ventilating a peaceful atmosphere for peace-loving Nigerians.

 

Iran’s Nuclear Deal

In what looks like a prelude to a practical military faceoff between Iran and the NATO West, Iran has announced further enrichment of her nuclear programme with gas. This is contrary to the contents of the agreement signed by both sides with a condition of nuclear enrichment with economic ‘sanction’. But with the expiration of the time limit of that agreement a few months ago, Iran had warned of a post agreement action and gave an ultimatum of two months to the West to lift the economic sanctions imposed on her. However, the West ignored the warning even when it expected Iran to comply with the tenets of the agreement. Now, with a seeming stalemate in place, the world is paying a rapt attention on what the next level will be.

 

Fortuitous Military Encounter

A couple of years ago, Al-Jazeera Television throbbed with breaking news, saying that a United States military aircraft strayed into the airspace of Iran and the latter promptly responded by shooting it down. Iran announced another incident of the like a few days later.

That disturbing development further aggravated the tension between both countries, which started with the Iranian revolution in 1979.

That revolution had uprooted Iran’s imperial despotism which had caged the citizens of that country for decades.

S.’ Reaction

In reaction to the fortuitous military encounter, the US authorities explained that the destination of the shot aircraft was Afghanistan and not Iran. They explained that its pilots accidentally lost control and strayed into Iranian territory.

 

Threat to British Embassy

Shortly before that incident, Some Iranian students had besieged the British Embassy in Tehran protesting the meddling of David Cameron’s government in the internal affairs of Iran. And in a prompt retaliation, Britain immediately evacuated her diplomats in Tehran and sent the latter’s diplomats in London packing despite Iran’s regret over those students’ action.

 

Genesis of Faceoff

The genesis of the faceoff between the West and Iran took roots in the latter’s unexpected revolution of 1979. The faceoff actually started in February 1979 when Iran jumped onto the world stage with a surprising but successful revolution. February 11, 1979 was the precise climax day of a struggle, in that country, which began in 1963 between the oppressed people who were seeking emancipation from the shackles of imperialism and the implacable oppressors who wanted to keep that country’s innocent peasants in perpetual subservience. The success of that revolution has since changed the grand design of the Western powers for the Muslim world.

 

The Grand Design

That grand design for usurping the Arab wealth as a means paralysing Islam was first expressed in 1902 by a British Prime Minister, Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman when he observed as follows: “There are people who control spacious territories teeming with manifest and hidden resources. They dominate the intersections of world routes. Their lands were the cradles of human civilizations and religions. These people have one faith, one language and the same aspirations. No natural barriers can isolate them from one another….If, per chance, these people were to be unified into one state it would then take the fate of the world into its hands and separate Europe from the rest of the world. Taking these considerations seriously, a foreign body should be planted in the heart of this nation to prevent the convergence of its wings in such a way that it could exhaust its powers in never- ending wars. It could also serve as a spring board for the West to gain its coveted objects”.

Follow Up

Sir Bannerman’s observation was in further pursuit of an earlier1979 in Contemporary History emand by one Theodor Herzl, a leader of the Zionist movement founded in 1879. Herzl, an Austrian Jewish lawyer and journalist demanded thus:“Let sovereignty be granted us (Jews) over a portion of the globe large enough to satisfy the rightful requirements of a nation; the rest, we shall manage by ourselves…”

In response to that clandestine demand, another British Prime Minister, James Arthur Balfour issued a devastating declaration that now bears his name, which conceded a major part of Palestine to the Zionists as a home. That (Balfour) declaration has since put the Middle East in incessant turmoil. The declaration read thus in part:“His majesty’s Government views with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people and will use its best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this objective…. The rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country shall not be prejudiced by the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people”.

 

Implementation

To facilitate that objective effectively, some other Middle East countries had to be decapitated economically and politically by excising from them, a juicy chunk of their lands. Thus, Lebanon was excised from Syria and Kuwait from Iraq. The strategy was to cause a dissention among the citizens of those countries with the intention of breaking the yoke of the Muslim unity which Bannerman had targeted in his infamous observation of 1902 quoted above.

Now, how does Iran come into this picture when she is not an Arab country?

