“Knowledge is a missing substance for Muslims. Therefore pick it up wherever you can find it”.                                          Hadith    

Preamble

It as promised in this column last Friday, The Message hereby brings forth the  Contents of the Communique issued at  the end of the Academic Conference held by the Ineternational  Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT).  Renaissance is a special phenomenon in human development. It is like the rays of sun which photosynthesizes the plants to fruition. Wherever it occurs, renaissance rejuvenates the men and women in its immediate environment.

Now is the time for Muslim renaissance  all over the world. And no environment is more suitable for it than Universities that is why Muslim Universities in various parts of the world are now flocking together with a view to gathering a common intellectual momentum that can rekindle their past glory.

The Communique

For a couple of days in the penultimate week, some Muslim Universities held an intellectual conference that accentuated the renaissance objective of this era in Osogbo the capital of Osun State, Nigeria. The conference was held between the 6th and 9th October, 2017 (17th -19th Muharram, 1439 A. H) with the theme, Islamic Universities: Integration of Knowledge and Sustainability. The conference is an annual assembly of Muslim academics around the globe. It serves as a platform for appraising the state of Muslim Universities with a view to identifying their challenges and proffering credible solutions. The International Conference on Islamic Universities is hosted by both East and West African sub-regions on a rotational basis. The conference was declared open by the Governor, State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola on October 6, 2017 at the Amina Namadi Sambo Auditorium, Fountain University, Osogbo.

Goodwill Messages

Goodwill messages were delivered by the President General of the Nigerian  Supreme Council for Islamic  affairs (NSCIA) and Sultan of Sokoto,  His Eminence   Alhaji Muhammad Sa`ad Abubakar CFR, mni; Prof. Hassan Omar Kasule (Executive Secretary, IIIT) and Engr. Kamil Bolarinwa, President of the Nasrullahil-Al-Fathi Society, (NASFAT).

Attendance

The conference was attended by participants from Nigeria (the hosting country), Jordan, Malaysia, Sudan, Niger and Uganda.

Participants’ Opinion

Participants believed that :

• Islamic Universities should be committed to the promotion of quality learning and knowledge integration while the pursuit of Excellence should permeate the spectrum of activities of the Islamic universities.
• Islamic universities should be interdependent by connecting to one another in order to promote the needed ideals in the society regarding knowledge ingrained in Islamic prescriptions.
• That Islamic Universities should pursue excellence as an Islamic virtue.

Presentations and Discussions

The keynote address was presented by Professor Is’haq Olanrewaju Oloyede, The Registrar of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Nigeria and Pro-Chancellor/Chairman of Council, Fountain University, Osogbo.

Keynote Address and Lead Papers

A Keynote Address was delivered by Professor Is-haq Olanrewaju Oloyede The topic of which was: Islamic Universities and Integration of Knowledge for Sustainability.

Lead Papers:

Three lead papers were presented as follows:

• The Muslim Universities and the Challenge of Integration Model: A Case Study of Nigeria by Professor M. A. Bidmos
• Rooting in Higher Education: Reality and Challenges by Dr Rehab Abdul Rahman Al-Shareef
• The Concept of Epistemological Integration: Its Relevance to Reform of Higher Education by Professor Hassan Malkawi

Observations

The conference observed that:

• The Islamicity of Islamic universities is not necessarily in name but in Islamic principles and tenets they offer as frontiers of knowledge.
• The fact that universities are called Islamic does not mean that they should deprive people from having the worldly benefits as permitted by the Qur’an
• Islamic universities should prepare the students to lead a useful life with a view to improving wellbeing of the society. This was considered as knowledge integration.
• The current number of Muslim universities across the globe is grossly insufficient to cater for the learning needs of approximately two billion Muslims all over the world as well as the expected pedagogical and spiritual needs of the global community.
• Research work and publications on the current integration of knowledge have largely focused on the principles and methodologies which amount to duplication of efforts of the earlier scholars in this field.
• Muslim Universities, in terms of input and output, must be distinct from other universities that are not Islamic.

Recommendations

At the end the conference, the following recommendations were made based on the theme of this fourth conference.

Integration

• Islamic universities all over the world were established primarily to solve societal problems through the provision of quality learning in addition to the provision of spiritual training for the students.

Therefore, these universities should hold on to these principles.

• Islamic perspective of the contents of every course is integrated into teaching-learning process.
• The integration of knowledge should be pragmatic by integrating the theoretical approach to teaching-learning into a tool for conducting developmental research capable of transforming human societies.
• Islamic universities should accord both Arabic and Islamic Studies a priority and make possible to encourage the study of these two courses.
• The Islamic Universities should serve as vanguards of promoting the concept of integration of knowledge in the universities with the society with a view to bridging the gap between the gown and town.

Some veritable means to achieving this include organisation of workshops, seminars and civic engagement with stakeholders outside the universities.

• With the spate of societal challenges, the intervention of Islamic universities is non-negotiable and therefore required in solving the problem of the dearth of teachers and students in public schools.
• Islamic Universities should come together and establish partnership with other universities with the objective of knowledge sharing.
• The proprietors of Islamic universities should see the development of universities as a continuous exercise. Continuous financial support of the proprietor of the universities is essential for the survival, growth and development of Islamic universities.
• In line with the policies of their respective countries, Islamic Universities should design a curriculum that will include the integration of Islamic teachings into the modern knowledge.
• Islamic Universities and the Muslim Ummah in general should not only bother about the dwindling education of the Muslims, they should also be concerned with the ways to ameliorate the challenges.
• Muslims should not shy away from holding public offices as a way of making the society a better place.
• Muslim Universities should justify the giant strides of the early predecessors in science and technology by rising to the task of expanding their faculties to include colleges of health sciences and faculty of technology.
• Muslim Universities should make use of the vast knowledge and impressive credentials of retired Muslim professors to attract grants and enhance collaboration and linkages with international institutions.
• Participants, having expressed concern over the spate of corruption, insurgency, militancy and other vices, recommended that all these instances of menace facing the country could be ameliorated with knowledge integration which Islamic universities are set to promote.

Sustainability

In order to achieve the sustainability of the roles and objectives of the Islamic universities in knowledge integration, the following measures are recommended:

• Islamic Universities should intensify efforts at ensuring promotion of quality education that combines theory with practice.
• Islamic universities should continue to charge affordable fees to address the problem of many poor Muslims who are unable to afford high and exorbitant fees to acquire university education.
• Founders of Islamic Universities should not rely solely on the charitable donations, they should rather explore other creative means of generating revenue for the university.
• About 28th other papers were presented at the Conference some of which will serve as reference points in the future. With this the Muslims Intellectuals around the World can rekindle, in this Century the marvelous renaissance that once propelled the World into a Phenomenal Technology.

The post Communiqué of 4th IIIT Conference appeared first on The Nation Nigeria.

Preamble

Prophet Muhammad’s divinely guided expressions called Hadith will never cease to be axiomatic. In one of such expressions, he said: “There are three signs by which a hypocrite can be identified: when he talks he lies, when he promises he reneges and when he is trusted he betrays”. Thus, through the conduct of a hypocrite the definition of hypocrisy becomes clear. Ever since Prophet Muhammad (SAW) succinctly gave that impeccable definition of hypocrisy about one and a half millennia ago, no one else has given a better definition or anything similar. And what is true of this Hadith is equally true of all other genuine Hadith from this greatest man that ever lived. That is what makes Hadith an incomparable axiom which confirms the genuineness and impeccability of Prophet Muhammad’s Message to mankind.

Tola Adeniyi’s article

When many Nigerian Muslim brothers and sisters called by telephone or sent text messages with lamentations from different parts of the country to draw the attention of this columnist to a particular article published in The Tribune newspaper of Tuesday, October 17, 2017, I thought it was a serious matter of concern. But after reading the article entitled ‘Islam and Religious Imperialism’ which appeared on page 15 of that newspaper and was written by a septuagenarian  columnist called Tola Adeniyi, I knew that most of those who called or sent text messages to me did not know the author of that article.  If they knew, they would not have been that worried. Ordinarily, as a journalist and a columnist, I do not read Tola Adeniyi’s writings any more. Though he is a professional colleague  his column is not what I can allow to consume the least of my leisure time. There are columnists that I do not miss on a weekly basis and there are columnists that I do not waste my valuable time to read. He belongs to the latter group.

For decades, this man had been a newspaper columnist under a pen name (Aba Saheed) in ‘The Tribune’ newspaper.

His column

Like any other columnist, he has his own readers no doubt but I do not belong to that pedestre of readership. As a matter of fact, if he had not ignorantly attacked the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) with a sinister motive, I would not have wasted my time on reacting to such a pedestrian article.  But as the chief spokesman for that Apex Muslim body in Nigeria, I consider it my duty to put the records straight and save some innocent newspaper readers from being misinformed about Islam in Nigeria by someone who is claiming to be a Muslim.

At least, any good  Muslim who thoroughly understands Islam will know that claiming to be a Muslim because of birth or name may cast doubt on the  genuiness of one’s Islam. Such a public announcement is a way of way of seeking relevance where there is a possible benefit. That is what some parasites in the profession called Journalism use their pens to achieve.

Strange posture

If anything is strange in Tola Adeniyi’s article under review, it is the Age at which he wrote it. Those who have read the article may take time to go through it once again and they will discover that it contains no substance worthy of any serious attention. That was the practice in the 1970s, 80s and even 90s which the likes of Tola Adeniyi are yet to realize that has become anachronistic in the Noble profession.

Observation

By writing that such an article at this time around, what Tola Adeniyi did is not just to exhibit his blatant ignorance about Islam and the NSCIA but also to play a Dragon on a valueless brook under which his drummers are facelessly active. And when a Septuagenarian combines ignorance with confusion he automatically sinks into an abyss of hypocrisy where hiding behind one finger becomes a trick of escape. Thus, Prophet Muhammad’s Hadith quoted above is as fitting to such a man as a thorning scepter in the hand of a despotic Monarch.

 Memory lane

It will be recalled that sometime early this year, a press statement  was made by a so called Oodua Muslim Coalition (OMC) in some Southwest print media to counsel the Southern Muslims on why and how they should disengage completely from any association with the Northern Muslims especially the NSCIA. The similarity in Tola Adeniyi’s article to  that of the so called OMC is a glaring evidence of the common enclave of  the devilish drummers who are bent on using proxies among the Southwest Muslims to destroy the strong chord of Muslim unity in Nigeria.

Reaction

In a reaction to the so called OMC press statement, yours sincerely, being the official spokesman for The Muslim Ummah of Southwest Nigeria (MUSWEN), promptly issued the following press release to silence the hypocrites:

‘The attention of the Muslim Ummah of Southwest Nigeria (MUSWEN), has been drawn to the emergence of a fraudulent group calling itself ‘Oodua Muslim Coalition (OMC) in the Southwest of Nigeria.

Using the Southwest media to herald the arrival of its nefarious plot under the cover of Islamic religion, this amorphous group issued an unwarranted hateful press statement recently in which it attacked and blackmailed the entire Southwest Muslims calling them names and labeling them  ‘Agents of Hausa Fulani of the North’.

To the best of its knowledge, as the umbrella body for all State Muslim Councils/Communities as well as Organizations in the six States of the Southwest region, MUSWEN is not aware of the existence of any group called ‘Oodua Muslim Coalition’ (OMC).

Clarification

For clarification, MUSWEN as the Southern counterpart of Jamatu Nasril Islam (JNI) in the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), has the record of all legitimate Muslim Organizations in the Southwest region, and the so-called ‘Oodua Muslim Coalition’ is not on that record.

Warning

We therefore warn all genuine Muslim Councils, Communities and Organizations in the region to beware of certain evil elements who are now parading themselves as a Muslim group with the intent of constituting a spiritual virus in the region with the evil objective of presidential election in 1993 which was annulled by the Ibrahim Babangida military regime that initiated the aborted  third republic in Nigeria. But when Bashorun Abiola was arrested and detained by Sani Abacha regime, the man switched over to the Junta’s camp and became a beneficiary therein. It is only those who do not know Tola Adeniyi closely that will attach any seriousness to his writings in any newspaper. Invariably, public writings depict the mannerism of the writers.

Tola Adeniyi’s antics

Now, at 72 years of age, it could not have come as a surprise to those who know  very well why Tola Adeniyi’s subject of writing at this time is Islam and the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs. That subject may look real to  people in Nigeria who are also ignorant about Islam and may also be claiming to be Muslims. By their acts, hypocrites are invariably known and they invariably end up in a dungeon of oblivion.

It is hoped that the upcoming writers will learn a lesson from this.

Muslim columnist

Sensible people who read columns written by Muslims will notice that such columnists do not deliberately attack any religion outside Islam as some of their non-Muslim counterparts often unwarrantedly echo Islamization in a way of crying Wolf where none exists. If Tola Adeniyi were truly a Muslim and acquired the knowledge of Qur’an and Hadith as he claimed in his notorious article. Why has he not reflected such knowledge in any of his writings in the past three decades?. Who does not know that agents of clandestine agenda often lay claim to false qualifications as a way of justifying their hypocrisy. It is not strange that a Septuagenarian is using birth in Islam and Name as evidence of his being a muslim. Afterall, we know of an octogenarian in the same Ijebu area of Ogun State who was a top Islamic Chieftain in Ijebu-ode Central Mosque but dropped Islam for another Religion at the point of his Death. What is shameful In Tola Adeniyi’s case is his claim to still be a muslim at 72 using his birth and name as evidence. If anybody would advice the Southwest Muslims about their faith and their social lives it is surely not the like of a confused and ignorant person. Those who perceive themselves as living in Glass houses should be sensible enough not to throw stones at others. A word is enough for the wise.

The post Tola Adeniyi’s exhibition of ignorance appeared first on The Nation Nigeria.

 “Do you not see how Allah has set forth a parable of a meaningful ‘WORD’   like a fruitful tree which roots are firmly planted in the earth while its branches sprout magnificently into the firmament of the sky, yielding delicious fruits every season by Allah’s grace? Allah gives parables to men (of reason) that they may ponder and be mindful…” (Q. 14: 24).             

Preamble

It is rather ironic that even in this age of internet, many Africans (including ignorant Muslims) still perceive Islam as a mere dogma in which riddles, rituals and superstitions thrive. This is quite far from the reality. But it takes only people with functional eyes to perceive the light. Ignorance is a disease which knowledge alone can heal.

Since the creation of Adam, man has continuously enjoyed the guidance of Allah in one form or another. Prophets have been sent to various societies. Books have been revealed through those Prophets. Parables have been used with references drawn from the past. And warnings as well as admonitions have been divinely issued in those Books. Practical lessons such as the great deluge, the cataclysm of Sodom and Gomorrah, the defeat of Jalut (Goliath) by Daud (David), the doom of the tyrannical Pharaoh, and most recently, the waterloo of Adolf Hitler of Germany have come to man as lessons through which he can re-assess himself.

All these and many other occurrences have been used as allusion by Allah to remind man of human mortality and to see him through a successful life’s odyssey. But unfortunately, man has always been blind to genuine divine guidance. He has been deaf to warnings and resistant to reasoning as much as he is insensitive to thoughts and inflexible to ideas. In his choice to form freemasonry with Satan (the custodian of ruins and deception), man has ignorantly strayed into a quagmire of sorrow through the millennia. Taking Satan for his best friend, man refuses to use the long spoon with which he is provided by Allah to dine with the damned Lucifer. This was the situation until 610 CE when  Allah decided to chronicle the activities of man from the very beginning of human existence and make it an eternally concrete ‘MIRROR’ through which the descendants of Adam can continue to see life in its past, its present and its near and far future. This ‘MIRROR’ is the Qur’an, the anecdote that heals man’s blindness, the manure that fertilizes the brain and the greatest treasure in possession of mankind.

