“Do you not see how the Almighty Allah has sets forth the parable of a Pleasant Word like that of a splendid tree with formidable roots firmly entrenched in the belly of the earth and gorgeous branches gloriously sprouting into the firmament of the sky yielding edible fruits every season by Allah’s grace? Allah talks to men in parables that they may be mindfully alert about the outcome of that parable”. Q.14:24

Human life is like a proverbial coin which may turn up the head or the tail any time it is tossed. Perhaps that is why an Arab poet once enacted an axiomatic rune that has come to be a school from which sensible people are still learning a lesson. An excerpt from the poem goes thus:

“…Those are the occurrences of life as you are witnessing them; whoever is gladdened by an occurrence today should not be over joyous as many other occurrences may come with unbearable sadness”

Some occurrences of this era are quite capable of serving as a marvellous reminder of the memorable month of April in relation to the establishment of the Muslim Students Society of Nigeria (MSSN) in 1954. That was 65 years ago.

In Retrospect

Looking back at the wonderful cultivation of a proverbial fertile land, and the planting of an adamant seed on it which eventually grew up into a gargantuan tree, one cannot but reflect deeply on the above quoted verse of the Qur’an with faithful appreciation.

MSSN and NSCIA

Narrating the story of Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) today, no matter how ardently, may not be complete without cogent reference to the Muslim Students Society of   Nigeria (MSSN). The two bodies are like Siamese trees of a gargantuan nature with gorgeous foliages and a formidable stem. Just as it is almost impossible to pluck the fruits of any tree without recourse to its stem so it is difficult to play a significant role in NSCIA today without haven passed through the MSSN. The one is like a wonderful edifice built on the solid foundation of the other. Though, most of the founders of MSSN were not initial members of the MSSN, the role played by each of them in nurturing the tree of that Muslim apex body to fruition cannot be quantified.

The Almond Tree

The similitude of MSSN is like that of the Almond tree. For those who do not know, the Almond tree has no equal among domestic plants in grandiose and splendour. Its magnificent   appearance alone simply personifies its environmental grandiose by all ramifications. But much more than that, the tree called Almond is highly curative in medicinal substance and almost indispensable in essence. No soil, whether in the forest, savannah or desert, is ever repugnant to this great tree for dwelling. Wherever it is found, Almond tree creates an incomparably serene environment just as it  serves as a protective umbrella for other living organisms around. It is one unique tree that wears the crown of a king among trees and bears the sceptre of a generalissimo among tropical plants.

Parable

The summarised analysis here is not much of the Almond tree per se but that of a Society which it seeks to exemplify. In a nutshell, that parable is of the Muslim Students Society of Nigeria (MSSN) which is like the Almond tree. The seed of that Society was planted like a Mustard seed on April 18, 1954 and the seed gradually germinated into an enlivening tree with no irrelevant part.

Most Nigerian Muslims of the current generation may not easily recall how MSSN came into existence 65 years ago either because they were not part of the struggle that brought it to bear or because the struggle has now taken a different form which they are unable to relate to the past.

A Memorable Revolution

MSSN is both a spiritual and a social revolution which quietly crept into the Nigerian society at the very right time that a revolution was direly in need for Muslim youths. If Islam enjoys a hitherto denied official recognition in Nigeria today, it is mostly due to that miraculous revolution.

Genesis

It all started like a dream in April 1954 when a student of Methodist Boys High School (MBHS) Lagos, Tajudeen Aromasodu, now of blessed memory, clairvoyantly mooted a unique idea by proposing an association of all Muslim students in Nigeria starting with Lagos secondary schools. His intention was to create a forum of unity through a common identity for Nigerian Muslim youths of secondary school age. Such a forum was to enable them to agitate for their rights and defend those rights for their common interest.

Aromasodu’s idea had emanated from a journal of the Muslim Students Association of Burma (Myanmar) which he accidentally came across. He read the constitution of that Association in the journal and became fascinated by it. That was at a time when Muslim school pupils could hardly pass through secondary schools in Southern Nigeria without getting forcefully converted into Christians. Muslim children seeking Western education in those days were seen as trespassers or usurpers despite paying the demanded fees. Besides denying them their rights to worship according to their belief, the Christian Missionaries who owned most schools in those days used the schools as an instrument of forceful conversion. Thus, most of the Muslim boys and girls who attended Christian missionary schools either ended up becoming Christians or were forced to drop out of schools if they rejected conversion.

The Nucleus Team

Aromasodu’s focus at that time was probably not beyond Lagos which was then Nigeria’s federal capital and the seat of the colonial rulers. He quickly contacted a few other Muslim students of like minds in Lagos and, together, they decided to invite two delegates from each of the then seven most prominent schools in Lagos. Thus, fourteen of such students (boys and girls) formed the pioneer membership of what was destined to become a proverbial Almond tree of a formidable nature. The seven schools were Kings College, Lagos; Queens College; Yaba, Methodist Boys High School, Lagos; CMS Grammar School, Bariga; Ahmadiyya College (now Anwarul Islam Model College), Agege; Methodist Girls High School, Yaba and Baptist Academy, Obanikoro.

That nucleus body held its inaugural meeting at Ansar-ud-Deen Primary School, Alakoro, Lagos, on April 18, 1954. It was at that meeting that a proposal which had earlier been sent out to the mentioned schools was formally adopted. And, a resolution was taken to draft the constitution of the Society which was ratified thereafter.

First Executive Body

With the constitution in place, some members of the first executive body were elected into office. Dr. Abdul Lateef Adegbite of King’s College was unanimously elected as President while one Shuaib Oloritu also of Kings College and Saidat Anibaba (now Professor (Mrs.) Mabadaje (rtd) of Queens College became first and second Vice Presidents respectively. Dr. Adegbite’s election was quite timely and coincidental because he was not just the Chairman of the Library and Debating Society of Lagos secondary schools, at that time, which made him a first among equals, he too had been planning a common forum for all Muslim students in Nigeria.

Some other officers were also elected and given responsibilities. Duties were delegated with trust and virtually everybody lived up to the trust.

What would have been a major hindrance to the realization of that dream was lack of funds. But nothing fails at the dream level if it has the hands of Allah in it. With strong determination and commitment, the young boys and girls levied themselves one shilling each monthly which they dedicatedly contributed from their monthly stipends. Besides, each of them bore the cost of transportation when assigned to a duty outside their immediate environments.

Conferences

If the first national conference of the Society, held in Lagos in 1954, drew the attention of many people to MSSN and attracted many new members, that of 1956 held in Ijebu-Ode was a watershed. It was at that conference that the Society can be said to have become a real national body. It was at that conference that some members especially of northern extraction who later became prominent in that Association joined in 1956. Some of those members included the late Shehu Musa of Niger State who later became Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Adamu Ciroma who became the Governor of   the Central Bank of  Nigeria, Jubril Aminu who rose to become the Secretary of Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) after serving as Vice Chancellor of the University of Maiduguri and later became Nigeria’s Minister of Education and that of Petroleum. There were also people like Yerima Abdullah and a host of others.  It was about the same year that some other Lagos students like Lateefat Oyekan (later) Alhaja Lateefah Okunnu (a former Deputy Governor of Lagos State) joined the Society and boosted its growth with special indefatigability. At that time, Islam was not yet known to have significantly reached what is now called South East or South-South of Nigeria.

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The third conference was held in Ilesha in 1957. It was hosted by one Alhaji M.A. Smith, a prominent businessman with substantial financial wherewithal. The fourth and fifth conferences were held in Ibadan and Abeokuta in 1958 and 1959 respectively. In all those places, the conscious attention of local Muslims was drawn to Islam and some of them gladly encouraged their children to join the newly formed society of Muslim students in the secondary schools.

The Turn of Events

By 1957, Abdul-Lateef Adegbite, the first President of the Society had completed his secondary school education at Kings College and he wanted to vacate the office for someone else but other brothers would not hear of it. They persuaded him to continue with the leadership in appreciation of his cool-headedness and leadership ability. However, providence set in to play a role in the life of Abdul-Lateef and that of MSSN simultaneously. He got a job as a researcher at the Historical Research Scheme in Ibadan in which he was engaged while awaiting admission into The University College, Ibadan (UCI) to read English Language.

At that time, Adegbite experienced a repeat of fortuitous providence working for him against his wish. He did not succeed in gaining admission into the University College but that was a blessing in disguise for MSSN. If he had been admitted as he wished, he would have had less time for the Society in its infancy and he would not have become a lawyer that he gladly became later. He also would have studied English at the University College, Ibadan (UCI) without any scholarship. Eventually, his patience and faith paid off as he later got admitted into the University of Southampton, England, where he obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in Law before proceeding to the University of London for his Master’s and Ph.D degrees on scholarship.

Gender Dichotomy

Realizing the implications of toasting any of the sisters into marriage within the Society, Adegbite, the President himself, avoided any act that could set a bad precedent for others. When it was time for him to choose a marital partner, he made sure that his wife to be, one Miss Taibat Yetunde Carew (now of blessed memory) was not a member of the Society. Although he met her at an MSSN forum, the latter merely escorted her friend to that forum.

When he returned into the country in 1965 with a Ph. D degree, Dr. Adegbite was surprised at the growth rate of MSSN across the country. Virtually all the Muslim secondary school pupils had fully become members and most of the foundation members had either graduated from Higher Institutions or about to graduate.

He therefore thought of a higher pedestal for the Society’s alumni to operate spiritually. Fortunately, he was appointed Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in the Western State in 1967 a position that put him in very good stead. He was therefore, able to strengthen the MSSN and encourage fellow alumni to join hands in floating another Muslim Society that would be meant for only adults as members. That Society was named Western Jama’h otherwise called Westjomo which later graduated into National Jama’ah otherwise called Najomo. Today, most of the pioneer members of MSSN are great men and women in various public and private sectors. The current Sultan and President-General of Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), His Eminence, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, CFR, mni, some Emirs, Ministers, Governors, Vice Chancellors, Professors, a JAMB Registrar and, even the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua were prominent members of that great Society called MSSN. And now, the newly appointed Chairman of National Hajj Commission, Alhaji Dhikrullah Olakunle Hassan was once the National President of MSSN.

Office Accommodation Problem

It, however, became disturbing that despite the greatness of this Society and its alumni, there was no permanent office that could be called its national   headquarters even by the time its 50th anniversary was celebrated in 2004. An attempt was once made to sight such office in Ilorin being the midway between the north and the south, but that attempt was unsuccessful. It was only when the elders decided to pay attention to the issue of headquarters, recently, that a plot of land was secured for office in Abuja on which work is yet to fully commence even 65 years after the establishment of that great Association.

National Brotherhood

Dr. Abdul-Lateef Adegbite’s appointment as Commissioner in the Western State in the 1960s also helped tremendously in bridging the religious gap between the north and the south especially in respect of the formation of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) in which he was to play a major role as Secretary-General later in life. As far as Islam is concerned, Dr. Adegbite’s role was a footprint on the sands of life. Let those who are yearning for a similar footprint be as dedicated to Islam as he was.

A Leadership Training Ground

Apart from serving as a unifier of Muslim youths in Nigeria, MSSN also started as a potent leadership training ground for Muslim men and women of the future. That many brothers and sisters who passed through the Society are occupying various prominent positions including Gubernatorial, Ministerial, top managerial and core professional posts in Nigeria today is an attestation to that assertion. At least not less than five Heads of State or Presidents of Nigeria have been produced by the Association. However, the tempo of leadership agility of the past seems to have waned tremendously partly due to change of focus and unwarranted desire for acquisition of wealth and position.

Thus, due to the fact that most students of nowadays are immature, some experienced hands at the helm of affairs in the Society continue to hold sway as principal officers of the Society thereby hindering the upcoming ones from gaining the necessary leadership training and experience that should normally prepare them for the future. The implication of this is that leadership is no longer by training or experience but by mere incidental assumption. This in itself is a great disadvantage to the growth and development of MSSN as well as a cause of various divisions leading to the emergence of splinter groups. If this Society must progress as expected, a return to the original system that gave it a prominent vibrancy in the past should be a sine qua non.

Clarion Call

This is a clarion call on all Nigerian Muslim men and women of substance,   who had passed through the MSSN, and are now blessed in one way or the other, to pull their loins together and rebuild the once great Society that has now become ramshackle for posterity sake. Let those who were once made by history turn round to make history tor the benefit of the future generations. Our footprint must not be obliterated in our lifetimes. The one time great, guiding  crescent of MSSN must not be allowed to eclipse.

Preamble

IT was another historic occasion at the University of Ibadan (UI) where an International Conference was jointly held on the ‘Biography of Prophet Muhammad’ (SAW) by the Muslim Ummah of Southwest Nigeria (MUSWEN) and Nusret Educational and Cultural Co. Ltd. of Turkey last Wednesday.

The theme of the Conference was: “Impact of the Exemplary Leadership Style of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) on Inter-Ethnic and Inter-Religious Harmony”.

Attendance

The well attended occasion chaired by the pioneer Executive Secretary of MUSWEN, Professor D. O. S. Noibi, was specially graced by the Governor of the State of Osun, His Excellency, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola who was accompanied by a retinue of Commissioners and his Chief of Staff, Alhaji Abdullah Binuyo.

Although the President-General of Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) and Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence, Dr. Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, CFR, mni, who was to be the Special Guest of Honour at the occasion could not attend, he was, nevertheless, eminently represented with an aura of royalty.

The Turkish team at the conference was led by the General Manager of Nusret Educational and Cultural Ltd Huseyin Baydar; President of UFUK DIALOGUE FOUNDATION, Dr. Kamil Kemanci and Mr. Nevzat Savas, Editor-in-Chief Hera Magazine (who was unavoidably absent)\ Alhaji Yakub Aliagan and a host of others.

Presentation of Papers

Several academic papers were presented at the Conference mostly by academic scholars from different parts of the world, including Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. The Keynote Address of the conference was succinctly delivered by MUSWEN’s new Executive Secretary, Professor Muslih Tayo Yahya while the occasion was ably coordinated by UI’s Head of Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies, Professor Lateef Wole Abbas, who chaired the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) of the Conference.

Reminder

The theme of that   Conference was a cute reminder of an article entitled “Islam’s Charter with Christianity” published in this column some time ago.  The article was about a covenant of peaceful co-existence which Prophet Muhammad (SAW) signed on behalf of Islam with Christian monks in protection of Christianity.

Excerpt

An excerpt from the referred article is as follows:

“For many Nigerian charlatans who claim to be clerics and preach to their congregations with instigation of hate speeches and unbridled religious hostility, there are many sources from which to learn a lesson. One of such sources is history which is globally recognized as a great teacher of teachers. Without history, there can neither be any experience for man nor any template for his future plans. It is on the fertile soil of history that the growth of man and the development of his society are firmly planted.

Symbiotic Relationship

Just as history makes man so does man makes history. But the impact of the latter outweighs that of the former by far in the trend of human civilization. However, the symbiotic relationship of both history and man is what keeps the world going.

Makers of History

In its characteristic nature as a teacher, history has made many people who continue to depend generationally on its platform for memorable footprint on the sands of time. On the other hand, there are also people who have made history to the benefit of other people even long after their demise.

However, the greatest maker of human history, as universally acknowledged, is the greatest human being that ever lived. That human being was an unlettered Arab Prophet called Muhammad the son of Abdullah and Aminah, who clearly distinguished between literacy and education with his own exemplariness and thereby opened the eyes of the whole world to the fact that literacy is just an instrument for documenting and preserving knowledge for posterity.  And that is one of the factors that make Prophet Muhammad (SAW) the greatest man that ever lived.

Michael Hart’s Book

Through a famous book entitled ‘The 100: A Ranking of the Most influential Persons in History’ published in 1977, by a Jewish American astrophysicist and scholar, Michael Hart,  the consciousness of the contemporary world was drawn to the uniqueness of an unlettered man who turned out to be the most educated human being ever in history. It was in that book that its author, Michael Hart, named Prophet Muhammad (SAW) as the greatest man that ever lived.  And since the publication of the historic book, no other author or scholar of note has ever come up with any acknowledged research work that can counter Michael Hart’s sense of judgment by providing a convincing alternative to the latter’s axiomatic judgment.

Thus, contrary to cynics’ baseless propaganda against Islam and Prophet Muhammad (SAW), out of sheer envy, it was this great Prophet of Islam that taught mankind the act of religious tolerance and accommodation.

The Historic Charter

In a formal recognition of Jesus Christ as his predecessor and fellow Apostle, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) signed a charter with some Christian pontiffs in  628 CE and the charter remains valid till today. The signing of that charter by the great Prophet was also clear evidence that Islam recognizes authentic Christianity as a divine religion.

It was in that year (628 CE which was the 6th year of Hijrah), that a Christian delegation from St. Catherine’s Monastery travelled to the city of Madinah to meet Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and seek from him protection of the Islamic government for Christianity under his command. The real objective was to elicit the support of the Islamic government in ensuring protection for the then Christians against the aggression of the Persian Empire. St. Catherine’s Monastery is the world’s oldest Monastery located at the foot of Mount Sinai which has a huge collection of Christian manuscripts second only to those of the Vatican City and known as a world heritage site).

The Contents of 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 Allah, as well as the helpers of Islam, hereby make promise to defend Christians because they are my citizens and by God, I stand 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 Allah’s covenant with mankind 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 Monasteries to be disrespected.

And if any damage should happen to their Monasteries by chance, they must not be prevented from repairing them. No Muslim should disobey this charter till the Last Day (i.e. end of the world)”.

 Before the Charter

Long before the Prophet’s migration from Makkah to Madinah, a Prophetic revelation came to him in 616 CE to confirm the brotherhood of Islam and Christianity.