That is a logical question that anybody who is not quite familiar with the Middle East and the intricacies of its political and economic set up would ask. Naturally, Iran is affected by three major factors:Politics, economy and culture. And by culture here, we mean ISLAM.

Iran is a foremost Islamic country even if her official language is farisi (Persian) and not Arabic. And, as an Islamic Country, whatever affects other Muslim countries must affect her.

 

Turkey for Instance

The case of Turkey is a good example of a Muslim country without Arabic as language. Thus, Turkey was, though, not an Arab country, she was nevertheless the seat of the Islamic Caliphate for about 562 years from 1362 until 1924 when a diabolical agent of the West came on stage as Head of State. His name was Mustafa Kemal Ataturk; a man who wanted to prove to the West that it was possible for a non-Catholic to be “Holier than the Pope” especially when it came to adopting the so-called Western Civilisation. On March 3, 1924, just one year after assuming office as the ruler of Turkey, Ataturk introduced a Bill to   the Turkish Parliament seeking to secularize his country by abolishing the office of the Caliph without any consideration for the feelings and sensibility of the people he ruled.

Presenting the Bill, Ataturk said: “Ottoman Empire was built and existed on the principle of Islam. Islam is Arabic in character and in concept. It shapes from birth to death, the lives of its adherents; it stifles hope and initiative. The Republic (of Turkey) is threatened by the continued existence of Islam in its midst….”

With the passage of that Bill, Turkey was recognised as a secular state. Politics was separated from religion and Islam was relegated to a personal matter rather than the state religion that it was before then. The caliphate was abolished and Islamic law was abrogated.

Ataturk borrowed the new Turkish civil law from Switzerland, the criminal law from Italy and the international law of trade from Germany. The Muslim personal law was harmonized with the European civil law. Religious instruction in public schools was prohibited.

Purdah system was abolished and declared illegal. Co-education was introduced to schools. The use of Arabic alphabets was prohibited and replaced by the Latin Script. Adhan (the call to prayer) was no longer to be made in Arabic but in Turkish language while the national costume was changed to that of the Europeans even as the wearing of hat by men was made compulsory. What Ataturk did not do was to abrogate the tenets of Islam completely.

Thus, by one man’s whim, Turkey lost her values and heritage of centuries in a bid to adopt the so called ‘modernity’ brought by ‘Western civilization’. One can imagine what Islam would have become today if countries like Iran, Indonesia and Pakistan had adopted the same misfortune.

 

Emergence of Ayatullah Khomeni

It was a similar situation under the Iran’s last Emperor, Shah Muhammad Reza Pahlavi that prompted the late Iranian spiritual leader, Ayatullah Ruhullah Mousavi Khomeini to embark on a liberation struggle in 1963 that culminated in a successful revolution in 1979.

Unlike Ataturk, however, Imam Khomeini knew that the greatest virtue that could be lost in the life of man was culture. He knew that without a clear-cut culture man couldn’t be better than a beast. He knew that such values as law, education and religion, which guide man in his peregrinations on earth, are the attributes of culture. He knew that a nation, which surrenders its culture and adopts that of another nation, has enslaved herself permanently to the caprice of the latter nation. Thus, Khomeini saw Islam, (the culture of over one billion Muslims in the world at that time), as the target of the Western imperialists, which needed defence and protection.

 

The Revolution

No one believed in 1979 that a mass protest which started like a small political billow, engendered by the country’s unarmed Mullahs could eventually grow into such a great magnitude of political ‘earthquake’.

By the time the foggy dust finally settled, a new Iran had emerged from the debris of the old. Thujs, against the wish and expectation of the capitalist West, the secular, monarchical Iran became an Islamic republic. The drama was quite electric. Characteristic of the West, all hands were put on deck, at that time, to ensure that an Islamic republic did not succeed the tyrannical monarchy headed by the Shah Pahlavi and heavily backed up by the oppressive West. America was most active in that ambitious but vain effort. She would not easily allow the massive benefit she had been enjoying for decades in that oil-rich country, under the Shah regime, to slip out of her hands just like that. Thus, under the pretext of wanting to rescue her citizens from the siege laid by Iranian students on that country’s embassy, in Tehran, the US attempted an invasion of the country.  The espionage activities by the American diplomats, inside that embassy, against the new Islamic government in Iran had warranted the siege.