Features of the Qur’an

For the rightly guided minds, Qur’an is the eyes with which to see, the ears with which to hear and the sense with which to reason. It is the bridge across the valleys of life, the insurance against damnation, the passport for salvation and the only reliable redeemer of man.

Qur’an leaves no aspect of life untouched. It leaves no privacy unprotected and no secret unexposed. Problems and solutions; history and lessons; crimes and penalties; justice and righteousness; discipline and courage; friendship and trust; governance and methodology; marriage and divorce; widowhood and orphanage; childhood and inheritance; poverty and wealth; politics and economy; opinion and reason; facts and figures; life and death; darkness and light; war and peace; leadership and power; angels and man; heavens and earth; all these and many other matters form subjects of discussion and guidance in the ‘Divine Diary of Life called ‘Al- Qur’an’.

For people on the right path, therefore, life begins and ends with the Qur’an, Allah’s own tradition and the only authentic fountain from which man can draw wisdom with which to solve any problem. The sense that reasons with the Qur’an makes no mistake. The mind that thinks with it is never bedevilled. The eye that sees with it incurs no sore. The tongue that talks with it never stammers. The power that rules with it never falls. And the Almighty Allah warns in the Qur’an thus: “But whosoever deviates from My tradition, verily for him is life of subjugation and We shall raise him blind on the Day of Judgment” (Q. 20: 124).

Proof of the Qur’anic revelations

Charlatans who perceive Islam as a dogma continue to ask for the proof of the genuineness of Qur’anic revelation as if other revelations before the Qur’an do not require proof. In reason and logic, asking for the proof of the Qur’an is like asking the sun to prove its rays. Can anybody reasonably ask for the proof of the hair growing on his head? It is the nature and character of unbelievers to deny the truth and refute the manifest. But does it ever bother the sun in any way that a blind man denies its rays? Or can a brook be affected if a herd boycotts its water?

To Muslims who deeply understand the tenets of Islam, all the genuine Prophets are from Allah and all the revealed ‘BOOKS’ are series of the same ‘MESSAGE’. This fact has been firmly established in the Qur’an and that is why Muslims are not known for maligning any Prophet or revealed ‘BOOK’.

Right from its very first day of revelation, the Qur’an has come with undeniable proof. But it takes only a divinely cleansed heart to acknowledge such proof. Qur’an itself is the proof of all other celestial messages that preceded it. It is the final divine revelation which has no human interference or human tampering. Neither Prophet Muhammad (SAW) who brought that ‘MESSAGE’ to mankind nor any of his associates and disciples had a say in it. This Book of the greatest divine message contains no chapters or verses according to anybody besides ALLAH.

Doubting ‘Thomases’

During the revelation of this Book, Allah had foreseen the reaction of doubting ‘Thomases’ across generations of races whose hymns of denial would come from the abyss of falsehood even as they would cling pathologically to the chord of ignorance. To such ‘Thomases’, the Qur’an owes neither explanation nor apology.

Qur’an is like gold which everybody seeks directly or indirectly because of its immeasurable value but which only a few can recognize in its raw form. It takes geologists to identify the soil in which gold is buried. It takes miners to mine it out just as it takes smelters to smelt it before the goldsmith can transform it into a beautiful ornament. In the same manner, it takes categories of pious intellectuals to pursue the reading, understanding and interpretation of the Qur’an to a loftily appreciable level.

 Islam’s contribution to civilisation

That the Qur’an is the only revealed ‘BOOK’ in the world today which retains the originality of its language and contents for over 1445 years is enough a testimony to the proof of its divine origin. That also confirms Arabic as one of the oldest languages in the world today.

If the proof of the Qur’an is not seen in the social, economic and political context of its exegeses, it must be seen in its scientific hypotheses through which Europe came in contact with civilization. It is from those hypotheses that the modern world zoomed into technological advancement through the adoption of ‘Al-Jibrau (called Algebra), Al-Kaymiyau (called Chemistry), Al-Fisiyau (called Physics) as well as the introduction of ‘ZERO’ into numerals which led to the replacement of Roman figures, in the 13th century, with Arabic numerals that brought about decimal system and paved way for scientific breakthrough in Human life. It should be recalled that the numerals used in schools today are called Arabic numerals as a mark of their origin.

Before adopting the Arabic numerals, Europe had relied upon the clumsy system of Roman numerals which called for enormous expenditure of time and labour. For instance, while the Arabic numerals makes it easy for the world to write such date as 1948 in only four figures within a second, it requires eleven figures to write the same number in Roman numerals thus: MDCCCXLVIII. Even if Islam has contributed nothing more than the decimal system to the modern civilization it has done much more than any other religion. And what is more, the idea of what is called UNIVERSITY today originated from that divine religion. The very first University in the world (University of Cordoba) was established by the Muslims in Spain in the late 9th century based on their Qur’anic guidance. And the three oldest existing Universities in the world today were established by Muslims in the 10th century. They are Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt; Qarawiyyin University in Fes, Morocco and Zaytuniyyah University in Tunis, Tunisia. Yet, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) who brought that wonderful ‘MESSAGE’ to humanity was unlettered. However, despite his unlettered status he remains the greatest human being that ever lived throughout the history of man.

Attestation

It was in reference to this non-such Islamic contribution to human civilization that the renowned French historian of the 20th century, Gustav Le Bon wrote in his book: ‘The Civilization of the Arabs’ thus:

“At an epoch when the rest of Europe was plunged in the darkest barbarism, Baghdad and Cordoba, the two great cities where Islam held sway, were centres of civilization which illumined the whole world with the light of their brilliance”.

 The prophet’s biography

Perhaps from the creation of Adam, the first human being till today, no man’s biography has been as much written and read as that of Muhammad (SAW) the Prophet of Islam. This man’s biography has been globally written from all perspectives by various men and women of diverse backgrounds in the past 1445 years or thereabout. And the biography is still being written and re-written authoritatively and un-authoritatively today in uncountable languages.

The message and the Messenger

Through the writing of his biography, some people have zoomed into undreamed fame. Others have sunk into permanent oblivion. No other Prophet’s biography has attracted as many writers from believers and non-believers, from friends and foes alike as that of Prophet Muhammad (SAW). Every aspect of his life including the dresses he wore, the food he ate, the way he spoke and the wives he married has come to form chapters in his biography. In short, next to the Qur’an, no book is as much read daily in the world today as the biography of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in one form or another.

Why is the concentration so much on this unlettered Prophet from Arabia? The answer to this Question is not far-fetched. The world has never produced another personality like him and it will not. He is the seal of all Prophets and the epitome of human exemplariness. In him alone are found all traces of what a decent man should be. From him alone can the obedience to genuine law be learned from all conceivable angles.

Evidence of greatness

If Prophet Muhammad had not been an orphan, he would not have been able to guide mankind on how orphans should be treated especially with regards to inheritance.  If he had not been a husband, his marital life would not have been an example for sensible people to emulate and women’s rights would have been permanently over-sighted. If he had not been trustworthy, the value of trust would have been lost totally on humanity. If he had not been a father, the care for children by parents would have been totally relegated to the background.

If this great man had not been an emigrant, the culture of hospitality universally imbibed today would not have been championed by Islam. If he had not been a warrior, the law of war, armistice and peaceful resolution would not have come into existence. If he had not been a conqueror, the word magnanimity would not have found a place in the dictionary of man. If he had not been a negotiator, perhaps there would never have been anything called diplomacy. If he had not been an arbiter, the virtue of justice would have probably been thrown to the winds and survival in all societies would have been for the fittest alone.

If Prophet Muhammad (SAW) had not been a ruler, the relationship between the ruled and the rulers all over the world today would not have been different from that of slaves and their masters. If he had not been a democrat, dictatorship in governance would have known no bounds. If he had not been poor, the policy of social welfare adopted in civilized societies in the world today in favour of the poor would not have been possible. And, if, despite all these great qualities in him, he had not been humble and affable, arrogance would have dominated the characters of all privileged people.

Challenge

Who else can be compared to this man in history? In which other single person have all these qualities ever been combined in history? There can be little wonder then why the concentration is so much on the person of this extraordinary man especially by ordinary foes. Prophet Muhammad (SAW) alive and in death is like a living elephant surrounded by blind men. If every one of those blind men is to give a description of the elephant he would only be able to do so from the perspective of the part he is able to touch on the mammoth animal and not the whole of it. That is Prophet Muhammad (SAW) the like of whom the world had never seen before his arrival and can never see again after his departure.

History’s greatest man

After centuries of complimentary and uncomplimentary remarks about his person, the Prophet of Islam was finally named the greatest man that ever lived. This was done, not by his followers or admirers but by his critics among the non-Muslims (see ‘The100: A Ranking of the most Influential Persons in History’ by Michael H. Hart). One of the ways of recognising true greatness in a person is the array of criticism hauled at him from time to time by those who are envious of him but can never attain his height in glory and fame. Thus, defamation of character and denigration of personality as perennially being done to Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in some parts of the West are not peculiar to this non-such Prophet of Islam. After all, Prophet Isa (Jesus) before him was subjected to similar denigration and humiliation even as he was rejected in his own country by his own people. And what became of Galileo Galilei and Isaac Newton who paved the way for Europe’s technological advancement at their different times through their deep knowledge of Physics? Were they not called liars, maligned and disgraced? Yet, those whose ancestors committed the heinous atrocities continue to enjoy the benefit of the historic inventions of those great men today. Truth is like a lily by the mossy stone. It can be trampled upon by anybody but it can never, never die. Perhaps, no definition of Truth is more appropriate especially in contemporary time than the one given by a great Scholar Uthman Danfodio who said: “conscience is an open wound which only the truth can heal”.

The post The mirror of life appeared first on The Nation Nigeria.

Preamble

Dear Nigerian Imams, in the name of Allah, The compassionate, The Merciful, with humility and due respect in the spirit of Islam, I hereby forward this open letter to you as a way of rubbing minds and comparing notes with you on matters of common interest. In terms of age, knowledge, experience of life and charisma, I may not be qualified to tutor you on Islam. And this letter is not meant to do that. But the dynamism of this divine religion of ours is such that no one has any monopoly of either knowledge or piety, no matter his age or experience. And no one can evidently claim to possess purer soul and conduct than those of his fellow Muslims. Only Allah knows and can identify His true servants and reward them accordingly. This is manifest in Qur’an 49 verse 13 where He says: “We have created you (human beings) as males and females. And ‘We have’ classified you into nations and tribes that you may interact with one another. Surely, the most dignified among you before Allah are those who are most pious”.

The Message

‘THE MESSAGE’ column as a reminder on Islamic matters does not ascribe any authority to itself. But in the process of comparing notes we may jointly find a clue to the problem we want to diagnose here. Two major issues jointly form the subject matter of this letter. One is the Qur’anic schools in Nigeria. The other is the Mosque affairs. The two are closely interrelated.

You will recall Sirs, that Islam first reached some parts of what is now call Nigeria in the 11th century CE. That was over 1000 years ago when no one could have dreamt of a country to be called Nigeria. Even the colonialists who caused the emergence of Nigeria as a country were, at that time, still wallowing in blatant ignorance as they foraged wildly and aimlessly in the darkness of life. It took 500 years after the arrival of Islam before Christianity came to Nigeria in the 16th century. Today, if the two religions are compared in terms of education and material progress in this country, one will be found obviously ahead of the other by far. As a matter of fact, it will seem as if Christianity preceded Islam in Nigeria by 500 years. There is a fundamental question here not yet asked let alone answered. Where did things begin to go wrong for the Nigerian Muslims?

It is only logical that a question like this is asked at this stage before any answer can be provided. From a Yoruba adage we learn that “when a kid falls he looks forward to someone who will lift him up. But when an adult falls, he looks backwards to see the cause of his fall”. After over 1000 years in Nigeria, Islam is eminently qualified to be called an adult. Thus we can jointly look back to see where things started going wrong if we sincerely adhere to Islam as we often claim.

If the past generations of Nigerian Muslims did not ask the above question, it wasn’t because they lacked intellect or foresight. Even if they had asked such question, their hindrance would have been lack of wherewithal to answer it effectively. They could therefore be pardoned. The circumstances in which they embraced Islam and practiced it were quite different from those of today. That they even stood firmly by Islam in those days at all, despite the implacable persecutions and segregation they faced was an impeccable testimony to their steadfastness in faith.

Unlike Christianity which was escorted down by its European propagators and strengthened by the colonialists after assuming power, Islam only migrated to Nigeria unaccompanied. That it emerged a force to be reckoned with was only due to the grace of Allah through the 18th century great Jihad of Usman Dan Fodio. Nothing encouraged that great scholar to embark on the Jihad more than education. It should be remembered that both Usman Dan Fodio and his son (Muhammad Bello) made such complex linguistic, theological, scientific and legal studies that the one had 93 books to his credit while the other had 97.

Intellectual encounter

It is also on record that Hugh Clapper-ton, a British colonial agent, once had an interesting intellectual encounter with Sultan Muhammad Bello, in 1824. After the encounter, Clapper-ton had to admit thus: “He (Muhammad Bello) continued to ask me several other theological questions, until I was obliged to confess myself not sufficiently versed in religious subtleties to resolve these knotty points”.

And when Clapper-ton returned to Sokoto two years later (1826) and presented Bello with a complete copy of Arabic Euclid he was shocked to learn that his host already possessed one. (Euclid is an ancient geometry book of 13 volumes named after its Greek originator).

Literacy in Nigeria

When the Europeans first came to this territory in the 16th century the north was the only part of what is now called Nigeria that was literate. And that was because Islam had reached that part of the country since the 11th century with its Arabic literacy. The English colonialists confirmed this on their arrival in Nigeria in the 19th century. And that was why they were much more cautious in their dealings with the northerners than they were with the southerners.

That the colonialists did not retain Arabic literacy in the north was due to the fact that they did not understand that language and could not communicate with it. If they had not ignored Arabic literacy, the north would not have been perceived as backward literarily today by the south. At least by 1919 when the south was just beginning to embrace literacy, the north already had about 25000 schools where students were taught various subjects in Arabic language.

Education in Nigeria today

Today, however, almost 70% of Nigerian Christians are conveniently lettered either in English which is the official language of Christianity in this country or in their vernacular languages through the Roman alphabets. That has enabled them to translate the Bible into over 20 Nigerian languages.

But on the contrary, less than 10% of Nigerian Muslims can be said to be competently familiar with Arabic literacy. And without adequate literacy in Arabic language, there can be no thorough understanding of Islam which is the total way of life for any serious Muslim. Today, despite the age of Islam in Nigeria and the population of the Muslims, the Qur’an has just been translated into less than ten Nigerian languages. Even that was only possible because the initiators of those translations were well educated in the language of the Qur’an.

Many Muslims who passed through the Qur’anic schools in Nigeria and claim to have graduated (through celebration of Walimah) end up being serious embarrassments to Islam.

Problem of Qur’anic Schools

The problem of Qur’anic schools in Nigeria is not just about faulty curriculum but also about primordial teaching methodology.

In the Western conventional schools, children are not only first taught the language of learning, they are also encouraged to stay and learn in those schools even as friendly environments are created for them. They are encouraged to wear neat and attractive school uniforms. They are provided with toys and other play materials which can endear them to learning in those schools. The teachers do not only advise parents to feed their wards before coming to schools or give them food to eat in school but also encourage the pupils to maintain good hygiene while eating. Thus, the pupils always want to be in schools. And whatever they are taught becomes the gospel truth which no one else can easily alter in them. Most of those pupils grow up in life to become greater than their teachers because the foundation of their learning is very solid and formidable.