That revelation which formed a whole chapter entitled ‘The Chapter of Rome’ in the Qur’an partly reads 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 Mighty and Merciful. That is Allah’s promise; He never reneges on His promise” (Q. 30: 1-5).

And true to that divine revelation, the Roman Empire surprisingly defeated the Persian Empire to the ecstasy of the Muslims just nine years after the Qur’anic chapter was revealed. Besides, it will be recalled that the name of Jesus Christ is mentioned more than 37 times in the Glorious Qur’an giving more details of his birth and disappearance more vividly than can 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 miraculous birth of Jesus.

It is only in the Qur’an that the report of how Jesus spoke as an infant was revealed. That chapter is called ‘The Chapter of Maryam (Mary). How else can the unity of religious mission from the unity of God be confirmed?

Implications of the Charter

By implication, the inalienability of the   privileges contained in the above charter remains irreversible from the primordial time to the contemporary time.

Besides, one remarkable aspect of the charter is that it did not stipulate any condition for Christians to enjoy those privileges.

It is because of that unprecedented charter that Muslims, all over the world, do not blame Christianity for any misdemeanor of a Christian or attack Christianity as a religion in their propagation of Islam as some Christians do against Islam particularly in Nigeria.

Upholding the Charter

In upholding that charter, the second Caliph in Islam, Umar Bn Khattab, refused to observe Muslim prayer (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.

On that historic occasion, the Church of Jerusalem had been cleared by some Muslim soldiers for the observance of Salat which Caliph Umar, as Head of State, was to lead.

But when he was invited to lead the Salat, he simply declined and rather ordered the soldiers to find another place for Salat and keep the Church intact for the Christians to worship therein in their own way.

He said he would not do what Prophet Muhammad (SAW) had prohibited before his demise. He then warned the Muslims who accompanied him never to convert Churches to Mosques for that would amount to religious aggression which was capable of breaching the Prophet’s charter with Christians.

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    Reciprocation

Believing that being followers of Jesus Christ was enough a condition to enjoy the privileges contained in the above charter, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) assumed that the Christians, would be civilized enough to reciprocate that unprecedented gesture whenever and 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 or disdain 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 norm 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 companions or disciples who became Caliphs after his demise never crossed swords with any Christian group or nation throughout their regimes.

If any wars like those of the crusades ever broke out centuries later between Christians and Muslims such could only be attributed either to a breach of the charter by ignorant adherents of one or both religions. And that does not have anything to do with the tenets of the two religions.

Summary

Judging by the contents of the papers presented at last Wednesday’s Conference at UI, it is evident that the aim of that conference was to emulate Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in using religion as an instrument of ventilating peace and harmony in Nigeria irrespective of the differences in faiths.

Conclusion

Religion is like an examination. Those who sit down to write it with blue ink must not turn themselves into examiners using red ink to mark it. Paradise is Allah’s own domain. He admits whoever He wishes into it. And this is done not by sheer mortal charlatans’ 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.

By Femi Abass

Today, all national and international roads lead to Lagos, the main hub of Nigeria’s economy. In that State of Excellence, a grandiose event of historic remembrance that will be watched live on different cable network electronic media globally takes place. The event is being graced by the President General of Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) and Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence, Dr. Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar as Special Royal Guest.

The President and Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency,  Muhammadu Buhari is expected to be the Special Guest of Honour at the occasion while the 4th Republic’s pioneer Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Jagaban Borgu, will be the Chairman.

Other high caliber guests expected at the event include some serving State Governors, foreign delegates and Ambassadors as well as a galaxy of distinguished personalities across the continent of Africa.

The occasion is for the 34th National Qur’an Recitation Competition, the formal opening of which will be declared today. Participants in the event will consist of the representatives of all states of the Federation.

Sultan’s Attendance

The attendance of this occasion by Sultan Abubakar is a confirmation of the fact that this millennial Sultan is rather of Nigeria as a country and not just of Sokoto as often cited in the media. Looking at the random itinerary of His Eminence very carefully and the intention behind that itinerary, no sensible person will dispute the fact that he is truly of the nation and not of a particular region. Ever since he assumed office in 2006, this Sultan has had cause to touch virtually every part of Nigeria repeatedly not only to ascertain the unity of the Muslim Ummah but also to ensure peaceful coexistence of all citizens irrespective of their tribes and religions. Even in the past three months, he has visited the Southwest alone about five times. He was in Ondo, Ekiti, Oyo, Ogun and Lagos states for various events. And he visited some of those states twice or more within the period. Just yesterday, December 26, he was in Ibadan, Oyo State, where he attended the grand finale of Islamic Vacation Course (IVC) of the Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria (MSSN). It was from there he moved to Lagos to attend today’s great event. In the history of Sultanate in Nigeria, no Sultan has ever been so dynamically committed to unity, peace and harmony.

Who is this Sultan?

Time flies. It has been 13 years since Sultan Abubakar, CFR, mni, ascended the Sultanate royal throne as the 20th Sultan. The specific historic date of his ascension was November 6, 2006. Until then, the lofty man’s name did not ring any bell in Nigeria. And he was probably not conscious of the royal blood in him. If he was ever conscious of that at all, his humble nature did not reflect it. But the thinking of man is quite different from the will of Allah. And when the thinking of man clashes with the will of Allah, the latter automatically prevails.

His ascension to the throne

For Sultan  Abubakar, ascending the throne of the great Sokoto Caliphate was like the rise of the sun ‘anon meridian’. Whenever it beams its rejuvenating rays over the world, all the stars in the galaxy take their bow with reverence. History and man are like Siamese twins. The one cannot do without the other. History makes man just as man makes history. And the reciprocal baton continues to change hands between them as long as they mutually remain in existence.

Thus, the sudden emergence of a 50-year-old Brigadier General called Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar as the successor to the exalted throne of the great Sokoto Empire without controversy in 2006 came as a surprise to many Nigerians. His own father, Sultan Saddiq Abubakar ascended the same throne at the age of 37. Surely, the name ‘Muhammad Sa’ad’ played a significant role in the emergence of its bearer as Sultan.

The mystery in name

There is something mysterious about name which humanity is yet to comprehend fully. A puzzling secret seems to exist in the vocabulary of life which sticks to every man like a second skin. That secret, pearled in the yoke of name, is an effective evidence of destiny in man. Our names are the light that glows at night to lighten up our ways towards the glare of the days through the threshold of life. And when the dawn comes to render the glowing light ineffective, the bearer bows out into the recluse of death leaving behind an indemnified signature on the sands of time. This was the case with Prophet Muhammad (SAW), the greatest man that ever lived on the surface of the earth. Even as an unlettered son of Arabia who was born in an era of blatant ignorance, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) introduced into the world, an unprecedented civilisation that opened the eyes of humanity to everlasting guidance.

Qur’anic backing

In recognition of Prophet Muhammad’s human exemplariness, the Almighty Allah said of him in Q 33: 21 thus: “You (Muslims) have a good example in Allah’s Apostle for anyone who looks to Allah and the Last Day and remembers Him always”.

That verse of the Qur’an is a divine template for all rightly guided Muslims in the conduct of their common lives as groups and communities just as it is in their personal mannerisms as individuals.

Peculiarities in names

Sultan’s first name is Muhammad which he bears in emulation of the Prophet of Islam. His second name is Sa’ad meaning ‘Good ‘Luck’ which makes him a name-sake of one of Prophet Muhammad’s companions (Sa’d Bn Abu Waqqas) who was a great Army General of Islam. And his (Sultan’s) surname is Abubakar which means ‘father of youths’, an inherited name which he shares with the first Caliph in Islam (Abubakr Siddiq). In every one of these names is a profound meaning with profound influence on the personality and conduct of the current Sultan.

As an Army General, like Sa’d Bn Abi Waqqas, Sultan is demonstrating the courage of a brave leader. As the father of the youths, like Abu Bakr, he is bridging the gap between leadership and follower-ship by breathing a breeze of hope into Nigerian Muslim youths from time to time.

Identity of a leader

A leader is known, neither by the aura of the office he occupies, nor by the enormity of the power wielded in that office. Rather, a leader is known by the magnanimity with which he exercises the power entrusted to him and the humility he demonstrates in his interaction with the people. This is the lesson that Prophet Muhammad’s leadership taught Muslim rulers in one of his Hadith when he said: “A powerful person is not the one who can suppress others (with the enormity of power or instrumentality of office) but the one who can resist the temptation to use such power by whim”.

Sultan Abubakar seems to have exemplified this prophetic teaching as a Muslim leader and a faithful one for that matter. And through his humble interaction with all Muslims irrespective of tribal or geographical boundaries, he has become the first Sultan to create a strong feeling of a united Muslim Ummah in Nigeria under a competent leadership.

Philosophers’ assertion

Philosophers who assert that every new century has a way of producing a great leader may be right after all. The example of Sultan Abubakar, is a manifestation of that assertion. Ever since he assumed the exalted royal office in 2006, this great man has convincingly exhibited all the qualities of genuine leadership by all standards. Every statement he has made socially, religiously or politically and every action he has taken privately or publicly has proved to be a school from which all well-meaning people of Nigeria have learnt one positive lesson or another.

History and man

History and man are like Siamese twins. The one cannot do without the other. History makes man just as man makes history. The symbiotic relationship of history and man, which is not in doubt, was reconfirmed in Sokoto 13 years ago (November, 2016) when a galaxy of well-meaning men and women from all walks of life assembled to say ‘we are here to bear witness’.

That was on the occasion of His Eminence’s ascension to the royal throne of the Sultanate when he was unanimously chosen by the Sokoto king makers and crowned as the Sultan following the demise of his immediate predecessor, the former Sultan Muhammad Macido.

It should be recalled that His Eminence shares birth day and month with a great son of Ogun State, the late Bashorun MKO Abiola (May the Almighty Allah repose his soul in eternal bliss). That date is August 24. The only difference in the dates of birth of these two great men is the year in which they were born. While MKO’s birth year was 1937, that of his Eminence was 1956.

His pedigree

Before the official emergence of Nigeria as a country through an amalgamation of certain tribes and regions, Sokoto Empire was beyond today’s Nigeria. It consisted of a vast area of today’s Niger Republic, Mali, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Benin Republic and some parts of today’s Togo.

However, with the partition of Africa into various colonial entities in 1884, the Sultanate of Sokoto became drastically reduced with a large chunk of its territory falling under various colonial authorities.

His intellectual origin

In the days of Uthman Dan Fodio and his brother, Abdullah Bn Fodio, the main glory of Sokoto Empire was knowledge. And that became its legacy for the descendants on the Sultanate line. It is on record that Clapperton, a British colonial agent, once had an interesting intellectual encounter with the first Sultan, Sheikh Muhammad Bello, the son of Usman Dan Fodio in 1824. After that encounter which came in form of debate, Clapperton 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 those knotty points”.

And, when Clapperton returned to Sokoto two years later (1826) and presented Sultan Bello with a copy of Arabic Euclid, he was shocked to learn that his host already possessed one. Both Muhammad Bello and his father, Usman Dan Fodio, engaged in such complex linguistic, theological and legal studies that the one had 97 books to his credit while the other had 93.

Education and literacy

When some Europeans first came to our own part of Africa in the 16th century, they found that the most literate part of what is called Nigeria, today, was the north. And that was because Islam had reached that part of the country with its Arabic literacy since the 11th century. The British colonialists confirmed this when they arrived in the 19th century.

The only reason why those colonialists did not retain Arabic literacy in the north was that they did not understand it. If they had not ignored Arabic literacy, the north would not have been perceived as a backward region educationally today. At least by 1919, when the southern part of Nigeria was just beginning to embrace literacy with some seriousness in less than a score of schools that were then in existence, the north already had about 25,000 schools where various subjects were taught and learned in Arabic language.

Royal awareness

Immediately after ascending the throne, Sultan Abubakar became very much aware that as Sultan of Sokoto he was wearing two crowns. One is that of an Emperor which the royal office symbolises. The other is that of Amirul Muminin (Commander of Nigerian Muslim faithful). And as Amirul Muminin, he knew that interacting with and consulting the various Muslim communities in Nigeria, in order to carry them along in decision making at the apex Islamic body called Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), was a sine qua non.

Like any other thing modern, this millennial Sultan is modern by all standards. He knows that the link between the Sultanate of Sokoto and the Nigerian Muslim Ummah is Islam. He knows that without Islam even the Sultanate of Sokoto could not have come into existence. He knows that he needs the genuine recognition and cooperation of all Nigerian Muslims to function effectively as Amirul Muminin.

Functions

By his activities and functions so far, Dr. Muhammad Abubakar has indicated to Nigerian Muslims that reformation of the NSCIA is a necessity to suit the modern day requirements for the growth and development of Islam. He knows that for that apex body to be effective, such reformation should take the form of Renaissance. Therefore, as soon as he assumed office, he put both the NSCIA and the Sultanate on the internet to enable all educated Muslims have access to their leader. And as an exemplary leader, he demonstrates his leadership prowess by personally possessing mastering fingers on the computer.

Triple heritage

Today’s Muslim generation is passing through a paved way without taking note of it. This 20th Sultan of is of triple heritage. As the President-General of NSCIA, he is a religious leader. By virtue of his national royal status as the Chairman of all Nigerian traditional rulers, he is a political leader. And, as a retired Brigadier-General from the Nigerian Army, he is a military leader. Thus, his triple heritage is complete.

His royal agenda

In what looked like his royal agenda in respect of the NSCIA, when he emerged as Sultan, His Eminence rolled out, certain fundamental programmes to the utter delight of all Nigerian Muslims.

The programmes

When presenting those programmes at an interfaith conference, he said: “….we initiated, as we had done for the Jama’atu Nasril-Islam (JNI), a thorough review of the activities of the  NSCIA and an extensive reform of its structures”.

“It is our firm belief that these reforms are not only desirable but necessary to reposition the Council to play its strategic role as the apex Islamic body in the country and to respond, effectively and meaningfully, to the challenges facing the Muslim Ummah in a multi-cultural and multi-religious society. We have had extensive consultations over a couple of years and have received very useful inputs on the reform agenda from all the constituent bodies of the Council. Our strategic objectives in this exercise had been and shall remain the following:

*The promotion of Muslim Unity and Solidarity to accord the Ummah the ability to speak with one voice and to act and work together for the advancement of Islam.

*The development of Education and Economic Enterprise, to enable the Muslim Ummah play an active role in the socio-economic life of Nigeria.

*Promotion of peace and religious harmony both within the Muslim Communities and between the adherents of Islam and Christianity.

*Establishment of effective linkage with Government, at local, state and federal levels, to safeguard the interest of the Ummah and to build consensus on those vital issues that bind us together as a nation….”

Hope and wish

“It is therefore our hope that as we bring this reform process to its logical conclusion, we will receive the support and patronage of the entire Muslim Ummah as well as the co-operation of all stakeholders, including state governments and indeed the Government of the Federation”.

“Finally we must all work hard to limit the influence of wealth in our society and to support those values that promote social responsibility, excellence and hard work”.

Epilogue

That is Sultan Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, a leader who knows the problems of his followers and associates with them in solving those problems. Probably without a leader like him, the Nigerian Muslim Ummah would have gone irredeemably asunder.

“…..Fa amma bi ni’mati Rabbika fa haddith”.

Long live the Sultan! Long live the NSCIA! Long live the Nigerian Muslim Ummah! Long live Nigeria!

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

The world is full of wonders. But those wonders cannot be fully enumerated by mortal beings because their enumerations will be limited to their times. Whatever might have been termed as wonder in the primordial or contemporary time could only be limited to certain generations. For instance, the wonders of the ancient times are quite different from those of the modern times. Yet they bear no names other than wonders.

Thus, when men of philosophical sciences or religious charlatans who claim to be ‘men of God’ talk of wonders or miracles, it can only be according to their myopic view of life in their immediate environments. The only globally permanent WONDER in human life, which is not limited to a particular time or place, is the Message of Allah called the Qur’an.

Irony of life

It is rather ironic that even in this age of internet, some ignorant people still perceive Islam as a mere dogma like many other religions in which fabricated stories, abominable rituals and satanic superstitions thrive. This is quite far from the spiritual reality of Allah’s divine religion.

But it takes only people with functional eyes to perceive the light. Ignorance is a disease which only knowledge can heal. It is some of those ignorant people that are currently wondering on why Muslims should engage ceremoniously in a competition on the recitation of the Qur’an as it is now happening in Lagos, Nigeria. Such people can never understand until the cloaks on their faces are lifted to enable them see the genuine light of life.

The meaning of Qur’an

The word Qur’an means continuous recitation. It is so defined because of its inimitable origin which makes it a compelling daily recitation throughout the world, across nations, continents   and centuries. For those who do not know, only the Qur’an, among all revealed Books, contains the unsurpassable words 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.

Qur’anic revelation

The revelation of this sacred ‘Book’ to mankind through an unlettered desert Arab, named Muhammad (SAW), the son of Abdullah and Aminah, began in 610 CE and lasted for 22 years and three months (12 years in Makkah and 10 years plus three months in Madinah).

This sacred  Book contains 114 chapters and 6236 verses (not 6666 verses often erroneously quoted by most Nigerian Muslim clerics).

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

The preservation of the Qur’an

Although the Qur’an was revealed orally, its writing began as soon as its revelations commenced. The writing was however done initially on primitive materials such as wood, animal hide, back of trees, tablets of rock and others of the like which were then readily available.

However, it was not until one year (633 CE) after the demise of Prophet Muhammad  that those writings were compiled into a book form not in a foreign language as in the case of the Bible but in Arabic which was its original language of revelation.