 

The American Strategy

While a number of US F15 bomber jets were approaching Iran, President Jimmy Carter engaged his country’s media executives in a media chat without giving any hint of the impending military operation in Iran.

The tactics was to divert the attention of the press and that of his entire country from the illegal Pentagon’s military expedition. But no sane person can ever fault the contents of the Qur’an. Exactly about 1400 years before that incident, a verse of the Qur’an had been revealed to Prophet Muhammad (SAW) thus: “They (the unbelievers) schemed, and Allah schemed. Allah is the supreme schemer”. Q. 3:54.

Jimmy Carter’s thought was that by the time he would be finishing his press address, the news would have reached him that America had successfully invaded Iran. He had therefore intended to announce the news of his ‘great’ successful scheme to the press as the epilogue of his address. And that would have served as his impetus for wining that year’s election for a second term in office. But, as Allah would have it, instead of the expected news, what he got was a shocker of his life.

 

Failure of the American Strategy

Two of the F15 fighters deployed for the invasion of Iran miraculously collided in the air, crashing with their contents, just at the pointof entering Iran and consuming the lives of 16 top air force officers on board while the other jet fighters had to turn back having run into confusion. When this devastating news reached Carter, it was too much

to hide and it quickly became a public knowledge.

Thus, the mighty America failed woefully, with her technology, in circumstances she has never been able to analyse and explain convincingly till date. With that scheme, it became obvious that Jimmy Carter of the Democrat Party had dug his own political grave. Of course, he lost the election to the cowboy turned Politician, (Ronald

Reagan) of the Republican Party. For about 444 days (well over a year), the 52 Americans held   hostages by Iranian students remained under the siege of those students. It took high-level diplomacy, through third party countries, to eventually get them released.

Yet, America was not done. She went ahead to freeze Iran’s foreign reserve of $80 billion in addition to imposition of economic sanctions with the intention of running that country’s economy aground. The only Iran’s offence in this case was to chart an independent politicalcourse that could liberate her citizens from the manacles of the Western imperialism. Ever since, the relationship between America and Iran has remained icy.

That relationship however, further deteriorated recently when Iran started a nuclear project with which to prop up her economy. America responded with a threat saying the United States would not tolerate any nuclear project in Iran because she could not trust that Islamic nation with the use of nuclear power. And of course, America’s voice was re-echoed by the United Nations, through the mouth of the latter’s then Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon.

 

Greyhound

Only a fool will not know that the UN, as presently constituted, is merely the greyhound of the US through which the latter barks randomly at the rest of the world when opinions contradict America’s position.

But for the recent Iraqi episode that became regrettable for the self-appointed policeman of the world, and of course, the North Korean case, which has become a cancerous sore on the head of the US, anothern Gulf war would have either ensued or about to ensue by now. The secret of America’s military successes in various parts of the world is neither in technological advancement, nor military superiority per se.

The failed rescue mission in Iran can confirm this. That secret is rather in her ability to cause schism among some other nations and races as the case in the Arab world.

Iran has never been a prey to America’s direct military aggression, even when the Shah Pahlavi was in power, because she has never played a fool dancing to the sour music of that predatory country in a seeming open brook.

 

Sanction as Weapon

Now, with the threat of invasion of Iran by Israel on the one hand and economic and political sanctions against her by the Western NATO

allies on the other, will history repeat itself? One fact has become clear about the US political trend ever since that country withdrew from her self-isolationism in 1945. Her internal politics has been regularly dictated by her foreign policy. Thus, many American Presidents have won or lost elections at home due to the foreign policy of the concerned President. Will this also repeat itself in Donald Trump’s regime? One fact that must be well noted however is that Iran is neither Iraq nor Afghanistan. The world cannot afford another World War now. No one should attempt to plunge it into one. A word is enough for those who are wise in America.

 

Coup in Saudi Arabia

In the same 1979, some disgruntled elements fortuitously staged a coup against the monarchical government of King Khalid. The aim of the coup was not to change the system of government but to hijack the monarchy in the name of a Mahdi (a promised messiah). That incident caused a stoppage of salat and Umrah for almost four months.