This is not the case with Qur’anic schools which children of nowadays find abhorrent. Parents whose children attend both conventional and Qur’anic schools may ask those children to compare and contrast. If Muslim children could tolerate the inadequacies of the Qur’anic schools in the past it was simply because they had no alternative. The same cannot be said of now. That is why the population of children in Qur’anic schools has dwindled so tremendously.

Role of Language in Education

Language has a prima facie factor of any culture is a sine qua non in education. A culture not entrenched in a language is only bidding its time. Islam is a foremost culture with a foremost language. But with due apology, the attitude of some of you (Imams) and the clerics you appoint as custodians of the Qur’anic schools have virtually changed the colour and the taste of Islam as a culture in Nigeria. Rather than being an attractive place of learning, Qur’anic schools have been turned into scaring centres for our children. And only a very few of those children will willingly want to attend Qur’anic schools. The result is that no seriousness is attached to those schools in our society any longer. We all know the long term repercussion of this.

Ironically, the method of teaching introduced in Nigeria by the colonialists was copied from the Muslims who standardized education in the world. The only addition made to that method by the Westerners is monetization of knowledge through emphasis on certification of education.

Qur’anic Teaching Methodology

It is rather inconceivable that the so-called Qur’anic teachers would cultivate a short cut to Islamic education by teaching the children from the peak. This is generally influenced by the pecuniary gain accruing to those clerics from Walimah.

Qur’an is the epic literature in Arabic language. It is the encyclopedia of Islam. It is not meant for recitation alone. It is the final source of researches in all fields of learning for those who know its value. To be able to recite or use Qur’an for any research, one needs to understand the language in which it is written which is Arabic. No one can meaningfully read and comprehend the Encyclopedia Britannica without understanding English language.

Perhaps the point needs to be made clear here that it is not compulsory that all Muslims should understand Arabic before they can recite the Qur’an. But anybody who wants to claim authority in Islamic knowledge must, of necessity, be able to read, write and comprehend Arabic language very well.

Translation

There can never be any true translation of a language to another language without sacrificing some elements of the originality of the mother language. This is where the error lies in the current methodology of teaching the Qur’an to Nigerian children by Nigerian clerics. Children’s brain is like a rock upon which a mark is made. Return to that rock many centuries later and you will still find the mark intact.

In Islam, Qur’an is the Glass House in which the Muslims’ minds reside. The foundation of that house is Arabic language. Without understanding Arabic it is impossible to comprehend any literature written in Arabic, be it the Qur’an or Hadith. The best that can be achieved in such a circumstance is to memorize some parts of the Qur’an and base it understanding on hearsay or translated documents.

Summary

The summary here is that no education can be correctly imparted to any school child with the teaching of encyclopedia as a first course. As a matter of fact, a good teacher does not need to teach his or her pupils the contents of an encyclopedia. Just teach those pupils the language in which the encyclopedia is written and they will do the rest on their own at the appropriate time. That is what prompted the late Sheikh Adam Abdullah Al-Ilory to establish the famous institute of Arabic and Islamic education (Agege) called MARKAZ in 1952. The indefatigable sage had also gone through the old system which he later found to be a cog in the wheel of Islamic education in Nigeria. He therefore traveled to Egypt for proper Islamic education and methodology of teaching despite his meager resources then. His intention was to pave way for millions of Nigerians and other Africans who might genuinely aspire to become Islamic scholars. Today, this columnist, being an alumnus of that great institute, is one of the beneficiaries of that blessed effort.  The full story of MARKAZ will be published in this column in the near future ‘in sha’A llah’.

Review of Qur’anic education

To endure in Nigeria, Qur’anic education will need a serious review by no other forum than yours (Nigerian Imams). The children attending Qur’anic schools must be made to see its value. The environment of learning must be made conducive for those children. The teachers in charge must be humane in conduct and in thought. The methodology of teaching must be made attractive to the learning pupils. Emphasis must be laid on language at the initial stage to enable the pupils know the meaning of what they are learning. Reading and writing assignments must be given to those pupils constantly. The idea of Walimah is not bad but it must be de-emphasized to reduce the impression that Qur’anic schools are mostly about Walimah for the benefit of Qur’anic teachers. Instead, premium must be placed on building total Muslims rather than just Qur’an readers.

Memorisation of the Qur’an

Memorization of the Qur’an is very laudable but knowing the meaning and the Islamic application of what is memorized should be giving priority. There must be close and lively interaction between the teachers and the pupils. A good arrangement must be made for teachers of Qur’anic schools to be reasonably remunerated. Periodic excursions to places of Islamic interest should be arranged for the pupils to boost their orientation and to expose them islamically. There should be inter-Qur’anic schools’ quiz competitions, debates and sports. Children of Qur’anic schools must look neat and decent in appearance.

By the time all these measures are effectively taken the dwindling population of pupils in Qur’anic schools in Nigeria would have evidently become a part of history. And the fading interest in Qur’anic education would have been adequately rekindled. As for the Mosque affair which is the second leg of this letter, please watch out for it in this column in the near future God willing.

The post Letter to Nigerian Imams appeared first on The Nation Nigeria.

“You can never change things in a society by fighting the existing reality.
To change something, you can only build a new model that can render the existing model obsolete’’.

Preamble

Readers of this column are implored to read the above quotation once again and they will better understand what the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) is currently doing in Nigeria for Nigeria’s progress.

The changes that had caused human progress in history were often never compatible with the existing perennial traditions of those humans because of the revolutionary tendencies of those changes. Whether in the primordial or contemporary time, revolution has effectively proved to be the main determinant of human progress as it occasionally becomes inevitable in human life. The only alternative to it is stagnation. A society without revolution, no matter how randomly it may be, will surely be stagnant.

History of JAMB

When the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) was established 40 years ago (1977), it came as a revolution which the then existing tradition of seeking university admission through concessional examination first tried to resist. At that time, only about six full-fledged universities were in existence in Nigeria. They were called ‘First Generation Universities’. The six Universities were Ahmadu Bello University, University of Benin, University of Ibadan, University of Ife, University of Lagos and University of Nigeria, Nsuka. Nevertheless, the first UTME conducted by JAMB took place in 1978.

Before the establishment of JAMB, university admission seekers either gained admission directly through Advanced Level of General Certificate of Education (GCE A/L) or through concessional entrance examination which could qualified them for admission into Preliminary Level.

However, with a sudden surge in the population of admission seekers, JAMB was established to ensure a uniform national standard of university education. It was meant to serve as a higher regulatory body for the conduct of Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) just as the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) served at the secondary school level. The Board was established during the regime of General Olusegun Obasanjo as Military Head of State.

Stakeholders’ meeting

About three weeks ago, November 15, JAMB called a national critical stakeholders’ meeting on Plans and Modalities for Sale and Registration of 2018 UTME application forms. The attendants of the meeting included some members of National Assembly, representatives of educational institutions, regulatory agencies, CBT Centres (public and private), parents otherwise known as NAPTAN, secondary school teachers otherwise known as ANCOPSS as well as students, the labour unions, Civil Societies and the Media.

Review of 2017 UTME

Before discussions on the plan for 2018 UTME began, a review of 2017 UTME was thoroughly done by the participants. It was a sort of public assessment of the 39th UTME conducted by JAMB since its establishment.

Noted points

In that assessment, the following points were pointed out and noted: ePINs were sold through Banks and partner Institutions JAMB implemented a central ePIN vending system Other channels employed for the same purpose included Switches like Remitta & Interswitch  Registration was essentially for a period of one month  (with additional two weeks which the House of Representative proposed and approved as extension).

Observation

During the deliberations, the following observations were made in respect of 2017 UTME:

Extortion from candidates during profile/email creation at cyber cafes Illegal sale of eBrochure & eSyllabus CDs to candidates when those materials were meant to be free Illegal collection of gate fee at CBT Centres Illegal sale of Reading Text Usage of CBT centre emails & Telephone numbers for candidates CBT Extortion of candidates – charging fees above the approved rate Subletting Access Codes to cyber cafes Going outside the approved locations to register candidates, on & off line Duplicating biometric capturing to candidates and thereby encouraging Multiple Registration.

The 2018 UTME procedure

The following guidelines were unanimously adopted and approved by the stakeholders: Prospective candidates can start registration from their homes through the use of their cell phones to prevent extortion     www.jamb.gov.ng Prospective candidates are expected to have visited the JAMB website ahead of registration to study and understand the 2018 ebrochure.

Registration process

Prospective candidates may create their profiles by writing their Surnames, First Name and Middle Name in that order (where applicable). Such profile should not exceed 38 characters with two spaces between names to make 40 characters in all using the following code to 55019. And this should be sent to JAMB. In doing this, one cell number (mobile number) can be used by one candidate only Thereafter, a confirmation code of 10 characters will be received by the candidate on the same telephone number which will be used to procure the ePIN.

Profile self help

In case of mistake in or loss of data in the process of profiling, the following process should be followed to correct the error: To correct a mistake in candidate’s name, candidates should resend a text message (from the registered number) to “CORRECT the spelling of surname or middle name or first name. Such message should be sent to 55019.

To retrieve a lost confirmation code, candidate should resend a text message (from the registered number)  to the same code (55019).

JAMBS’ ePIN Selling Points and the details of the procedure for payment should be checked on JAMB’s Website.

Comment

At no time in the history of JAMB have stakeholders been involved in the process of UTME as it is now being done by the current administration in that Board. This is an indication that the real revolutionary motive of JAMB is becoming more manifest than ever before.

The post The JAMB revolution appeared first on The Nation Nigeria.

“…And fear a calamity that may descend not only on those who caused it (but also on others who had no hands in its cause); and know that Allah’s retribution can be very severe”. Qur’an 8, Verse 25

Preamble

Foresight is a product of intuition. A person without intuition cannot be foresighted. And intuition is Allah’s special endowment for some rightly guided human beings.

Admonition

On Friday, January 20 2017, the day a new American President, Donald Trump, was sworn into office as successor to President Barak Obama, yours sincerely intuitively wrote an article published in this column. It was entitled “Welcoming A Trump of Sadism”. An excerpt from that article goes thus:

“Like the hands of a clock, many democratic countries in the world swear in a new President every four or five years at the exit of an old one since that tenure of office is often renewable. Now, it is the turn of the United States of America to do that again. And the man to take charge as from today, for the next four years, all things being equal, is called Donald Trump, a man that most people including Americans, have seen as a wild bull surging into a china shop. Two weeks before the publication of that article, another article relating to the same subject had been published also by yours sincerely in this same column. It was entitled “Waiting for January 20, 2017”. In the latter article, yours sincerely cited the example of Adolf Hitler’s oath of office and his inaugural address of 1933 that culminated in history’s worst disaster called  World War II which started in 1939 and ended in 1945. The dramatic events within that period of 12 years were the dominating factors of the 20th century history. Here is the excerpt:

Oath of Office

“As from today January 20, 2017, Donald Trump’s oath of office will become the symbol of despotism for the seeming global anarchy ahead. His assumption of Office as the 46th American President, subsequent to that oath, will confirm the loss of America’s long time cherished glass house that has always been a proud heritage.

From the look of things, a wild bull may be taking over in the world’s china shop most likely to confirm the contents of a popular 20th century Irish poem by W. B. Yeats published in 1921 by William Butler. (W. B. Yeats was the original author of “Things Fall Apart”).

In that sadistic poem, Yeats really proved to be the drummer for certain future dragons that would dance sadistically on the surface of a tragic brook.  One of those dragons was Adolf Hitler of Austria who became the Fuhrer (the Leader) in Germany. Another is a 21st century American President named Donald Trump who the world is unlikely to watch with comfort. Incidentally, both ‘dragons’ cultivated their satanic pedigrees in Germany….”

Yeats’ Poem

“The Yeats’ poem that formed the drum to which Trump will dance with uncalculated steps starting from today is as follows:

“Turning and turning round in the widening gyre, the falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world;

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere, the ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all convictions, while the worst are full of passionate intensity”. The Falcon in that poem is Donald Trump while the Falconer is the United States herself”.

The meaning of Trump

“The name TRUMP is a short form of trumpet, a musical instrument with which the decision of a tyrant is often announced in a local cultural setting. Ever since he was declared the winner of the American Presidential election of November 2016, this Trump has been trumpeting his tyrannical plans for the world for the world to note. And the jitters rolled out from that trumpet have started gripping the world with icy hand. That an American President elect had begun to rule before taking an oath of office is a clear indication of what the world should expect from the china shop in which a bull will start to operate as from today…..”

Illegal recognition

On December 6, 2017, almost one year after assuming office, President Donald Trump of the United States addressed a Press Conference in at the White House in Washington in which he declared the whole of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The rumour about that illegal declaration had been dustily thick in the air before now. Although President Trump gave two reasons for his illegal declaration none had a realistic genuineness. The first reason, according to him, was fulfilment of his campaign promise to the American electorate. The second was what he called the reality on ground in the disputed Jerusalem territory. The real truth of the matter is that Trump is ambitious to be an American hero. Thus his short course to realizing that ambition is to call the illegal declaration his greatest achievement in one year when he celebrates one year in office in January 2018.  It must be recalled that in the UN resolution on the status of Jerusalem to which the US is a signatory, it was agreed that to ventilate the atmosphere for permanent peace in the Middle East, a two state solution should be adopted in the controversial land whereby Israel and Palestine would co-exist as two separate states sharing one capital city as a matter of expediency. That resolution had proposed West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine. But with Trump’s unilateral declaration of the whole of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel last week, without any consideration for the UN resolution and the plight of the Palestinians whose home land had been forcefully occupied in 1948 by the Zionists with the aid of Britain and the US, a declaration of another World War seems to have occurred.

The grand design

The Israeli/Palestinian crisis is not new and it did not start in 1948. The design for that crisis had been placed on a clandestine table about 115 years ago.

That grand design was first expressed in 1902 by a British Prime Minister, Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman as follows:

“There are people who control spacious territories teeming with manifest and hidden resources.  They dominate the intersections of world routes. Their lands were the cradles of human civilizations and religions. These people have one faith, one language and the same aspirations. No natural barriers can isolate them from one another….If, per chance, these people were to be unified into one state it would then take the fate of the world into its hands and separate Europe from the rest of the world. Taking these considerations seriously, a foreign body should be planted in the heart of this nation to prevent the convergence of its wings in such a way that it could exhaust its powers in never- ending wars. It could also serve as a spring board for the West to gain its coveted objects”.

Follow Up

Sir Bannerman’s observation was in further pursuit of an earlier demand by Theodor Herzl, a leader of the Zionist movement founded in 1879. Herzl, an Austrian Jewish lawyer and journalist demanded thus:

“Let sovereignty be granted us (Jews) over a portion of the globe large enough to satisfy the rightful requirements of a nation; the rest, we shall manage for ourselves…”

Balfour Declaration

In response to Theodor Herzl’s clandestine demand, another British Prime Minister, James Arthur Balfour issued a devastating declaration that now bears his name which conceded a major part of Palestine to the Zionists as a home. That (Balfour) declaration has since put the Middle East in an incessant turmoil. It read thus in part: “His majesty’s Government views with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people and will use its best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this objective…. The rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country shall not be prejudiced by the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people”. The original thought was to secure the Present Uganda, an African country for the settlement of the Jews which would be named Israel. But the remembrance of  Kenya’s Mau Mau uprising during that country’s struggle for independence from the British colonialists changed the thought as Palestine was found more suitable as Jewish settlement because of common traits among the Jews and the Arabs.