And one of the wonders in documenting the Qur’anic revelations is the classification of those revelations into chapters and verses by Prophet Muhammad himself despite his unlettered status.

Memorisation

Meanwhile, it must be noted here that one of the vital ways of preserving the contents of the Qur’an was memorisation which made the confirmation of the written chapters and verses possible. No other religious Book has been so memorisable in human history. And that alone is a clear evidence of the divine origin of the Qur’an.

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 previous Prophets and nations in different ages, it also catalogues the accounts of earlier revelations and covers the entire period of human existence from the beginning of creation to the very last Day of Judgment.

Authenticity of the Qur’an

It is an indisputable fact that the Qur’an remains the only revealed ‘BOOK’ in the world today that has consistently retained the originality of both its contents and the language of its revelation for over 1440 years.

And that alone is enough a testimony to the proof of its divine origin. It also confirms not only the genuineness of the prophet-hood of Muhammad as the arch-Messenger of Allah to mankind but also the lucidity of Arabic as  the oldest sustained language of divine revelation in the world till today.

Thus, just as there can be no proof of the identity of a messenger without the authenticity of the message he is ordained to deliver so can there be no proof of the   genuineness of the prophetic mission of Muhammad outside the proof of the originality of the Message contained in   the Qur’an.

Features of the Qur’an

The features of sacred Book called the Qur’an  have no comparison among all other revealed books. For instance, it is only the Qur’an that leaves no aspect of life untouched just as it leaves no secret unrevealed.

Problems and solutions; history and lessons; crimes and penalties; truth and justice; governance and equity; morality and righteousness; discipline and courage; friendship and trust; leadership and guidance; education and methodology; marriage and divorce; widowhood and orphanage; childhood and inheritance; poverty and wealth; opinion and logic; facts and figures; darkness and light; war and peace; power and magnanimity; angels, jinn and man; life and death; heavens and earth; all these and many other  matters relating to man and his environment form the subjects of discussion and guidance in the ‘Divine Diary of Life called the Qur’an’.

Qur’anic referential insights

Unlike other revealed Books that preceded it, the Qur’an gives insight into some natural phenomena like sphericity of the orbit and revolution of the earth (Q. 39:5) the formation of the rain (Q. 30:48); the fertilisation of the wind (Q. 15:22); the migration 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 all living organisms including the plants and other creatures (Q. 36:35); the collective life of animals (Q.6:38); the  living mode of the bees (Q. 16:69) and the successive phases of the child in its mother’s womb (Q. 22:5 & 23:14). Yet, the purpose of this Book is not to teach history, astronomy, philosophy or sciences but to pave man’s way towards understanding those phenomenal aspects of human life.

Proof of the Qur’anic revelations

Some religious charlatans who perceive Islam through the conducts of certain malfeasant Muslims and see that   sacred path of Allah 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 the vividness of 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 some blind men or women deny its rays? Or can a brook be affected in any way if some herds boycott its water?

Doubting ‘Thomases’

During the revelation of the Qur’an, Allah had foretold the reaction of certain pathological doubting ‘Thomases’ across generations of races whose hymns of denial would come from the abyss of falsehood even as they would cling remorselessly to the chord of ignorance. To such ‘Thomases’, the Qur’an owes neither explanation nor apology. They are free to live, die and be buried with their ignorance.

The similitude of the Qur’an

The Qur’an is like gold which most fashionable people seek to possess directly or indirectly because of its material value but which only a few can recognize in its raw form. It takes geologists to identify the soil in which gold is incubated.

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 memorisation, the recitation, the comprehension and the interpretation of the Qur’an to a loftily appreciable level.

Testimony

To Muslims who understand the teachings of Islam through the Qur’an, all the genuine Messengers including Prophets Ibrahim (Abraham), Musa (Moses) and Isa (Jesus) are from Allah and all the divinely revealed ‘BOOKS’ written in the languages of the Messengers that brought them are series of the same Allah’s ‘MESSAGE’ to mankind.

Those Messages are like envoys of a nation to another nation. Changing those envoys from time to time does not change the constitution of the nation they represent or the foreign policy of that nation. This fact has been firmly established in the Qur’an itself thus: “The Messenger of Allah (Muhammad) believes in what has been revealed to him from his Lord; and every true believer also believes in Allah, His Angels, His revealed Books and His Messengers.

We do not discriminate against anyone of them (those Messengers) as they say we hear and obey (the contents of the revelation). Oh God! We seek your forgiveness. To You is our return.” Q. 3:285-286.

Discipline

It is evident that true Muslims are not known for maligning any Prophet or genuinely revealed ‘BOOKS’ that are devoid of traces of human tampering. 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 comprehend such proof and acknowledge its authenticity. If anything, it is the Qur’an itself that should be called the master proof of all other celestial messages that preceded it.

The Qur’an is the final divine revelation which has no human interference or tampering in any form. And that is why this sacred Book does not harbour any contradiction like most other books.

Neither Prophet Muhammad, who brought this Sacred Book to mankind, nor any of his companions (or disciples), had a say in its contents.

The Book contains no chapters or verses according to anybody. And unlike some other books, no one speaks in the Qur’an on behalf of Allah in the name of revelation. Even the personal expressions of Prophet Muhammad which are meant to explain the contents of the Qur’an and called  Hadith cannot to be mingled with the verses of the Qur’an despite his endowed divine inspirations.

And where such expressions seem to contradict any part of the Qur’an they automatically become superseded by the contents of the Qur’an.

The mirror of life

Qur’an is the extraordinary compendium in which the activities of man from the very beginning of human existence to the end of human life are chronicled. It is the eternally concrete ‘MIRROR’ through which the descendants of Adam and Hawau can see life in its past, its present and its near and far future. This ‘MIRROR’ is the spectacle that heals the blind, the natural manure that fertilizes the human brain and the greatest treasure in the possession of mankind.

For the rightly guided mind, the Qur’an is the eye with which to see; the ear with which to hear and the sense with which to reason.

It is the bridge across the valleys of life; the insurance against any satanic damnation; the passport with which to obtain permanent divine visa for salvation and the only reliable redeemer of mankind from the evil machinations of this ephemeral world.

For any divinely tamed mind therefore, life begins and ends with the Qur’an, Allah’s own tradition and the only authentic fountain from which man can draw and sip the living spring of wisdom. The sense that reasons with the Qur’an makes no mistake.

Any mind that thinks with the Qur’an can never be devilled. Any eye that sees with the Qur’an can never be blind. Any tongue that talks with the Qur’an can never stammer. Any power that genuinely rules with the Qur’an can never fall.

Meanwhile, the Almighty Allah warns in this glorious Book (the Qur’an) thus: “But whosoever deviates from My guidance, verily for him is life of subjugation and We shall raise him up a blind person on the Day of resurrection” (Q. 20: 124).

Controversy

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 claiming authority) if only for the purpose of authenticating history in its normal perspective.

It is an incontrovertible 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 Jubril in 610 CE when he was 40 years old, was ‘BASMALAH’ (In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful) which precedes every chapter in the Qur’an except one (Suratut-Tawbah). Basmalah is not just a whole verse in Suratul Fatihah, it is the very first verse in that chapter of the Qur’an that was revealed twice in the duration of the Qur’anic revelations. That chapter which is tagged ‘MOTHER of the BOOK’ was first revealed in Makkah and again in Madinah.

The last revelation

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 at ‘Arafah while he was performing his farewell Hajj in 632 CE couldn’t have been the last revelation because it came about 81 days before the demise of the Prophet (SAW).

Rather, authentic research confirms that another revelation came about nine days before the Prophet’s sickness and eventual demise. 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”.

That is the Qur’an for you, the Diary of life for those seeking divine guidance and the Mirror of life for those expecting Allah’s equanimity on earth and His eternal pleasure in the Hereafter. Whatever is in human possession beyond the Qur’an is mere ephemerality that will end up with its possessor in vanity.

Conclusion

With the closing session of the 34th edition of National Competition of Qur’an Recitation in Lagos tomorrow (Saturday, January 4), ‘The Message’ column hereby joins millions of Muslims around the world, who have been watching the glorious event, in congratulating the cerebral contestants, the dedicated organisers, the committed stakeholders and the faithful guests who participated in making that historic occasion a success.

We pray Allah to further shower His interminable blessings upon you all with His eternal guidance and protection against diabolism of Satan and his evil archers among humans and Jinn. AMIN!

By Femi Abbas

“Whoever deviates from My guidance will surely live a hanging life and he will be resurrected a blind person in the Hereafter…” Q.4:115

Monologue

This article is an update of an earlier one published in this column on the same subject matter some time ago. The need for this update is warranted by the seeming diehard nature of the subject in question. And the current rapid frightening developments engendered in the Middle East by President Donald Trump of the United States are a confirmed justification for this update.

Today, ‘The Message’ column decides to migrate from the chronic insanity of Nigeria’s political/religious tempest, being elicited by some Nigerian satanic agents, to an implacable global imbroglio being bellicosely engineered by a disastrous American ‘Trump’ who is vigorously fanning the ember of an impending disastrous American war furnace with which to roast the world flesh and soul.

Perhaps through such a migration, a way of inhaling a breeze of peaceful atmosphere in Nigeria may be paved even if temporarily.

Trump’s Predating Venture

At the instance of an accidental American ‘demonic Fuhrer’ called Donald Trump, whose ancestral origin is Germany where a devilish Adolf Hitler ignited the World War II in 1939, another global war may soon be fortuitously inflamed, the consequences of which no mortal being may be able to predict with precision.

As a matter of fact, the agenda for this impending global war had been   clandestinely kept in the front burner of Trump’s administration since his assumption of office as American President in January 2016. And the agenda has been gathering such a demonic momentum that is capable of causing a global cataclysmic shudder signalling a dangerously swinging pendulum of unwarranted war.

Memory Lane

It will be recalled that since Trump manoeuvred his way surreptitiously to presidential power despite losing the US presidential election to Hilary Clinton by over three million votes in 2015, he has been restively engaged in multifarious tacit wars of attrition with virtually all continents of the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa and even South America directly or indirectly.

At least, the memory of his confrontation with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-Un and his frequent vociferous altercations with the Chinese President, Xi Jinping as well as his diplomatic row with the French President, Emmanuel Macron and the Mexican President, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador are too many to forget so soon.

Also, the case of his unilateral declaration of Jerusalem as the capital city of Israel against the United Nation’s authentic resolution to the contrary remains fresh in the memory of the world.

his obnoxious position over the callous murder in cold blood of the Saudi Arabian born American journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, are citable in the catalogue of his crimes against humanity.

A Bull in the China Shop

Besides the above, it is historically unforgettable that in almost two and a half centuries of America’s post- independence existence, no President of that country has ever sacked and replaced as many of the Principal staff in the White House as Trump has done in less than three years.

Even his official declaration of the entire American media as an open enemy of his regime is enough attestation to this man’s draconian hallucination. All these have turned the US’ White House into a china shop occupied by a wild bull.

Assassination of Iranian General     

Last Friday, the cable network globally throbbed with breaking news revealing the assassination of an Iranian Army General, Qosem Soleimani, by the American forces at Baghdad airport in Iraq on the instruction of Donald Trump.

That heinous act has attracted a reprisal from Iran which commenced last Wednesday after the heroic burial of the late General. Such reprisal was the first by Iran against the Us since the faceoff between the countries began in 1979. It was a direct way of saying enough is enough.

A President’s Brigandage

A couple of years ago, Al-Jazeera Television reported the news of an American military drone that was fortuitously shot down by the Iranian National Guards on Iranian territory. That was the second time a dangerous accident of that nature occurred on Iranian territory within a decade.

It is on record that some years back, an American war plane strayed into the airspace of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the troops of the latter nation promptly shot it down. The incident occurred when Dr. Barak Obama was the President of the US.

And that incident looked like the climax of an American allegation that Iran was stockpiling weapons of mass destruction, especially, nuclear armaments. That disturbing development which dragged Iran to the United Nation’s Security Council for explanation further heightened the already existing tension between the US and Iran which had been on for decades.

Genesis of Faceoff

The genesis of the faceoff between the West and Iran actually took roots in the latter’s unexpected revolution of 1979 which caused a diplomatic row between the two geographical blocks. That row actually started in February 1979, when Iran jumped democratically onto the world stage with a fortuitous revolution that held the monarchs of the Arab States of the Gulf region spellbound.

The revolution was the climax of the struggle, in Iran, which began in 1963 between the oppressed people who were seeking emancipation from the shackles of proxy American imperialism and the implacable internal oppressors who wanted to keep that country’s innocent peasants in perpetual subservience to enable the country maintain the ugly status quo of the time.

It was the miraculous success of that revolution that altered the grand design of the Western powers for the Muslim world.

 Imam Khomeini’s Emergence as Iranian Leader

Following the relentless situation in Iran, which prompted   people’s liberation struggle that commenced in 1963 and culminated in a successful revolution in February 1979, the late Imam Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini emerged as the leader of the new Islamic Republic of Iran.

Unlike Mustafa Kemal Ataturk of Turkey, who subjected his country’s culture to that of the West at the expense of Islam in the 1920s, however, Imam Khomeini knew that the greatest virtue that could be lost in the life of man was culture. He knew that without a clear-cut culture a man couldn’t be better than a beast.

He knew that such values as law, education and religion, which guide man in his peregrinations on earth, are the attributes of culture. He knew that a nation, which subjects her culture to that of another nation has enslaved herself permanently to the caprices of the imitated nation.

Thus, Khomeini saw Islam, (the culture of over one billion Muslims in the world at that time), as the main target of the Western imperialists and decided to defend and protect it against the   grand design of the West.

The US Rescue Strategy

In the Iranian revolution melee, some Iranian students besieged the American Embassy in Tehran and held the staff therein hostage on allegation of destructive espionage. However, in a desperate move to rescue those staff, the Us deployed some war planes with the instruction to invade the new Islamic Republic and terminate the revolution if possible.

Thus, while some US F15 bomber jets deployed for that assignment were approaching Iran, the then American President Jimmy Carter engaged his country’s top pressmen in a media chat without giving any hint of the impending military operation in Iran.

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

Outcome

Jimmy Carter’s thought was that by the time he would have finished addressing the pressmen the news would have reached him that America had successfully invaded Iran to restore imperialism by reinstating the Shah Pahlavi.

He had therefore intended to announce the news of his ‘great’ successful scheme to the press as the epilogue of his address briefing. And that would have served as his impetus for wining that year’s election for a second term in office. But, as Allah would have it, instead of the expected news, what he got was a shocker of his life.

How the Strategy Failed

Two of the F15 fighters deployed for the operation miraculously collided in the air just at the point of entering Iran and crashed with their contents, thereby consuming the lives of the 16 top Air Force officers on board while the other fighter jets had to turn back haven run into confusion.

When that devastating news reached Carter, it was too much for him to hide and it quickly became a public knowledge.

Thus, the mighty America failed woefully, with her technology, in circumstances she has never been able to analyse and explain convincingly. With that scheme, it became obvious that Jimmy Carter of the Democrat Party had dug his own political grave.

Of course, he lost the election to the cowboy turned Politician, (Ronald Reagan) of the Republican Party who succeeded him in office. For about 444 days (well over a year), 52 American diplomats held hostage in the American Embassy remained under the siege of the Iranian students. It took high-level diplomacy, through third party countries, to get them released much later.

Freezing of Iran’s Foreign Reserve

Despite getting her staff released through diplomacy, America still felt she was not yet done. She went ahead to freeze Iran’s foreign reserve of about $80 billion in addition to imposition of economic sanctions on that country with the intention of running that country’s economy aground.

The only Iran’s offence in that episode was to have been audacious enough to want to chart an independent political course that could liberate her citizens from the manacles of the Western imperialism championed by the US. Ever since, the relationship between America and Iran has remained icy.

The West’s Grand Design

The West’s grand design for the Muslim world through the Middle East was first expressed in 1902 by a British Prime Minister, Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman when he observed as follows:

“There are people who control spacious territories teeming with manifest and hidden resources.  They dominate the intersections of world routes. Their lands were the cradles of human civilizations and religions.

These people have one faith, one language and the same aspiration. 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”.

Emergence of Zionism

Sir Bannerman’s observation was in further pursuit of an earlier demand by an Austrian Jewish lawyer and Journalist, Theodor Herzl, the initiator and leader of the Zionist movement founded in 1879. In the euphoria of a chauvinist’s ambition, shortly after the establishment of the Zionist movement, Theodor Herzl, made a demand thus:

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

Read Also: United States, Iran and the rest of the world

The Balfour Declaration

In response to the West’s clandestine agenda many decades after Herzl’s demand, another British Prime Minister, James Arthur Balfour, issued a devastatingly insensitive declaration that now bears his name in history. That seemingly conspiratorial declaration, which forcefully conceded a major chunk of Palestinian land to the Zionists as a home, became a thorny point in the serenity of the world.

Since then, the infamous Balfour declaration has put the Middle East in an incessant turmoil to the discomfort of the world’s peace and harmony. The declaration read partly as follows:

“His majesty’s Government views with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people and will use its best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this objective…. The rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country shall not be prejudiced by the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people”

Implementation

To facilitate the implementation of that agenda effectively, some other Middle East countries had to be decapitated economically and politically by excision from them, some juicy chunks of their lands. Thus, Lebanon was excised from Syria and Kuwait from Iraq.

The strategy was to cause a dissention among the citizens of those countries with the intention of breaking the yoke of the Muslim unity which Bannerman had targeted in his infamous observation quoted above.