 

Invasion of Afghanistan

Also in 1979, the now defunct Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan with the intention of annexing her and that incident led to an unprecedented jihad that paved way for the emergence of the Taliban government of that country.

All these incidences of 1979 jointly formed the foundation for the global turmoil of the 21st century now pervading the world and threatening human existence. The details of the coup attempt in Saudi Arabia will be discussed in this column at another time soon. Watchout for it.

This is Rabi‘ul Awwal, the third month of the Islamic lunar calendar.

It is on the 12th day of this month that Muhammad, the son of Abdullah and Aminah who later became a Prophet of Allah, at the age of 40 in 610 CE, was born into the world in Makkah. In Islamic history, this month is only as important as any other Hijrah month but surely not more important. It is therefore a form of imitation to attach to it

any myth which   Prophet Muhammad (SAW) himself who was born in it did not attach to it.

 

Mawlidun-Nabiyyi

Contrary to what may be the thought by some readers in certain Muslim circles, in Nigeria, this article is not meant to celebrate the birth of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) for which the 12th of Rabi’ul Awwal is often erroneously declared as a public holiday by Nigerian government. What is to be celebrated about this great Prophet is by far beyond his birthday. He was not born a Prophet. Therefore, any celebration of his birthday as a Prophet is not only erroneous islamically but also an imitation of erroneous norm in some other religions.

It is only those whose achievements in life are short of memorable benefits to mankind that need celebration of birthday to augment their claimed achievements. There is nothing special about birthday celebration especially for a divinely unique personality   like Prophet Muhammad (SAW).

 

Who was Prophet Muhammad?

Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was an unpronounced school in which every knowledge-seeker learns consciously or unconsciously even more than a millennium after his demise and to eternity.  In fact, no man’s biography has been so much written and read as that of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in human history. This man’s biography has been written from all conceivable angles, positive and negative, by various men and women of diverse races, tribes, ideologies and religions since he became a Prophet of Allah in 610 CE. And the biography is still being written and re-written authoritatively and un-authoritatively, today, in uncountable languages across the world.

 

Effects of his Biography

Through the writings of Prophet Muhammad’s biography, some people have zoomed into un-dreamt fame. Some others have sunk into the abyss of permanent oblivion. In a nutshell, no other Prophet’s biography has attracted as many writers from among the believers and non-believers, as well as from friends and foes alike as that of Prophet Muhammad (SAW).

Every aspect of this Prophet’s life including the dresses he wore, the food he ate, the way he spoke, the wives he married, the children he bore, and even the jokes he cast, has formed the basis of his biography. In short, next to the Qur’an, no book is as much read daily in the world today as the biography of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in one form or another. And so it will continue to eternity.

 

A Vital Question

Why is there so much global focus   on this unlettered Prophet from Arabia?

The answer to this question is not far-fetched. The world has not produced any human being like him. And it will not. He is the seal of all Prophets and the epitome of human exemplariness. It is in him alone that all the traits of what a perfect gentleman should be are found in all ramifications.

 

The ‘Ifs’ of his Life

Every human being has certain ‘ifs’ in his or her life which may sometimes require analysis. For some people, such ‘ifs’ may be positive. And for others, they may be negative or mixed. In the case of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) all the ‘ifs’ that are attributable to him are components of the factors that constitute the school in which humanity is supposed to learn how to link the life of this world to that of the hereafter.

For instance if the Prophet had not been an orphan, he would not have been able to guide humanity on how orphans should be treated especially with regards to upbringing and   inheritance. If he had not been a husband, his marital life would not have been an excellent example for others to emulate and women’s rights would have been permanently ignored. If he had not been a widower   and married widows   the world would not have realized the plight of widowhood and learnt how to provide for widows. If he had not been a father, the proper care for children by parents would have been relegated to the background in Islamic doctrine. If he had not been trustworthy, the value of trust would have been totally lost on mankind.

If he had not migrated from Makkah to Madinah the culture of hospitality universally imbibed today would not have come into existence. That Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was forced to face certain wars was a blessing in disguise. If he had not been forced to fight those wars, the laws of war, armistice and peace would not have become a universal rule. And without his conquests in some of those wars, the word magnanimity would not have found a place in the dictionary of man. Also, it was due to the defeats he suffered in some of those wars that created a sense of gallantry for any vanquished person or group in the contemporary world.

