The Nation Newspaper

Category: Friday

  • Is Stoning to Death Islamic?

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

    Preamble

    Europeans who likened law to an ass may have generalized but they were

    not far from the truth after all. Laws generally are what human beings make them in the guise of 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 executed by governing authorities.

     

    Sources of Islamic Law

    In Islam, the body of the laws that govern the lives of Muslims is called Shari’ah. This constitutes what is known as Islamic law or culture. It is derived from four main sources which are:

    • 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), through which the meaning and interpretation to the contents of the Qur’an are explained.
    • Ijma’: the consensus of opinions of the learned Muslim scholars which must not contradict any of 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 contents 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 other than Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was competent to give accurate interpretation of the Qur’an because he was the divinely appointed messenger of Allah 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 as well as the informal revelations he received while sleeping which are called ‘Hadith-ul-Qudsi’.

    The third source (Ijma’u) is the consensus of opinion of highly informed Muslim scholars 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 to harmonize Islamic jurisprudence even if environments and circumstances would still leave room for variations in language and presentations.

    The fourth and last source is Qiyas, meaning analogical deduction 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 made from the first three sources without contradicting any.

     

    Order of Authority

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

     

    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 Shari’ah. In Islam, adultery is a crime which incurs a severe sanction. And the sanction is clearly prescribed in Qur’an 24:2 as follows:

    “The woman and the man who are found guilty of adultery, give each of them one hundred strokes 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 group 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 adultery and fornication. Being an illegitimate sexual intercourse, the word generally used for both is ‘zina’ which is a crime in Islam. An adulteress is called ‘zaniyah’ while an adulterer is called ‘zani’.

    And those are the precise words used for the two respectively in the Qur’an.

    As it 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).

    There is no distinction in the punishment prescribed for both.

     

    Proof of Law

    As for stoning to death, no specific chapter or verse of the Qur’an can be cited as evidence for its prescription or application. In other words, the Qur’an does not mention stoning as punishment for adulterers and adulteresses. The actual word mentioned as punishment for either fornication or adultery is ‘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.33:36.)

    However, one fact is clear: In Islam, no decree on penal law is divinely left to Prophet Muhammad (SAW) for promulgation. This is because the Prophet was neither given the power to forgive crime on behalf of Allah nor authorized to prescribe sanction for a crime. If he ever had a role to play in relation to crime at all, it was the execution of the divine law enacted by Allah.

    Meanwhile, there are many narrated versions of how and when stoning as punishment for adulterers and adulteresses became a law. But all the available evidences advanced in favour of this law are based on unauthenticated Hadith and Sunnah quoted by some Muslims. The vital question is this: when did the Prophet’s expression or action to authorize stoning vis-à-vis the Qur’anic revelation on flogging quoted above? Was it before or after the revelation on flogging? 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?

     

    Homosexuality and Lesbianism

    Besides fornication and adultery, there is also the issue of homosexuality and lesbianism both of which deserve even more severe punishment. What punishment was prescribed for them? Or can the proponents of stoning to death say that the Prophet discountenanced sodomy and lesbianism while prescribing stoning for adultery?

     

    Knowledge of Islam

    With deep 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 attempt by some scholars to equate Hadith with the Qur’an.

    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 explain and interpret the Qur’anic contents as a compliment rather than a counter force to them. 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 scrutiny and compilation of Hadith did not take place until several decades after the demise of Prophet Muhammad (SAW). And what led to that exercise by some Muslim scholars like Al-Bukhari, Muslim, Ibn At-Tirmidhi, Abu Daud, An-Nisai, Ibn Maja 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 authorized 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’, ‘unauthorized’ and ‘rejected’. Yet, they bear no names other than Hadith.

    In such a melee, it will be fool-hardy 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 yours sincerely is not a Mufti, nevertheless, 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 as punishment for adultery.

     

    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 other 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 puts 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 releases them or Allah paves their 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.

    1. 4:15-16. Now, how logical will it sound that an adulterer or adulteress is stoned to death while a homosexual or a lesbian is left unpunished because he or she has repented. Shouldn’t an adulterer or adulteress be entitled to repentance?

     

    Fabricated Hadiths

    Many versions of Hadith were relayed in respect of stoning. One of them was that 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 of adultery. 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 companions present on that occassion to pelt her with stone. This act was carried out as the woman took to her heels. When those companions returned to inform the Prophet that they had stoned the woman to death, he felt scandalized 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 could not have been 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 follows: when can a man or a woman be pronounced an adulterer or adulteress? How can such a person be tried? Who should pass judgement on him or her?

    To ascertain that a man or a woman has committed adultery, there must be convincing evidence. An example of 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 an 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 and not through rape.

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

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

    As for the male partner, the penalty may be carried out as soon as the judgement 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 waved, 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 stoning as punishment for adultery is that it gives no room for repentance. And besides, 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 by stoning 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 in this sphere fear Allah. And let those who claim to be Muslim scholars endeavour to understand the depth of Islamic law semantically and interpretatively. Using Hadith of the basis for stoning Muslim adulteresses and adulterers to death does not only portray Allah and his messenger in wrong posture, it is also a glaring jurisprudential fallacy.

  • Civics for leaders

    Except for a few outliers, various administrations across the country, from the presidency to state governments, will wrap up their tenure in two weeks. Meanwhile, preparation is in top gear for the inauguration of new administrations to run the affairs of the states and the nation for the next four years. Despite its experience of strains and stresses, the democratic system of governance appears to be developing reliable tap roots in the core of the nation’s political soil.

    Yet, as with any human-made device, the strain and stress that impacts the system are largely avoidable. But also, where they have been inadvertently allowed to intrude our political space, they, unlike the proverbial metal bracelet on the wrist of the Orisa priest, can be removed. Therefore, we must keep hope alive for a more robust democratic adventure ahead if we set our mind to it.

    We keep referencing the past when the system appeared to give us some level of satisfaction as well as hope of further progress. The reason we have retrogressed over the recent decades is not in our blood. Rather, it is due to our complacency and the blame is mostly on the leadership. But, again, the good news is that it is not a genetic disorder; and if we work hard at it, it is not irreversible.

    The complacency arose mainly from the disconnect between the requirements and expectations of a democratic system and the efforts we make to prepare ourselves for its success. As this column has often averred, as flawed as the 1999 Constitution is, Chapter 2 of that document captures admirably the fundamental tenets of democratic governance and its desirable outcomes on human happiness when it keeps a decent balance between citizen rights and responsibilities.

    The disconnect is clear: while we brilliantly elucidate the tenets and outcomes of democracy, we fail woefully in the matter of preparing ourselves for their achievements. But nothing ventured, nothing gained, and we cannot reasonably expect an output that aligns with input when the nature of the latter is completely at odds with the essence of the former. You don’t plant pineapple and expect a harvest of oranges.

    Before we embarked on the journey of democratic governance in the 50s, and independence in the 60s, all citizens, young and old, prospective leaders and followers, were well prepared through an effective program of formal and informal civic education.

    Civics, the formal education of citizens, is the study of the rights and responsibility of citizenship, and the obligations that we owe each other as members of the political community. It was a compulsory subject in primary schools throughout the country even prior to independence. And what we learned in civics class only validated our long-term traditional understanding of social relationships in the community.

    We learned, for instance, that the community of citizens is greater than any one individual; that we owe one another respect and compassionate care; that each has a moral obligation to contribute his or her quota to the community and the community has a responsibility to take care of its young ones so that, as they become adults, they feel a sense of obligation to pay back. We learned that crooks and frauds, egoists and freeloaders are anti-social elements and must be treated as such.

    The first set of leaders that emerged before and after independence were also the first products of this civic education program. Therefore, they were fully prepared for leadership role in the new nation. And it showed. They developed effective programs of public education which also prioritized economic development with a moral bias through the continuation of civics in schools. They led with example in the matter of ethical leadership. Their only defect, and a major one as such, was their primary focus on their immediate zones of affection instead of on a pan-Nigerian agenda.

    The soldiers that struck in January 1966 justified their action by appeal to what they considered the defect of regionalism, which in their view, bred the disunity and threatened disintegration, which they abhorred. They desired a national unity that had eluded the first-generation leadership. But they pursued their objective in a vacuum, and without adequate attention to citizenship education. Therefore, the products of their leadership development efforts were anything but what civics and civic education envisioned. MAMSER was hollow.