Escalation of Faceoff

Meanwhile, in reaction to the recent fortuitous encounter between Iran and the US as caused by the latter’s intrusion into Iran’s territory which led to Iran’s prompt military reaction, the US authorities said that the destination of the shot American military aircraft was Afghanistan and not Iran. They explained that the pilot of the   plane only accidentally lost control and strayed into Iranian territory.

Siege on British Embassy

Shortly before the above narrated incident, Some Iranian students had laid siege on the British Embassy, in Tehran, in protest against what they called an intolerable meddling by the then British Prime Minister, David Cameron’s government, into the internal affairs of Iran.

And in reaction to that siege, Britain quickly evacuated her diplomats in Tehran and sent the Iranian diplomats in London packing despite Iran’s official regret and apology over those students’ unauthorized action.

Complication

To further complicate the tension over that incident, the French government issued a 48 hour ultimatum to Iranian diplomats to quit France. That was done in solidarity with the British government in the spirit of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as well as European Union (EU).

From thence, things started to move so fast that it became difficult to predict what would happen next. Most diplomatic observers saw a similarity between those developments and the unexpected occurrences of the early 20th century that precipitated both World War I and World War II.

Reoccurrence

In reaction to the reoccurrence of the above incident a couple of years ago, the American ‘Fuhrer’, Donald Trump, said “Iran had made a big mistake for which she would pay heavily”. But when the world media pressed him to further explain what he meant by that statement, he simply asked them to wait and see what would happen next.

His argument was that Iran had no right to shoot down the American drone because that drone was operating at the international and not Iranian territory. However, a detailed show of the encounter by Al-Jazeera confirmed that the drone actually intruded into Iranian territory without the permission of the Iranian authorities.

Iran’ Nuclear Project

However, the relationship between America and Iran further deteriorated recently when the latter started a nuclear project with which to prop up her economy. America responded with a threat saying the United States would not tolerate any nuclear project in Iran because the latter could not be trusted with such a project.

The World’s Bull Dog

Only a fool will not know that the United Nations (UN), as presently constituted, is the bull dog of the US through which the latter barks randomly at the rest of the world.

But for the recent Iraqi episode that became regrettable for the self-appointed policeman of the world, and of course, the North Korean case, which has become a cancerous sore on the head of the US, another Gulf war would have either ensued or become imminent before now.

Secret of American Military Successes

The secret of America’s military successes in various parts of the world is neither in technological advancement as generally believed, nor military superiority per se. The failed rescue mission in Iran shortly after that country’s revolution has confirmed that.

It is a historical fact that the secret of America’s military successes in various wars around the world are rather due to her ability to cause dissension among some other nations and races.

Before now, Iran was never a prey to America’s direct military aggression, even when the Shah Pahlavi was in power, because that Gulf country has never played a fool dancing to the sour music of the predatory country called America in a seeming military market.

Sanction as a Weapon

Now, with a recent threat of invasion of Iran by Israel on the one hand and economic and political sanctions against that country by the US on the other, will history repeat itself? One fact has become clear about the US political trend since her withdrawal from her self-isolationism in 1945: The success of her internal politics has been invariably determined by her aggressive foreign policy.

Thus, many American Presidents have won or lost elections at home due to the foreign policy of the concerned President. And that is why most of America’s foreign aggressive postures are belligerently displayed in election years.

For instance the current audacious military bravado being displayed against Iran in Iraq by Trump is either to get public sympathy against an impending impeachment which he now faces or to get re-elected as the US President.

But with the current prevailing delicate situation at hand will this same US political tradition repeat itself? The days ahead ll answer this fundamental question as events continue to unfold.

But with the stern objection by Russia and tacit indifference by China to the use of suffocating economic sanctions against the people of Iran, the US may have to watch her steps very carefully especially when most European countries that are members of NATO remain aloof.

Iran is neither Iraq nor Afghanistan. The world cannot afford another global war now. And an American Trump should not attempt to plunge it into one by taking that Iran’s military capability for granted. A word is enough for the wise.

By Femi Abbas

Preamble

Truth is like gold which, in its raw form, may look like any ordinary mineral. It however stands out of the pack particularly after it might have been duly ornamented. Taking gold through the goldsmith’s fire does not, in anyway, diminish its value. It rather enhances it.

That is a fundamental fact of life upon which Allah’s Arch-Messenger to mankind, Muhammad (SAW) the son of Abdullah and Aminah, based an axiomatic Hadith which he expressed over 1440 years ago. The Hadith goes thus:

“There are three signs by which a hypocrite can be known: when he talks, he lies; when he promises he reneges and when he is trusted, he betrays”. Can anybody fault the axiom in that definition of hypocrisy?

Ironically, truth, in today’s Nigeria, has become like an unsheathed sword. Whoever holds its handle is amusedly perceived as an unquestionable entity with unquestionable authority especially if he/she has the backing of Nigeria’s mischievous media propaganda.

Whereas, such a perception becomes satanic when a meaningful    religious adage like ‘the hood does not make the monk’ is disregarded, the media propaganda it entails is ignorantly believed to be the evidence of its authenticity. That is Nigeria for you, a country that thrives in falsehood without minding its consequences.

Two other Phenomena of Life

Besides truth, two other major phenomena of life are generally taken for granted by most human beings around the world. One is privacy which is natural and of necessity in human life. The other is secrecy which is artificial and devilish in theory and practice.

Although the Prophet did not mention secrecy in the above quoted Hadith, discernible persons can easily deduct from it that secrecy is an attribute of hypocrisy.

It is a matter of fact that well trained Professional journalists often report matters bordering on privacy with caution, they, on the other hand, report hypocrisy-related matters with passionate disdain. Thus, while privacy enjoys the protection of the law, secrecy often incurs the wrath of the law.

In a nutshell, any attempt to pry into other people’s privacy is often described as an invasion of privacy that may be liable to punishment under law while any secret activity may tend to be a can of worms that is ardently guarded by its custodians against any exposure to the public.

As a matter of fact, when the real connotation of privacy is sense of responsibility that of secrecy is nothing but satanic enclave in which no cleric of worth should be found.

A Poet’s Maxim

Many centuries ago, an Arab poet wisely compared and contrasted those two phenomena (privacy and secrecy) and turned his conclusion into a poem which has since remained a maxim. The poem goes thus:

“This is the time that we had been warned against in the admonitions of Ubayyi Bn Ka’b and that of Abdullah Bn Mas’ud; this is the foretold period in which the real truth would be rejected in its totality while falsehood and evil machinations would be  glorified and held aloft with pride; should this precarious time be allowed to linger beyond now without a meaningful check; there may no longer be any mourning on the fresh death of a beloved person or rejoice over the birth of a new baby”.

Times of Tribulation

“In the life of every nation, like that of every individual human being, there must be a time of tribulation. Such a time comes with a test of faith and that of steadfastness.

For an individual, passing or failing such a test may depend very much on the strength of the bearer’s faith and, for a nation, it may depend on the resoluteness or otherwise of the leadership at the helm of affairs.

In other words, neither can Nigerians, as a people, be an exception nor can Nigeria as a country, be an expostulation. in this case.

In Retrospect

For the past twelve years or thereabout, Nigerians have been forced to grapple with the intensity of an unprecedented carnage of various forms including kidnapping, banditry, rape, abominable ritual killings and piracy.

In addition to all these, one overwhelmingly unbearable menace that came to perch on Nigeria in 2009 is Boko Haram.

This terrifying   menace has become like a sphinx in the Greek mythology of yore that compelled the inhabitants of the city of   ‘Thebes’ to be on the run while it gave them a fierce chase of their lives.

Observation

From whichever angle it may be viewed, Boko Haram has been a huge balloon of suffocating smoke oozing out of a protruding chimney and destructively polluting the air which many people in the country have been forced to inhale directly or indirectly.

But unfortunately, rather than finding out the fireplace, beneath the mysterious chimney that gives vent to that oozing smoke, the immediate past government under Goodluck Jonathan insisted on merely dispelling the polluting smoke even as the fire kept burning and spreading. The result is today’s situation in the country.

However, some presumably serious-minded and concerned individuals embarked on finding solution to that carnage if only for peace to reign and for posterity to set a firm footing.

One of such individuals was one Jean Herskovits, a French female Professor of History at the State University of New York, USA. She had been writing on Nigerian politics since 1970. Another is Reverend Father Mathew Hassan Kukah, a well-known Nigerian Christian cleric who is now the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese.

The duo had been giving public lectures at different places, on different occasions in Nigeria, to educate the citizens on how to overcome the carnage of that monster. And   their messages were not quite dissimilar in contents and in facts.

If there was any difference at all, it was in the fact that while Jean Herskovits remains consistent and has never betrayed herself by eating up the facts in her lectures, the Nigerian media revered   Bishop Kukah, on the other hand, has severally eaten up his own words on the concerned subject by speaking randomly from both sides of his mouth to contradict his earlier statements thereby reaffirming that the above quoted Prophetic Hadith is a pointer to the   features of his spiritual nature. You may call that a Nigerian factor.

In Retrospect

At a time in 2011, when the Boko Haram carnage was most intense, Bishop Kukah delivered a public lecture that portrayed him as a truthful warrior against falsehood. But with time, the reality on ground severally proved otherwise.

Below is the verbatim text of one of the public lectures he gave on Boko Haram in 2012 based on his claimed research.

That lecture which was entitled ‘AN APPEAL TO NIGERIANS’ and published in The Guardian of January 17, 2012 goes thus:

Reflections

“On the occasion of the Carol of Nine Lessons organized by NTA and Radio Nigeria on December 10th last year (2013), I was invited to deliver the message.

I chose to speak on the theme, ‘Do Not Be Afraid’ as a means of encouraging our people against the backdrop of fear and frustration that was mounting at the time. Since then, it would seem that things have gotten progressively worse in our country.

In the course of my reflections, I sought to encourage my fellow citizens not to be frightened by the events of the time. I insisted that despite these tragic and sad events and the situation of our country, we needed to conquer fear.

I argued that the message of Christmas was a message about the good news of the birth of the Prince of Peace, Emmanuel, (God with us) and the Saviour of the world”. It was in that lecture that Bishop Kukah portended Boko Haram as a conundrum which put the entire citizenry in perennial puzzle. He went further:

Backdrop

“Against the backdrop of other developments in the country at that time, I concluded by calling on the Federal Government not to carry through its plans for the removal of fuel subsidy.

Since then, things have gradually snowballed well beyond what one had either feared or hoped. On Christmas day, a bomb exploded at St. Theresa’s Catholic Church, Madalla, in Niger State, killing over thirty people and wounding a significant number of other innocent citizens who had come to worship their God as the first part of their Christmas celebrations.

Barely two days later, we heard of the tragic and mindless killings within a community in Ebonyi State in which over sixty people lost their lives with properties worth millions of naira destroyed and hundreds of families displaced. In the midst of all this, on New Year’s Day, President Goodluck Jonathan announced the withdrawal of fuel subsidy and threw an already angry and frustrated nation into convulsion.

Right now, I feel that perhaps like the friends of Job (Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar), who came to visit their sick friend and found the burden beyond comprehension, we find ourselves in the same situation.

For, as we know, when they came and found Job in his condition, they spent seven days and seven nights, and uttered not a word (Job 2:13).

Right now, no one can claim a full understanding of the state we are in. However, even if we cannot understand the issues of the moment, our faith compels us to understand that God’s hand is in all this. The challenge is for us to have the patience to let His will be done”.

The Madalla Tragedy

“The tragedy in Madalla was seen as a direct attack on Christians. When Boko Haram claimed responsibility, this line of argument seemed persuasive to those who believed that these merchants of death could be linked to the religion of Islam.

Happily, prominent Muslims rose in unison to condemn this evil act and denounced both the perpetrators and their acts as being un-Islamic.

All of this should cause us to pause and ponder about the nature of the force of evil that is in our midst and to appreciate the fact that contrary to popular thinking, we are not faced with a crisis or conflict between Christians and Muslims. Rather, like the friends of Job, we need to humbly appreciate the limits of our human understanding.

In the last few years, with the deepening crises in parts of Bauchi, Borno, Kaduna, and Plateau states, thanks to the international and national media, it has become fanciful to argue that we have crises between Christians and Muslims.

Sadly, the kneejerk reaction of some very uninformed religious leaders has lent credence to this false belief. To complicate matters, some of these religious leaders have continued to rally their members to defend themselves in a religious war.

This has fed the propaganda of the notorious Boko Haram and hides (sic) the fact that this evil has crossed religious barriers. Let us take a few examples which, though still under investigation across the country, should call for restraint on our part”.

Complicity

“Some time last year, a Christian woman went to her own parish Church in Bauchi and tried to set it ablaze. Again, recently, a man alleged to be a Christian, dressed as a Muslim, went to burn down a Church in Bayelsa. In Plateau State, a man purported to be a Christian was arrested while trying to bomb a Church.

Armed men gunned down a group of Christians meeting in a Church and now it turned out that those who have been arrested and are under interrogation are in fact not Muslims and that the story is more of an internal crisis. In Zamfara State, 19 Muslims were killed.

After investigation it was discovered that those who killed them were not Christians. Other similar incidents have occurred across the country.

Clearly, these are very troubled times for our country. But they are also very promising times. I say so because amidst this confusing debris of hate, anger and frustration, we have had some very interesting dimensions.

Nigeria is changing because Nigerians are taking back their country from the grip of marauders. These stories, few as they may be, are the beginning of our song of freedom.

Christians are now publicly crossing the artificial lines created by falsehood and bigotry. Let us take a few examples of events in the last week alone:

In Kano, amidst fears and threats of further attacks on Christians, a group of Muslims gathered round to protect Christians as they worshipped. In Minna and recently, in Lagos, the same thing repeated itself as Christians joined hands to protect Muslims as they prayed.

In the last week (sic), Christians and Muslims together in solidarity are (sic) protesting against bad governance and corruption beyond the falsehood of religion.

Once freed from the grip of these dark forces, religion will be able to play its role as a force for harmony, truth and the common good.

Clearly, drawing from our experiences as Christians, we must note that God has a message for us in all this. To elicit what I consider to be the message, I will make reference to three lessons and I know there are far more”.

Prayer and Solidarity

These times call for prayer. At the height of our confusion during the Abacha years, the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria composed two sets of prayers; one, Against Bribery and Corruption and second, for Nigeria in Distress.

Read Also: Work for religious harmony, FG fires back at Bishop Kukah

Millions of Catholics have continued to recite these prayers and we must remain relentless in the belief that God hears our prayers and that God’s ways are not our ways. We know that our Muslim brethren and millions of other non-Christians feel the same and are also praying in a similar way for our country.

These times call for solidarity of all people of faith. We are a nation of very strong believers and despite what anyone else may say, millions of our Christians and Muslims do take their religion very seriously.

However, you might ask, if that is true, why do we have so many killings in the name of God and of religion? My answer is that we have such killings because we live in an environment of a severely weak architecture of state which allows evil to triumph. It is this poverty that produces jealousy and hatred which leads to violence.

We live in a state of ineffective law enforcement and tragic social conditions. Corruption has destroyed the fabric of our society. Its corrosive effect can be seen in the ruination of our lives and the decay in our society.

The inability of the state to punish criminals as criminals has created the illusion that there is a conflict between Christians and Muslims.

In fact, it would seem that many elements today are going to great extremes to pitch Christians against Muslims, and vice versa, so that our attention is taken away from the true source of our woes: corruption. As Nigerians, Christians and Muslims, we must stand together to ensure that our resources are well utilised for the common good.

This is why, despite the hardships we must endure as a result of the strike, the Fuel Subsidy debate must be seen as the real dividend of democracy”.

Role of Religious Leaders

Religious leaders across the faiths must indeed stand up together and face the challenge of the times by offering a leadership that focuses on our common humanity and common good rather than the insignificant issues that divide us.

We therefore condemn in very strong terms the tendency by some religious leaders to play politics with the issues of our collective survival. Rather than rallying our people, some of our religious leaders have resorted to divisive utterances, wild allegations and insinuations against adherents of other religions.

In the last five or so days, text messages have been circulating across the country appealing to some of our worst demons. We are told that many senior clerics either believed or encouraged the circulation of these divisive and false text messages.

We must condemn this for what it is; a grand design by enemies within our folds who are determined to destroy our country. Whatever they may call themselves, they are neither true Christians nor Muslims.

For those Christians who have reacted in fear, they require conversion. If we wait for these evil men or women to decide when we shall stand for Christ, then we have surrendered our soul to the devil.

If we fear to stand up for Christ now, let us remember that He has already said: Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will acknowledge before my father in Heaven, Whoever denies me before others, I will deny him before my father in Heaven(Mt 10: 32).

Again, Jesus warns that rather than fear at times of uncertainty, adversity or upheavals, we should be confident. He said: When these things begin to take place, stand erect; hold your heads high, because your liberation is near at hand (Lk. 21: 28).

Furthermore, St Paul has assured us that; If we die with Him, we shall live with Him. If we endure with Him, we shall reign with him (2 Tim 2: 11-12). Surely, those who are asking us to go under our beds, to flee in the face of persecution must be reading a different Bible.

Difficult Times

These are difficult times but they are also times of promise. Our country has turned its back on all forms of dictatorships. Our hands are on the plough and we are resolutely committed to democracy.

Like a Catholic marriage, we may not be happy but we cannot contemplate a divorce. God does not make mistakes.

Although the freedom and growth promised by democracy are not here yet, we must remind ourselves that a better tomorrow is possible, a more united and peaceful Nigeria is possible.

The challenges of the last few days have shown the resilience of our people and their commitment to democracy and a better life. We believe this is possible. The government must strive to earn the trust of our people.