 

Further ‘Ifs’ of his Life

If Prophet Muhammad (SAW) had not been a judge, the virtue of justice would have been globally thrown to the winds and survival in all societies would have been for the fittest.

If he had not been a democratic ruler, the relationship between the ruled and their rulers, all over the world, today, would not have been dissimilar from that of slaves and their masters and dictatorship in governance would have known no bounds. If the Prophet had not been poor despite being a Head of State, the policies of probity and social welfare being adopted in civilized societies today in favour of the poor, would not have been possible. If he had not been an illiterate, the world would not have known the difference between literacy and education as he became the most educated human being ever despite his illiterate status. And, if, despite all these qualities in him, he had not been humble and affable, arrogance would have been the main trait of all privileged people who occupy important positions in the world today.

Who else can be compared to this man in history? And, in which any other single person have all the aforementioned qualities ever been found in history? There can be little wonder, therefore, why so much attention was and is still being focused on the personality of this extra-ordinary human being. That is Prophet Muhammad (SAW) for you, the like of whom the world had never seen and will never see again. If this man is celebrated anywhere in the world, anytime in this month or after the month, therefore, it is definitely not because he was born. Since every human being came into the world through birth, the birth of Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) cannot be classified as an achievement to be celebrated.

 

Attestations

There are many attestations to the above assertion about Prophet Muhammad (SAW). One of those attestations was made by a German- born American physicist and Nobel Laureate Albert Einstein.  After many centuries of who   invented atomic bomb and is generally known as the 20th century initiator of special and general theory of relativity, compared his works with the contents of the Qur’an and concluded as follows: “Science without religion is lame and religion without science is blind”.

He then called on fellow scientists to endeavour to read the Qur’an without bias in order to know the true origin of science in human life.

 

Professor Keith Moore

Another was Professor Keith Moor of the Department of Anatomy, University of Toronto in Canada who, after carefully examining the translation of the Qur’anic verses presented to him admitted thus: “most of the information concerning embryology mentioned in the Qur’an is in perfect conformity with modern discoveries in the field of embryology and does not conflict with them in any way”.

Professor Moore had no prior knowledge of anything leechlike about embryo until he read chapter 96 of the Qur’an where Allah says “Read! In the name of your Lord Who created. He created man out of a leechlike clot…” He then went to verify this fact in an embryo under a powerful microscope and compared his observation with a diagram of a leech. He was astonished at the resemblance of the two. That prompted him to go fully into the study of the Qur’an and Hadith to acquire more knowledge until he was able to answer about 80 hitherto unanswered questions in that field.

The discovery prompted him to correct the contents of his book ‘The Developing Human’ which he published earlier and had to re-publish in 1982. It was with that revised edition that he became the recipient of an award for the best medical book written by a single author in the 20th century. That book has been translated into many major languages of the world and is mostly used as textbook of embryology today in the first year of medical studies in various Universities across the world.

 

Napoleon Bonaparte

On his own, Napoleon Bonaparte, the great 18th century French conqueror of Europe was so much amazed by the traits of Islam which he saw during his military expeditions in Egypt that he made the following historic comment about that divine religion and its great Prophet:

“Muhammad, in reality, was a great leader of mankind. He preached UNITY among Arabs who were, till then, torn asunder due to internecine quarrels, sometimes resulting in bloody war fares. He brought them out of the obscure world in a short time and the discipline which they maintained under his leadership was simply marvelous, and so was their bravery, courage and devotion to the cause which they loved and cherished. This, coupled with the contempt for death, as taught by their leader, made them great soldiers and fighters like of whom history rarely produces. I simply marvel at the achievements of this great ‘Son of the Desert’ within a mere period of less than 15 years; a thing which Moses and Christ could not do in 15 centuries. I salute this great man; I salute his qualities of Head and of Heart….”