Implementation

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

Occupation strategy

When the British colonialists that had ruled Palestine for decades wanted to leave that territory, they just suddenly did so without handing over authority to anybody. The strategy was to enable the Jews who had been secretly invited to the land and militarily equipped under the British rule to take over the land by using the weapons in their possession. And that was precisely what the Jews did to gain the control of the Palestinian land in 1948.

Reactions

Shortly after Trump’s catastrophic pronouncement, prominent people around the world started to condemn it as an illegal unilateral decision that would never be implemented. Among those people were the Secretary-General of the United Nations, The Pope, The President of France, The Chancellor of Germany, the Prime Minister of Britain, the Presidents  of Turkey, Egypt, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and a host of others. The Kings of Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Oman, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait and Qatar have also condemned Trump’s reckless pronouncement and described it as outrageously rude.  Even some scores of Israeli citizens including members of Knesset (Israeli Parliament) who know the implications of Trump’s illegal decision have staged (peaceful) demonstrations in front of American Embassy in Tel Aviv to express their objection to that unilateral and disastrous decision that could subject them to unnecessary insecurity. And in the US, quite a number of prominent people including top Republican party members and Senators have described Trump’s decision on the status of Jerusalem as an embarrassing major flaw that could entail dangerous backlash for America.

UN’s Emergency Meeting

Meanwhile, as a practical demonstration of its expressed condemnation, the United Nation’s Security Council quickly called an emergency meeting to assess the implications of Trump’s unilateral decision and to deliberate on the Council’s next stage of action as well as global way forward. When the matter was put to vating, 14 out of 15 members voted against Trump’s decision.

EU’s position

On its own, the European Union as a conglomerate of major countries in Europe with common belief in matters of common interest has taken a position on the controversial issue. It will be recalled that for many years since the end of the World War II, EU has been in strong alliance with the US through the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). And that military alliance has strengthened their economic ties with the Us inspite the random inadequacies of the latter. But  in recent times, the relationship between the two blocs has been deteriorating at the instance of President Trump whose unbridled arrogance has become an unmanageable embarrassment to EU. Just a couple of months ago, Trump suddenly pulled the US out of the global climate change group with total disregard for appeals against such decision. Now, with the current crisis created by his unilateral recognition of Jerusalem as Israeli capital, EU has started a tacit review of its political and economic relationship with the Cow Boy’s country called America. If that position is backed up by law, the US may shrink back into her pre-World War II Isolationism that may remove her from the position of the first role player in the world.

This is an indication that if Americans do not act fast to checkmate this 46th US President called Donald Trump, he may become the final nemesis of the American Empire.

The post Jerusalem: The world’s bitter harvest appeared first on The Nation Nigeria.

‘In the introduction to his autobiography entitled ‘My Odyssey’, Nigeria’s first democratic President, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe wrote thus: “Man comes into the world and while he lives, he embarks upon a series of activities absorbing experience which enables him to formulate a philosophy of life and to chart his courses of action. But then, he dies. Nevertheless, his biography remains a guide to those of the living who may need guidance either as a warning on the vanity of human wishes or as encouragement or both”.

The above philosophical quote serves as a reminder of what the divinely appointed Apostles of Allah represented in the lives of their followers. Those Apostles were men who came into the world as Ambassadors of one and the only God. Yes, they came at different times, from different lands and with different tongues, nevertheless, their message was only one and the same. That message is like a nation’s diplomatic mission abroad. Any qualified person could be appointed as an Ambassador to manage the mission. And from time to time the Ambassador could be changed but the mission remains the same as much as the nation which they represent remains a nation. Some of those Ambassadors could though be empowered as plenipotentiary it is unimaginable that any of them would deviate from the diplomatic policy that makes him an Ambassador for his country.

Thus, from Adam, the great ancestor of man to Prophet Muhammad (SAW), the last of all Apostles of Allah, the message they came to deliver was one and the same because those Apostles were all sent by only one and the same God. If any difference is perceived in their mission, it could only be attributable to human ignorance through interpretations or misinterpretations in time and space.

Each time I hear of killing, maiming or resorting to terrorism in the name of religion I feel scandalized. This is not just because I belong to a religion and I am involved in its propagation but also because I know the value of life and the vice in terminating it extra-judicially. Personally, I see those who kill people of other religions for the simple reason of difference in faith as brutal vandals waging war not just against humanity but also against God.

Anybody who kills or maims or indulges in terrorism may claim to be an adherent of a religion but cannot genuinely claim to be acting for that religion. No divine religion prescribes killing or maiming as an act of worship. Religion may be used surreptitiously as a cover for such heinous act but the real motive is far away from religion.

Conversation

In a fortuitous casual conversation sometime ago over Nigeria’s disturbing political situation, a top Christian cleric enthusiastically told this columnist that Nigerians were the most religious people in the world. Yours sincerely did not agree with his assertion but to avoid any argument relating to religion I decided to keep mute. However, not comfortable with my silence, my interlocutor asked for my reaction to his statement. And when I asked him for the evidence of his alleged religiousness in Nigerians, he cited the ubiquity of Churches and Mosques as well as the length of time people spend worshiping in those sanctuaries as evidence. He added that even Muslims worship on Sundays nowadays citing examples of NASFAT, FATHIU QUAREEB and other ‘Assalatu’ groups. In response, I grinned amusedly and shook my head in disagreement. I then told him that in Islam, worshiping does not necessarily take any lengthy time as the number of times to worship per day is divinely specified and no daily Salat takes more than ten minutes on the maximum. I said as for the ubiquity of Churches and Mosques in Nigeria, it is not only an evidence of disunity among the so-called worshippers but also an indication of deification of ‘MONEY’. And while insisting that religion is the biggest business in Nigeria’s private sector today, I concluded that most Nigerians would rather sweat for the purpose of money than for the love of God citing the shameless preaching of prosperity and atrocious style of accumulating wealth by the so-called religious leaders as examples.

I then challenged the Reverend gentleman to imagine removing money from Churches and Mosques in Nigeria today and see what would remain of them. I also went further to correct his misconception that Muslims now worship on Sundays by pointing out to him that Muslims only resorted to congregating on Sundays for prayers when Thursdays and Fridays which served as their cultural weekend days before Nigeria’s colonisation were forcefully turned into Saturdays and Sundays for them by the colonialists. After a long time of silence the Clergy man nodded in agreement with my analytical observation and confessed that until then he never gave any thought to the atrocious role which money plays in Nigeria’s religious activities.

Evidence of Ignorance

What most Nigerian leaders of Islamic and Christian religions do not seem to know is that the refusal of the adherents of both religions to study and understand the doctrines which guide those religions is the main cause of religious disharmony in the country today. This is however, not peculiar to Nigeria. It is global. Both Christians and Muslims jointly constitute more than half of the world’s population.

And, it is from their common pond that the spiritual ripples which consistently make the world restive emanate. If the adherents of both religions had endeavoured to mutually study and understand the doctrines that guide their ways in life, the world would not have come under religious spell as we have today.

How many Christian or Muslim leaders know, for instance, that in recognition of Jesus Christ as his predecessor and fellow Apostle, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) signed a charter with some Christian leaders in the year 628 CE and the charter remains valid till today? In that year (628 CE), a Christian delegation from St. Catherine’s Monastery went to Prophet Muhammad (SAW) to seek the protection of the Islamic government under his command. The objective was to elicit the support of the Islamic government in ensuring their security against the aggression of the Persian Empire. (St. Catherine’s Monastery is the world’s oldest Monastery located at the foot of Mt. Sinai which has a huge collection of Christian manuscripts second only to those of the Vatican and is known as a world heritage site). Prior to that event, many verses of the Qur’an had been revealed to Prophet Muhammad (SAW) acknowledging the divine mission of all the Prophets preceding him (Muhammad (SAW) including that of Jesus Christ. And because of those revelations, no Muslim can claim to be a true believer in Islam without accepting Jesus the son of Mary as a Prophet of God. One of those revelations states as follows:

“The Apostle of Allah (Muhammad SAW) believes in what was revealed to him and so do the entire Muslim faithful. Every one of them believes in Allah, His Angels, His Books and His Apostles. We do not discriminate against any of His Apostles. They say “we hear and obey (the laws brought by those Apostles). Grant us your forgiveness Oh Lord! To you we shall all return….” (Q. 2: 285).

Another verse of the Qur’an states: “There is no compulsion in religion. True guidance has become distinct from stray. Whoever renounces evil and believes fully in God has grasped the most reliable chord that never breaks. God is all-hearing, all knowing” (Q. 2: 256).

The Charter

In response to the request of the Christian representatives cited above, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) granted them a written charter of rights as follows: “This is a message from Muhammad the son of Abdullah serving as a covenant to those who adopt Christianity, near and far that we (Muslims) are with them. Verily, I and all the servants of God, as well as the helpers of Islam hereby make promise to defend

Christians because they are my citizens and by God! I hold out against anything that displeases them. No compulsion is to be on them (concerning their way of worship). Neither are their judges to be removed from their jobs nor their monks from their monasteries. No one should destroy a house of their religion or damage it or loot it.

Whoever violates this has breached God’s charter and disobeyed His Apostle. Verily, Christians are my allies and have my secure charter against all they hate. No one should force them to fight for a course in which they have no belief or compel them to migrate against their wish. Neither is the sacredness of their covenant to be violated nor their Churches to be disrespected. And if any damage should happen to their Churches, they must not be prevented from repairing them. No Muslim should disobey this covenant till the Last Day (end of the world)”. By this charter, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) asserted that Muslims and Christians were brethren in faith and no one of them should fight against the other on the basis of religion. And by validating the charter till the great Day of Judgment, the Prophet had precluded any future attempt to revoke the privileges contained in that charter by any nation, group or individuals. By implication, those privileges are inalienable. Besides, one remarkable aspect of the charter is that it did not stipulate any condition for Christians to enjoy the privileges.

Reciprocation

Believing that being followers of Jesus Christ was enough a condition to enjoy those privileges, the Prophet assumed that the Christians, would be civilized enough to reciprocate that unprecedented gesture wherever they coexist with Muslims not only by tolerating the latter’s mode of worship and way of life but also by refraining from any naked or avowed act of provocation against them which could precipitate a religious rancour. Another noticeable aspect of the charter is the Prophet’s silence on any payment by the protectorate Christians which was the general practice among nations in those days. Thus, that ‘Charter of Rights’ was a free gift. And from it the reason becomes clear why the Islamic State under the command of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) or any of his rightly guided disciples who became Caliphs never crossed swords with any Christian group or nation throughout their regimes. If any wars like those of the crusades ever broke out subsequently between Christians and Muslims it was centuries after the demise of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and the Caliphs and that could not be attributed to Islam as a religion. Such could have happened due to a deliberate breach by either or both sides on the basis of human whim.

And in upholding that charter, the second Caliph, Umar Bn Khattab, refused to observe Salat inside the Church of Jerusalem when he visited the area following the liberation of that region by the Islamic State from the Persian Empire in which Zoroastrianism (worshiping of fire) was the religion. The Church of Jerusalem had been cleared by Muslim soldiers for the observance of Salat which Umar, as Head of State, was to lead. But when he was invited to lead the Salat, he simply ordered the soldiers to find another place for Salat and keep the Church intact for the Christians saying he would not do that which the Prophet prohibited. He then warned the Muslims who accompanied him never to convert Churches into Mosques for that would amount to bad precedent capable of breaching the Prophet’s charter with Christians.

Prophetic Revelation

Prior to the Prophet’s migration from Makkah to Madinah, a prophetic revelation came into the Qur’an in 616 CE which confirmed the brotherhood of Islam and Christianity. That revelation which formed a whole chapter in the Qur’an was entitled ‘The Chapter of Rome ‘. It started thus: “Rome, (the nation of the Christian Greeks) has been defeated in a neighbouring land. But after their defeat, they shall (themselves) gain victory within a few years. Allah is the Supreme Commander before and after. On that day (when they become victorious), the believers (Muslims and Christians) will rejoice in Allah’s help.

Allah gives victory to whoever He wills. He is the Mighty One, the Merciful. That is Allah’s promise; He never reneges on His promise” (Q. 30: 1-5).

And true to that prophecy, the Roman Empire surprisingly defeated the Persian Empire to the ecstasy of the Muslims just nine years after that revelation and thereby paved way for Christianity to be off the manacle of the pagan Persian Empire and to thrive once again side by side with Islam. Besides, the name of Jesus Christ is mentioned about 37 times in the Glorious Qur’an giving more details about his birth and disappearance than can’t be found in the Bible. Also a whole chapter of the Qur’an is dedicated to Mary the mother of Jesus confirming her chastity and the miracle of the birth of Jesus. That chapter is called ‘The Chapter of Maryam (Mary).

Orientalists’ Antics

However, despite all the indisputable facts mentioned above, the Western Orientalists and others who seek to foster discord between Christianity and Islam continue to focus and disseminate the differences between both religions with the intent of causing permanent conflict among their adherents. Those are the people who want the world to believe that this same Prophet Muhammad (SAW) held the Qur’an in one hand and the sword in another forcing people to accept Islam or be ready to die. The depth of their ignorance does not even reflect the illogicality of such blatant lie as the Qur’an was not compiled into a book when the Prophet was alive. And if one man had such a power to intimidate multitude enemies would he be forced to migrate?

Conclusion

The doctrine of one God one mission purportedly shared in the world today by three religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) cannot be from the same perception. Each of these religions has its own revealed Book and the adherents practice their faiths according to the doctrines contained in those Books. It will therefore be wrong of adherents of one particular religion to adjudge those of others as deviants or infidels who must be exterminated.

Religion is like an examination. Those who sit down to write it using blue ink pen must not turn themselves into examiners using red ink pen to mark it. Paradise is Allah’s own domain. He admits whoever He wishes into it. And this is done not necessarily by sheer mortal’s recommendation. Only the Almighty Allah who chose our parents for us without our knowledge before we came into this world and who knows where each of us would finally be buried has the final say on everybody’s destination.

If the truth must be told, the real cause of religious conflicts in Nigeria is not intolerance as often hypocritically claimed by some people but provocation under the guise of religion. Nigerian press is particularly guilty of this by fueling such provocation. It is wrong to expect tolerance to thrive in a society where provocation and injustice refuse to abate. Propagating a religion by denigrating another is an act of provocation. And those who want peace to prevail in Nigeria must desist from such intolerable act.

Nigerian Church and Mosque leaders must refrain from negative sentiments and hypocrisy by dissuading their followers from interpreting the misbehaviour of some miscreants to mean the prescription of the religion they proclaim.

The post Islam’s charter with Christianity appeared first on The Nation Nigeria.

Preamble

This is the season of fake prophecies in Nigeria, the season in which some obvious fraudsters bask in the empty euphoria of delusion. This is the season when Nigerian fraudsters give the impression that prediction and prophecy are one and the same and therefore take undue advantage of people’s ignorance to dupe them in the name of prophecy under the cover of religion.

Whereas prediction is about imagination just as foresight is about intuition, both are evidently human while prophecy is divine.

There is something strange about prophecy which continues to remain a puzzle to rightly guided human beings. It is like the night that is invisibly pregnant but which miraculously delivers wonders in the day. Genuine prophecy is neither by fabrication nor by pretext. Its roots are firmly planted in the rich soil of divinity and its agents were divinely chosen and called messengers of God. The last of such messengers was Prophet Muhammad (SAW) who left this earth almost 1500 years ago. Anybody whoever claimed or is claiming to be a prophet after the demise of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) is surely a fraudster and an agent of the Lucifer.