All sides must take lessons from the demonstrations and resolve to build a better and stronger nation. Let us hold on to the words of the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, when he told the President, religious, traditional rulers and people of the Republic of Benin in the Presidential Palace on the 19th of November: Do not cut off your peoples from their future by mutilating their present….

There are too many scandals and injustices, too much corruption and greed, too many errors and lies, too much violence. All peoples desire to understand the political and economic choices which are made in their name; they wish to participate in good governance. No economic regime is ideal and no economic choice is neutral. But these must always serve the common good”.

Is it imaginable that the same Reverend Father Mathew Kukah who delivered the above lecture and some others of the like in similar vein in the past is the one alleging religious persecution in Nigeria today? Where is clerical consistency in that?

By Femi Abbas

Another week of tears and sorrow began in Nigeria last Monday with throbs of agonizing   breaking news from the media waves revealing an episode of gruesome murder of two prominent Nigerians in two different parts of the country.

One of those said to have been murdered was Reverend Lawan Andimi, the Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Michika Local Government area of Adamawa State. The other, was Idnatius Adunukwe, a Lagos-based billionaire business mogul from Ebugu State.

The one was reportedly killed in Michika, Adamawa State of Northern Nigeria by members of the satanic group of brigands called Boko Haram. The other was allegedly killed by certain dare devil agents of the Lucifer in Ajah, Lekki area of Lagos State.

The Puzzling Aspect

The puzzling aspect of the agonizing incidents is the coincidence in time and manner of the murder of both men almost one thousand kilometers apart. Yet, there is no evidence of any linkage in the evil operations of those criminal groups.

This is a confirmation that money-induced crimes have become a coded conundrum which all Nigerians must jointly stand up with determination to decode in unison irrespective of ethnic or religious background.

To engage in stratification of such crimes by narrowing them down to religion, as some people are now doing, is to trivialize human life and thereby strengthen the criminals who often take joy in societal division over their criminal activities.

Equal Mourning

Incidentally, the two personalities murdered for ransom this time are Christians whose deaths deserve equal condemnation and mourning.

And it is evident that over 95% of those who have been killed in the Northeast region since the emergence of Boko Haram in 2009 were Muslims. Also, more than 90% of those displaced from their homes and are still aimlessly marauding are Muslims.

If the human vampires called Boko Haram members are hiding under religion to commit death-terminating crime, does that make them religious? And in another skirmish in the same Northeast region about three days ago, seven Nigerian soldiers were killed by Boko Haram devil in an ambush were several others were terribly wounded.

And nobody asked whether those killed soldiers were Muslims or Christians. All we know is that they were human beings and Nigerians who ordinarily deserved to live and live well.

If the devil reincarnate group in Lagos and other parts of the country are taking business as the cloak under which they are operating, does that make them business people? From the names and origin of those arrested for killing billionaire Anukwu, it is clear that they are all Christians? In such a situation what moral right will anybody claim to term the killing of that man a religious persecution?

In the Melee

Unfortunately, in the melee of all these crimes the only available weapon for most Nigerians (Muslims or Christians) to counter the seemingly implacable menace in the country is verbal condemnation which is grossly ineffective. If there is any time to admit the truth and face the reality that crime has neither religion nor ethnicity, it is now.

A Criminal Conundrum

Before the two men named above were gruesomely   murdered, they had been separately kidnapped for ransom and their killers did not ask about their ethnicity or religion.

What mattered to those devil reincarnates was money and nothing more than the satanic money which they wanted by all means.

By the way, even after the devils that killed CAN Chairman were offered N50 million, according to reports, did they not go ahead to kill him? And that was not the first time they did that. The case of a Muslim traditional ruler who was killed in a similar circumstance remains fresh in the memory of his family and relatives.

What Matters

On the other hand, what now matters to the families, relatives and associates of these two latest victims as well as all other Nigerians who value sanctity of human life is the fact that the two murdered personalities were not just human beings but also Nigerians with right to live.

They had spouses, children and dependents. Thus, they were not the only victims of such fortuitous death in the hands of those devils. Their dependents too have been subjected to partial death.

Although the criminals in the case of Adunukwe have been arrested, according to the Nigerian Police, and they have reportedly made confessional and other useful statements, many questions are still waiting for answers.

For instance what becomes of those criminals after arrest and trial? And how can such evil occurrences be   prevented permanently in Nigeria? Meanwhile, there has been no clue to how the kidnappers and killers of the murdered CAN Chairman can be tracked down and arrested. Rather, we are all busy lamenting as if lamentation is the solution to these heinous crimes.

Incompatible Law

Now, if we truly want to face the reality of this time in Nigeria without self-deception, we should reintroduce death sentence as punishment for murder and even other major crimes including corruption.

To continue with a law system that is incompatible with our culture and tradition as Nigerians is to set a guillotine for ouselves in a deceptive circumstance.

Besides, should the loud echoes of ‘human rights’ for criminals who sentence innocent Nigerians to death without any regard for law be further encouraged? Is human rights advocacy for criminals not tantamount to encouragement for crimes? We need to ponder on these facts and call on our legislators to act accordingly.

We are able to lament on the death of those who were gruesomely killed because we are alive, we do not know whose turn is next under the criminals’ guillotine.

Nigeria as a Drama Theatre

Writing a drama is like conceiving a pregnancy in the womb of a woman. Can any responsible impregnator claim to be confortable until the conceived child is delivered? For a drama to be practically actable the writer must take into consideration not only the theme, the setting, the characters and the complications that may build up spirally to the climax in such a drama. He must also think of the anti-climax of the drama as well as its possible denouement.

A Playwright’s Ingenuity

Nothing shows the ingenuity of a playwright as vividly as the crew of actors who put into action the script that gives brings the drama alive on stage in the first place.

Such is like delivering a pregnant woman of her pregnancy successfully. If the delivery process is not carefully handled, the deliverer may end up becoming an undertaker.

And that is when a drama is said to be tragic. The similitude of a playwright in today’s Nigeria is like that of the rule of law.

In any democratic country, operating laws are based on the constitution. But where the constitution of country is borrowed from another country without any regard for the cultural tradition of the borrower, any misdemeanour of such a country must not be seen as strange.

The World as a Paradox

The entire world today is a paradoxical theatre in which about eight billion human beings including Nigerians are watching a drama. Whether for ecstasy or dismay, the viewers of the drama may randomly roar into controversies as the drama progresses. But the main concern of each viewer in the theatre is what may become of his favourite character.

Read Also: NGF condemns killing of CAN chairman by Boko Haram

In the current global drama against which we had been admonished in the Qur’an as quoted above, the concern of this columnist is the ‘colony’ called Nigeria.

This is not just because the colony is my immediate constituency it is also because Nigeria is the heart of Africa and the headquarters of the black race. If anything negative happens to her the whole of Africa and even the entire black race may cease to be at rest.

Hidden Agenda

A clandestine script was unveiled in respect of Nigeria in 1995. Its contents revealed that this heart of Africa called Nigeria was heading for a break up by year 2015.

The designers of that devilish agenda had set a timeframe of 20 years for its execution without suggesting any solution. And, to portray their dream as a realizable one, they kept hammering the probability of the success of that obnoxious project using some hazardous occurrences in the land as evidence.

For students of International Relations, such a prediction could not have been strange. It was part of the strategies often used by the imperialists either to re-colonize some old colonies psychologically or to scoop on and dominate their economies in a typical imperial capitalist manner.

They had done it successfully in some other countries none of which is now firmly on her feet. Vietnam, Korea, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, former Yugoslavia, Somalia, Sudan, Palestine and lately the entire Arab nations all of which have had their bitter testes of the pillage can testify to this assertion.

It is a modern day equivalence of the 1884 partition of Africa carried out in Berlin, Germany, by the European imperialists, which led to the colonization of African tribes. If any of the above countries had resisted the evil project and stood their ground at the time of execution of that evil project, perhaps the world would have been spared of the throat-cutting threat posed today by the United States and her allies against what they perceive as lesser nations.

The Cult of Capitalism

Incidentally, the US which now champions the imperialists’ cult had also been a victim of this same imperialists’ guillotine especially in the hands of Britain.

Yet, the cult of capitalism which has become their common bound would not allow the duo of US and Britain, which had been mutually antagonistic, to dwell differently today because it is only in such connivance that the fruits of their common interest can be harvested.

Unfortunately, Nigeria doesn’t seem to have learned any lesson from countries that had toed the imperialists’ path.

Rather than looking inwards for solution to our domestic problems as the US did before the two World Wars, our governments (Federal and State) do not only look up to ‘Uncle Sam’ for solution even to a minor problem but also cry out to the President of America for help to overcome minor hitches.

It is just like the situation of a baby who has so much adapted to being spoon-fed that he would want the ladle to remain in his mouth even while asleep.

Today’s Nigerians

Today, Nigerians can hardly think on anything without reference to America or Europe. Whereas some progressive countries like Japan, China, India, Brazil and even the United States in their days of search for growth and development shut their doors to the world and made do with whatever they could produce internally which was why their sudden zoom into the limelight came to the world as a surprise.

This has never taught Nigeria any lesson. Rather, all that matters here is empty and monotonous noise about becoming one of the biggest economies in a particular year even when there is no concrete plan for such.

No truly progressive country has ever indulged in such a senseless propaganda with success. What would have ordinarily justified such   propaganda is to surprisingly zoom into the global economic stage as the above listed countries had done. But Nigeria’s endemic corruption that has become a culture would not allow such a progressive leap.

Security Architecture

The security of any serious country is like the heart in human body. Handing it over to someone else is like paving way for one’s own death. No serious government will ever trivialize the existence of its nation to that extent.

We all know that whoever pays the piper must surely dictate the tune. And in diplomacy, there is neither permanent friend nor permanent enemy.

A government is said to be of essence and in control of affairs only if it is believed to be capable of protecting its citizenry and defending the territorial integrity of its nation.

Any government that is incapable of doing this and would rather decide to throw the gates of its nation open to foreigners for whatever reason is unfit to be called a government.

That was the prevailing situation for many years before the current government came on board. But despite well intentioned efforts of the current regime to rectify the situation, the forces of evil are bent on the continuity of their evil machinations as facilitated by indemnified corruption. Where are going from here?

Nigeria’s Vintage Position

The real problem that Nigeria constitutes in Africa today is that of serving as a regional incubator for corruption and yet continues to depend on the engineers of Africa’s problems for unrealizable solution. In a logical poetic stanza many centuries ago, an Arab poet once opined thus:

“We all blame our time for our misdemeanour; when the misdemeanour blamed on our time is actually in us; We smear time with all types of iniquities and yet expect time to cleanse us of any blame; Were time endowed with mouth to comment on us, it would have blamed us for generating all crimes; Certainly no hyena eats a fellow hyena; as some of us, humans, openly eat the flesh of our fellow human beings”.

The Truth of the Matter

The truth of the matter is that the roots of the multi-dimensional problems staring Nigeria on the face today are traceable mostly to the corridors of our governments.

Of all the vices that constitute seemingly insuperable problems for Nigeria today particularly corruption, none originated from a source other than that of the governments. Even where such corruption happens in the private sector, it will be discovered to be a derivative of the public sector either through obnoxious policies or deliberate nepotism or religious irredentism.

How, on earth, can we classify the case of a notorious, so-called frontline cleric, who was given contract by the government in 2014 to smuggle arms and ammunition into our country from South Africa with his own private jet in the name of political patronage in a multi ethnic and multi religious society like Nigeria? Yet, the same government wanted Nigerians to accept that fraudulent act as a normal government business.

We are our own Problem

We are our own problem. We know the sources of what we call problems. And we know how to proffer solution to them.

But we inadvertently incubate such problems to enable us find our own selfish way without minding where that way may lead us. And, like ‘lotus eaters’ in ‘Odipuxs Rex’, we are so much drunk with the lotion of corruption that it has become difficult if not impossible for us to part way with it.

Thus, like the pot that calls the kettle black we continue to deceive ourselves by mischievously passing the bulk anytime the die is cast.

Admonition

Allah’s words will never look for relevance. They are forever the reference points for those who are rightly guided. Through such words, Allah warns in Qur’an 13:11 thus: “Surely, Allah does not change the situation of a nation or community until they themselves have resolved to change it through their attitude”.

Acting the imperialists’ evil script as often done will do no one any good in this country. Nigeria must be herself without blindly imitating any other country. The beginning may be tough. The road may be rough. The journey may be long. But the destination is reachable. GOD SAVE NIGERIA!

 Femi Abbas

“Right-wing propagandists like Limbaugh and Coulter are essentially entertainers, entertainers who stimulate prejudice, selfishness and meanness the way a comedian works for laughs or a tragedian plays for tears. Theirs is a new art form, exclusive to America and bewilderingly successful. In place of traditional conservative ideology, they offer their audience partisan belligerence and a complete package of mail-order hatreds, designed for the conceptually and ethically impaired”.    By Hal Crowther

Peoples’ public utterances or conducts, in any decent society or civilized culture, are a vivid reflection of the houses in which those people live. A discernible person does not necessarily need to visit such houses before knowing whether they are built of glass or of mud.

Perhaps, that is why a common African adage which says that “an empty vessel makes the loudest noise”, is always handy and potent across nations and cultures in this tropic continent when it comes to lousiness in utterances.

Whenever some concerned  Muslims become restless and agitated about the constant foraging belligerence with which some unguarded mouths whose monotonous hobby is to disparage Islam and Muslims that adage is the reference with which they are calmed.

After all, it is better for any bottle that is overfilled with a bobbling liquid to experience a revolt from within its hollow self than from outside its clime. That is a matter of diabolical insurrection. It was this undisputable   fact that motivated the title of today’s article in this column.

The First Salvo

The first salvo against the unbridled allegations of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) was fired last week, by an unassuming   Nigerian member of that Association who is known for thoroughness and frankness on conviction.

His name is Philip Agbese, a Christian theology teacher from Benue State. His salvo this time was aimed at curbing certain frivolously reckless statements often made bellicosely by certain unguarded clerics in the name of CAN.

But despite the frankness with which he sent his message, Philip Agbese, as usual, ensured that his message was a clear admonition meant to save today’s Nigerian Christian flock from derailing spiritually. Below is his message:

“Let me begin with self-introduction. I am a Christian and a communicant of the Roman Catholic sect. In life, change is inevitable. So, at some point in my undergraduate days, my faith dragged me to the Pentecostal ministry on campus.

I rose to the rank of an Assistant Pastor with a campus Pentecostal ministry. I have served in similar capacities at home and abroad.

I played strong and influencing roles at the University of Ilorin Christian Fellowship Association (UCFA). It was at a time most of the leaders of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) now were still in Theological Seminaries for vocational training in order to become pastors”.

Testimony

“By my religious practice, I have tested the fruits and experienced the teachings/doctrines of both orthodox and Pentecostal Christian sects. My faith has remained strong and unwavering in the worship of God through the Christian religion.

My romance with multiple Christian organizations is enduring. I am versed in the doctrines of the church and the modus operandi of Christian associations, like adherents of Aristotle and Socrates.

In the past few days, the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), its sub- associations and the Presidency have been embroiled in very bile public altercations.

The recent war of words is spurred by the unfortunate abduction and eventual death of Pastor Lawan Andimi, the CAN Chairman, Michika LGA, Adamawa state and others by Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists in Nigeria.

It’s a doleful moment for the Christian community in Nigeria. I empathize with all the brethren and the government of Nigeria over these tragic incidents.

Like English poet and cleric in the Church of England, John Donne said in a verse, “Oh death, thou are wicked.” May we be consoled, as we pray for God’s intervention to halt the evil and beastliness which have engulfed our land”.

Unwarranted Brawls

The brawls between CAN leaderships at different levels and the Presidency as symbolized by Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina have degenerated into plain invectives and resort to uncouth language by CAN, which smolders with hate passions.

I have keenly monitored these exchanges. What I discerned clearly is its slide into who is right or wrong between CAN and Adesina. And by my treasured experience, vintage position and knowledge of the issues, I should be able to tell between CAN and Adesina who is wrong.

Abroad for further studies, I remained an elder in the Student Campus Fellowship of Salem Church, United Kingdom (UK).

I have busied myself with the gospel for many years in foreign lands. And I still render my assistance even whilst on leave from the pulpit. All these qualify me both as a believer and a Christian elder to interrogate the position of these two believers- that is, CAN and Adesina”.

Disappointing response

The recent response of a Christian sub-group by the identity of Nigeria Christian Graduate Fellowship (NCGF) to Adesina titled “No, Adesina, You Are Wrong,” was most disappointing. It was signed by Prof. Charles Adisa and Mr Onyenachi Nwaegeruo, National President and General Secretary of the association respectively.

In the public statement, in reaction to the Presidential media aide’s earlier position at the doorstep of CAN’s national leadership, I was stunned at the sheer display of unjustified anger, umbrage and a vacuous appeal to Adesina to repress the truth because it concerns Christians.

We must know and uphold the religious sanctity that truth should not only be domiciled in our churches, but also in our hearts as Christians.

We cannot seek to replace mendacity with falsehood because of the desperation to erect a bulwark around Christianity. I find the outbursts of CAN and NCGF very abhorring; profanely ungodly!

I perused repeatedly to find where Adesina’s reply to CAN denigrated church leadership, disappointed Christian or where he reneged from supporting the church when it mattered most as generously pontificated by NCGF. But there was no such clue either overt or concealed”.

Partisan “Messengers

Some of us have come to understand that national leadership of CAN and affiliate associations have become misguided and partisan messengers of God on the pulpit.

They have no regard for either the teachings of Christ or the religious doctrines they publicly profess. They have de-robed themselves of truth for partisan convenience!

For a first, it is now common knowledge that CAN has over polluted itself and can no longer speak for the body of Christ.