 

George Bernard Shaw

And, in corroboration of the above attestations variously made by renowned men of letters and intellect, another foremost Orientalist, playwright and dramatist from Ireland, George Bernard Shaw, had the following to say about Islam and Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in his book ‘The genuine Islam’ (vol. 1 No 8 of 1936): “The Christians and their missionaries have presented a horrible picture of Islam. Not only that, they also carried out an organized and planned propaganda against the personality of Prophet Mohammad and the religion he preached. I have carefully studied Islam and the life of its Prophet. I have done so both as a student of history and as a critic. And I have come to the conclusion that Mohammad was indeed a great man and a deliverer and benefactor of mankind which was till then writhing under a most agonizing pain. I have always held Islam in high estimation because of its wonderful vitality. It is the only religion which appears to me to possess that assimilating capacity to the changing face of existence which can make it appealing to every age. I have studied him (Prophet Muhammad), the wonderful man, and in my opinion, far from being an anti-Christ, he must be called the saviour of humanity. I believe that if a man like him were to assume the dictatorship of the modern world, he would succeed in solving its problems in a way that would bring it the much needed peace and happiness”.

“I have prophesied about the faith of Muhammad that it would be acceptable to the Europe of tomorrow as it is beginning to be acceptable to the Europe of today”. Please, remember that the above quoted comment by George Bernard Shaw was made in 1936 and take another look at the growth of Islam in Europe today as compared to any other religion.

 

Conclusion

The above quoted attestations are just some of the documented facts that confirm unlettered Prophet Muhammad (SAW) as the greatest human being that ever lived on earth. It should be noted that none of those attestations made any reference to his birth or birthday because the attesters knew that Muhammad’s birth had nothing to do with his achievements as a Prophet. He was not born a Prophet and his greatness was not by accident of birth but by divine will of Allah. Thus, in reality, celebrating Prophet Muhammad’s birthday is a way of trivializing his unparalleled greatness as the seal of all Prophets. Now, can any other human being be ever compared to him?

IN response to a particular question coming incessantly to this column from every conceivable angle in Nigeria, yours sincerely decided to recall an article published in this column in 2007 which answers the recurring question.

The enquirers wanted to know why Muslims and their activities are not as vivid in Nigerian media as those of their Christian counterparts.

The article that served as an answer to that question goes thus: “Information is power. It can make or mar. An informer must be informed. He must know what information to disseminate. He must know, not only when and where to disseminate such information but also how to do it. These are the attributes that can qualify journalists as professionals in their calling.

Journalism as a profession is not about news gathering and news reporting alone. It is also about dissemination of genuine information, transmission of valuable education and even presentation of meaningful entertainment. That is why a journalist is perceived as a professional who knows or should know something about everything in existence.  To be a thorough professional, a journalist must be knowledgeable in various fields of discipline no matter how little.

For instance, a journalist cannot report space exploration without some scientific knowledge of astronomy. He cannot report war without some knowledge of weaponry and the geography of war areas as well as the social history of the involved warring groups or nations. Also, no journalist can report a religious festival without knowing some jargons of the religion in question.

And, of course, in the process of filing his reports, a journalist must be conscious of the technical reportorial sequence to be followed. This is generally known in the profession as ‘five W’s and H’. The coded cliché here is interpreted as follows: “Who (does) What? Where? When? Why? And How?” Without practical knowledge of that

sequence, a journalist cannot claim to be a professional in the practice of that noble profession.

Thus, from whatever angle journalism is viewed, knowledge remains the main axis around which journalists’ activities rotate. In a nutshell, no charlatan can claim an enclave in that noble profession without the required knowledge.

 

Prophetic Foresight

Prophet Muhammad (SAW) had foreseen the effect and implications of positive or negative information dissemination before he implored Muslims to seek knowledge in what became one of his divinely guided prophetic saying (Hadith). This is how he put it: “Seek knowledge even if you will have to travel to as far a place as China”. He made that divinely guided statement at a time when China was known to be the farthest place from Arabia.

 

Essence of Knowledge

Nothing in the life of man is comparable to knowledge. As a matter of fact, life is worthwhile only if it is based on knowledge.

That was why the revelation of the Qur’an started on the premise of knowledge in 610 CE. The very first chapter of that Sacred Book commenced thus: “Read in the name of your Lord who created; He created man from clots of congealed blood. Read! Your Lord is the Most Bountiful One, who taught by the pen, He taught man what he (man) did not know…”.  And, to further emphasize this, the Prophet said that “knowledge is a missing substance and advised Muslims to search for it wherever they can find it”. He did not restrict such knowledge to religion. Without knowledge, there can be no right information.