Appointment of prophets

Only Allah appoints prophets for an appropriate nation with an appropriate mission at an appropriate time. But this has been bastardized by self-styled ‘prophets’ of the modern world especially in Nigerian who see prophecy as an umbrella of fortune under which they can hide to mine gold and silver. Such people only sooth-tell satanic dreams to their ignorant and parochial victims who are callously milked in the name of prophecy.

Wealthy prophets

Except for King Daud (David) and his son King Sulayman (Solomon) who were divinely guided to show the world how wealth is legitimately acquired and managed, no prophet of Allah was ever stupendously rich. This can be compared with today’s situation where prophecy is measured in terms of wealth in the possession of the fraudsters who are parading themselves as prophets. Today, mere prediction has been deliberately turned into prophecy which in turn has become a major platform for preaching prosperity rather than posterity at the expense of godliness and humanitarianism.

Genuine prophecy

It is not by clandestinely predicting the number of Kings who will die in a locality in the coming year or the governors who will lose their seats to opponents or even the number of people who will lose their lives in various accidents that a person can proclaim self a prophet. Genuine prophets are known not by words of mouth alone or amount of wealth they possess but by the exemplary actions that may serve humanity in good stead for many, many centuries or even millennia after their demise. Prophets Isa (Jesus) and Muhammad (SAW) are good examples of such genuine Prophets.

Prophecy, therefore, is not to be judged by yearly predictions of fraudsters who satanically claim to be prophets. Virtually all the religious tenets and regulations in Christianity and Islam today are reflections of the prophecies of the two great men mentioned above in the past two millennia or thereabout. Both men (Jesus and Muhammad) never pretended to be able to do what they were not divinely assigned to do. They never sought wealth and thus, they had no cause to be fraudulent.

 Today’s fake ‘prophets’

In contrast, however, fake prophecy today is a product which finds a large market in Nigeria for which ignorant and parochial people queue up in multitudes before fraudsters with the intention of gaining fraudulently what they are not divinely destined to gain in life. Such people only fabricate satanic dream about their future and look for fraudsters who can authenticate such dreams for them satanically to suit their wishes or to solve certain insuperable problems. Thus, in the process, they are forced to carry out satanic instructions that may eventually bring ruins to them and pave ways for those fraudsters to zoom into material fortune without any care for conscience. Most broken homes and criminal activities of Nigerians particularly corruption today are traceable to fake prophecies and insensitive display of wealth in Churches and Mosques in this country. It is evident that the ridiculously stolen amounts of public funds by public officials end up in the pockets of the Charge de Affairs of those religious sanctuaries.

A prophetic warning

Prophet Muhammad (SAW) had forewarned the Muslim Ummah, about 1400 years ago, against the calamity that false prophecy could bring to mankind. Addressing his companions on a particular occasion at that time, he said:

“There will be calamity!” He repeated this three times. But rather than asking him of its cause, his Companions simply asked for the solution. They had no cause to doubt him. And he told them to look for the solution in the legacy he was leaving behind. That legacy is the rule of law contained in the Qur’an and Sunnah.

The Rule of Law

The Prophet emphasized to his Companions that nothing besides the rule of law would ever bring the needed harmony to the world. He described the Qur’an as the all-time permanent solution to the various problems of all people and concluded that only individuals, groups or nations that hold it (Qur’an) tenaciously would escape the mentioned calamity.

The Qur’an, according to Prophet Muhammad (SAW), is the mirror with which to view the past retrospectively and draw a lesson from its experience. It is the effective compass with which to find the way in the hazy wilderness of the present. It is also the impeccable telescope with which to view the future and escape its dangerous satanic dragnet. In other words, the Qur’an is an everlasting prophecy recalling the occurrences of the past, serving as the guidance of the present and turning focus on the future expectations with a view to clearing the way for the pious ones.

By asking the world to follow the rule of law in all their ways, the Prophet never aimed at rising from his grave one day to govern any particular nation or region of the world. Neither did he leave any heir behind who would inherit the governance of the world. His objective, according to the mission he bore, was for the world to be in harmony through divine guidance.

And, it is only in the interest of mankind to uphold the rule of law for the sake of their harmonious co-existence.

To marry according to the rule of law; to divorce, if need be, according to the rule of law; to raise families according to the rule of law; to transact businesses according to the rule of law; to play politics according to the rule of law; to give judgment according to the rule of law; to conduct elections according to the rule of law; to legislate according to the rule of law; to govern according to the rule of law, these and more are the elements of the mission preached by Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and there has never been an alternative to it since his demise about one and a half millennia ago.

Today, is there any individual, group or nation not affected positively by the rule of law in the world?

Every aspect of life has its rule of law. We work in the day and rest in the night not by our own volition but in accordance with the natural rule of law that guide our existence as human beings. The sun rises in the East and sets in the West to obey the rule of law that controls its operations. Fishes live in water. Plants grow generically and are fed through their roots in accordance with the natural rule of law that governs them. Disharmony prevails only when deviation occurs from the rule of law. And such is often caused by human beings. Carnivores like lions, vipers and eagles never voluntarily feed on plants. Herbivores like elephants, camels and goats never feed on flesh. To force them to do otherwise, in the name of experiment, is to cause disharmony in the animal kingdom.

Causes of disharmony

The world is in disharmony today because of deliberate deviation from the rule of law by those in power. Stronger nations want to usurp or dominate weaker nations as in the case of America in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine.

Governments want to enslave the governed as in the case of Nigeria since independence in 1960. It is all an evidence of dogs eating dogs in the stable of greed. Why won’t disharmony prevail?

But Allah so much loves mankind that He does not leave them permanently in the hands of devilish predators. From time to time, Allah sends conscientious individuals either as rulers or as counselors to rescue the oppressed. That was the fortune of Nigeria when Umaru Musa Yar’Adua emerged as President.

His insistence on rule of law first sounded odd to some lawless elements who took such stand for granted because they never experienced rule of law in Nigeria before his coming. But that was the blessing that our country needed as a solid foundation for a strong building. Rule of law is the first sign of sanity in a society. It is an evidence of decency in a people. It is a thorn on the way of certain fraudsters who claim to be Prophets.

Remembering Yar’Adua

In beaming the light of rule of law on Nigeria, Yar’Adua was not a mere touch-bearer he also recognized the fact that one did not necessarily have to be governed by Shari’ah or canonical law to abide by the rule of law.

What the Qur’an teaches which the Prophet emphasized is for everybody to follow the rule of law by which he or she is governed. To do this is to follow the guidance of the Qur’an or that of the Bible.

If we had a President in Yar’Adua who could voluntarily return his annual security vote of about 2 billion naira to the national treasury because he did not see the need to pocket it as he did not see it as a personal booty; if we had a President in him who could return the federal budget to the National Assembly for amendment because he felt it was unnecessarily inflated at the expense of the populace; if we had a President in him who could promptly react positively to the cry of the people on high cost of food items in the market; if he could cause the price of cement to crash in favour of the downtrodden masses and suspend any increase on price of petrol indefinitely until his death, it was only because he had the fear of Allah at heart and strongly adhered to the rule of law. Thus with him in power it was becoming crystal clear that Nigerians were beginning to appreciate the fact that harmony was truly in sight through the rule of law. And such great gestures which had eluded this country for a long time before he became President came to add greater values to the lives of Nigerians. Rule of law is about conscience and decency of character. It marks the difference between man and beast. If Yar’Adua did not achieve anything beyond establishing the rule of law in Nigeria, that singular achievement was great enough for posterity. And what is more, he achieved much more by bringing a ray of hope to millions of Nigerians in less than two years of his leadership in a country where the sky had been dangerously cloudy before his assumption of office as President. When Yar’Adua was President, no sane person could sensibly compare sleep with death.

 Lost paradise

Prophet Muhammad never spoke in a vacuum. His utterances were divinely guided. And the Qur’an confirms this thus: “He (Muhammad) never spoke out of sheer whim; his expressions are no other than inspired revelations; he is taught by the One who is mighty in power…”

Nigerians of today have become like the Israelis of yore who after being rescued by Prophet Musa (Moses) from the scourge of Pharaoh, showed ingratitude to Allah and were thrown into the wilderness of life. Having suffered in the hands of a blind and deaf Nigerian Pharaoh for eight terrible years and having been liberated by an unexpected Musa (Moses), it only behoved conscientious people to be grateful not necessarily to that Musa (Moses) but to God who used him for this divine gesture. The sharp difference between the road to hell and the one to paradise which Nigerians experienced within the first decade of the fourth republic had shown how wonderful Allah could be in His deeds. It also confirmed the genuineness of Prophet Muhammad’s prophecy as divinely attested in Chapter 20, Verse 24 of the Qur’an thus:

“When my guidance is revealed to you, (Muhammad) whoever follows it shall never err nor be afflicted; but he who gives no heed to My warning shall live in distress and be raised blind on the Day of Resurrection…”

In his message to the nation on the occasion of Mawlidu-n-Nabiyy and Easter of 2008 (one year after assuming the office), President Yar’Adua appealed to Nigerians, with humility, to exercise patience with his administration saying there was blueprint for thoroughness and decency to take off governance in earnest. He neither used any abusive language that was the hall-mark of his predecessor nor did he ask Nigerians to continue to bear the unbearable while his own family lived aristocratically.

Having a man like him at the helm of affairs while he was alive was a special blessing of Allah which Nigerians only came to realize after his demise. And shortly after his demise, that reality became a lost paradise. The Qur’anic verse quoted above must always be a reference point for all decent, law-abiding people. From all indications during his tenure, there was a sign of light at the end of our tunnel as a nation. A serious assessment of the governing style in Nigeria since 1999 will surely reveal that with the demise of President Yar’Adua, a template of governance in Nigeria has been lost. For both the rulers and the ruled to rediscover that template, the only panacea for Nigeria’s plight, especially in a situation where ordinary feeding has become a luxury, is the rule of law. Anything contrary may only pave the country’s way to waterloo. For politicians, professionals and artisans to rely on fake prophesy in the name of religion, as now prevalent in Nigeria, is to cling desperately to a sinking straw. Those who did it in the past are now part of the debris of a dormant history. The fraudsters of today who are parading themselves as ‘Prophets’ will surely not be different those of the past who have now been consigned to a permanent historical oblivion. Let those who have ears heed this axiomatic warning. Materialism is a mere vanity which has a limited time.

“Allah does not change a people’s lot unless they change what is in their hearts. If He seeks to afflict them with a misfortune, no one else can ward it off. Besides Him, there is no protector (for any rational being).” Q.13:11. God save Nigeria from the evil antics of fraudsters wearing religious robes!

The post A season of fake prophecy appeared first on The Nation Nigeria.

Monologue

This article is not appearing in this column for the first time. It was first published about five years ago (2013) and has since been repeated once on popular demand. However, it is still being repeated here in response to requests from some readers who find it relevant for this period in the life of Nigeria as a country. Here it goes:

Preamble

“What can we say of a man who fixes his eyes on the sun but does not see it? Instead, he sees a chorus of flaming seraphim announcing a paroxysm of despair”. That is the parable of the country called Nigeria. Almost 60 years after the country’s independence, Nigerians have become like Egyptian gypsies wandering aimlessly in the wilderness of despair and wallowing helplessly in abject poverty even in the midst of abundance. What else do we expect from Allah beyond the invaluable bounties with which He has blessed us? What is Nigeria not blessed with? But to which beneficial extent have we utilized those bounties?

Our resources

We have land in abundance, not just in terms of size but also in terms of agrarian soil, rich vegetation and exceptionally clement weather. At least over 77 million hectares of land is said to be arable in Nigeria. Out of this, only about 34 million was reportedly cultivated for various agricultural activities about 20 years ago. This has now dwindled to less than 20 million square hectares as more and more youths are migrating  incessantly from their villages to cities and towns in search of imaginary but unavailable greener pastures only to further aggravate the frightening insecurity in the land.

We are blessed with rainfalls that water our crops from the sky and graze our animals to satisfaction. We are blessed with sunshine that photosynthesizes our crops and balances our weather. We are endowed with a variety of nourishing foods that are enough to feed us from generation to generation without necessarily importing anything from anywhere. No country is more fitting to the contents of chapter 80 of the Qur’anic testimony to the above assertion than Nigeria: “Let man reflect on the food he eats; how ‘We’ pour down the rain in torrents and cleave the earth asunder; how ‘We’ bring forth the corn, the grapes, the fresh vegetation, the olive, the palm, the thickets, the fruit-trees and the green pastures for you and for your cattle to delight in…”. Allah’s favour is constant and manifest. We cannot deny it.

Dedicated workforce

In addition to the aforementioned, we have energetic and dedicated work force that is married to the farm land, plants and husbandry in Nigeria. We also have intellectual brains that are permanently engaged in research work to ensure Nigeria’s economic improvement especially in the agricultural sector. Yet, hunger, poverty and squalor are the profits of these endowments.

Nigeria is not lacking in forest and savannah. She is rich in rivers and mountains all of which are great resources for people who are seeking reasonable comfort and are not self-deceptive.

What we lack as a people is a responsible government that can manage all these resources with sincerity to the benefits of the citizenry and care about Nigeria’s foremost economic heritage which is agriculture. That food is becoming a luxury rather than a necessity in Nigeria today after 57 years of independence is a misfortune successively engendered by the naivety and short-sightedness of those who have been claiming to be in government especially at the federal level. Capitalizing on the docility of Nigerians, the federal and State governments keep squeezing the citizenry exploitatively in the Machiavellian belief that peoples’ impoverishment is a major instrument of perpetual rule over them by those in government. Otherwise, how can one justify the failure of State governments to pay the salaries of their workers even after they were given subventions by the federal government for that purpose?

Margret Thatcher’s wish

Britain’s first female Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, once alluded to Nigeria’s precarious situation in a press interview when she was celebrating her 80th birthday. She was casually asked by journalists to indicate where she would wish to live if she had an opportunity to come back into this world. In her response to that question she said she would like to come back into the world as a Nigerian ruler an answer that threw the interviewers into sarcastic laughter. And when asked to explain what she actually meant by that answer the ‘Iron Lady’ said: “Nigeria is the only country in the world where people can be pushed to the wall by their rulers and they would rather enter the wall than turn back to confront those rulers”. Thatcher’s statement here may sound like an impetus to a parochial government, but any reasonable person will know that elasticity has its limit.

Parable of governance

Governance in Islam is like pregnancy in the womb of an expectant mother. The duration of such pregnancy is naturally defined barring any anomaly or aberration. Its delivery depends on the safety of its carrier and the circumstances of her well being. And, after delivery, the baby is claimed, not by the carrier of the pregnancy but by the impregnator.

There is no pregnancy without semen firmly planted in the womb of a woman. And the semen planter is a man who will eventually be called the father of the baby. For this reason, children bear the names of their fathers rather than those of their mothers as surnames.

By analogy, one can compare governance to a pregnant woman who could not have become pregnant without an impregnator. The impregnator in this case is the populace that gave those in government the mandate to rule them. And just as the product of the womb (the child) belongs to the impregnator as a matter of legitimacy so should dividend of governance be the property of the governed populace. A child who bears his mother’s name as surname is nothing but a bastard.

After life, security, law and justice, nothing else is held as sacrosanct in Islam as governance which can be compared to a magnificent shade under which people are supposed to take cover during torrential rains or burning sun. In a democratic setting, such a shade is owned by the citizenry. Those who claim to be its custodians are just servants holding it in trust for the people.