Yes, I say this with a religious conviction because in our clime, religion and politics are distinct. Any attempt to lump the two as presently promoted by CAN disrupts religious and political harmony.

So, CAN or NCGF’s statement in countering Adesina were more political and betrayed the body of Christ in Nigeria.

I agree with Adesina that CAN cannot mix sympathy and bias wrapped in one. CAN cannot erect a multiple tripod. It should confine itself to issues of religion. It has no business dictating to President Muhammadu Buhari how to administer Nigeria or when to sack his Service and Security Chiefs”.

Functions of Opposition

CAN cannot overtly perform the functions of opposition parties. And that’s where Adesina is right! It was enough to mourn the death of Pastor Andimi and others murdered by terrorists.

It touches my heart deeply. It was alright to persuade the Presidency to ensure the release of our little sister, Leah Sharibu still in captivity of Boko Haram.

But I was amazed when CAN began to raise issues of the President’s bias, nepotism or lopsided appointments and determining who should be sacked, retained or appointed by Mr. President. It is stretching their freedom of expression and religious liberty beyond the limits of church righteousness”.

Discord and concord

“Adesina could not have been wrong to draw attention to their reckless comments. Like Adesina said, “You can’t sow discord, and expect concord.” I don’t know which clause in Nigeria’s laws recognizes CAN under the Federal Character principle for it to morph into a partisan or ethnic pressure group against the federal government. The response of NCGF was most unchristian.

They bandied falsehood, as facts and inflated figures of terrorism/ herdsmen killings in Nigeria under the Buhari Presidency. And NCGF embellished hate preachments coated in their known partisan biases.

I was pissed off completely, when NCGF said, “Finally, on the general security situation in the country, does it not occur to Adesina that he is deluded to believe that their government is winning the war against insurgency? He is not seeing that whatever seem to be the magic and gains of 2015 has been reversed in 2019.

Yes, there are no incessant bomb explosions, but number of Nigerians killed by Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen between 2018-2019 are far higher than 2009-2014. Can Adesina check available records both within and outside the country?”

Haba! Why would leaders of the church publicly lie so freely? I don’t know which authority they gleaned to arrive at such humongous figures”.

Read Also: CAN disowns ‘pastor’ who faked own kidnap

Report of Amnesty

I advise CAN to visit the 2019 report of Amnesty International (AI), Nigeria’s covert enemies; Human Rights Watch (HRW) and any other such organization which document Boko Haram/herdsmen killings in Nigeria within the period they cited. Its only at this point, CAN would realize that they lied to themselves and the Christian community while standing on the sacred pulpit.

Let me juxtapose this single incident of terrorism. On January 3-7, 2015, serial raids of Baga town, in Northern Borno state by Boko Haram, left nearly 2,000 persons dead.

When CAN takes time to consult AI, HRW and similar other organizations’ latest reports on documented history of Boko Haram/herdsmen killings, it will dawn on these leaders how they lied to service their ego. I don’t expect barefaced lies from my Christian brethren intent of discrediting the Buhari Presidency.

And as far back as 2013, former President Goodluck Jonathan told the UNGA in New York that Boko Haram has killed over 13, 000 Nigerians from 2009 to 2013.

These are figures in public domain. CAN cannot mix hatred for Buhari with hypocritic posturing for Nigeria’s Christian community.

Buhari is antichristian, insisted NCGF! That has been the narrative concocted against President Buhari for ages. But in the general Christian community in Nigeria, we have come to know it only exists in the imagination of leaders of CAN.

Adesina cannot be wrong by asserting that such malicious persecution of Buhari has outlived its usefulness. It’s extremely stale! Facts on the ground heatedly contradicts the position of these CAN leaders”.

Candid Advice

“I advise CAN and other Nigerians not to look far, but revisit even results of the 2019 presidential elections in Nigeria. Buhari was not only overwhelmingly reelected with majority votes.

Interestingly however, bulk of these votes for President Buhari came from Christians and Christian states.

What other affirmation does CAN requires to know President Buhari has no religious bias or is an Islamic extremist? Much as I can understand, CAN leaders spoke in favour of personalized convictions, which have nothing to do with Nigeria’s Christian community or the Church of God.

I dare say, whilst Adesina is doing his job as Presidential spokesman and can easily be forgiven, the leadership of CAN is indebted to Nigerians. CAN owes the entire body of Christ in Nigeria an apology for polluting the organization with lies and profane thoughts.

It must apologize for its other scandalous acts. This CAN is evil in itself and the crux of the multi-layered problems besieging and compounding Nigeria’s progressive development”.

Boko Haram and CAN

“May I boldly state that CAN is older than Boko Haram in evil and wickedness. It is better for unbelievers to pledge allegiance to the god of Mammon, but worse for believers. The Bible says such a person will roast in hell.

This is the same body that went to town to celebrate one of its own after a sister accused him of rape. It took the intervention of some “ungodly believers” Christians’ like us for the voice of the sister to be heard, even if for the sake of fairness.

It is the same CAN that defended Apostle Johnson Suleiman of Omega Fire Ministries (OFM) who stood on the sacred altar and incited his congregants to kill every Fulani man at sight, much against Biblical injunctions and religious/church teachings.

I have known CAN for many years as a disgrace to the body of Christ. In 2005, one of the wings of CAN was enmeshed in the Benny Hinn crusade scandal in Nigeria for doing everything wrong.

That wing of CAN later took over the leadership of CAN. It has left us with this odious stench that each time we tell people that we are Christians, we must hide our faces in shame”.

Conclusion

CAN, you are so wrong on the Buhari Presidency! I pray that CAN should rediscover itself. Almighty God, we seek your intervention!”

Second Salvo

In another development, one other Christian group named United Christian Forum of Nigeria (UCFN) made a press on Tuesday, January 28, 2020. In which it differred with CAN on Religious Persecution” and caution the latter against inflaming the country with religious brigandage.

The group disagreed with the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) over the latter’s allegation that the Boko Haram unrest was targeted at persecution of Christians. The Secretary-General of UCFN, Rev. Oyekanmi Rafael who presented the statement advised the leadership of CAN and opposition politicians against helping insurgents to cause unrest in the country.

Addressing a world press conference in Lagos, the forum expressed worry over what it called, “wording and choice of language” used by CAN and opposition leaders in response to recent killings in the North-East. Rev. Rafael stressed that playing the religious card could sow the seed of “discord, disunity and inflame passions of hate and violence in Nigeria.”

He decried the recent killings and attacks carried out by the Boko Haram and Islamic State of West African Province (ISWAP), as well as the high rate of kidnapping, abductions, armed robbery, herders/farmers clashes and other communal activities.

The UCFN scribe specifically condemned the killing of CAN chairman of Michika LGA in Adamawa State, Pastor Lawan Andimi by the Boko Haram and other clergymen murdered by the insurgents while commiserating with their families.

The group however differed with the CAN leadership, saying it was “astounded” by their reaction which gave religious colouration to the heightened insurgents’ attacks. “But as much as these incidents are painful and near inconsolable especially to the families of the victims, there is cause for us as leaders at whatever level or as individuals to observe restraint in the sentimental interpretations we give to the unfortunate incidents”.

Comment

Given the delicate national situation of this period in Nigeria, it is assumed that the two statements above will not be tagged a ploy to ‘islamize’ Nigeria as the usual? Those two statements were brought up in this column not only to show that some people are reasoning, but also to congratulate Muslim leaders in the country for not joining provocative words with war mongers.

FEMI ABBAS 

The title of today’s article in this column is the title of a lecture that yours sincerely was invited by Nigerian Interreligious Council (NIREC) to deliver as a guest speaker at its two days meeting of February 11 and 12, 2013 in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

It was the tradition of NIREC to organize lectures on a quarterly basis to enhance its members’ understanding of the other religion. Thus, as yours sincerely was invited by the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) to deliver a lecture on ‘Solution to Terrorism’ from Islamic perspective, so was a Professor from the University of Jos invited by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) to deliver a similar lecture from Christian perspective.

His Eminence, Dr. Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, CFR, mni, the Sultan of Sokoto, was present at that meeting as the President General of the NSCIA and Co Chairman of NIREC while Pastor Ayodele Joseph Oritsegbulemi Oritsejafor was also present as the President of CAN and Co Chairman of NIREC.

The Governor of Akwa Ibom State at that time was Godswill Akpabio who was also present at the occasion”.

“But surprisingly, an incident occurred on that occasion, which has since remained an indelible scar on the body of NIREC. Shortly before the commencement of the programme, the CAN leaders suddenly came up with a strange demand.

They indicated that the delivery of Femi Abbas’ own lecture would not be allowed. And no reason was given. All efforts by the leadership of NSCIA to know the reason why Femi Abbas’ lecture would not be allowed ended in a forlorn as CAN members threatened to walk out of the venue if NSCIA insisted on the presentation of the lecture”.

Resolution

After a long time of debate and arguments on that strange demand, the NSCIA decided to rest the matter by allowing CAN to have its way if only to avoid sending a wrong signal with dangerous backlash implications to the nation.

After all, it would be ridiculous for the NSCIA with its globally acknowledged dignity to joins issues with CAN on a frivolous demand.

Thus, the Professor from the University of Jos presented his own lecture from Christian perspective while yours sincerely was given the treatment of ‘a chicken in a pond’.

If that was not terrorism what other name could it be called? Now, ironically, it is the same CAN that is organizing and coordinating a nationwide Christian walk against terrorism. Is that not laughable? But since no one can give what it does not have, it cannot be surprising that nationwide walk is CAN’s own solution to terrorism.

Backlash

For five years after that unbridled insult, no NIREC meeting was held until 2018 when another President of CAN emerged in the person of Dr. Supo Ayokunle who has since continued his predecessor’s belligerent propaganda in the name of religion.

Meanwhile, despite the shoddy treatment given to the Muslim wing of NIREC by CAN, it was the latter that still went public on the matter by accusing the NSCIA of blocking NIREC meetings.

But for large- heartedness and magnanimity of His Eminence, the Sultan, NIREC would have been permanently forgotten and probably consigned to the refuse bin of Nigerian history.

Please, read below the contents of the lecture which the CAN, under Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, prevented yours sincerely from presenting for undisclosed reason:

The Lecture

‘Terrorism: Genesis, Causes, Effect and Solution’.

“In Yoruba ancient mythology, a dragon fly dancing on the surface of a stream was believed to symbolize a puzzling omen.

But convinced that killing the fly would not remove the omen, the elders in that vicinity consulted an oracle which disclosed that the dancing dragon fly had its drummer beneath the water.

Unless that drummer could be identified and stopped from drumming, the dragon fly might continue to frighten the stream water drawers with its puzzling dance ad infinitum”.

Historical Factors

“The historical factors that gave rise to terrorism clearly transcend religion. When the first act of terrorism was perpetrated by a Jewish Zealot group, over 2,000 years ago, neither Christianity nor Islam had taken any firm root.

Although Prophet Isa (Jesus) had come and gone by then, his divine mission had not effectively reached the Gentile. And Prophet Muhammad (SAW) who later brought Islam to mankind had not been born.

If violence alone is what constitutes terrorism as many people wrongly tend to believe, then, it never emanated from religion though religion has sometimes been used as a cover up and blamed for it. No genuine message from Allah ordains or supports violence of any form among human beings.

Therefore, the engendered terrorism by the Jewish Zealots in year 06 CE was rather a violent expression of resentment for the domination of the Jews by the Roman Gentile than a fight between two religions (see Luke 6:15, Acts 1: 13 and Mathew 10: 4 for confirmation in the St. James edition of the Bible). By connotation, that resentment was a resistance to exploitative domination of a culture by another culture. Thus, as it was in the beginning, so it is today.

The Theory of Terrorism

From the brief historical account just given above, it should be clear that terrorism is neither a phenomenon peculiar to the modern time nor a new innovation rooted in religion. And its causes and effects remain the same today as they were some centuries back.

What should be understood about terrorists’ method of operation is that any evil doer will simply look for a justifying reason to indulge in. And it does not matter to them whether such reason is tenable or untenable.

Read Also: Presidency lauds CAN for anti-killing protest march

And, invariably, the reason often given is one that appeals to people of their like minds at least in the immediate vicinity. This is to elicit sympathy and support of feeble-minded elements around with tendency for roguery.

The common denominator among all terrorists is the theory of “using what you have to get what you want”. This theory has a fundamental meaning to all peaceful or violent agitators in their quest for they often call redress against what they perceive as injustice”.

Beyond Boko Haram

“It is not only in Nigeria that some vandals like Boko Haram and Akhwat Akwop are using religion (Islam and Christianity respectively) as cover for terrorism. At least the case of Joseph Kony of Uganda who waged a rebellious war on his country and on Central Africa Republic for decades ‘in the name of Jesus’ can still be vividly remembered.

For over two decades of his atrocious operations, that former Catholic altar boy from northern Uganda used Biblical Ten Commandments to execute his terrorist activities with which he recruited thousands of kids into his army and killed and maimed hundreds of thousands of innocent people including women and children indiscriminately.

At least for that calamitous period, Joseph Kony and his over 3,000 heavily armed teenage soldiers that constituted a terror army in the region were a minority group among Ugandan Christians just as the devilish Boko Haram members in Nigeria are a minority group claiming to be Muslims and using Islam as a cover. Yet, Kony’s evil activities did not make him a crusader for God as he claimed neither was Christianity blamed for his satanic activities”.

“Anybody can give any religious or mundane reason to justify any evil activity, according to his or her interpretation of the religion or ideology he claims to profess in order to get what he/she wants. But that does not make such an evil agent a true adherent or representative of his claimed religion or ideology”.

“The concern here is much more about national security, through safety of lives and property than flagrant apportionment of blames through sheer religious sentiment”.

Origin of Atomic Bomb

“In modern time, the origin of using bomb either as a weapon for war or as an instrument for terrorism can be traced back to 1939.

In August that year, a German American physicist, Albert Einstein, sent a letter to the then U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt to hint him of the possibility of discovering a powerful explosive device through the fission of uranium and warned Roosevelt of the danger in allowing other nations to develop it before the US.

In response, the U.S. government established the top secret Manhattan Project in 1942 to develop an atomic device.

The leader of that Project was a U.S. Army Brigadier General Leslie R. Groves whose team worked in several locations but largely at Los Alamos, New Mexico, under the direction of American physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer.

The team designed and built the first atomic bomb which was test-exploded at Alamogordo, New Mexico on July 16, 1945. And that was the weapon used by the US to destroy Japan’s two cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the World War II an incident that brought that war to an abrupt end”.

Non-Proliferation Treaty

“Following the above episode, the fear of proliferation of nuclear arsenal compelled the so-called super powers to initiate the idea of Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty which was signed in 1968. By that initiative, virtually all countries of the world besides the known nine nuclear nations formally pledged not to manufacture those weapons.

The pledge was made under the 1968 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which came into force in 1970. The treaty was later ratified by 187 non-nuclear weapon states. Yet, secret proliferation of those weapons remains one of the major causes of terrorism in the world today”.

Global Concern

“The problem concerning terrorism here is not about the signing or breaching of treaty per se. Neither is it about armament reduction. It is rather about some nations’ determination to balance power with rivals.

This was the factor that led to the invention of atomic bomb by the US in the first instance. And this factor has now advanced to the stage of balance of terror not only among nations but even more between those perceived as oppressors and certain groups who feel oppressed.

Thus, the more the knowledge of developing weapons of mass destruction keeps spreading, and the more the strategy for policing proliferation of nuclear weapons becomes intensified, the more the world is finding it difficult to ventilate a peaceful atmosphere for any confident existence of mankind”.

The Super Power Syndrome

“The lopsidedness created by the super power syndrome has turned the whole world into one massive animal farm in which all animals are supposed to be equal but some are claiming to be more equal than others.

This was the kind of situation which forced the former colonies to rebel against their colonizers in various ways in order to become independent.

One can imagine what could have happened if other super powers like Russia and China were to be as aggressively bellicose as the US, Britain and France. Arrogance of power is a major propelling force  that often instigates terrorism in various parts of the world, which must be shed if terrorism will be sincerely repelled.

Today, terrorism has so much become an implacable monster that no single country or clique of power mongers can confront without the cooperation of all other countries. And such cooperation must be on the terms of majority of those other countries and not on master/servant terms”.

Internal Terrorism

“As for internal terrorism which is far more dangerous than the external one, only good governance can curb it and ventilate the atmosphere for peace”.

“No government has ever been able to defeat terrorism by the use of force. Nigeria cannot be an exception. Wherever terrorism is seen to have simmered, diplomacy and dialogue, rather than force, must have played a vital role in its dysfunction.

This fact must be considered very seriously. And in finding solution, three major hitherto unfocused areas must now be handled without levity. One is checkmating sources of weapons used by the terrorists. Another is a device for mass employments of the youths.

And the third is official regulation of religious propagation in the country to check possible excesses that often breed fanaticism as well as the danger in commercialization of religion. Managing these three areas will definitely make tremendous difference in curbing the spate of violence in the land”.

Conclusion

“Despite our diversity in tongues and faiths in Nigeria, we have managed to come this far to live together in harmony as a people. What remains is the maintenance of that togetherness based on tolerance and compromise. We must not allow religious or tribal sentiments to destroy the house which the Almighty Allah has guided us to jointly build. God bless Nigeria!

By Femi Abbas

Peace is a unique virtue in the life of man. Its value cannot be measured in terms of gold or silver. Any life without peace is a life in vain.

Peace, in any tempestuous circumstance, is often not by chance. It is rather a well-planned sphere of life with formidable pillars like endurance, tolerance and mutual understanding. The usual template of peace in any society is based on experience gained from history.