    Military leadership training produced emergency contractors, student leaders with itchy fingers and inordinate ambitions, and new-breed politicians as possessive individualists with deep throats. Subsequent civilian transitions have only built on this unfortunate legacy of kleptomania and exacerbated it. Ethical Revolution was a hoax.

    The story has not changed in the last twenty years of the 4th Republic. And change it must, if we are to be relieved of the strains and stresses that now threaten the foundation of our democracy and of the nation. From the political corruption of vote buying to the economic corruption of pen-robbery, from the egoism of freeloaders to the sectionalism of nationalities jostling for ascendancy, this republic will crumble under the weight of its mountain of challenges unless something gives.

    What must give is leadership malaise to which followership has only responded from time to time. With an impaired vision, a people can hardly survive, talk less prosper. The miseducation of leaders during the military era emphasized conspicuous consumption and a sense of entitlement that is alien to our cultures. That sense unfortunately resulted in the justification of excessive leadership compensation based on imagined sacrifice. But what sacrifice does a lawmaker makes that a policeman doesn’t? Lost in all of these is the ability of leaders to effectively preach to followers the gospel of selfless sacrifice for the nation.

    This leads us to the promise of Chapter 2 of the 1999 Constitution with its statements, first, of the ideals that make collective sacrifice for the nation worthwhile and, second, the policies that are to be pursued to realize those ideals. And it unequivocally assigns the duty and responsibility to “conform to, observe and apply the provisions of the chapter” to “all organs of government and all authorities and persons exercising legislative, executive or judicial powers.”

    Included in the provisions are the “principles of democracy and social justice” presented as the foundation of the republic. For this foundation to endure, however, the constitution identifies three sets of fundamental objectives. First, the political objective is to promote “unity and faith, peace and progress.” Second, identified as its social objective is the establishment of a “social order founded on ideals of Freedom, Equality, and Justice.” Third is the economic objective, which is to “secure the maximum welfare, freedom and happiness of every citizen on the basis of social justice and equality of status.” For each of these objectives, there are policy directives for their realization. However, from my point of view, a policy directive that encapsulates all of them is the directive to ensure that “there are equal and adequate educational opportunities at all levels.”

    Imagine if every administration even if since only 1999 has made the slightest efforts to discharge the responsibilities that these constitutional provisions impose on them. We would have little or no reason to worry about cults, bandits, kidnappers, armed robbers, etc. For, we could reasonably expect that such governmental efforts would yield positive results that are visible to everyone, so much so that even if they do not all benefit equally, those that don’t would understand that they are not deliberately discriminated against.

    Instead of that desirable approach, many leaders hustle and jostle for their selfish interests and those of their immediate families, and this sends a message to citizens that they must follow suit or be damned. But not everyone has easy access to government coffers. Those that don’t and are desperate to make it at all costs end up engaging in violent pursuits of their dreams of conspicuous consumption.

    As we embark on another four-year political journey, our leaders must go back to the basics of civics and civic education, shed their ugly cloak of egoistic greed, and lead with the fear of God. It is the straight path to the greater good of human happiness.

     

     

     

     

  • Abuse of Ramadan

    It is rather ironic that today’s world takes Muslims for the mirror through which Islam is perceived when the opposite should actually be the case. Just as it is wrong to measure knowledge, in a citadel of learning by the quantity or quality of the architectural structures available therein, so it is wrong to use Muslims as the mirror through which to measure the value of Islam nakedly and avowedly. On the contrary, Islam is the mirror as well as the scale with which Muslims are supposed to be seen and measured respectively, not the other way round. For instance no reasonable person will ever blame Nigerian constitution for any   misconduct of some maleficent Nigerians abroad. Nigerian constitution is one thing misconduct of Nigerians is another. The one is not and cannot be a corollary of the other.

     

    Emergence of Islam

    When the sacred religion called Islam emerged through Prophet Muhammad (SAW) almost 1,500 years ago, it was with certain fundamental norms meant to guide humanity towards all   virtuous acts in life. One of the most formidable pillars of that divine religion is fasting in the month of Ramadan. With it, all genuine Muslims are supposed to fortress themselves against any satanic recklessness that could turn them into wild beasts.

     

    Qur’anic revelations

    Now, we are in the sacred lunar month in which the revelation of the Qur’an began in 610 C.E. It was in this divine month that the last divine constitution with which to liberate mankind from the shackles of Satan was revealed. The real spiritual essence of Ramadan is to show mankind the right path to Paradise through a phenomenal transit called the world.

    This allegorical month is like a school in which Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was both the pioneer student and the pioneer teacher. All other students who passed through this school or are still passing through it are heirs to those   forerunners.

     

    Duties of Shepherds

    The duty of those heirs is to serve as shepherds for the wandering flocks of the universe. It is this duty that confirms man as Allah’s vicegerent on earth.

    Anyone who is in a   position to serve as a shepherd but does otherwise has surely contravened the rules of his or her Creator.

    Ironically, most of those we perceive as shepherd in our society are worse than the lost sheep they are supposed to guide aright. For those who know and appreciate it, the opportunity of rebirth provided by this sacred month has no duplicate. It is like a ‘once in a while’ train which everyone should endeavour not to miss. Missing it is like missing a lifelong destiny of fortune. But will the recalcitrant ones heed the warning?

     

    A Season of jamboree

    With the arrival of Ramadan this year, a scene of jamboree took over most radio and television stations as usual, especially in the Southwest of Nigeria. Many pseudo Alfas who had become redundant before Ramadan quickly dusted their gowns and turbans for the purpose of sharing from the annual largess which they believe the sacred month had brought for them. Such pseudo Alfas who might have taken advantage of some ignorant Muslim money bags in the society by asking them to sponsor Ramadan preaching on radio and television stations swarmed the airwaves like bees on a hive. With little or no knowledge at all, those pretenders posed like scholars and dished out rubbish by arrogating to themselves the knowledge they did not possess. Their displayed symbols of scholarship included big gowns, turban, unkempt beards and irrelevant long rosaries.

     

    Clerics or charlatans?

    One of the characteristics of such charlatans in their preaching was to spend the first 10 minutes or thereabout in singing the praises of their sponsors and in chanting some irrelevant slogans even as they relayed primordial stories with neither roots nor any bearing with Islam. Their trade in stock was to seek fraudulent recognition for themselves by showing their faces on television stations or by airing their voices on radio just to be accorded the status of Alfas. Such are people who have no Islamic knowledge and do not see the need for seeking it. Rather than guiding the multitudes of uninformed Muslims aright, which is the primary duty of qualified, genuine Muslim clerics, they further mislead them.

    To this category of so-called Alfas, all that matters is the money they want to make through their deceptive appearances as well as the cheap fame they want to gain as a boost to their fraudulent gimmicks.

    That is their annual deed in the month of Ramadan. And through those deeds, the impression they invariably give is that Ramadan is an annual festive booty celebrated with fanfare.

     

    Faulty Recitation

    The most embarrassing aspect of their action is not only the faulty recitation of the Qur’anic Verses but also the shameless misinterpretation they give to those Verses. This, on its own, is not just an abuse of Ramadan but also a flagrant abuse of the Qur’an. That is how the charlatans turn the sacred month into a gross abuse of Islamic religion. What those charlatans do not understand is that the Qur’an in its original form is not just any book that any charlatan can dust up once in a year as a means of fetching money for selves.

     

    Reading Method

    For the learned ones, reading any book at all has a purpose and a method. No good reader will ever read a book without taking note of its author, its publisher and its date of publication. And to read any new book, the very first point of call is its contents which tell you the topics and the subjects you will read about in it. Then, to have an idea of the entire book in its summary form, before reading it, a good reader goes straight not only to the introduction or preface to such a book but also to the foreword written on it. The combination of both will surely give the reader a pretty idea of what the book is all about. This is the shortest means of familiarizing oneself with a new book before going through its chapters.

     

    Language of the Qur’an

    Most Muslim clerics read the Qur’an in its original language (Arabic) without compreending what they are reading because they do not understand that language.  Some read it as a means of solving their imaginary problems thus taking the Qur’an for a charm which must yield result if manipulated towards their whims. Others believe that the melody of reciting the Qur’an alone, if well mastered, can serve as a means of making money.

    The Qur’an is not meant for that purpose. It is rather the manual of life for man by which he lives his daily life and conducts his daily affairs.

     

    The Meaning of Qur’an

    The word Qur’an means continuous recitation and understanding. It is so called because of its inimitable origin which makes it a compelling daily reading throughout the world, across nations and ages. It is the unsurpassed word of Allah not only in the grandeur of its diction and splendour of its rendition but also in the depth of its meaning, substance and profundity.