Advising the federal government to learn from the experience of OPEC countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and United Arab Emirates may be quite irrelevant here since such advice has no meaning to those in government. After all, the same advice had been given severally in the past without any sensible heeding. You can’t give what you do not have.

Saudi Arabia for instance

In Saudi Arabia, education is totally free from the primary school to the University. Everything including tuition, hostel accommodation, books, feeding and transportation is provided free by the government. In addition, all students are paid monthly stipends to solve personal problems that are capable of diverting their attention from studies. And, in summer, all foreign students on scholarship are issued free tickets to travel to their home countries on holidays.

What it takes to enjoy all these is to be qualified for admission and every other thing follows automatically. Yours sincerely knows this much because I was a beneficiary. My first degree was obtained from King’s University, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. And if I was not fortunate to benefit from that great opportunity I, probably, would not have had the opportunity of University education because of my humble background to which Nigerian government was indifferent despite the obvious talent in me and many other Nigerians in my shoes. If all these could be done for students in that country, research facilities for lecturers can be taken for granted.

Saudi industrial cities

Today, Saudi Arabia has taken her wealth beyond oil and other mineral resources. The two gigantic industrial cities of Yambu’ and Jubail alone with more than four thousand industries including petrochemicals which she established in the early 1980s are enough to see her through the future in the absence of oil. And what is more, that country does not depend on oil for survival anymore despite her position as number one oil exporter in the world.

Besides, there is no aspect of human development and material investment eluding Saudi Arabian attention in all parts of the world today, including agriculture, shipping, aviation, textile and electronics. And most of these are public owned without any dubious deregulation and deceptive ‘blind trust’ privatization.

Nigeria’s Federal Might

Shortly after Nigeria’s south-west governors assumed office in 1999, yours sincerely wrote an open letter to them, which was published in Vanguard newspaper where I was then the Deputy Chairman of the Editorial Board. In the letter, I suggested three major areas of economic success with which they could jointly sustain the pace-setting stature of that region.

First was a regional power generating centre with which to permanently stabilize electricity supply. With this, I pointed out that not only would industrialization take a sound footing but also that most unemployed young men and women would become self-employed to the greatest relief of those governments.

Second was a regional railway system that could serve not just as a mass transit for the commuters but also as a cargo courier for all the goods, especially farm products in the region. With such a regional railway in place, the region would have become the doyen of commerce in the country and every able hand would have been effectively engaged without bothering their State governments.

Third was the establishment of a common refinery that could fill the vacuum created by constant non-availability of oil products and incessant arbitrary increase of their prices. Each of these projects could be jointly put in place by the six South-West states since they were all on the concurrent list.

FG’s Blockade

If the then South-West governors had not been prevented from implementing those suggestions by the then vicious government at the centre, perhaps the situation in the region would have been different today and the other regions would have followed suit in a new progressive economic competition. That was the kind of competition that put the Asian tiger states (Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore) ahead of Africa. Experience has shown that an inept federal government in Nigeria can only hold the rein of power for the purpose of self-enrichment of certain individuals and never for the benefit of growth and development of the country. The experience of Lagos State’s innovative investment in electricity which was thwarted by the federal government can still be vividly recalled. And the President at that time was not from the North.

The missing link

In modern economic management, there can be no place for the middle class in the absence of such infrastructures as mentioned above. And without the middle class which is conspicuously missing in Nigeria, no economy can thrive to the benefit of the populace. That is why the multinational companies in Nigeria are leaving the country in droves for some other African countries.

The current lopsided situation which deliberately puts over 97 per cent of the national wealth in the hands of about three percent of the idle populace is not only ungodly but also prone to unpredictable future consequences. We have begun to see such traces. It is therefore, not in the interest of the current regime in Nigeria to continue to drag the dead body of this country towards political murky water as it has constantly been the case since 1999.

Origin of democracy

Whenever the West talks of democracy today, the impression it gives is that democracy is a Western invention. This is very far from the truth. Despite the lengthy and speculative Platonic theories on democracy, the West did not come in contact with it, practically, until it had a political encounter with the Muslims in Spain. That was in the 8th century A.C. And even with that encounter, it remained a mere spectator in the field of democracy until expediency brought about what was called ‘Magna Carter’ in England in 1215 A.C.

What the West calls democracy today was what Prophet Muhammad (SAW) had called ‘interactive government’ which he practiced as far back as the 7th century. At the time when he established the Islamic State, there was no single empire or nation in the entire world without a monarch. The idea of democracy, which the West came to adopt as its heritage, is purely Islamic.

As Head of State, the Prophet never imposed any policy on the people without impute from his able companions except such a policy came in form of divine revelation. In other words, he was neither a monarch nor a despotic ruler. And, as a ruler, he never saw himself as more important than any other citizen or resident in the State. That was why he was so indigent even as Head of State that his household could carry on for months without cooking any food under their roof.

Candid advice

Now, rather than celebrating mediocrity in the name of democracy as often done on the 29th of May every year since year 2000, what the current administration should spend its remaining two years doing is true and sincere reformation which should henceforth take the front burner of governance if only to restore the missing confidence in the people and reassure that Nigeria can still become a nation after all, despite years of economic devastation.  If those in government are not ashamed of ruling a country in perpetual cycle of despair, some of us, the ruled are.

Celebrating anything called democracy in this situation is not just a sham but also an additional injury to the bleeding hearts of the citizenry. While the intra party rancour surges ahead, it is necessary to hint here again that only a forthright economic clemency can serve as a panacea for Nigeria’s chronic ailment called ‘the government’. God heal Nigeria.

Democracy in Islam

In Islam, democracy is not about voting and power alone. It is fundamentally about justice in all its ramifications according to the rule of law. It is about tending the lives of others for the overall good of the nation. It is about providing the needs of the people according to the available resources in the nation. It is about protecting the interest of the weak against the oppression of the strong. It is about managing the wealth of the nation with diligent sense of accountability. It is about securing the lives of the citizenry in terms of jobs, feeding, shelter, health and education. It is about boosting the horizon of the youths and sharpening their hope against the future. It is about guaranteeing adequate income per capital and ensuring a standard life expectancy. Any government that claims democracy without all the aforementioned is oppressive and hypocritical. That was Nigeria’s lot between 1999 and 2007, the continuity of which we fervently pray Allah to forbid.

Governance, like culture, has a variety of colours, flavours and tastes. What is called democracy in a State may amount to despotism in another State. Governance, whether democratic or monarchical, is fundamentally a function of culture. That is why a country like Britain claims to operate politically on a constitution that is partly written and partly conventional. Borrowing a foreign culture to practice democracy through a constitution written in a foreign language is like borrowing another man’s mouth to eat. Into whose stomach will the food go?

“Allah does not change a people’s lot unless they change what is in their hearts. If He seeks to afflict them with a misfortune, none can ward it off. Besides Him they have no protector”. Q. 13:11.

The post Governance Islamica appeared first on The Nation Nigeria.

This is another dry season in Nigeria and many other African countries when most people are in search of water. In this season, most rivers dry up as much as most wells. This is the season in which sellers of water make profit and buyers are forced to economize the use of water. It is the season in which the global importance of water in the life of man is often reconfirmed. In their deep-rooted research centuries ago, scientists decided to coin a formula (H­2O) for use in analyzing the natural contents of water. From such analysis, they identified the various types of water and their uses in an environment. They then concluded that water is actually the source of life for all living organisms. Water is ubiquitous in the environment. It comes from the showers of the sky and stored in the natural bowl of the earth.

Definition

According to Encyclopedia Encarta (1993-2008 edition), water is the major constituent of any living matter as it constitutes about 50 to 90 percent of the weight of living organisms. The basic material of living cells called protoplasm consists of a solution in water of fats, carbohydrates, proteins, salts, and similar chemicals.

Water acts as a solvent transporting, combining, and chemically breaking down these substances. Blood in animals and sap in plants consist largely of water and aids transportation of food and removal of waste material. It also plays a key role in the metabolic breakdown of such essential molecules as proteins and carbohydrates.

This process, called hydrolysis, goes on continually in living cells.

Composition

Because of its capacity to dissolve numerous substances in large amounts, pure water rarely occurs in nature. During condensation and precipitation, rain or snow absorbs from the atmosphere varying amounts of carbon dioxide and other gases, as well as traces of organic and inorganic material. In addition, precipitation carries radioactive fallout to the earth’s surface.

In its movement on and through the earth’s crust, water reacts with minerals in the soil and rocks. The principal dissolved constituents of surface and groundwater are sulphates, chlorides, and bicarbonates of sodium and potassium and the oxides of calcium and magnesium.

Surface waters may also contain domestic sewage and industrial wastes while ground waters from shallow wells may contain large quantities of nitrogen compounds and chlorides derived from human and animal wastes. Waters from deep wells generally contain only minerals in solution.

Almost all supplies of natural drinking water contain fluorides in varying amounts. The proper proportion of fluorides in drinking water has been found to reduce tooth decay and similar ailments.

Apart from concentrated amounts of sodium chloride, or salt, seawater contains many other soluble compounds, as the impure waters of rivers and streams are constantly feeding the oceans. At the same time, pure water is continually lost by the process of evaporation, and as a result the proportion of the impurities that give the oceans their saline character is increased.

Rainy season

Now, in Nigeria, like in many other African countries, we are expecting another season of rains when, as usual, water will be found everywhere but none will be available for drinking. That is the season in which the sky opens up its generous bowl to pour down water in abundance. But the earth has no room to accommodate the gesture.

That is a period when plants and animals feel that their needs for survival have been grossly exceeded. The world is often flooded with water everywhere and humanity becomes restive. The bounties of Allah seem to be too much for the need of man. In Europe, Asia, Africa and America, the story is one and the same. That is the season in which the world will be grappling with a deluge.

Blaming nature

When this happens, the tendency is for the scientists to lay blame at the door-step of what they call global warming. They will give many reasons, including the depletion of the Ozone Layer, as the cause. But many centuries before scientists began their research, the unlettered Prophet Muhammad (SAW) had taught Muslims how to handle environmental dryness as well as deluge. One of such solutions is to thank Allah and request for a moderation of His largesse. This is the time to realize that moderation rather than excess of anything is the best in man’s life. In Islam, there is no cause or effect of a matter that is not known or cannot be controlled by Allah. Whatever happens in the life of man is by Allah’s permission.

The world is like a queue. You enter it at a point and come out of it at another point. This is one major lesson which every Muslim has come to learn through the observance of daily prayers (Salat). In Salat alone where queues are essential, a lot of lessons are there to learn.

Ritual baths

The very basic lesson to learn in Salat is hygiene. As a new convert to Islam, you have to undergo a ritual bath called Ghuslu-s-Shahadah or Ghuslu-d-dukhul fil Islam (convert’s ritual bath) which is performed with water. When you want to observe any Salat, be it obligatory or supererogatory, you must perform ablution with water. This is called Wudu’. If there is no water, you take to Tayammam (dry ablution). As a Muslim, after an intercourse with your spouse, you must perform a ritual bath called Ghuslul Janabah before you can observe any Salat.

When a Muslim woman completes her monthly menstrual period she must perform a ritual bath called Ghuslul Haydah before she can resume observance of Salat. A Muslim woman who has just completed her blood-dripping period following child delivery must perform a ritual bath called Ghuslu-n-Nifas before she can resume observance of Salat.

A newly born baby in Islam must be taken through a mandatory bath called Ghuslul Wiladah which is also done with water.

Muslim pilgrims must commence their Hajj or Umrah activities with a ritual bath called Ghuslul Hajj or Umrah at their respective Miqat before they enter the condition of Ihram. When a Muslim, male or female is dead, a ritual bath is performed on his or her body. This bath is called Ghuslul Janazah. Anybody who carries out a bath on a dead body must also undergo a ritual bath of purification called Ghuslu-t-Taharah mina-n-Najasah (bath for purifying self from filth).

This is because a dead body in Islam is like a filth which must be disposed of as soon as possible before it starts to decompose and thereby constitutes health hazard for the living. Whoever touches such filth has had a share of it and must therefore cleanse up before observing any Salat. Such a person cannot participate even in Salatul-Janazah on the body of the deceased person which he has just cleaned up until he has taken the purification bath.

Unique hygiene

Muslims are expected to clean up with water through ablution at least five times a day. And, as a prophetic tradition prescribes, they are also expected to perform ritual bath on Fridays in preparation for Salatul Jum’ah though such bath is Sunnah (optional) rather than Fard (obligation). Naturally, women, especially Muslim women utilise water much more than men. They are the ones who take care of the children and, in the process; they clean up for them many times a day. Besides, women are the ones who must clean up for menses every month. They are the ones who must clean up ritually after 40 days, following child delivery. They are the ones in charge of matrimonial kitchens where they use water day and night. Thus, when the demography of women in any society is compared to that of men one can imagine the quantity of water consumed daily or weekly by women.

Given the fact that water plays a central role in the life of a Muslim therefore, two important conclusions can be reached. One is the fact that Islam is absolutely a religion of purity. And that is why Prophet Muhammad was reported to have said that “Allah is pure and He will not accept anything impure.” The second is that Muslims are the greatest consumers of domestic water in the world. This is because, besides using water socially, commercially or domestically like other human beings, an average Muslim uses additional one third of total water used by any non-Muslim on a daily basis.

Muslims’ attitude to dryness

It thus becomes understandable why Muslims feel more worried when there is dryness and water cannot be easily accessed. This is what led to the idea of a special prayer called ‘Salatul Istisqai’ (rain-seeking prayer). This prayer randomly observed by Muslims when shortage of water becomes acute cannot be observed without water ablution. It is a way of reconfirming to Allah that the main purpose of our existence on earth is to worship Him just as the purpose of keeping domestic animals is to serve man. Salatul Istisqai which is usually followed by heavy rainfalls is a major evidence of an existing covenant between Allah and His faithful servants. The wonderful effect of that Salat contradicts any scientific theory. Non-Muslim meteorologists have always wondered how possible it is for rain to fall at an impossible time, following a congregational prayer by some Muslim faithful in a locality or region. But to their amazement, they have regularly seen the potency of such prayer in bringing rain not only for Muslims but for all and sundry. The question is: ‘does any other religion prescribe similar solution to the benefit of mankind? This one trillion Naira question is still begging for answer even almost one and a half millennia after the introduction of Salatul Istisqai as a bringer of rain.

Seeking rain water

That Salatul Istisqai (special prayer for rain) actually brings rain even in a severely dry season remains a puzzle to unbelievers, especially in the West who see everything, including God, as a product of science. Yours sincerely first took part in the observance of Salatul Istisqai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as a student in that country, in 1976. The two rakat prayer had hardly been concluded when the sky opened its shower and rain started falling in torrents. It rained for nine hours continuously in that desert country and flooded the entire Emirates like the historic deluge in Prophet Nuh’s (Noah) time.

It took more than a week before normal social and commercial activities could fully resume. I have since participated in the same exercise twice thereafter, once in Nigeria and once in Saudi Arabia.

However, the effect of Salatul Istisqai is not necessarily immediate. At times, it may take a week or more before the rain starts pouring. And, if, after some time, following the observance of Salatul Istisqai, rain does not come, the Salat can be repeated. Allah has a design for everything. He knows when rainfall will best serve the need of man.

And in seeking such a favour, Muslims must not try to jump the queue.

Manner of observance

Any participant in Salatul Istisqa’ is expected to be in a sober mood and be absolutely confident that the prayer would be accepted. The essence of raising one’s hands to Allah in prayer is to further confirm that there is no intermediary between man and Allah in worship and in prayer. Allah Himself emphasizes this in the Qur’an by saying to Prophet Muhammad thus: “When my servants ask you about Me, tell them that I am very close to them. I accept the prayers of those who seek from Me but let such seekers expect the giving from Me alone; let them be confident in My ability to accept prayer so that they may be guided aright”. However, there is need to correct the wrong notion being spread around that dresses must be worn inside out by those who will partake in Salatul Istisqai. There is nothing like that in Islam.