Preamble

This article is not new. It was first published in this column in 2012. But it is being repeated here today because of demands for its republication by many readers who passionately believe in its relevance to the current Nigerian situation in which religion has become the biggest commercial venture that vigorously constitutes a tug of war at the instance of some commercial charlatans who are claiming to be religious leaders.

Such charlatans are mostly known by the hate speeches which they provocatively dish out in torrents from their pulpits as a form of enticing advertisement to certain ignorant people who can be lured into the dragnet of their commercial venture.

The wings of history

History is an invisible object with two invisible wings flying across generations in time and in space. One of the wings is positive, the other is negative.

It is only with history that the present becomes the heritage of the past while the future awaits the baton of continuity or otherwise from the present.

No living nation or tribe or even individuals can dream of a realizable future without a veritable present based on a memorable experience of the past. The web of life is like a magnet which no iron element can bypass on its way to ornamental glory.

Fabric of uncertainty

Against what ought to be a valuable heritage, Nigeria is, sadly passing through a fabric of uncertainty today as she rolls back the fibres of the future into those of the present and weaves both into the vestiges of the past.

Such is a sign of a dead nation waiting to be interned. What war is not ravaging Nigeria today in spite of Allah’s abundant bounties? The forces of the present seem to have connived with those of the past to jointly engage in wrestling down the future with a determination to depriving the generations yet unborn of any hope of decent existence.

Reminiscences

For decades, Nigeria has been forced by the so-called leaders to fight political, economic and social wars without winning any. Now, a religious dimension is being desperately added for pecuniary purpose.

Thus, like a billow vigorously storming around at the instance of an invisible tempest, a melee of religious hullabaloo engendered by a vicious political Pandora has virtually turned Nigeria into a land of curses. God! Where are we going from here?

Read Also: Tola Adeniyi’s exhibition of ignorance

Purpose of religion

By its design and intent, religion is supposed to be not only a panacea for all human psychological ailments but also a soothing balm for any spiritual ache.

Ironically, however, religion in Nigeria today has been turned into a poison   without any provision for an antidote. And through our usual   attitude tagged Nigerian factor, we seem to be bent on swallowing the pill of that poison without minding its dangerous repercussion.

The factors of ignorance

The factors that culminated in what we now variously call religious militancy, extremism, fanaticism and terrorism emanated only from the yoke of ignorance which bad governance has perennially incubated.

And could anything have influenced bad governance as much as ignorance? Yet ignorance would not have had a role to play in our religious or political lives if we had demonstrated the will to genuinely follow the tenets of our religions and learned from the lessons of history without banking on biased assumptions and fallacious rumours.

History as a teacher

History as a teacher always has a lesson to teach those who are ready to learn. But unfortunately, most human beings, especially Nigerians, refuse to learn any lesson from history and the price is what we are paying today.

In 1962, Nigeria’s Governor General, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe (who later became Nigeria’s first President in 1963), paid a three day official courtesy visit to the Premier of Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello in Kaduna. Dr Azikiwe was accompanied by his wife, Flora.

The host Premier mobilized all the paraphernalia of office in honour of his guests whom he accorded an unprecedentedly flamboyant hospitality.

The three days visit enabled their wives to become so familiar with each other that Flora also invited the Bellos to the East on a similar visit.

By the time the visit ended, Dr. Azikiwe had become so much impressed that at the point of departure he held Ahmadu Bello’s hands and gently told him to “please let us forget our differences”.

Response

In response to that emotional but infatuating gesture, Sir Ahmadu Bello said in an equally gentle, baritone voice: “No sir! Rather than forgetting our differences, let us understand them.

I am a Muslim from the North. You are a Christian from the South. It is only by identifying and understanding those differences that our friendliness can truly blossom and endure”.

There and then, Dr. Azikiwe nodded in agreement with his host’s logic and accepted the fact that one could not forget what has not been identified and understood.

The lesson to learn

The lesson to learn from this experience is that of mutual understanding without pretentiously sweeping anything under the carpet.

That is the principle upon which the marriage of political strange fellows who find themselves in a joint government is often based in Nigeria.

It is also the principle upon which partnership of many Nigerian businessmen and women is based despite their cultural incompatibility.

But that principle is not applied to Religion in Nigeria despite the existence of a body called Nigeria Interreligious Council (NIREC).

And this is because of easy but dubious access to cheap wealth by certain fraudulent charlatans who are greedily masquerading in the cassock of religion and parading themselves as   religious leaders.

Stages of ignorance

For thousands of years, peoples of all races and tribes across the world thrived vaingloriously on cultural ignorance while attributing their calamities to mysterious forces and blaming such mysteries on what they called witchcraft.

In the past, here in Africa, millions of children were forced to die in infancy by their own parents out of sheer ignorance while the same parents turned round to blame what they called ‘ABIKU’ or ‘OGBANJE’ for the mass infanticide which they ignorantly engendered.

With time, however, education and knowledge of science brought about the invention of various vaccines with which children were immunized against different diseases thereby giving those infants the   opportunity to survive.

And this has enabled us to know today that the mystery which we once called ‘ABIKU’ or ‘OGBANJE’ was a euphemism for ignorance in African mythology of those days.

Progressive pedestal

Now that the days of cultural ignorance seem to be over, Nigerians have devised another means of restiveness by shifting to religious ignorance which enables them to replace the infanticide of the yore with modern day genocide through terrorism and banditry.

It is hoped that one day, real education and not mere literacy will also help us to overcome the spectre of religious ignorance and propel our country to the progressive pedestal on which she ought to have been dwelling for long.

Qur’anic testimony

If it had pleased the Almighty Allah to make all human beings one single race with one colour, one tongue and one religion, He would have done so without receiving any query from any quarters.

But as the undisputable Omnipresent and Omnipotent entity, His decision to diversify His creatures cannot be faulted because it is from that diversity that all creatures have consistently derived unfettered benefits.

In the world today, there are different races and tribes of human beings with different colours, languages and cultures each functioning as predestined and yet they all interact positively with one another to the benefit of all and sundry.

This is in accordance with the words of Allah in Chapter 49 verse 13 of the Qur’an thus: “Oh mankind! We have created you from a male and a female and classified you into races and tribes that you may interact positively with one another (and thereby draw from the advantages therein).

Verily, the most honourable among you before Allah are the most pious ones. Allah is All-knowing and most acquainted with all things”.

Other creatures

What is true of human beings in the above quoted Qur’anic verse is equally true of other creatures. For instance we can all see that on a single   plot of arable land, a variety of plants may grow to form an orchard but each plant with different foliages and fruits.

Some of those fruits may be sweet, some may be bitter and some may be sour. Some may be fruitful and some may be fruitless. Some may be trees of gargantuan posture while others may be ordinary legumes.

Yet they are all fed by the same soil, watered by the same rain and photosynthesized by the same sun. Their different foliages, sizes, heights and tastes notwithstanding, they all function effectively and advantageously according to the purpose for which they are created.

Ecosystem

In the ecosystem, no tree in an orchard will ever accuse another of bearing fruits different from its own and no animal will blame another for carrying a different feature or for wearing a different colour.

No whale will ever denigrate even a fingerling in the ocean for sharing the same water with it. Ditto the world of birds, reptiles, and that of insects.

Even as plants, animals, aquatics, reptiles, birds and insects, those creatures know that for everything Allah does He has a reason which may not be known to them as creatures. It is only among human beings that discrimination and segregation exist based on ignorance.

Parable of religion

We can also compare the above analogy to a situation inside a football stadium where there is a variety of sections such as State Box for the upper class, State Box Extension for the Middle Class and popular side for the lower class.

At the entrance of the stadium, each person obtains a ticket according to his or her financial ability which determines his status. And that qualifies him for a seat in any of those sections according to the status of the ticket obtained.

Without prejudice to the categories of the tickets they obtain, all the spectators in the stadium are authorised to watch the match for which they have paid.

If at the end of the match however, a spectator who was privileged to sit in the State Box turns round to say that another spectator who sat at the popular side of the stadium did not watch the match others around them will sarcastically conclude that something might have gone wrong with the psyche of the accuser.

The positions from which those spectators watched the match might be different but the fact remains that they all watched the same match. That is the parable of religion in the lives of individual human beings.

The mission of religion

In Islam, all revealed religions are like an embassy established by a nation in another nation to strengthen her diplomatic relation with the host country.

The Ambassadors appointed to manage such embassy may be changed from time to time just like the foreign policy which guides those ambassadors but the embassy remains intact barring any unforeseen circumstances.

So is the case with the Prophets of Allah. They might have come at different times and from different lands with different tongues.

They might have brought different books revealed in different languages but their mission was one and the same because their Creator who appointed them as Ambassadors is only one and He cannot be pluralized.

One message

Muslims believe that all the Prophets and Messengers who have come into the world to guide mankind were from one and the same God who created the universe.

Thus, Prophets Ibrahim (Abraham), Ismail (Ishmael) Ishaq (Isaac), Musa (Moses), Daud (David), Isa (Jesus) and Muhammad (SAW) as well as others who preceded them or came in-between them brought the same message of monotheism through which mankind was counselled to worship one God and be upright in conduct.

Admonition

In Qur’an Chapter 2 verse 285, Allah admonishes Muslims against discriminating among His Apostles thus: “The Apostle of Allah, Muhammad, (SAW) believes in what has been revealed to him by his Lord, and so do all the (Muslim) faithful.

They all believe in Allah and His Angels, His Books as well as His Apostles.

We do not discriminate against any of His Apostles. They say ‘We hear and obey. Grant us your forgiveness oh Lord! To you we shall all return”.

Religious rivalry

As a Muslim, you cannot believe in one of those Apostles and disbelieve in others. And you cannot believe in one of the revealed Books while disbelieving in others.

That is why no true adherent of Islam will ever express foul language against the person of Jesus or blame the misdemeanour of a Christian on Christianity as some Nigerian Christians do against the person of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and Islam as a religion when they accidentally have an unpleasant encounter with a misbehaving Muslim as if there are no misbehaving Christians in Nigeria.

Were Nigerian Muslims also to bring such a disgruntled rivalry into religion especially in their propagations, the country called Nigeria would have probably been long forgotten.

Unity of God

Although the modalities for worshipping God may differ from faith to faith and from sanctuary to sanctuary this does not change the course of their faith in only one God.

Thus, the rivalry between Muslims and Christians especially in Nigeria over who is spiritually right or wrong is a product of ignorance.

Similarities

As taught by Christianity and Islam through their  revealed Books respectively, the areas of life that need our cooperation are by far more comprehensive than those in which we differ.

For instance, both the Bible and the Qur’an counsel humanity to worship one God. They preach good deeds to neighbours and other fellow human beings publicly and privately, irrespective of religious lineage.

They advocate good care for our parents, our children, the aged ones amongst us and the handicapped. They urge kindness to our spouses, forgiveness for our offenders, leniency with our adversaries and magnanimity in victory to the vanquished.

They admonish us against cheating and any form of corruption. They forbid theft, adultery, fornication, homosexuality, lesbianism and above all the killing of fellow human beings extra-judicially for whatever reason.

They also warn us against provocation, aggression, oppression, exploitation and transgression even as they emphasize the ephemerality of this world and the eventuality of the hereafter. In all these, we have a common affinity to jointly guard.

Dissimilarities

The few areas in which we differ are abstract and quite personal. They are not areas on which human beings are given the power to pass judgement.

Only the Almighty God can judge on them. Such are the areas which we believe will pave our ways into the Paradise.

But since paradise is for individuals and not for religious blocks why are we fighting each other as religious bodies on the basis of belief or disbelief? After all, the journey to Paradise or Hell is a matter of choice for every individual.

And no one can tell with precision who will go to Paradise or go to Hell. Such is the prerogative of God which He has not assigned to any human being and which no human being can and should arrogate to himself or herself except one who wants to play God.

Perception of God

As an adherent of a religion, you can only perceive your God according to your faith and that should not cause any rancour between you and adherents of any other religion.

As Nigerians, we dwell in the same country, eat the same foods, drink the same water, wear similar dresses, trade in the same markets, share the same offices and spend the same money.

Our children attend the same schools, write the same examinations and obtain the same certificates. We intermarry across tribes and ethnicities as well as religions.

All these form a stronger bond that ought to unite us much more than the abstract ones which often threaten to tear us apart.

In a situation where the factors of life that unite us grossly surpass those that divide us will it not be stupid to relinquish unity and cooperation for the adoption of satanic animosity and ruinous antagonism?

Observation

With the official formation of an interfaith group called NIREC, it had been thought that religion  would be the last bastion of hope that could pave way for a future of harmony not only in the sphere of religion but also in the social and political spheres as well.

But unfortunately that noble thought is now rapidly being turned into an unwarranted despair as the agents of Satan are becoming more aggressively combative   against peaceful coexistence just to gain personal ephemeral life in which they would ride in executive jets regale in exclusive mansions to the detriments of the ignorant congregations which they exploit to the marrows all in the name of religion.

Conclusion

It was to guard against such satanic tendencies that a famous American intellectual and Statesman, Williams Webster, coined the following stanza to be added to the archive of modern civilization:

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

time can efface but will brighten to eternity”. God Bless Nigeria!

By Femi Abass

A newspaper or magazine columnist of worth is an incubator of dilemma. This is because column writing is like pregnancy in the womb of an expectant mother. Just as such a pregnant woman feels uncomfortable until she is successfully delivered of the baby in her womb so does a columnist remain restless until his column has reached public domain. The more a columnist thinks of an issue to write about, the more other issues throw themselves torrentially at him for choice in a competitive manner. And in that melee, the tendency is for him to fall into a dilemma or even confusion.  That confirms that the problem of a worthy columnist is not a dearth of ideas but a deluge of them. Thus, if    today’s article did not appear in this column last Friday as expected by many readers, understanding should be their recourse.

Preamble

This article ought to have been published in this column last Friday with a different entitle. But the expediency at the time of its writing preferred a more befitting title as found here.

Reminiscence

Six years ago (2014), an iconic Southwest Muslim leader, Aare Abdul Azeez Arisekola Alao fortuitously embarked on a journey of no return. The global media waves throbbed with the breaking news of his demise on June 18, 2014. Ever since, his ephemeral sojourn on this earth for about 69 years has become a subject of positive or negative comments among friends and foes respectively. But one major fact that is often over- sighted about this icon is the role of his twin brother in his lifestyle.

Who was his twin brother?

Very few people knew that the late Aare Arisekola-Alao had a twin brother that was inseparable from him. And those who knew that fact either took it for granted or did not duly acknowledge it. Like most human beings who were born with placenta, this colossus was not born into the world all alone. But unlike others, he was intimately accompanied by an invisible child. That invisible child was an abstract entity called HUMILITY which Aare personified passionately throughout his life.

When alive, Aare Arisekola was like the sun. Whenever it bulged out of the orbit with the magnificence of its rays, no star could dare attempt to rise. And when he eventually bowed to the will of destiny by bidding life bye, the entire world was forced to chorus the lamentations of a rare eclipse.

Distinguishing factor

In his lifetime, Aare Arisekola was not the only moneybag in the Southwest of Nigeria. What clearly distinguished him from most of his peers was his second twin (humility) which never parted with him even when he was mournfully lowered into his grave. Like a famous actor, Aare Arisekola left the stage when the ovation was loudest. But he did not forget to leave behind a legacy that could not be inherited by any fair weather charlatan. Today, anybody may aspire to be like Aare Arisekola-Alao as a matter of nomenclature or yeran to gain his God’s endowed fame, but no one has proved to be a possessor of the wherewithal with which to wear the obviously oversized shoes left behind by the colossus. By all standards, Aare Arisekola was as great in death as he was alive. At least, his humility ensured that. Perhaps that is why the world continues to chorus amen while prayers to the Almighty Allah to repose his soul in perfect, eternal bliss continue in certain quarters.

 A tripod of fortune

Following the announcement of Aare  Arisekola’s demise six years ago, this columnist published a tribute on him that may for long remain indelible in the memories of his family members and those of his associates. That tribute was entitled ‘Sunset @ Noon’. And an excerpt from it went thus:

“…..Before now, there were three great Muslim philanthropists in the Southwest of Nigeria who were jointly called ‘a tripod of fortune’. Each of them had a national tentacle that formed a formidable fortress against the poisonous arrows of poverty in the land. But with time, they started leaving the stage one by one. First to go was Bashorun Moshood Kasimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola, the Baba Adini of Yoruba land. He was a man often described as ‘larger than life’. His exit was followed by that of the quiet, easy going but kind-hearted Chief (Dr.) Wahab Iyanda Folawiyo, CON, the Baba Adini ‘of Nigeria’. Both of them left behind a very big vacuum that kept most Muslims wondering if there could be any replacement for them.

But surprisingly, Aare Arisekola-Alao, the third but anchor leg of the tripod, took up the challenge and courageously combined the vacuums left behind by the duo of Abiola and Folawiyo with that of his own. He extended his philanthropic tentacles to areas hitherto covered by his two former colleagues so much that most people hardly remembered that there was once a tripod.

Philanthropy

Like Abiola and Folawiyo, Aare Arisekola was a stupendous philanthropist with an ever open hand that knew no boundaries of tribe, age, gender or creed. His generosity was legendry and unlimited. And he was never tired of giving the same individuals or groups of people repeatedly. At least, his fervent belief in the Hadith of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) which says that “an upper hand is far better reward- able than the lower hand” guaranteed the philanthropy in him. Which area of his largess can one really recount with precision? The story of Arisekola-Alao’s generosity can never be fully told in volumes of books either by a combination of individuals, groups or institutions.