     

    Profile of the Qur’an

    The revelation of this Book to mankind through an unlettered desert Arab, Muhammad son of Abdullah and Aminah, began in the month of Ramadan in year 610 CE. It lasted for about 22 years and three months (10 years in Makkah and12 years plus three months in Madinah). The book contains 114 chapters and 6,246 verses (not 6,666 verses often announced by most Imams and Alfas). Any individual can verify this by checking the number of verses in each chapter and adding them together. It does not take more than one hour to do this.

    Of the 114 chapters contained in the Qur’an, 86 were revealed in Makkah and 28 in Madinah. But the 28 chapters revealed in Madinah constitute two thirds of the entire Book. And this is because the Makkah chapters are short and rhythmic while those of Madinah are long and prose-like.

    Although the Qur’an was revealed orally, its writing began almost immediately the revelations started. The writing was however done on primitive materials like wood, animal hides, back of trees and others of the like which were then readily available. It was only much later, after the demise of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), that those writings were brought together and rendered into a book form. And one of the wonders of recording the Qur’an in writing is the classification of those revelations into chapters and verses by the Prophet himself despite his illiteracy.

     

    Manner of Presentation

    The manner of presenting the Qur’anic revelations is simple and direct. It employs neither artifice nor conventional poses. Its main appeal is to man’s intellect, feelings and imagination. It does not only touch the anecdotes of the past Prophets in different ages and nations as well as the accounts of earlier revelations, it also covers the period from the beginning of creation to the very last Day of Judgment and beyond.

    Not only that, Al-Qur’an also gives insight into some natural phenomena like sphericity and revolution of the earth (Q. 39:5) the formation of rain (Q. 30:48); the fertilisation of the wind (Q. 15:22); the revolution of the sun, the moon and the planets in their fixed orbits (Q. 36:29-38); the aquatic origin of all creatures (Q. 21:30); the duality of the sex of plants and other creatures (Q. 36:35); the collective life of animals (Q.6:38); the mode of life of the bees (Q. 16:69) and the successive phases of the child in the mother’s womb (Q. 22:5 & 23:14). Yet, the purpose of this Book is not to teach history, astronomy, philosophy or sciences. The details of these will be spelt out fully after Ramadan under a theme to be called ‘ANATOMY OF THE QUR’AN’ in sha’Allah.

     

    Unnecessary Controversy

    Meanwhile, there is a raging controversy among Muslim scholars over the first and last revelations in the Qur’an. Much as this controversy is unwarranted, it may be necessary to clear the coast here (without laying any claim to authority) if only for the purpose of authenticating history.

    It is almost a consensus that the first revealed chapter in the Qur’an is Suratul ‘Alaq (Chapter of the Clot). But the very first revelation reaching   Prophet Muhammad (SAW) through Angel Jibril is ‘BASMALAH’

    (In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful) which precedes every chapter in the Qur’an except one (Suratut-Tawah).

    As a Messenger of Allah to another Messenger of Allah, Angel Jubril couldn’t have commanded Prophet Muhammad (SAW) to read anything without doing so in the name of Allah who sent him with the message.

    Thus, Suratul ‘Alaq, as preceded by ‘BASMALAH’, could only have been the first revealed chapter but not the first revelation. And that is logical.

    As for the last revelation in the Qur’an majority of Nigerian Muslim scholars believe that it is chapter 5, verse 3 of the Qur’an which says: ”Today, I have perfected your religion for you and completed my favour on you. And, I am pleased with Islam for you as religion”.

    That verse of the Qur’an that was revealed to Prophet Muhammad (SAW) at ‘Arafah while performing his farewell Hajj couldn’t have been the last revelation. It came 81 days before the demise of the Prophet (SAW). And there was another revelation, thereafter, which came about nine days before the Prophet fell sick and died. This can be found in Qur’an 2: 281 which says: “And fear the day when you shall all return to Allah; the day when every soul shall be requited according to its desert and none shall be wronged”.

     

    Clarification

    The earlier verse was an accentuation of Hajj as the last pillar of Islam. And that was why it came on Arafah Day. The latter is a reminder of man’s final destination and the account of his worldly activities. These and many more are what readers of the Qur’an should know inside out. But the big question is this: who will teach them when the supposed teachers have sold out to money and ignorance? To Muslims who are conscious of their spiritual affinity and retain their conscience for the day they will meet their Creator and account for their deeds on earth ‘The Message’ says RAMADAN KARIM!

     

     

  • How Ramadan heals

    Every year, most Muslims perceive Ramadan from economic, social, moral and spiritual perspectives. What they don’t seem to know is that the practical lessons of this sacred month are far beyond those scopes.

    Science is in a state of continuous evolution and new discoveries follow one another’s heels. A large flow of information often come like a spring from scholarly mediums and put the modern man on the right path of knowledge.

    Biologically, human beings grow old and eventually die. Very few people ponder over this occurrence. We have all accepted it as a natural phenomenon which we must abide by willingly or unwillingly.

    Apart from old age, most people die not because they are naturally ripe for death but because the blood flowing through their coronary arteries clots sometimes prematurely and render their body systems partially or fully ineffective.

    Because of the excessive consumption of certain improper diets, and other defective factors in our biological set-ups, human arteries become hard and rusty hence the mad rush for treatment in hospitals or traditional apothecaries.

    This process of rustiness in human system is medically called Atheroma. And many theories have been advanced to explain its mechanism especially how it causes rustiness in human blood vessels.

    One of the great advantages of fasting especially in the month of Ramadan, is to increase the power of the blood to dissolve blood clots whether those clots are in the coronary arteries of the heart that cause heart attack or in the cerebral arteries that cause stroke. This is where fasting comes handy as a miraculous healer.

    Fasting does not only lower blood pressure and alleviate severe chest pain (angina pectoris) resulting from a reduced supply of blood and oxygen to the heart, it also prevents an arterial disease (arteriosclerosis) occurring especially in the elderly as characterized by elasticity and thickening of the blood flow. Not only that. Fasting also reduces the mortality rate of heart attack.

    The blood sugar is maintained at a steady level during fasting even as the glucose  being formed at that level from glycogen and natural fat mobilized to dispose tissue function effectively.

    In a nutshell, Ramadan brings about an increase in secretion of growth hormone by the pituitary which causes an increase in human weight and acceleration of linear growth with widening epiphysis (the end of the lung at the point where it was previously separated by cartilage to allow bone to grow) especially in young animals. Thus, with fasting in Ramadan, a competent doctor can be said to have been imported into the workings of the body system.

     

  • Peculiarity of Tafsir in Nigeria

    One of the undisputable aiding instruments of Tafsir is literacy. The more literate the Muslims are in the relevant language, the more they are likely to understand the Qur’an through Tafsir. And no one who thoroughly understands Tafsir will be ignorant of Islam or even life.

    Muslims who are deeply schooled through the Western system of education will discover that virtually all the sciences, social sciences and arts, originated from the study of Tafsir. Even some scientific terminologies confirm this. It therefore takes real scholars, not just reciters of the Qur’an or speakers of Arabic language, to be exponents of Tafsir. This is a rare factor that is conspicuously missing in Nigeria.

    There is a sharp difference between translating the context of the Qur’an and interpreting it in expository manner. The one is shallow. The other is deep. Ordinarily, Tafsir is not supposed to be an annual Ramadan affair. It should rather be a daily practice for all scholars who are ardent in it.

    Although Tafsir gains more popularity in the month of Ramadan because every true Muslim wants to get closer to Allah through familiarization with the Qur’an, it is not limited to that sacred month alone and it should not be seen as such.

    Going by the limit of their knowledge and the extent of their unwillingness to learn more, only a few Muslim scholars in Nigeria are qualified to tutor the populace on Tafsir. Most of the so-called Nigerian Muslim scholars (Alfas) have turned Tafsir into an annual commercial jamboree which fetches them what they regard as Ramadan booty. Their motive of engaging in Tafsir is more pecuniary than spiritual. And that is where problem lies.

    What most of those Alfas often dish out in the name of knowledge is mere hearsay. And that is why majority of Nigerian Muslim audiences at Tafsir Centres can hardly benefit from what they hear in those Centres.

    Tafsir is a special field of discipline meant only for research oriented scholars and students. But unfortunately, it is one area of study which has very few institutions of learning in Nigeria.