The effect of Salatul Istisqai in bringing rains is just symbolic of all other prayers by Muslims. No genuine Muslim prayer is ever turned down by Allah. Acceptance of prayer may not be exactly in accordance with human expectation, it may not be as promptly as man wants it but eventually, a Muslim will realize that his prayer has been accepted by Allah without an intermediary.

The role of water in Hajj

Unknown to the non-Islamic world, performance of Hajj every year is a great blessing to humanity rather than just a mere act of worship by Muslims. Hajj is the biggest congregation of human beings on earth.

Allah loves and respects congregations of pious people who praise Him and pray to Him for the needs of the world. That congregation is essential for the continuity of human existence. There is no country in the world today without Muslim pilgrims joining their brethren from other parts of the world in requesting Allah to save the world from perishing. And each year, as such prayers are accepted, the world is confirmed saved despite the evil moves of Yajuj and Ma’juj (Gog and Magog) as well as their agents who are ignorantly pursuing their own destruction every minute. Thus, like Salatul Istisqai which brings water to everybody and not Muslims alone, Hajj is to the benefit of mankind and not Muslims alone. Thus, its preservation must be ensured by everybody in the interest of continued human existence.

Conclusion

Without water, it will be difficult to observe Salat or to fast in Ramadan or to give Zakah or to perform Hajj. Without water, it will be impossible to bear children and bring them up, or to keep farms and sustain them. Water is life. But this is not for Muslims alone. The difference is that Muslims use part of the water to show gratitude to Allah by worshipping Him. Others use it for mundane life alone which is sheer vanity.

Knowledge is like water which softens the earth for seeds to germinate and for plants to be nourished to fruition. Knowledge in Islam is much more important than worship. No one can validly worship Allah without knowledge. And if for this reason alone, it should behoove the entire Muslim Ummah of the world to join and cooperate in using water to worship Allah. That is the essence of knowledge. It cannot be trivialized.

The post Muslims and use of water appeared first on The Nation Nigeria.

This is another dry season in Nigeria and many other African countries when most people are in search of water. In this season, most rivers dry up as much as most wells. This is the season in which sellers of water make profit and buyers are forced to economize the use of water. It is the season in which the global importance of water in the life of man is often reconfirmed. In their deep-rooted research centuries ago, scientists decided to coin a formula (H­2O) for use in analyzing the natural contents of water. From such analysis, they identified the various types of water and their uses in an environment. They then concluded that water is actually the source of life for all living organisms. Water is ubiquitous in the environment. It comes from the showers of the sky and stored in the natural bowl of the earth.

Definition

According to Encyclopedia Encarta (1993-2008 edition), water is the major constituent of any living matter as it constitutes about 50 to 90 percent of the weight of living organisms. The basic material of living cells called protoplasm consists of a solution in water of fats, carbohydrates, proteins, salts, and similar chemicals.

Water acts as a solvent transporting, combining, and chemically breaking down these substances. Blood in animals and sap in plants consist largely of water and aids transportation of food and removal of waste material. It also plays a key role in the metabolic breakdown of such essential molecules as proteins and carbohydrates.

This process, called hydrolysis, goes on continually in living cells.

Composition

Because of its capacity to dissolve numerous substances in large amounts, pure water rarely occurs in nature. During condensation and precipitation, rain or snow absorbs from the atmosphere varying amounts of carbon dioxide and other gases, as well as traces of organic and inorganic material. In addition, precipitation carries radioactive fallout to the earth’s surface.

In its movement on and through the earth’s crust, water reacts with minerals in the soil and rocks. The principal dissolved constituents of surface and groundwater are sulphates, chlorides, and bicarbonates of sodium and potassium and the oxides of calcium and magnesium.

Surface waters may also contain domestic sewage and industrial wastes while ground waters from shallow wells may contain large quantities of nitrogen compounds and chlorides derived from human and animal wastes. Waters from deep wells generally contain only minerals in solution.

Almost all supplies of natural drinking water contain fluorides in varying amounts. The proper proportion of fluorides in drinking water has been found to reduce tooth decay and similar ailments.

Apart from concentrated amounts of sodium chloride, or salt, seawater contains many other soluble compounds, as the impure waters of rivers and streams are constantly feeding the oceans. At the same time, pure water is continually lost by the process of evaporation, and as a result the proportion of the impurities that give the oceans their saline character is increased.

Rainy season

Now, in Nigeria, like in many other African countries, we are expecting another season of rains when, as usual, water will be found everywhere but none will be available for drinking. That is the season in which the sky opens up its generous bowl to pour down water in abundance. But the earth has no room to accommodate the gesture.

That is a period when plants and animals feel that their needs for survival have been grossly exceeded. The world is often flooded with water everywhere and humanity becomes restive. The bounties of Allah seem to be too much for the need of man. In Europe, Asia, Africa and America, the story is one and the same. That is the season in which the world will be grappling with a deluge.

Blaming nature

When this happens, the tendency is for the scientists to lay blame at the door-step of what they call global warming. They will give many reasons, including the depletion of the Ozone Layer, as the cause. But many centuries before scientists began their research, the unlettered Prophet Muhammad (SAW) had taught Muslims how to handle environmental dryness as well as deluge. One of such solutions is to thank Allah and request for a moderation of His largesse. This is the time to realize that moderation rather than excess of anything is the best in man’s life. In Islam, there is no cause or effect of a matter that is not known or cannot be controlled by Allah. Whatever happens in the life of man is by Allah’s permission.

The world is like a queue. You enter it at a point and come out of it at another point. This is one major lesson which every Muslim has come to learn through the observance of daily prayers (Salat). In Salat alone where queues are essential, a lot of lessons are there to learn.

Ritual baths

The very basic lesson to learn in Salat is hygiene. As a new convert to Islam, you have to undergo a ritual bath called Ghuslu-s-Shahadah or Ghuslu-d-dukhul fil Islam (convert’s ritual bath) which is performed with water. When you want to observe any Salat, be it obligatory or supererogatory, you must perform ablution with water. This is called Wudu’. If there is no water, you take to Tayammam (dry ablution). As a Muslim, after an intercourse with your spouse, you must perform a ritual bath called Ghuslul Janabah before you can observe any Salat.

When a Muslim woman completes her monthly menstrual period she must perform a ritual bath called Ghuslul Haydah before she can resume observance of Salat. A Muslim woman who has just completed her blood-dripping period following child delivery must perform a ritual bath called Ghuslu-n-Nifas before she can resume observance of Salat.

A newly born baby in Islam must be taken through a mandatory bath called Ghuslul Wiladah which is also done with water.

Muslim pilgrims must commence their Hajj or Umrah activities with a ritual bath called Ghuslul Hajj or Umrah at their respective Miqat before they enter the condition of Ihram. When a Muslim, male or female is dead, a ritual bath is performed on his or her body. This bath is called Ghuslul Janazah. Anybody who carries out a bath on a dead body must also undergo a ritual bath of purification called Ghuslu-t-Taharah mina-n-Najasah (bath for purifying self from filth).

This is because a dead body in Islam is like a filth which must be disposed of as soon as possible before it starts to decompose and thereby constitutes health hazard for the living. Whoever touches such filth has had a share of it and must therefore cleanse up before observing any Salat. Such a person cannot participate even in Salatul-Janazah on the body of the deceased person which he has just cleaned up until he has taken the purification bath.

Unique hygiene

Muslims are expected to clean up with water through ablution at least five times a day. And, as a prophetic tradition prescribes, they are also expected to perform ritual bath on Fridays in preparation for Salatul Jum’ah though such bath is Sunnah (optional) rather than Fard (obligation). Naturally, women, especially Muslim women utilise water much more than men. They are the ones who take care of the children and, in the process; they clean up for them many times a day. Besides, women are the ones who must clean up for menses every month. They are the ones who must clean up ritually after 40 days, following child delivery. They are the ones in charge of matrimonial kitchens where they use water day and night. Thus, when the demography of women in any society is compared to that of men one can imagine the quantity of water consumed daily or weekly by women.

Given the fact that water plays a central role in the life of a Muslim therefore, two important conclusions can be reached. One is the fact that Islam is absolutely a religion of purity. And that is why Prophet Muhammad was reported to have said that “Allah is pure and He will not accept anything impure.” The second is that Muslims are the greatest consumers of domestic water in the world. This is because, besides using water socially, commercially or domestically like other human beings, an average Muslim uses additional one third of total water used by any non-Muslim on a daily basis.

Muslims’ attitude to dryness

It thus becomes understandable why Muslims feel more worried when there is dryness and water cannot be easily accessed. This is what led to the idea of a special prayer called ‘Salatul Istisqai’ (rain-seeking prayer). This prayer randomly observed by Muslims when shortage of water becomes acute cannot be observed without water ablution. It is a way of reconfirming to Allah that the main purpose of our existence on earth is to worship Him just as the purpose of keeping domestic animals is to serve man. Salatul Istisqai which is usually followed by heavy rainfalls is a major evidence of an existing covenant between Allah and His faithful servants. The wonderful effect of that Salat contradicts any scientific theory. Non-Muslim meteorologists have always wondered how possible it is for rain to fall at an impossible time, following a congregational prayer by some Muslim faithful in a locality or region. But to their amazement, they have regularly seen the potency of such prayer in bringing rain not only for Muslims but for all and sundry. The question is: ‘does any other religion prescribe similar solution to the benefit of mankind? This one trillion Naira question is still begging for answer even almost one and a half millennia after the introduction of Salatul Istisqai as a bringer of rain.

Seeking rain water

That Salatul Istisqai (special prayer for rain) actually brings rain even in a severely dry season remains a puzzle to unbelievers, especially in the West who see everything, including God, as a product of science. Yours sincerely first took part in the observance of Salatul Istisqai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as a student in that country, in 1976. The two rakat prayer had hardly been concluded when the sky opened its shower and rain started falling in torrents. It rained for nine hours continuously in that desert country and flooded the entire Emirates like the historic deluge in Prophet Nuh’s (Noah) time.

It took more than a week before normal social and commercial activities could fully resume. I have since participated in the same exercise twice thereafter, once in Nigeria and once in Saudi Arabia.

However, the effect of Salatul Istisqai is not necessarily immediate. At times, it may take a week or more before the rain starts pouring. And, if, after some time, following the observance of Salatul Istisqai, rain does not come, the Salat can be repeated. Allah has a design for everything. He knows when rainfall will best serve the need of man.

And in seeking such a favour, Muslims must not try to jump the queue.

Manner of observance

Any participant in Salatul Istisqa’ is expected to be in a sober mood and be absolutely confident that the prayer would be accepted. The essence of raising one’s hands to Allah in prayer is to further confirm that there is no intermediary between man and Allah in worship and in prayer. Allah Himself emphasizes this in the Qur’an by saying to Prophet Muhammad thus: “When my servants ask you about Me, tell them that I am very close to them. I accept the prayers of those who seek from Me but let such seekers expect the giving from Me alone; let them be confident in My ability to accept prayer so that they may be guided aright”. However, there is need to correct the wrong notion being spread around that dresses must be worn inside out by those who will partake in Salatul Istisqai. There is nothing like that in Islam.

The effect of Salatul Istisqai in bringing rains is just symbolic of all other prayers by Muslims. No genuine Muslim prayer is ever turned down by Allah. Acceptance of prayer may not be exactly in accordance with human expectation, it may not be as promptly as man wants it but eventually, a Muslim will realize that his prayer has been accepted by Allah without an intermediary.

The role of water in Hajj

Unknown to the non-Islamic world, performance of Hajj every year is a great blessing to humanity rather than just a mere act of worship by Muslims. Hajj is the biggest congregation of human beings on earth.

Allah loves and respects congregations of pious people who praise Him and pray to Him for the needs of the world. That congregation is essential for the continuity of human existence. There is no country in the world today without Muslim pilgrims joining their brethren from other parts of the world in requesting Allah to save the world from perishing. And each year, as such prayers are accepted, the world is confirmed saved despite the evil moves of Yajuj and Ma’juj (Gog and Magog) as well as their agents who are ignorantly pursuing their own destruction every minute. Thus, like Salatul Istisqai which brings water to everybody and not Muslims alone, Hajj is to the benefit of mankind and not Muslims alone. Thus, its preservation must be ensured by everybody in the interest of continued human existence.

Conclusion

Without water, it will be difficult to observe Salat or to fast in Ramadan or to give Zakah or to perform Hajj. Without water, it will be impossible to bear children and bring them up, or to keep farms and sustain them. Water is life. But this is not for Muslims alone. The difference is that Muslims use part of the water to show gratitude to Allah by worshipping Him. Others use it for mundane life alone which is sheer vanity.

Knowledge is like water which softens the earth for seeds to germinate and for plants to be nourished to fruition. Knowledge in Islam is much more important than worship. No one can validly worship Allah without knowledge. And if for this reason alone, it should behoove the entire Muslim Ummah of the world to join and cooperate in using water to worship Allah. That is the essence of knowledge. It cannot be trivialized.

The post Muslims and use of water appeared first on The Nation Nigeria.

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!

“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.

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.

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.

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!

“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.

16. 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.

As stated in this column yesterday, Zakah is of two types. One is Zakatul Mal (levy on wealth). The other is Zakatul Fitr (levy for festivity). The two are obligatory and paid annually. But while Zakatul Mal is to be paid only by those who have excess in their custody after one full year, Zakatul Fitr is a flat levy to be paid at the end of Ramadan by every Muslim irrespective of age, gender and financial status.

Zakatul Mal is paid not only on the amount of money kept in one’s bank account but also on fixed property like commercial house(s), land, farm crops as well as animals. Each of these has a taxable amount called ‘NISAB’. For Zakah of money, the NISAB prescribed by Prophet Muhammad (SAW) is 200 Dirham or 20 Dinar. Both amounts are equal in value at the exchange rate.

The use of silver or gold as a means of determining NISAB as earlier recommended by the Prophet was later relaxed with the Qur’anic revelation which ordered the wives of the Prophet to pay Zakatul Mal. None of the Prophet’s wives was rich enough to meet the NISAB by gold or silver after the demise of Sayyidah Khadijah. And Zakah did not come as a pillar of Islam until after Khadijah’s demise.

With the revelation ordering them to pay Zakah, the Prophet’s wives had to comply despite their pecuniary handicap.

Caliphs Umar bn Khattab and Ali bn Abi Talib in particular laid emphasis on the monetary NISAB of 200 Dirham or 20 Dinar prescribed by Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in order to make payment of Zakah easier for majority of Muslims. Otherwise, Zakah would have been an exclusive pillar of Islam for the rich alone. And that would have defeated the welfare purpose which Zakah was meant to serve and it would have excluded most Muslims from that pillar of Islam.

For Nigerian Muslims of today, the Dirham of the United Arab Emirates is chosen by ‘THE MESSAGE’ as the mode of determining the NISAB not only because it is the most consistent in exchange rate especially against the American Dollar having remained almost same since 1982 but also because it is the only one with which most Nigerian Muslims are familiar. And its current rate against American Dollar is 200 Dirham to 54 US Dollars which translates to N8210. Whoever is in possession of a minimum of N8210 therefore as net income after one full year must pay Zakah of N205.25 which is one over forty or two and a half percent of the NISAB. And if the net income is higher than that then, the payable amount is worked accordingly.