 

Origin of Journalism

Contrary to the falsehood documented and disseminated by the Western world that journalism started in Germany in the 15th century, it was the Muslims who actually started journalism in Arabia about 1400 years ago. Though they did not call it journalism, it was they who started what we now call journalism through the process they followed in documenting Hadith (the prophetic tradition and rightly guided statements of Prophet Muhammad).

In order to prevent false documentation of any fabricated statements in the name of the Prophet, some Muslim researchers took up the task of ascertaining what the Prophet actually said or did as against what some prominence-seekers were trying to attribute to him after his demise. It was a thorough investigative job voluntarily done by certain individuals to retain the authenticity of Islam. Foremost among such great researchers were   Ibn Abbas, Ibn Mas’ud, Malik Bn Anas, Al-Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Daud, At-Tirmidhi, An-Nisai, Ibn Majah and a host of others.

For the purpose of authenticity, these great scholars introduced what they called ‘Chain of Narration’ (Isnad). Through that Chain, they endeavoured to trace the source of every Hadith quoted and credited to Prophet Muhammad (SAW). Such narrations were graded as: Sahih (indisputably genuine); Hasanun Sahihun (perfectly authentic); Hasanun (genuine); Dai’f; Munqatiu’ (broken); Gharib (strange) Mawdu’ (fabricated) and so forth. Thus, from the final documentation through this process, Hadith was transmitted from generation to generation just as we transmit news stories today in professional journalism.

Without the great efforts of the above mentioned researchers, the world would have been flooded today with all sorts of fabricated expressions falsely credited to the Prophet. And such fabrications would have thrown the Muslim Ummah into total confusion even as Islam itself would have been shrouded in doubt.

 

Prophetic Recognition of Information

The very first Minister appointed by Prophet Muhammad (SAW) as Head of State was that of information.

The black man called Bilal, who was charged with informing Muslims of the time of Salat by making ‘Adhan’, was the appointed Minister of Information. That shows how important information is to Islam.

However, when journalism as we know it today was introduced to Nigeria in the 19th century, it was through the perception and mentality of the Christian colonial masters. Although the earliest Nigerian journalists were quick to realize the power of the Press which they used to fight for Nigerian independence, they nevertheless inherited the Christian colonial traditions which are still causing disharmony in our society today. One of such traditions is religious perception.

For instance, an average Nigerian journalist does not see anything positive in Islam as a religion because he/she is blatantly ignorant of its tenets. This is not to say that journalists cannot understand Islam if given the opportunity, but the colonial orientation they inherited is such that they must not see anything good in the religion called Islam. And to ensure the effectiveness of that obnoxious indoctrination, most of Nigerian journalists who are based in the Southern part of the country were enlisted on the pay roll of various Churches. And for this reason they had to follow the dictates of those Churches by imitating the Western reportorial orientation which must paint Islam and its adherents in black colour and portray that divine religion as a hub of trouble.

 

Facts in Retrospect

For well over a century after the introduction of journalism to Nigeria, the word ISLAM and MUSLIMS were reported in Nigerian media, like in European media, as Mohammedanism and Mohammedans respectively.

It took the few Muslim scholars and journalists in Europe at that time to counter that obnoxiousness which was deliberately hung on the neck of Islam before it was changed. Even as of today, and against the ethics of their profession, most Nigerian journalists take pleasure in writing or pronouncing word ‘MOSLEM’ rather than ‘MUSLIM’ knowing fully well that the earlier is derogatory to Islam and abhorrent to Muslims.

 

Editorialisation

In news reporting and even editorials of many newspapers, some journalists have ridiculously embarrassed themselves, their media outfits as well as their Muslim readers by confusing Eid-ul-Adha with Eid-ul-Fitr during Muslim festivals out of deliberate refusal to want to know anything about Islam. On the other hand, no Muslim journalist will ever confuse Christmas with Easter or make reference to Jesus

Christ or even Christianity in a derogatory manner. It is rather shameful and ridiculous that most Southern Nigerian journalists behave as if they enjoy special immunity in freedom of expression even as they arrogantly bask in the euphoria of a non-existing monopoly of religious hysteria.