    Because of this problem, the Qur’an has been translated into very few Nigerian languages so far. And today, the few copies of vernacular Qur’an in circulation can hardly be found on book shelves even as most of them are virtually out of print. The solution to this problem is for  philanthropic Muslims to rise up in financial support of Tafsir provisions.

  • Beyond the politics of insecurity

    In the last two weeks, kidnapping for monetary gain in Nigeria has refocused attention on the spate of insecurity that overwhelms the country. Two weeks ago, on the notorious Abuja-Kaduna highway, UBEC Chairman, Dr. Mahmood Abubakar and his daughter were victims of kidnapping. They regained their freedom a few days later. Their driver was not so lucky. He was killed during the encounter. We are not told how much ransom was paid to their abductors.

    That unfortunate episode was followed in quick succession last week with the kidnapping of an Obafemi Awolowo University professor of surgery, Professor Olayinka Adegbehingbe, one of the high-profile cases in the southwest. He was released a day later after coughing out more than 5 million Naira in ransom payment to his Fulani abductors.

    Between those two cases, of course, there have been many more that are either unreported or are not so high-profile. A particularly tragic and senseless case was the kidnapping of a two-year old girl from an MFM church service in Agege. The little girl had gone to the restroom during service when she was grabbed by callous kidnappers who subsequently demanded ransom for her release. This is where we find ourselves as a nation.

    Banditry, kidnapping, terrorism, killer herdsmen, cultists, and gangsters have become the defining mark of the nation. Whereas our sister African nations, from Ghana to Rwanda, have transformed themselves and have become havens for diaspora Africans to vacation and do business, we keep sending a hopeless message of unfriendliness to those kith and kin of ours. Who would reasonably voluntarily choose a den of kidnappers or bandits as a vacation spot?

    It used not to be so. Yes, we had political thuggery in the 60s. And there were cases of pick pockets and house invasions. But they were few and far between and they were what our people used to refer to as ole ile (house thieves) who took advantage of familiarity with their victims to invade their space at night and steal what they coveted. As a young day-student at Iseyin, I was a victim of such pranks.

    Even during the civil war, we did not experience the kind of civilian-to-civilian violence that is our lot now. As a young bank clerical staff in Lagos in 1968, my friends and I used to sleep in the open space in the courtyard of our apartment. You will be tempting God to try it now. Yes, we had a heck of a time doing inter-city travels because of long queues at army checkpoints. But we were assured of safe travels even in the middle of the night. Now, we blame anyone on the road at 9 pm! What a country!

    Earlier this week, I received a video clip from a family friend. Recorded in Hausa, I struggled to figure out what the menacingly threatening fidgeting by the young men in army fatigue was all about. At first, I thought that these were bandits or terrorists celebrating their exploits. Later, it was explained to me that the video was shot by men of the Nigerian army and they were rejoicing that bandits and terrorists had escaped as they (the army) advanced.  It was a vivid illustration of the depth of our present predicament.

    In the first place, it was an unprofessional effort at propaganda. If you didn’t understand their message in Hausa, you would easily mistake them for bandits and insurgents. That is the way they appear to me in the video. But second, and more importantly, what, in the name of goodness, is there to celebrate in the total mess that we find ourselves in? Why are we celebrating the escape of bandits and insurgents instead of going after them until they are caught and brought to justice?

    No one is in doubt that we now have a crisis. The pertinent question is what is to be done in the face of a serious threat to our civilized mode of existence? You would expect this time to be an occasion for a unity of purpose to defeat terror, banditry, and all forms of reckless violence that have consumed the nation for more than thirty years.

    Instead of a unity of purpose, however, we have only engaged in a game of passing the buck and blaming the other. This past week, two ridiculous claims have made the round on social media, respectively blaming Atiku and Buhari.  In an article titled “US report indicts Atiku as brain behind recent killings in Nigeria”, an online media outlet alleged that “Center for Diplomacy and Democracy, Washington DC made this shocking revelation in a report released on Monday.”

    Of course, in the Internet era, it only takes a few strokes on the keyboard to verify a “report.” A search for Center for Diplomacy and Democracy, Washington DC came up short, the closest being “Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement”.  It has no such report. And the closest to Catherine Kerigun who supposedly signed the report “on behalf of the group” is Catherine Kerrigan who died two years ago. Could this story about Atiku being behind the killings have been made up? I don’t know. But it is not unusual for politics to get in the way of a crisis and prevent us from finding a solution.

    A second story is just as bizarre. The federal government supposedly paid Miyetti Allah N100 billion to stop the spate of herdsmen killings in the country. Does it even make sense that the federal government and Miyetti Allah would not think of the implication of such a deal? Would the organization not be admitting its culpability in the matter of herdsmen killings? Thankfully, the IGP has forcefully debunked the story.

    What is to be done? Three approaches are available to us. As a people of religious faith and unparalleled spirituality, we could choose putting our fate in God’s hands with the confidence that he will fight the battle for us. I am almost sure that even the most devoted among us do not think that this is a great idea. After all, faith and work are supposed to go together.

    Second, we could justifiably expect the federal government to discharge its constitutional responsibility and protect citizens from violent marauders in whatever shape or form they show up. After all, the president has also recently reiterated his understanding of his responsibility and promised to live up to it.

    While I do not doubt the president’s sense of responsibility and commitment to the security of the nation, I believe firmly that what we have on our hand is beyond one person or one person and a cabinet. Turning the security situation around now requires a national effort beyond partisan bickering or name-calling.

    Therefore, a third and most viable option is to declare a national emergency on security and rally all the nooks and crannies of the nation to action. For at least ten years, since 2009, the federal government under different parties, has been battling Boko Haram. Between 2015 and 2017, it appeared the battle was being won and Boko Haram was degraded. Then in 2018, we saw the beginning of a come-back effort on the part of the terrorist gang. This was compounded by the herdsmen killings in North Central. A third element in the sordid situation is the banditry in Zamfara and other Northwest enclaves. Now kidnapping has taken hold in the South.

    The federal government under every administration has proved incapable of meeting the challenge. Therefore, it is high time the country came together as one to fight the menace. For as the Emir of Katsina observed in a message he reportedly sent to Mr. President, without effective security no government program will succeed.

    Therefore, at his second inauguration, I hope President Buhari would launch a nationwide united focus against violent criminals, from terrorists to kidnappers and bandits and killer herdsmen, by declaring a national emergency on security. Such an emergency declaration will place security at the front burner of national consciousness and free up resources, including human and material resources, for the purpose, if necessary, from other sources.

     

     

     

     

  • Why Gaza boils

    “Whenever injustice becomes the law with which to govern a people, resistance must become a legitimate duty with which to quest for legitimate survival”. Anonymous

    Today’s world seems to be a proverbial ark without any compass that can show its way to a particular destination. Yet, that proverbial ark keeps cruising recklessly on a storming sea without minding the repercussion of a possible capsizing.

    Unlike in the remote or recent past, no part of the world can confidently claim safety today and go to bed with the closure of both eyes. Except for self-deception, any euphoria of whatever can be called global peace in the contemporary world remains a property of the remote past. Thus, from all indications, the contemporary time is fast-tracking the pace of mankind towards the end of human existence.

     

    The Palestinian Crises 

    While millions of Muslims, all over the world, were, last week, eagerly awaiting the physical appearance or pleasant news about the crescent that would usher this year’s Ramadan into the world, the international media waves throbbed with unpleasant breaking news that immediately became an eyesore for some people and a sour taste in the mouth of others.

    The news was about an outbreak of a new orgy of violence in Gaza Strip which hurriedly reminded the world of a merciless siege on that same Strip in 2014.

    As a onetime Foreign Editor and a student of International Law and Diplomacy who studied in the Arab world and was quite familiar with the situation in the Middle East, yours sincerely had severally given public lectures on the conflicts in that region with detailed analysis of the causes and effects of those conflicts from various conceivable angles.

    Below is an excerpt from one of such lectures which I gave in different parts of the country:

    “This is not the first time in history that partition would be adopted as solution to a contentious problem. In primordial time, King Solomon ruled between two mothers who were laying claim to a single child thus: “If you cannot give one child to each of the two women claiming to be the mother, then split the child into two and give one half to one and the second half to the other”.

    This analogy was re-enacted almost three thousand years after that historic episode in an area disputably called Palestine and Israel at the same time. The only exception in the contemporary case is that the Wisdom of Solomon which brought solution to the historic controversy of the yore is conspicuously absent today.