Preamble

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 in this month, last year, but are no more today. Some put their feet at the door step of Ramadan this year but were not privileged to enter it. Some enthusiastically commenced fasting in it this year but fell by the way side along the line. Some fasted with absolute faith in Allah and confidence in making use of the lessons of Ramadan. Some joined the spiritual train with no idea of their destination in the month.

Segments of Ramadan

At the beginning of this sacred month, an analysis was done in this column classifying the 30 or 29 days of Ramadan into three segments.

The first segment was said to contain the first ten days of the month during which the blessings of Allah came to the faithful Muslims freely and in abundance. Except for meeting that segment with faith and good intention, there was no working for it. That segment ended after 10 days paving way for the second segment that began on the 11th day of Ramadan.

The Second 10 Days

During the 10-day period of the second segment, most fasting Muslims intensified worship (Ibadah) by spending their days and nights seeking Allah’s forgiveness and by chanting Istighfar. But such forgiveness was neither automatic nor free. Usually, conditions were attached to it. One of such conditions was for every fasting Muslims to admit his/her misdeeds and repent of them. The second was to voluntarily and genuinely seek forgiveness. And the third condition was to resolve never to return to such misdeeds again.

Prophetic Counseling

To seek Allah’s forgiveness 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”. No one who abided by the above conditions and followed it scrupulously would ever be disappointed.

Allah is both promising and fulfilling. He never reneges on His promise. In Qur’an 2:186 He 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 seeks from me (without any intermediary). So, let them expect my favorable response and trust in me so that they may be rightly guided”

Midway Ramadan

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

Human life is not measured by the time or manner of his or her 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 dies while the ignorant 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 ordered him to say 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”.

This is a verse of the Qur’an which the ignorant ones have severally quoted and interpreted according to their whim. In their imagination, they want the Prophet to claim infallibility to enable them call him a liar.

Nostalgia

Some people dream but never live to realize their dreams. Some look but never see. 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.

In a few days’ time, this year’s Ramadan 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.

The Role of Women

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 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.

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

Allah’s greatest gift

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.

Children in the Qur’an

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.

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 on a particular occasion 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 before the end of Ramadan.

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 Full Measure

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 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 effect of WANTS first became known when Qabil (Cain), the first son of Adam preferred his brother’s wife to his. In the argument which ensued, Qabil (Cain) killed his brother Habil (Abel) and combined the latter’s wife with his. Thus, greed and avarice became ingredients of man’s culture. And WANTS rather than NEEDS became the domineering factor in the life of man. These are some of the anomalies in man that Ramadan comes to correct every year. If you are a witness to it this year, utilise your experience maximally. You don’t know whether or not you will have that opportunity again. Ramadan Karim!

Preamble

It is man’s to propose and Allah’s to dispose. Those are the permanent norms upon which human life is realistically based. Those norms are a clockwise phenomenon that cannot be turned anti-clockwise by any means. And that is what most faithful Muslims tag as evidence of destiny.

The proposed contents of this column today are not what you are about to read here. While trying to weave the web of an article into another vestige of thought for readers, Allah’s disposing will suddenly came to intervene with divine authority. And the title, as well as the contents of today’s article had to be changed.

Throbs of Obituary

On Thursday, the 25th day of the month of Ramadan in this year 1400 AH which coincided with the 30th day of May, 2019, Nigeria’s media waves throbbed with the breaking news of an eclipse of a human sun. That human sun was Alhaji Muslim Adio KolawoleAnimasaun, a Nigerian colossal journalist and legendary columnist of international repute. He was reported to have departed this ephemeral world in the night. By human calculation, that night could have been the Night of Power. It was that fortuitous news that caused a change of title and contents of the article originally planned for today in this column.

Despite the strictness of this Friday column (The Message) in ‘The Nation’ newspaper, if certain eminent people deserved special attention or dedication of an article in it, Alhaji Kola Animasaun should be foremost among them.

This is not only because he facilitated my employment as Deputy Chairman of the Editorial Board of Vanguard newspaper at a time when I badly needed a job, but also because he was my mentor and my confidant. I first met him in November 1992 when the funeral of Alhaja Simbiat Abiola brought us together at a gathering in the Ikeja residence of Bashorun MKO Abiola. But our closeness began in September 1996 when I joined the Editorial Board of Vanguard as his deputy. From thence, we became like Siamese twins in thought and in action. His column, ‘Voice of Reason’ in Sunday Vanguard had been a must read for me since 1984 when that newspaper debut. I was then in the now defunct Concord newspaper.

Human Life

Human life is a pilgrimage from the unknown to the unknown. No one knows whence he emanated or whither he is bound. The process by which man evolves is a special tapestry which size and shape cannot be measured in whatever form. As humans, all we know about life is that we naturally move from womb to womb before arriving in the puzzling transit which we globally call the world. For a period, we were in our fathers’ natural loins where we struggled for space and for survival. And in the attempt to shoot out through the iron gate of life we suddenly found ourselves as molecules swimming in the midst of billions of others in the name of spermatozoa. At that stage, human beings can be compared to fingerlings in their millions struggling to become juveniles in the aquatic world. Those in the fishery sector will understand this analogy better.

Mother’s Womb

Then, from our fathers’ exclusive loins, we moved into another hollow space inside our mothers’ womb and sojourned therein for a while before zooming into this complex world from where we shall eventually move into another hollow space called grave in the belly of the earth. And finally, we shall move forth from there into another world not yet known to anybody.

When we were in the loins of our fathers, no one knew of the existence of a place called pregnancy. Yet, we were made to pass through it as a transit for a period on our ways to the world. But then, while we were in pregnancy, no one knew of the existence of another place called the world. Yet, it was from the pregnancy that we came to find ourselves here on earth fortuitously and the pilgrimage continues.

The World of Man

The world of man is like a cloud moving forwards and backwards from time to time and gathering momentum for a paradoxical rain to fall. After the dispersal of that cloud, one of two occurrences becomes experienced. Either the rain falls to give the earth a renewed life or there is no rain at all. In the latter case, the sky becomes clearer as fresh air renews the oxygen of the world. Who can fault that natural phenomenal process?

Human beings in their multitudes are like a galaxy of stars which float incessantly in the orbit while jointly illuminating the spheres. Some of those stars are by far larger than the earth. But because of their distance from the human view, they look small. Some are moderate in size while some are actually small. Consequently, each functions according to its pre-destined assignment. ALLAH AKBAR!

As it is with the stars so it is with human beings. Some are great in life and in death. Some are great only while alive but as soon as they are demised, their greatness becomes like a dispersed cloud paving the way for a clearer atmosphere. Some function positively. Some function negatively. Some cannot be placed at all with regards to their functions. And after they might have all departed this world history takes the centre stage revealing both the hidden and the manifest aspects of their lives individually. And from such revelations, those left behind pick the relevant substances that form the continuation of their lives.

Philosophy of Life

Perhaps no Nigerian intellectual has ever captured the above painted scenario philosophically in the contemporary time better than Nigeria’s first President, Dr. Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe. In the introduction to his autobiography ‘MY ODYSSEY’, published in 1970, he observed thus:

“…Man comes into the world and while he lives, he embarks upon a series of activities absorbing experience which enables him to formulate a philosophy of life and to chart his courses of action. But then, he dies. Nevertheless, his biography remains a guide to those of the living who may need guidance either as a warning on the vanity of human wishes or as encouragement or both…”

Alhaji Kola Animasaun (now of blessed memory) was a student of that philosophy. By a dint of experience, he was able to dichotomize between idealism and materialism by understanding that the material well-being of every individual could influence the code of human conduct. Based on this, therefore, he did not see any reason in being materialistic. Rather, he was convinced that only an adaptation to the concatenations of the spiritual world could pilot a spiritual ‘pilgrim’ like him to the holy land.

A Programmed Phenomenon

Death, like life, is a programmed phenomenon. Both are like the day and the night exchanging baton at specific hours as divinely scheduled.

It couldn’t have sounded unusual to most genuine Nigerian Muslims last Thursday when the radio waves throbbed with the news of the demise of this colossus barely one month before he attained the age of 80 years. News of death can never be shocking to those who believe in Allah; His Angels; His Revealed Books; His Apostles, the Last Day and Destiny. We have been taught repeatedly in the Qur’an that “every soul shall taste of death”. But neither the Qur’an nor any other revealed book has told us when and how. Now, Alhaji Kola Animasaun has moved a step ahead of us in the pilgrimage of life. We shall all join him some day just as he has joined those who preceded him on that unavoidable journey.

Now, having gone to the world beyond ours, his life has become a chapter in the history of Nigeria. And from that chapter, it is left to those of us still alive to cultivate clauses of guidance or those of encouragement or even those of warning against the vanity of human wishes.

Inevitable Alternative

To many people in Nigeria and abroad who, out of ignorance, see death as an intruder, Alhaji Animasaun’s death might have come as “a rude shock” even at the age of 80. But to Muslims who understand their religion very well and know that death is an inevitable alternative to life, it couldn’t have been a shocker. Such Muslims know that death will come to lay its icy hand on man when it is time divinely scheduled for it and that every Muslim should prepare for it. When man’s time to die comes, no one can save him from the scourge of death. And no one can die for another. Just as we came into the world one by one and no one eats or defecates or sleeps for another so can no one help another to bear the scourge of death. Every soul, according to the programme of Allah, the Immortal Creator and Sustainer of all lives, shall bear his burden and face the consequences of his earthly actions. Wealth, position and fame are no barrier to death. Children may die while their parents remain alive. The healthy may die while the sick remains in coma. The wealthy may die while the poor keeps begging for daily meal. Death, the leveller of mankind, will come when it will come.

Adam, the primogenitor of man who came into the world without a father or a mother died. Hawau, the first created woman who came into the world without a mother, died. Prophet Isa who came into the world without a father is no more. All men and women born of fathers and mothers who have sojourned at one time or another in this world have fallen prey to the icy hand of death. All the Apostles of Allah dispatched to the world to guide mankind died. Who then is that mortal being that will escape the dragnet of death?

It is possible for those whose time has not come to start speculating on the immediate or remote causes of someone’s death. It is possible for the ignorant ones to blame someone’s death or misfortune on another. But the fact remains that death is a phenomenon which no Jupiter can change or alter. It is an attribute of destiny. In a famous stanza which has been universally acknowledged, an Arab poet once said about death:

“Whoever does not die by firing squared will surely die by another means; the causes of death are many but death itself is only one”.

Prophet Muhammad’s Demise

When Prophet Muhammad (SAW) demised in 632 CE, some Muslims (including Umar Bn Khattab who later became the second Caliph) refused to hear such news describing it as heresy. It took the courage and maturity of Abubakr to stand on the podium and address the crowd of the Muslim Ummah who wanted a confirmation or denial of the news of Prophet Muhammad’s demise. In a quivering but clear voice he said: …”Those of you who have been worshipping Muhammad be informed that Muhammad is no more. But those who have been worshipping Allah should know that Allah is immortal”.

Abubakr said this in further reiteration of Qur’an 2vs255 which has stood out for over 1400 years as a perfect answer to an heretical question of a deeply ignorant unbeliever who, in search of food, spent his entire life writing a whole book to ask a one sentence question thus: “Who is this Allah?”. The cited Qur’anic verse had provided the answer to that stupid question thus:

“Allah; there is no God besides Him, the living and the eternal One. Neither slumber nor sleep overtakes Him. His is what the Heavens and the earth contain. Who can intercede with Him except by His permission? He knows all about the affairs of men at present and in the future. They (human beings) can grasp only that part of His knowledge by His wills. His throne is beyond the sizes of the Heavens and the earth, and the preservation of both does not weary Him. He is the Exalted, the Immense One”.

Like all those who had passed through this world before him Alhaji Animasaun is no more. Thus, all other things about him are now history. But from that history is a lesson for those succeeding him in private and public life to learn. His is now a closed chapter in the history of Nigeria.

A Reassessment Mirror

This article is not much about the obituary of Alhaji Kola Animasaun as it is about a mirror with which to see ourselves and reassess the essence of our existence on earth. It is no news that Alhaji Kola Animasaun was a journalist in his life time. It is no news that he rose vertically through the ranks in the midst of his horizontal colleagues to become a professional template as the Chairman of the Editorial Board of Vangaurd newspaper after a diplomatic sojourn for about two decades. It is no news that he served his country meritoriously at various spheres of human endeavour.

What can be called news about his life was an unprecedented contentment in a society where greed and avarice were taken for yardstick of pecuniary greatness. He once turned down a confidential offer by his boss and employer, Uncle Sam Amuka Pemu, to assume the position of the Editor of Vanguard newspaper. His reason was that the position was better and more fitting to a younger journalist with enough experience. He also turned down an offer by his friend and professional colleague, Chief Segun Osoba, when the latter was the Governor of Ogun State. He wanted Alhaji Animasaun to be the Chairman of Abeokuta North Local Government at a time when some hawks were lobbying for that post. But contrary to Chief Osoba’s expectation, Alhaji Animasaun told him that he was absolutely satisfied with his professional job and that he preferred the post of the Chairman, Editorial Board of Vanguard newspaper to that of a Local Government. It took the intervention of Uncle Sam Amuka Pemu, to whom Governor Osoba reported the case, before Alhaji Animasaun reluctantly agreed to serve in that capacity. Yet, he did not touch the bulk of the salaries and allowances he earned on that job until he vacated office.  And he used the money so realized to build a Mosque in his house as a service to Allah his Creator. That was a very rare decision in Nigeria especially at a time when political limelight was like a visa to the paradise of life.

His Religious life 

One of the huddles of our own generation as journalists was the oddity of being Muslims in the profession that was seen as an exclusive preserve of Christian journalists. But Alhaji Animasaun remained undaunted as he observed his daily prayers at their right times during the office hours. In his persistence on observing every Salat at the right time, he was always going out of Vanguard premises in search of a Mosque to observe those prayers. After observing him closely for some time, Uncle Sam Amuka who revered him very much because of his professional competence and sincerity of purpose decided to provide a Mosque within Vanguard premises to relieve the few Muslim workers, including yours sincerely, in that outfit. Thus, a Mosque was provided within the premises of the company, not only for daily prayers but also for weekly Jum’at prayer. The Mosque is still there today.

Spiritual Incentive

While in Vanguard, Alhaji Animasaun was the Chairman, Editorial Board and yours sincerely was not only his deputy but also the Imam of the Mosque.

Our combination strengthened the few other Muslims in the establishment against inferiority complex and persecution. Not only that, the Mosque in Vanguard also served as an incentive for Muslims in other media houses to stand up vertically in defence of Islam.

With his professional, religious and social life, Alhaji Animasaun could be likened to a summer sun that photosynthesizes the professional and social lives of other people, irrespective of their tribes and creeds, either by facilitating gainful employments for them or by guiding them aright morally and intellectually.

Although Alhaji Animasaun has left the stage, his footprints on the sands of time remains an exemplary template for today’s and future generations of Nigerians who want to be patriotic to their motherland.

“Who shares his life’s pure pleasure and walks the honest road; who trades with heaping measure and lifts his brother’s load; who turns the wrong down bluntly and lends the right a hand; he dwells in God’s own country and tills the holy land”. Louis F. Benson

The above quoted poem is as fitting to Alhaji Kola Animasaun as a scepter in the hand of a magnificent king. We were all witnesses to that fact. We pray the Almighty Allah to repose his soul in eternal bliss and grant his family the     needed fortitude to bear his absence and to surge ahead in life with continuity of uprightness. Amin!

INNA LILLAHI WA INNA ILAYHI RAJI’UN!