Another instance is the seeming malicious manner in which some Southern Nigerian journalists do report the outbreak of events and occurrences in the country particularly at very sensitive times thereby compounding any problem at hand. It has virtually become a tradition particularly in the Southern axis of   Nigerian media to describe youths who engage in any disturbing activities in the north as ‘FANATICS’ or ‘FUNDAMENTALISTS’ or ‘ZEALOTS’ even before the details of whatever happened become known. And in other parts of the country, such restive youths are merely reported as militants or bandits. The implication here is that any disturbance in the Muslim dominated areas of the north must automatically cloaked in garb of Islamic religion which is criminally perceived as the breeder of fanaticism. And when the trend of such restiveness is seen as tortuous to Islamic and Muslim images, the Christo-journalists of Southern Nigeria turn their back by refusing to report the incident. These and other religiously insensitive reporting can be potentially dangerous for the corporate existence of this volatile country. We had

witnessed crises precipitated by such insensitivity in the remote and recent past. But the big question is: why are Nigerian Muslims apathetic to media engagements?

 

Muslims in Nigerian Media

Muslims in the media generally must have good knowledge of Christianity and the culture of its adherents just as Christian journalist must know the dos and don’ts of Islam and the Muslims. Arabic is not a language meant for the Muslims alone. There are Christian Arabs who speak no language other than Arabic. And, there is no record anywhere to show that Prophet Isa (Jesus) ever spoke English which is the main language of the Bible in Nigeria today. Both Islam and Christianity came to meet us here in Nigeria. Why must we use them to destroy ourselves on the pages of newspapers or on radio and television stations?

One of the responsibilities of the media is to ventilate a peaceful atmosphere for harmonious co-existence of the people. Thus, any educated and civilized professional journalist in Nigeria must not shirk such a fundamental responsibility at this age of internet. For the sake of our collective survival, no combative or provocative journalism should be extended to religious sphere.

 

Jihad against Corruption

From time immemorial, man has learned through experience that it is better to prevent a disease than to cure it. One old disease which still remains young in contemporary time, despite its age, and keeps growing on the palm of man is corruption. This monstrous human ailment is like an implacable virus constantly threatening to metamorphose into full blown cancer as it eats deeply into the fabrics of its victims. Once it is allowed to so grow, its cure becomes impossible. And, coping with it in that circumstance, is like chasing a mirage.

Corruption is a much more deadly disease than what can be fought with hand in glove. As the mother of all crimes, corruption will be better prevented from growing than to be fought after growing. Incidentally, the societal disease called corruption is not limited to embezzlement and theft of public funds. No abuse or betrayal of public privilege bears any name other than corruption. And the subjective practice of journalism in Nigeria is one of such diseases. That is why the tentacle of the corruption-fighting organs like EFCC and ICPC should be expanded and strengthened. So far, EFCC and ICPC can be called offices without authority. And this is casting a shadow on the acclaimed genuine intention of the government to fight corruption in Nigeria. The first boss of EFCC, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu was able to put up some bravado while in office because of unlimited financial resources made available to him by the then President Obasanjo for whatever agenda. When Mallam Ribadu left office, the bravado left with him and the scorching EFCC became a subject of unwarranted scrutiny.

On the other hand, the first Chairman of ICPC, Justice Mustapha Akanbi, had to quit office when he observed that the intention of the initiators of that institution was at variance with the mode of operation put in place. And in that situation it would take a miracle to function as effectively as expected by the well-meaning section of the public. His successor, Justice Emanuel Ayoola, had to ensure that some amendment was made to the act that established ICPC before he could make up his mind to accept the job of its Chairman. The summary here is that if we must seriously fight corruption, we must seriously fund the agencies set up to face the task. Corruption is not about money alone. Neither is it limited to public office holders. Fighting the monster should therefore be a matter of national orientation which should be taught in schools. Corruption is as incurable as cancer.

Concentrating on merely arresting public office holders who stole public funds alone is like scratching the skin of the monster on the surface.

The seriousness of the government in fighting corruption will be better acknowledged in the area of prevention than that of cure. And that requires not only adequate funding but also sincere mobilisation which must be done with all hands on deck now and not later. And the role of Nigerian journalists in this is unlimitedly vital.