     

    Partition of Palestine

    Like the false mother in King Solomon’s time who welcomed bisection of the controversial child, the Jews quickly accepted the partition of Palestine in 1948 because it gave them something that was not legitimately theirs.

    Partition of countries against the wish of the people living in there was not only a social aberration but also a clear evidence of injustice and man’s inhumanity to man.

    Wherever adopted as a solution, partition only brings suffering, destruction and tragedy to millions of human beings as in the case of Vietnam, Germany, Korea and now Palestine. Normalcy only returned to Vietnam after the reunification of that country following ten years of a fierce war. Although the conditions of the partition of Germany after the World War II in the 1940s appeared normal, neither that country nor those who partitioned it felt relaxed until Germany became a single country again in the early 1990s. The situation of (North and South) Korea today can be regarded as temporary because reunification of that country is just a matter of time.

    The imperial powers which imposed partition on the three countries mentioned above against the wish of their inhabitants were the same that inflicted the tragedy of partition on Palestine without any consideration for the agonizing plight of her long time inhabitants.

     

    Genesis of the Crises

    The conflict between the Palestinians and the Jews, which now dominates the Middle East crises, did not start by accident. It was well designed and orchestrated from the very beginning. In 1879 when the Zionist movement was officially launched, an Austrian Jewish lawyer and journalist, Theodor Herzl, who, incidentally, was the founder of that movement published an article in a European popular magazine. In the article he declared: “Let sovereignty be granted us (Zionists) over a portion of the globe large enough to satisfy the rightful requirements of a nation; the rest we shall manage by ourselves”.

     

    Influence of World War I

    The outbreak of the World War I came to fertilize the soil for the germination of that tall dream. The year 1916 was disastrous for the allied forces. Casualties on the Western fronts were heavy. Anxiety rose very high. And the only seeming choice left for Britain to escape defeat in the hands of the Germans was to draw America into the war on her side. It was at that gloomy period that an Oxford educated Armenian, James Malcolm, walked in.  He was a friend of the then British Secretary of State, Sir Mark Sykes. The latter told Malcolm that the British Cabinet was looking anxiously for American intervention in the war.

    Responding, Malcolm who was well connected to the topmost echelon of the American government told Sykes that Britain was going about it the wrong way. He said: “You can win the sympathy of certain politically minded Jews everywhere and especially in the United States in one way only, and that is by offering to secure Palestine for them”.

    That was the beginning of a long journey that was to culminate in what has now become the ‘Arab/Israeli conflict’. Of course through Malcolm’s connection, the US entered the war on the side of the allied forces in 1917 and that resulted in a fate accompli for Germany.

    To fulfill her own side of the agreement, therefore, Britain made a declaration on November 2, 1917 through her Foreign Minister, Arthur Balfour, giving a substantial part of Palestine to Israel. That declaration has since popularized the name of that Foreign Minister as it has since been known as Balfour Declaration.

    Ever since the declaration, the Arabs have never been able to sleep with their two eyes closed. It has always been a matter of war today, ceasefire tomorrow. This is not mainly due to the condemnable usurpation of their land by the Zionists but more because of their own diabolical disunity that has been telling incessantly on Islam as a religion.

     

    The Fault of the Arabs

    Viewing the Middle East crises from religious angle, the general belief in many Muslim quarters is that those crises are a religious affair. And for decades, the Arabs have capitalized on that belief to whip up Islamic sentiments among non-Arab Muslims for the purpose of winning their sympathy. But looking at the matter critically, one will discover that such a belief is not only misgiven but wildly misplaced.

    The reason is this: long before the Israeli factor came into those crises, the Arabs had been at loggerheads among themselves for centuries in that sub-region. History is there to testify to this fact. But for the internal wrangling among them, the entire Europe would have been fully Islamized today. At least the Umayyad Dynasty which was fully run by the Arabs lasted for about 500 years in Spain where its headquarters was relocated after eviction from Damascus.

    Despite that great vintage, they missed the opportunity of planting Islam in the heart of Europe.

    Now, the Middle East crises cannot be pinned down to the Arab/Israeli conflict alone. They are a multifaceted conflict that requires   multidimensional solution. For instance, the State of Israel was not planted in Palestine until 1948. But Syria and Lebanon only agreed just a few years ago to exchange diplomatic mission for the first time since 1943 when the latter became independent. Why? Are both countries not Arab in language, culture and orientation? And this example can be found in virtually all the Arab countries. The truth is that the Arabs are as much a problem to Islam as they are to themselves. Ironically, the divine religion called Islam originated from them. One can imagine what they would have done to that religion if it had not emanated from them.

     

    Implication of Disunity

    Today, with the obliteration of Caliphate which was for many centuries, the central core of Islamic operations, there is no precise leadership for the Muslim Ummah. The implication of this is that there is no universal competent Muslim authority that can be obeyed globally if and when a vital order is given to propel Islam statutorily. Thus every country or community operates at its level to the detriment of unity.

    What is more worrisome in all these is the snobbish Arab attitude which places premium on Arabism rather than Islam as if Islam is the property of the Arabs which can be incorporated into Arabism at will.

    Except for Libya, Somalia and Sudan, no Arab country bears a name that reflects Islam. Even those three African countries only reflect Islam in their official names for political reasons. ‘THE MESSAGE’ will elaborate on this in full details in the near future.

     

    Arabs’ Economic Strength

    The wealth available in the Middle East is valued to be about one fifth of the entire wealth in the world. Yet the size of that sub-region in terms of land area and population is less than 2% of the world’s land mass. But unfortunately, the enormous wealth in the area is being managed and spent directly or indirectly by the West. Every Arab country has her foreign reserve in the US or other Western countries. Their administrative thinking and security strategies are from the West. Most of their investments are based in the West. Yet their most insuperable problem, that of disunity is from the West. How can they survive without the West?

    The total Gross Domestic Products (GDP) of the Arab countries was $1,195 billion in 2008. Much of this money kept in Western banks is what those Western countries use to further their own development.

    They also use a part of it to finance NGO projects in Africa and some other parts of the world in the name of humanitarian gesture. And most of the beneficiaries are non-Muslims. More will be said about this later.

     

    The Way Forward

    Never in the history of man has war been the final determinant of peace. The victor and the vanquished in any war will eventually sit around a table to talk and negotiate the terms of their coexistence.

    It happened in Asia and Europe. It happened in Africa and America. It happened in Australia and the Middle East. There is neither permanency of victory nor that of vanquishness. And that is why there is always room for communication even in a war situation.

    The war of attrition between Israel and Palestine is not in the interest of humanity no matter the sentiments. And it can never be. If these two countries have fought constantly for 71 years (1948-2019) without much to count as gain, logic must dictate a change of style.

    In the last one decade alone, the Palestinian people have lost more than 15, 000 lives; over $70 billion in income opportunity; 20 million square meters of agricultural land; and over 100 million man-hours in crossing either from West Bank to Gaza or vice versa at Ramallah. Much more than that, almost 2.7 million of the 4 million residents of Gaza and West Bank have become refugees in almost inhuman camps. The opportunity cost of conflict for the Middle East from 1991-2019 is estimated to be $22 trillion. In other words had there been peace and cooperation in the Middle East since 1991, every Palestinian citizen would be earning over $4,300 as income per capital in 2019 instead of the $1,500 now being projected. Every Israeli citizen would be earning over $46,000 as income per capital in 2019 instead of about $24,000 now being projected.

    Because of an import-export ban imposed on Gaza by Israel in 2007, 95 per cent of Gaza’s industrial operations were suspended. And out of 35,000 people employed by 3,900 factories in June 2005, only 1,750 people remained employed by 195 factories in June 2007. The figures can be imagined today. Blockade has severely hindered health services in Gaza. Between October and December 2007 for instance, the World Health Organization confirmed the deaths of 20 patients, including 5 children due to lack of access to health care. Between 2007 and 2008, 120 people in Gaza died because they were not allowed access to medical treatment.

    The Israeli Government’s cut in the flow of fuel and electricity to the Gaza Strip has also been called collective castigation of the

    civilian population, which is a violation of Israel’s obligations under the laws of war. Starting from February 7, 2008, the Israeli Government reduced the electricity it sells directly to Gaza. This also had a terrible effect on all spheres of life in the Gaza and West Bank.

     

    War of Amenities

    The war between Israel and Palestine is not limited to weapons and diplomacy alone. In the Middle East generally, water is a resource of great political concern because of the desert nature of the sub-region. Thus, since Israel receives much of its water from two large aquifers which are sprawled across the Green Line, the use of this water has been contentious in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

    Though the major source of the common water lies in the Israeli section of the disputed land, some of the wells used to draw that water are situated within the Palestinian Authority areas. This has limited Israelis’ direct access to drinking water.

    But the argument is that Israel herself had prevented substantial volume of water from flowing to the areas occupied by the Palestinians thereby limiting the quantity of water that may be drawn from those wells.

    While Israel’s consumption of this water has decreased since it began its occupation of the West Bank, it still consumes the majority of it.

    In the 1950s, Israel consumed 95 per cent of the water output of the Western Aquifer, and 82 per cent of that produced by the North eastern Aquifer.

    Although this water was drawn entirely on Israel’s own side of the pre-1967 border, the sources of the water are nevertheless from the shared groundwater basins located under both West Bank and Israel. By 1999, the percentage of water available to Israel had declined to 80 per cent. Now, with the continuation of war, neither Israel nor Palestine feels secure even as threat of further war is drummed into the infants’ ears in that area daily.

    Historically, the Jews and the Arabs are from the same father (Abraham). If one claims a return to ancestral home to justify land occupation, the other may be right to make the same claim. Thus rather than continuing fighting war which may eventually lead to total loss of the entire land, why not sit together and negotiate peace on a permanent basis? That is perhaps worthier than the shedding of innocent bloods where better alternatives are available.

  • Vicious conduct belies desirable values

    It is now common knowledge that where two or three diaspora Nigerians gather, top on their informal discussion agenda is the state of the nation. Between two strangers, a typical ice breaker goes thus:

    “How are you doing? Hope you’re hearing from folks back home?”

    “We thank God o! What else do we hear about than the usual: kidnapping here, cultism there, armed robbery in between?”

    Of course, between friends and relations, it is the stuff that every phone conversation and/or every WhatsApp platform is made of.

    Millions of Nigerians live abroad. They are students, artisans, and professionals in various fields, many in positions of leadership. They felt embarrassed and insulted when a world leader nicknamed their country as a sh*thole. But what can they do? Some even came to the defence of the man! That’s how pathetic our case is.

    The trigger for today’s piece, however, came from a heart-wrenching discussion that I had with three friends this past weekend. On Saturday, two family friends visited me and on Sunday, I received another family friend. As usual the discussion quickly turned on the homeland. Since all three just returned to the US, I was the listener-in-chief. And what I heard was thoroughly depressing, raising for me the question “is there hope for the nation?”

    Besides the known knowns of miscreants causing mayhem here and there, the picture painted was that of a debased mode of existence, a nation mired in vice and avarice where hustling and jostling for the frontline is the defining mark of relationships. House helps conspire with outsiders against their employers. Parents sell their babies. Clerics impregnate their members’ wives. And to get things done, in public service or private enterprise, you must deal under the table. I was told that the president is just wasting his time. Like Sodom and Gomorrah, Nigeria is irredeemable from the pit of hell.

    But are we really that hopeless? Are we really that inherently vicious? What values do we really espouse? How are values reversed? And how does a nation renew its values? Has our nation really gone far astray from her original base of desirable values that motivate conduct? It used to be the case that we saw ourselves as the keepers of our fellow citizens at local, state and national levels. Even the civil war did not rip us apart as much as the present divisive politics of hate. Every religion used to celebrate its festivals with the blessings and participation of other religions. That’s now an anathema, a sacrilege.

    Yet our neighboring countries like Ghana are celebrating the unity of faiths. Recently, the Chief Imam of Ghana celebrated his 100th Birthday in a Catholic Church, and the Vice President used the occasion to lecture Ghanaians about the doctrinal closeness of Islam and Christianity. A platform I am on recently also shared the picture of a new mosque in Abu Dhabi named “Mary the Mother of Jesus Mosque.” Ghanaian VP observed that there is more mention of Mary in the Koran than in the Bible. So much for our exclusive view of faith.

    My effort to find answers to my questions led me to the World Values Survey (WVS) which has for many years conducted surveys on the values held by people across the world. Fortunately, Nigeria was not left out of the 2012 edition, and the results are fascinating and instructive. The survey was based on face-to-face interviews of selected volunteers across the nation. Though, it was a small sample of 1759 out of a population of 200 million according to the most recent United Nations figure, it affords us some understanding of what we truly value as a people.

    Interviewers asked their volunteers more than 200 value questions ranging from economic, social, religious, and family values. Browsing through the answers which appear to me unsurprising because they do not deviate from what I have always understood as our indigenous value system, I cannot but wonder aloud, what’s it then with our conduct, which obviously conflict with the values we profess to hold dear?

    A few examples will do to underscore my point. 98.4% Nigerians say that the family is very important to them. Only 0.2% respond that it is not. Yet we have disproportionate numbers of dysfunctional families. For 62.2%, friends are very important, 32.3% think friends are rather important, while only 0.4% say they are not important. Only 21.0% consider politics very important, 28.1% say it is rather important while 5.8% find it not important. But with killings, mailings and hatred in the name of politics, you would think that 100% of the population find it extremely important.

    There is more. Work is valued as very important by 76.8% of respondents, while 16.3% consider it rather important, and 6.8% find work not important. This compares favorably with our age-old belief in the efficacy of work as antidote against poverty. And while I do not believe that the majority of our people choose the life of loafers, we have a challenge with huge unemployment numbers that result from many causes, not least of which is government dereliction of its duty on human talent development-education-which prepares young and old for gainful employment. Here, then, is a case of a value espousal that is consistent with desirable conduct, but which is unfortunately truncated by government policies.

    Religion is considered very important by 89.8%; another 7.7% find it rather important, while only 2.5% feet it is not important. Here is another case of the inconsistency of our value espousal with outward conduct. We go to church, mosque, and Orisa shrine. Yet, however, like Pharisees of old, our practical conduct, including our relationship to others, hardly demonstrates the core values that our religious beliefs espouse.

    Most striking is the response of volunteers to the question of what qualities are important for children. 78% mention hard work; 59.8% mention tolerance and respect for other people; 80.9% mention determination and perseverance; 72.7% mention religious faith; while unselfishness is mentioned by 31.7%.

    78.7% of our folks are active in church or religious organization while only 12.0% are active members of a political party. On the question of interest in politics, only 24.5% say they are very interested, while 43. 4% are not interested. 15% say most people can be trusted while 85% say one should be careful with others.

    As mentioned above, 76.8% believe that work is very important. However, only 17.3% believe that hard work brings success and a better life. Others believe that success is a matter of luck and connection. Here, then, is another clue to our predicament. Gone are the days when every child grew up believing that if they worked hard and played by the rule, they didn’t need a godfather or godmother. And the frustration that comes with the feeling of helplessness after you have done the part that society demands of you–go to school, acquire knowledge, and expect a good paying job–could be depressing and crippling.

    Finally, in the matter of trust, the findings are not inconsistent with public chatter. Only 7.8% of respondents completely trust members of other nationality. Just 10.3% completely trust people of other religion. 21.8% trust the armed forces, while only 7.7% have confidence in the police. 8.9% have confidence in the government while 23% have none; 11.7% in the courts while 13.3% have none. 9.3% have a great deal of confidence in the parliament while 21.5% have none.

    I do not believe that government alone is culpable in the matter of the vicious conduct of citizens. But I believe that, by virtue of its constitutional responsibility vis-a-vis the “Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy” chapter, government has a greater role to play in desirable value reorientation.

    While other organizations including religion may have particularistic interests, government has a universalist interest in the pursuit of desirable values in citizens. To fulfill its constitutional responsibility, it must first change its approach to human development by prioritizing it. Second, it must work with nongovernmental institutions including religion, the family, and civil society organizations to break the jinx of vicious conduct.

     

     

     

  • Synopses on Ramadan

    At no time in the life of man can the true nature of human existence be more manifest than in Ramadan. It is in that sacred month that Muslims reflect mostly on the purpose of their existence on earth.

    Some people fasted actively last year but are no more today. Some put their feet at the door step of Ramadan this year but may not enter it.

    Some may fall by the way side along the line. Some will fast with absolute faith in Allah and confidence in making use of the lessons of Ramadan. Some may join the spiritual train with no idea of its destination.

     

    Segments of Ramadan

    At the beginning of the sacred month called Ramadan, the need to classify the 30 or 29 days in that month into three segments is necessary. The first segment contains the first ten days of the month during which the blessings of Allah will come to the fasting Muslims freely and in abundance. Except for meeting that segment with strong faith and genuine intention, there is no working for it. That segment will end after the first 10 days and pave way for the second segment of ten days that will begin on the 11th day of the sacred lunar month.

    During the 10-day period of the second segment, most fasting Muslims should intensify worshipping (‘Ibadah) by spending their days and nights repenting on their known and unknown sins as well as by chanting Istighfar every moment. But automatic forgiveness through such a process should not be expected.

     

    Conditions

    Usually, conditions are attached to divine forgiveness. One of such conditions is for every fasting Muslim to admit his/her misdeeds, repent on such misdeeds with a resolution never to return to them. The second condition is to voluntarily and genuinely seek forgiveness on the sins committed. And the third condition is to resolve never to return to such misdeeds again. To seek Allah’s forgiveness and blessings during the month of Ramadan, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was reported to have said that “if you want to speak with Allah, make your request on prostration. And if you want Allah to speak to you, recite the Qur’an”. That Prophetic recommendation is, however, not limited to the month of Ramadan alone. No one who abides by the above conditions and follows them scrupulously will ever be disappointed. Allah is both promising and fulfilling. He never reneges on His promise. For instance, in Qur’an 2:186, Allah promises thus: “…when my servants ask you (Prophet Muhammad) about me, tell them that I am very close to them. I answer the prayers of whoever seeks My favour if he/she seeks from Me (without any intermediary). So, let them expect my favourable response and trust in Me so that they may be rightly guided”

     

    Midway Ramadan

    Those second ten days are not just to consolidate on the blessings of the first ten days, they are also to prepare the fasting Muslims for the last 10 days when they will be expected to be fully liberated from the evil machinations of any Satanic forces.

     

    Life and Death

    The quality of human life is not ordinarily measured in terms of the time spent or manner of death. In Islam, death is neither the consequence of sin nor the repercussion of ignorance. There are instances when the sinless dies and the sinful lives. There are also instances when the learned person dies while the ignorant one lives.

    The schedule of life and death is not in the custody of any human being. Death is a debt which every living being owes and must pay.

    Not even Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was spared of death or given a foreknowledge of it. Allah revealed in the Q. 10:49 thus: “Say I have not the power to benefit or to harm myself except what Allah pleases.

    Unto every nation is a fixed term. When their terms expire, they cannot delay it by an hour nor can they bring it forth before its time”.

     

    Imagination

    The above quoted verse of the Qur’an is one which some ignorant non-Muslims have severally quoted and interpreted according to their whim. In their wild imagination, as Jesus also did not admit a similar situation, those ignorant people want the Prophet to claim infallibility to enable them call him a liar.

     

    Nostalgia

    One major feeling which fasting Muslims cannot do without after Ramadan is nostalgia. Some people who ar now dreaming may not live to realize their dreams. Some who are now looking forward for certain benefits may not receive them. This does not make them sinners or criminals but destiny must take its own course. As for death, it is only in the imagination of man that age should be a factor of death.

    We shall all die at our scheduled time. Therefore, whoever is privileged to pass through this year’s Ramadan successfully should endeavour to add spiritual value to his or her life and not diminish in faith after the sacred month. We shall all account for that value before Allah.

     

    Role of Wives

    In a few weeks’ time, this year’s Ramadan which is just about to start will come to an end by the grace of Allah and we shall continue to look back with nostalgia to the good things we have done in the sacred month. For instance, we shall remember that in no other month of Hijrah calendar is the role of Muslim women more pronounced than in Ramadan. Like in other months, they display the roles of wives, mothers as well as that of their husbands’ confidants. But more than in other months, they exhibit their religious dedication vividly in Ramadan.

    Even as they assist their husbands financially in maintaining the homes, they still take care of those husbands as well as the children and relatives domestically. At the time of the day when the husbands are knocked out by fatigue arising from fasting, the wives are still busy in the kitchen preparing Iftar for the household. At the time in the night when some husbands are engaged in Tahajjud, or are snoring in bed, the wives are already up in the kitchen preparing the Sahur for the family.

    Some of these women are pregnant. Some are suckling their children.

    Some of them are knowledgeable enough to do the Tilawah (recitation of the Qur’an) like their husbands. Some are even rich enough to finance the home fully or partially.

    And, in all these activities, they never feel tired. Where and when they feel tired, they never show it. If any month has ever depicted the virtues of women, it is Ramadan and the women activities in it. If for the reason of their activities in Ramadan alone, they deserve tenderness and dignified treatment in the hands of their husbands.

     

    Role of Children

    We shall also remember the role of our children in the month and then endeavour to ensure the continuity of those rewarding activities.

    Children are Allah’s greatest gift to man. Their presence in a house is blessing. Their contribution is immense. Those are children for you. They can play the role of teachers just as they can do that of students. They learn fast, they teach fast. They are a major security for parents in any given environment.

    Children play both temporal and spiritual roles in a matrimonial life.

    And with such roles, they sometimes create hope for humanity and sometimes, they signal despair. They are the greatest asset in the possession of parents in time of peace. They are also the greatest weapon for those parents against the forces of Satan.

    Because of their innocence, they pave way for God’s forgiveness and quick acceptance of prayers. And, most importantly, children guarantee the continuity of man’s existence on earth. It is only with them that the fulfillment of today’s promise is possible tomorrow.

    In the Qur’an, children are mentioned many times and most often with reverence. They are treated in that glorious book as a major issue in the life of man. As orphans, they do not only have a role to play, they also compel some adults to play a role relating to them.

    As heirs to their parents, they have substantial shares in inheritance. Muslim children are like cubs. They follow the footstep of their parents or guardians very closely. They are often with their parents during the five daily prayers. They watch their parents as the latter give charity to the poor. They accompany them to public lectures and Islamic social gatherings.

    And, in Ramadan, children are part of the Muslims’ total spiritual package. They wake up with them at night. They fast with them in the day. They break the fast with them at sunset. They join their parents at Tafsir and night lectures. They participate in Laylatul Qadr and in giving Zakatul Fitr to the poor. Who can substitute the role of children in a matrimonial home?

    In all the above mentioned activities, children are supposed to be encouraged. At the tender age of seven, they should be guided to fast even if for half a day. And when they reach the age of 10 they should be strengthened in faith and in religious deeds. They should be provided with necessities of life both on the temporal and spiritual grounds. With these, they will grow up to become the fulfillment of their parents’ dreams.

    Most children grow up as good or bad citizens by emulating their parents. A child is therefore what his parents make him. If advantage of Ramadan is not taken by Muslim parents to mould their children into good Muslims what other platform will be used? Your child is your sun.

    Make hay with it while it shines.

     

    Right of Neighbours

    We shall also recall how we related to our neighbours, especially the non-Muslims among them in that month. In Islam, neighbours are as important as the next of kin. And, Islam attaches so much respect to them. According to Bukhari and Muslim, Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) was reported to have sworn by Allah three times saying: “he does not believe in Allah! He does not believe in Allah! He does not believe in Allah! And when he was asked who? He replied by saying: whoever creates fear in his neighbours atrociously”

    In another Hadith also reported by Bukhari and Muslim, the Prophet was quoted as saying that “Whoever believes in Allah and the last day let him be nice to his neighbours and respect his guests”

    In the month of Ramadan a good Muslim is expected to wear a new toga of sobriety and repentance. He doubles his good deeds to his neighbours, extending generosity to them and cultivating a new atmosphere of friendliness and trust with them. He genuinely gives them as much impression of love and brotherhood as he does with his consanguine relatives.

    It does not matter whether those neighbours are Muslims or non-Muslims. Neither does it matter whether they are tribesmen or non-natives. The Prophet did not discriminate in his Hadith when he was admonishing on neighbours. And that is the inalienable position of Islam on neighbourliness. Whoever, had quarreled with his neighbours before Ramadan, therefore, let him/her go and settle the quarrel.

    Besides abstaining from foods, drinks and sex, in the month of Ramadan, a good Muslim must mind his relationship with people around him, including neighbours. Fasting in the month of Ramadan cannot be taken in half measure. Whoever wants to receive full rewards for his religious activities in Ramadan should treat his neighbours well. And, when Ramadan is over, the good deeds must continue.

     

    Ramadan as a Pillar of Islam

    Ramadan is not made a pillar of Islam by accident. Its purpose is to return man to the original state of purity in which he was created.

    That Allah entrusts the world to man is also not by accident. Allah consulted widely before entrusting this great responsibility to man when the latter volunteered to bear it. This much is revealed in Qur’an 33:71 thus: “We offered the trust (of the world) to the heavens; the earth and the mountains they all turned it down and were afraid of it. Man undertook to bear it but he has proved to be insincere and deceitful”. For man to re-examine himself, repent over his misdeeds and become redeemed, therefore, Allah brought Ramadan as a means of rescue.

     

    Needs and wants

    It is in the month of Ramadan that Muslims reconfirm NEEDS rather than WANTS as the necessities required for the sustenance of their lives.

    Muslims, by their faith and orientation, are not, ordinarily, given to WANTS. They are more concerned about NEEDS than WANTS. The reason for this is not far-fetched. With NEEDS come contentment and satisfaction while WANTS are the cause of greed and avarice.

    Allah, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, had provided the needs of every living creature even before its creation. But then, He (Allah) knew that of all those creatures man alone would go beyond NEEDS into the realm of WANTS. That was perhaps what informed the negative role which Satan assumed in the life of man shortly after the creation of Adam and Hawau.

    By introducing WANTS to man, what Satan did was to create a permanent job for himself in the life of man. Without WANTS the world would not have been what it is today. Blood would not have been shed. Money would not have been deified. Hatred would not have been known to man.

    And, man’s inhumanity to man would have been totally averted. The details of these synopses will soon come up on a daily basis in a column called RMADAN GUIDE. It is annually written by yours sincerely.

    Look for it as from Monday, May 6, 2019,  in sha’Allah. RAMADAN

    KARIM!

  • Sophie’s Choice

    As the bodily vessel of the immortal soul of Sophie Oluwole, distinguished Professor of African Philosophy, is being laid to rest today, we are reminded of what matters in a well-lived life, which she exemplified. Simply put, it is a matter of the choices made.

    Professor Oluwole made the most fundamental choiceof originality and excellence in whatever she did. Throughout her memorable life, she repeatedly demonstrated this quality. And while she may not have consciously nursed the ambition of never dying, her choice has secured her immortality.

    In well-deserved tributes over the past four months since her passing, commentators have called attention to Sophie’s uniqueness as a philosopher of African tradition. In what follows, I discuss this and two others, including her contributions as an administrator and as Board member, relying on my experience with her in these roles.

    As a philosopher, Sophie’s choice of African philosophy as an area of specialization did not come easy in view of the historical trajectory of the discipline. Professional philosophy had its roots in the West and Socrates is considered its patron saint. This was the training we received in African classrooms. It was the training our African and expatriate professorsreceived beforea few of them branche.

    The first to branch out was Late Professor Olubi Sodipo, the first Nigerian Professor of Philosophy, first Vice Chancellor of Olabisi Onabanjo University, and first President of Nigerian Philosophical Association. Even with his profile, Sodipo’s stance wasn’t popular with his professorial colleagues who insisted on professional philosophy as practiced in the West. They described his brand of philosophy as ethnophilosophy in contrast to professional analytic philosophy.

    I mention Sodipo here to underscore the chance that Oluwole took when she decided to pursue a doctoral degree in African philosophy, one of two Nigerians to opt for this unique specialization, the other being Anthony Oseghare my colleague at Ife who received his Ph.D. from University of Kenya, Nairobi under the late Odera Oruka, the exponent of Sage Philosophy.

    Sophie’s choice of specialization paid off handsomely not only for her professional development but also for the uniqueness of the contributions she made to professional philosophy. For many soon followed her, and now, there is hardly a department of philosophy in Africa without a program in African philosophy. Furthermore, when several of us relocated in the late 80s and early 90s, we took African philosophy with us to the centers of learning in Europe and America. And the tiny twig has become a giant Iroko tree.

    Sophie’s role in this evolution cannot be taken for granted. For the uniqueness of choice won’t matter much if it was not matched by the excellence of her analysis, the evidence of which is all over her writings.

    A major outing of Professor Oluwole was in a special edition of Second Order: An African Journal of Philosophy, founded and edited by Professor Sodipo from the mid-70s to the early 80s when he became Vice Chancellor, and the late Moses Makinde and I took over as editors. That 1978 special edition was on “Witchcraft and Magic”withcontributions by Albert Mosley, Sophie Oluwole, P. O. Bodunrin, D. Gjertsen, A.O. Sanda, and P. Rogers. As far as I know, Oluwole was the only contributor who had yet to receive the Ph.D. at the time. And she held her own.

    Oluwole’s objective in that article is to spell out “the justifications and consequences of the claim that witchcraft is real” while her professor, Professor Bodunrin’s argument is that there can be no justification for the belief in the existence of witches or witchcraft. While Sophie makes the case that science does not have the final say on this matter, Bodunrin takes science as the arbiter in the truth of the matter. As he puts it, since scientists are the skeptics in this issue, to convince them, “you have to speak their language.”

    Sophie suggests three methods, any of which she argues must satisfy the skeptical scientist because each fits the methodology of science. First, a believer in witchcraft must explain the modus operandi of witchcraft power. Second, “he must be prepared to demonstrate a causal relationship” between witchcraft power and the event he cites. Third, he can prove his knowledge of the reality of witchcraft power by “practically manipulating it.” For her, any of these speaks the language of science.

    It is this insistence on a level playing field between traditional African philosophy and Western philosophy that marks the debate over African philosophy in the beginning, as recent as 40 years ago. To her credit, Oluwole has been in the trenches of the struggle all along until she breathed her last. And it must be counted as righteousness for her.

    Sophie’s post-doctoral exploits in the field, including her books and numerous articles, are glaring testimonials to her scholarship and dogged fight for the elevation of African philosophy in its traditional mode. It is here that her most famous book, Socrates and Orunmila makes the perfect pitch. As she repeatedly argues, she expects her findings on the similarities in thought between Socrates and Orunmila to elicit a favorable reaction to the idea that Orunmila is no less a philosopher than Socrates. She makes her case with raw evidence provided her readers are open-minded.

    There is even a simpler case to be made. Philosophy is reflection on our human experiences. Unless you doubt that some humans have no experiences that warrant reflection, then it would be hard for you to doubt the capacity for reflection on those experiences by any humans. And as every Odu Ifa demonstrates, reflection on experience is key to Orunmila’s prowess.

    Professor Oluwole served as President of the Nigerian Philosophical Association from 1987 to 1991. From 1987 to 1989, I served with her as the General Secretary before I relocated in 1989. I observed her up close in those years as a team player and an excellent administrator with a penchant for details. Taking over from Professor Bodunrin who had then been appointed as Vice Chancellor of Ondo State University, Oluwole was determined to prove her worth. And for the two years that I served with her, she did. She made sure that almost every week-end on her way to Ondo, she stopped by at Ife to discuss issues, including the organization of workshops and conferences.

    Our path crossed again in 2008 when we were both appointed as members of the Obafemi Awolowo Institute of Government and Public Policy by the Lagos State Government under Governor Babatunde Fasola. With Chief Bisi Akande as Chairman, members include Professor Yemi Osinbajo, Mrs.Francisca Emanuel, Late Ms. Bisi Silva, Distinguished Poet Odia Ofeimu, Professor Adebayo Williams, Professor Wale Adebanwi, and Mr. Ibukun Fakeye.

    Itis a distinguished group and Board meetings are marked by constant interplay of seriousness and fun.  Though, in view of my location. I am not always available for meetings, anytime I am present, there is not a dull moment, thanks to the comic talents of Bayo Williams and Sophie Oluwole, with Bayo often at the receiving end, frequently eliciting the plea, Iya yi fi mi sile o. Oh, how we miss her already!

    In Sixteen Great Poems of Ifa, Professor Wande Abimbola tells us how Ifa divination began. One of Orunmila’s sons had disrespected him. Outraged by the insult, Orunmila relocated to Orun pitching his tent “at the foot of the much-climbed palm tree…with sixteen hut-like heads.” Chaos ensued on earth. His children went looking for him to return. They found him. But he refused their plea. Instead, he gave them sixteen scared palm nuts to consult with whenever they needed something from him.

    Sophie left us with an immense amount of “sacred palm nuts” in the form of her encyclopedic contributions to African philosophy.Scholars will be nurtured for ages ruminating over her works.This is what defines immortality. As the Odu Ifa proclaims:

    Mo dogbogbo orose

    Emi o ku mo

    Mo digba Oke

    Mo le gboin.

    I have become the timeless Ose

    I will not die

    I am two hundred hills rolled into one

    I am immovable.

    Sophie’simmortal soul is already resting in peace.