Attestation

A versatile American poet who came up with the following axiomatic poem could not have imagined that his thoughts might germinate in Africa and nurtured to fruition by an African. Here is how he put it:

“Who shares his life’s pure pleasure and works 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”.  The world was fortunate to witness these traits in Aare Arisekola when he was alive.

Comment

Perhaps no contemporary Nigerian is as fitting to the above quoted poem as Alhaji Abdul Azeez Arisekola-Alao, CON, the erstwhile Aare Musulumi of Yoruba land and Deputy President-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), who lived like a sun and photosynthesized all the ‘living organisms’ around him giving all of them the fulfilled dreams of their lives.

However, like a falcon that suddenly took a flight leaving the surrounding falconers to wonder, this man’s sun fortuitously set at noon when its rays was most needed by the needy. He lived like an era in the epoch of contemporary human history and died like an era at the climax of his humanitarian gestures.

The similitude of Aare Arisekola-Alao among the sundry elite and masses of Yoruba people of the Southwest in particular and other people of tribal and religious diversities in general is like that of the Queen in a bee hive. Take it out of the hive and the rest of the bees in that hive will automatically become stranded.

A case study

Aare Arisekola-Alao’s life history is a case study for all well-meaning intellectuals and people of wherewithal. He was a unique colossus whose life and death should serve as a lesson from which to learn the conduct of life. For instance, this man was political without being a politician. He was religious without being a cleric. He was sociable without being a socialist. He was traditional without being a traditionalist. Yet, he fitted perfectly into each of these features of life like a scepter in the hand of a king. Aare was a man of peculiar lifestyle with a peculiar focus. He lived for service to humanity just as service craved his penchant for philanthropy. It may take Nigeria another century to produce the like of this impeccable personage.

His zooming into limelight

As a young man in his 30s in the mid  1970s, this man zoomed into limelight like a crescent of hope despite his limited educational background and he subsequently grew into a full blown moon brightening the lives of multitudes that would have remained in an indefinite rigmarole through the darkness of life. His Midas touch was like an antidote against any potential pecuniary poison.

A reminder

Arisekola-Alao’s demise reminds us of a potent observation which some companions of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) expressed before him out of fear of the unknown. They said: “Oh Prophet, the men of wealth seem to have gone with all the virtues; they worshipped as we are now worshipping; they fasted as we are now fasting and they competed actively among themselves in the realm of charity”. And in response, the Prophet pointed out to them that “Allah has equally endowed you with a variety of charity avenues” saying that “glorification of Allah is charity, so is gratification of Allah and exaltation of Allah as well as the likes….”. That conversation has since become a credible Hadith due to its entailed spiritual wisdom.

Solace

There is solace for Muslims in the above quoted Hadith which can see Muslims of today through the ‘Cape of Good Hope’. As a community, contemporary Muslims have perennially relied too much on certain endowed individuals in their midst without thinking of what could become of the community should anything happen to those individuals. Thus, with Aare Arisekola’s sudden departure, the reality began to dawn on them. Despite that, however, the die is not yet cast. Most of those who have prominently departed this world amongst us were men of monetary wherewithal. There are still thousands of others whose wealth is not necessarily monetary but who need to be studied and emulated in preparation for their own possible sudden exit. Some of such people are of wisdom and intellectualism while others are of truthfulness, contentment and integrity. Without adequate preparation for their exit, the shock awaiting the Ummah may be more devastating than that arising from the death of the wealthy few.

Memory lane

Nigeria’s first President, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, did not take cognizance of the lifestyle of the likes of Arisekola-Alaos of this world when he alluded to it in the introduction to his autobiography published in 1970 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 causes 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”.

Aftermath

There was similarity in the aftermath situation of the death of the trio of Abiola, Folawiyo and Alao which no era before theirs had witnessed in Nigeria of the 20th/21st centuries. The funeral of each of these great men was either physically attended by everybody that mattered in Nigeria including President, governors, ministers, high caliber legislators, topmost personalities in the judiciary and chief executives of the business world as well as politicians and intellectual gurus.

In the case of Arisekola-Alao which was the last leg, it is almost impossible to enumerate the caliber of people who were present to say ‘we are here to condole’. Of all the comments notably made in the condolence book earmarked for comments, no one was more precinct than that of Senator Abiola Ajimobi, the then Governor of Oyo State, who described Aare’s death as ‘the end of an era’. But His Eminence, Dr. Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, the Sultan of Sokoto and President General of Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) perfected that comment during his condolence visit to the residence of the deceased when he said that “if the title AARE is reversed, it would become ERA”. In other words, Aare (Arisekola) simply meant an era in his own time.

Conclusion

From all conceivable angles, Aare Arisekola-Alao seemed to have studied and imbibed the thoughtful philosophy of another American of notable fame, Williams Webster, who once coined a moving poem which he dedicated to humanity as follows:

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

As the Deputy President-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) and a frontline pillar of the Muslim Ummah of Southwest Nigeria (MUSWEN) as well as a patron of over 100 Muslim organisations, the entire Nigerian Muslim Community, home and abroad, bids you farewell while praying for the repose of your soul in eternal bliss. We also pray Allah to grant your immediate and remote family members as well as your close associates the fortitude with which to bear the agony of your irreplaceable departure. We shall keep retracing your footprint just as  Allah keeps blessing   your soul forever. Inna liLlah wa Inna ilayhi raji ‘un!

FEMI ABBAS ON

Besides truth which is generally hated for its bitter taste, two other major phenomena of life are taken for granted by virtually all human beings. One is privacy which is natural and of necessity.

The other is secrecy which is artificial and devilish. Professional journalists often report the one with caution and the other with passionate disdain. Thus, while privacy enjoys the protection of the law, secrecy often   incurs the wrath of the law.

That is why any attempt to pry into other people’s private lives is often described as an invasion of privacy. In a nutshell, every secret tends to be a CAN of dangerous worms that is ardently guarded against exposure by its custodians.

The Boko Haram Carnage

The above assertion is now vividly applicable to the evil carnage called Boko Haram in Nigeria which has become a frightening specter chasing most citizens towards unplanned different directions.

The current restive situation in the country which makes the continuity of the entity called Nigeria seemingly uncertain is a confirmation of an Arab predictive maxim rendered into a remarkable poem many centuries ago. The poem went thus:

“This is the period which we had been warned against in the admonitions of Ubayyi Bn Ka’b and Abdullah Bn Mas’ud; a period in which truth is to be rejected in its totality while falsehood and evil machinations are to be mischievously held aloft; should this period be allowed to linger ahead without check, it may reach a situation in which there will be no   mourning over the death of beloved persons and no rejoice over the birth of new babies”.

Shocking Revelations

In August 2014, an Australian expert in international negotiation, Dr. Stephen Davis, made a landmark revelation about Boko Haram and its sponsors on a popular television station in London.

The then 63 year old expert who was allegedly contracted officially by Nigerian government under President Goodluck Jonathan, to negotiate with Boko Haram on the release of about 276 school girls abducted by Boko Haram vandals in Chibok, Bornu State, decided to blow the whistle when his mission in Nigeria was frustrated.

It will be recalled that the innocent Chibock girls were abducted in their school premises on April 14, 2014. And on the following day, (April 15, 2014), some heartless evil agents believed to be of the same devilish group bombed the crowded Nyanyan motor park in Abuja killing 77 innocent citizens in ‘hot blood’.

Whistle Blowing

Dr. Stephen Davis, a former Cardinal of the Anglican Church, decided to blow the whistle on discovering that his contracted mission had become terminated when he met a brick wall.

Advancing his reason for coming up with the revelation, Dr. Davis, a father of three children (all girls) said he could not imagine any of his children going through the agony to which the abducted Chibok girls were subjected by the Boko Haram insurgents.

He said that parental feeling was one of the reasons for him to accept the negotiation contract in the first instance.

(Let us accept that reason for the purpose of argument). Following the failure of his mission, Dr. Davis regretted the length of time which the innocent Chibock girl   spent unnecessarily in the devil’s gulag and blamed it on the initial lackadaisical attitude of the then government to that dangerous trend.

His Narrative

In his narrative, Dr. Davis who had by then spent about four months in Nigeria pursuing the sensitively dangerous assignment disclosed that his frustration began when his rescue assignment was truncated about 15 minutes before realization in April that year.

He gave a vivid narration of what transpired between him and the insurgents saying he would have succeeded in rescuing the first batch of 60 among those girls in December that year if Boko Haram had been united in one camp as the situation later became.

But, according to him, Boko Haram at that time was divided into three uncoordinated camps each struggling to display supremacy by assuming the leadership of the group based on the its strength of power gained through funding and supply of weapons.

Completion of Negotiation

By his narration, Dr. Davis had completed his negotiation with one of the Boko Haram camps and had reached a final agreement on releasing the first batch of 60 girls in the custody of that camp. But, according to him,   just about 15 minutes before the release, another camp fortuitously stormed the place where the girls were kept and wielded them away.

His thought at that stage was that he would commence a new negotiation process with the invading camp that high- jacked the girls with the intention of benefitting from any involved ransom.

But when the situation became quite foggy   Dr. Davis gave up the hope of any success in his mission and left the country with a hint to the government that no such mission could succeed unless the sponsors of the Boko Haram insurgency were arrested and tried with a view to cutting off the source of funding the group.

It was shortly after he left Nigeria that those different camps united into a single camp under a single leadership. And that is what gave it the power to dare the Nigerian troops and acquire some territories designated as Caliphate.

The Scandalous Conundrum

In what may be termed a puzzling development, Dr. Davis alleged that the group’s funding suddenly and surprisingly began to pass largely through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) which technically made it a legitimate transaction since it could evade any suspicion.

He asserted that some politicians and military men were solidly behind the extremely dangerous insurgency group called Boko Haram in the Northeast of Nigeria. He even mentioned some names including those of a former Governor and a former Chief of Army Staff as forces behind it.

However, an interesting aspect of his disclosure was the exoneration of a then Presidential aspirant, General Muhammad Buhari and a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai.  Before that revelation, the duo had been labeled the godfathers of Boko Haram by fellow politicians of the opposition camp.

According to Dr. Davis, one of the biggest suppliers of arms and military uniforms to Boko Haram was a Nigerian big shot who lived in Egypt and received money sent by political sponsors from Nigeria. He emphasized that the legal transaction of the funds was carried out with the help of the CBN.

The powerful cartel

Dr. Davis who holds a PhD in political geography believed that “the political sponsors of Boko Haram were very powerful because they supplied finances and arms to the group.

And, analyzing the situation of the kidnapped girls in Chibak, he said: “We are talking of about 200 Chibock schoolgirls, but there are over 300 other girls that have been kidnapped. There are many young men that they also kidnapped and turned against their families.

They asked them to go and slaughter their family members and they are doing it. Nobody is talking about those ones. They are the new child soldiers.”

The expert mentioned repeatedly that the first thing to do to enable the release of the abducted children was “to stop the ‘bagman’ who supplies weapons and military uniforms.

“We know his name, location and associates. If the man is stopped, the slaughterers and the ritual arm of the group would be demobilized. The girls can be released afterwards. This man controls those ritualists.”

If the above narrative is considered startling, then one can imagine the revelation that he (Dr. Davis) had hinted Nigerian government about concerning the involvement of a cabinet Minister, some years back, when a former President was in the saddle.

He said he hinted that former President that a particular Minister from the South-South in his cabinet was involved in the funding of Boko Haram and he advised him to investigate the man, get him arrested and tried in a court of law”.

But, according to Dr. Davis, the ex-President rejected the advice on the excuse that such a trial could bring down his government.

Genesis of Boko Haram

It would be recalled that ‘Boko Haram’ is not the actual name of the group that is now bedeviling Nigeria in the guise of religion. Its real name is ‘Jam’atu Ahlis-Sunnah Lid-Da’wah wal Jihad’ meaning: ‘Sunnah Congregation for Preaching and Strife’.

The Group became known as Boko Haram because of its condemnation of Western education which it claimed to be the main cause of corruption in Nigeria.

The name Boko Haram (meaning Western education is prohibited) was given to the group by members of the public who were amazed by its strange preaching.

Founded as a splinter fundamentalist Sunni group in 2002, the first leader of the group was Muhammad Yusuf, a Yobe-born cleric who resided in Maiduguri, Bornu State, where the dreaded Islamic group was founded.

For the first seven years of its existence, Boko Haram was peaceful and forthright in its clerical activities except that it did not enjoy the cooperation of some other Islamic organizations in the region due to its method of preaching which was considered abhorrent to genuine Islamic propagation.

Its violence tendency began in July 2009 when it had an encounter with Nigeria Police. Due to frequent complaints about the preaching methodology of the group, the Nigerian security agents began to monitor it with an eye of suspicion.

And on a particular occasion when the group was returning from a cemetery where it went to bury the remains of one of its members who just died, its other members who went for the funeral were accosted by Policemen who accused them of staging a public procession without official permit.

Some members of the group, including their leader, (Muhammad Yusuf) were arrested and taken to police custody where that was shot dead by the Police in cold blood. The spontaneous reaction of the other members of the group led to the killing of about 700 of them by the Police.

Ever since, there has not been any respite in the relationship of Boko Haram and the Nigerian Police. And with the death of Yusuf, his deputy, Abu Muhammad Abubakar Bn Muhammad Al Sheikawi who adopted a disguising name of Ibrahim Shekau, assumed the leadership of the group.

And under his leadership, the group furiously intensified its violent ideology by heartlessly killing and maiming innocent lives and destroying all factors of progress in the North-eastern part of the country.

Negotiation or Amnesty

It was for the purpose of stopping that spate of destruction that some concerned Nigerians severally called for negotiation and possible amnesty for the insurgents. But some elements who have vested interest in a hidden agenda felt otherwise and the then President accepted their opinion. Today, we can all see the result.

If President Jonathan’s regime had adopted the late President Yar’Adua’s method of amnesty, perhaps the situation would not have reached the current terrible stage and so many lives would not have been lost.

The alternative to that option which the government also rejected is reintroduction of death penalty for hardened criminals.

The rejection of both options by the government can only be tantamount to subjecting innocent Nigerian citizens to mass murder or mass expulsion from their homes. And these may have unpardonable consequences for the future generations of Nigerians.

Security System

If Dr. Davis’ revelations reported above are found shocking, those who are familiar with Nigerian security system will discover more shocking news in the fact that the last time that Nigeria really upgraded her military arsenal was 1982 when President Sheu Aliyu Uthman Shagari was in power according to privileged information.

And if this is true what has been happening to Nigeria’s annual defence huge budgets for the past 37 years should raise a fundamental question.

With a Hindsight

Since 2011, Boko Haram has consistently maintained a steady spate of attacks striking a wide range of targets. Its trained agents have attacked not only politicians, religious leaders, security forces, traditional rulers but much more innocent civilian.

The tactics of suicide bombings adopted in the two major attacks in the federal capital territory on the police and UN Headquarters was new to Nigerian security and alien to the familiar mercenary culture in the West African sub-region. In Africa as a whole, it was only in Somalia that such tactics had been used by As- Shabbab and that was to a far lesser extent.

And since early 2013, Boko Haram has increasingly operated in Northern Cameroon as an extension of its skirmishes along that country’s borders with Chad and Niger. Such operations have been linked to a number of kidnappings, sometimes reported in association with a splinter group called Ansaru, thereby drawing wider international attention to them.

Questions

With the above revelations coming from a Federal Government’s contracted expert why has the government not swung into action? And with the current situation in which Boko Haram seems to be waxing stronger, what next is in the plan of the Nigerian government for taming that monstrous shrewd?

Comment

As for those who refuse to accept the fact that crime has no religion but continue to link insecurity in Nigeria to religion in a situation where it is difficult to distinguish between Muslim and Christian Boko Haram, it is just a matter of time for them to see what the backlash will be. But it must be remembered that any society which refuses to accept religion as a potent antidote for social and spiritual poison is surely heading for doom. God save Nigeria!

By Femi Abass

Monologue

That man proposes while Allah disposes is a permanent norm upon which human life is realistically based. That norm is a natural clockwise phenomenon that cannot be turned anticlockwise by any mortal being. And that is what most faithful Muslims acknowledge as an evidence of destiny.

The originally proposed contents of this column today are not what you are about to read here. While yours sincerely was 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, thus, the title as well as the contents of today’s article had to be changed as a matter of expediency. That expediency symbolized an authoritatively divine intervention that could neither be altered nor appealed against.

Death, like life, is a   natural phenomenon divinely programmed by the immortal Creator for the mortal beings. Both (life and death) are like the day and the night exchanging baton at specific hours as divinely scheduled. By that schedule, the one never takes the place of the other. And, thus, the rotation of that divinely scheduled process continues ad infinitum.

Throbs of Death

Very early in the morning of last Saturday, February 29, 2020, the throbs of death suddenly tolled the bell of obituary announcing to the world that a proverbial eclipse had occurred at ‘noon’ prompting a human falcon to fly away while leaving a falconer behind. And by that announcement, most contemporary Muslim activists in Nigeria and abroad came to know that one of them had left the shores of existence without a prior hint.

That falcon was Barrister Abdus_Salam Oyetunde Abbas who, 24 hours earlier, was heartily alive but not hale.

He departed this ephemeral world at the solemn hour of about 4.00am. By Hijrah calendar, that morning fell on the fifth day of the month of Rajab, the first leg of the four sacred lunar months that often precede Ramadan annually. Semantically, the Arabic word ‘Rajab’ means respect which is symbolic in the demise of our brother.

Besides Allah, who could have decreed that Abdus-Salam Abbas would not fast in the coming Ramadan? After all, he had done that conscientiously for about 54 years in the past haven started fasting at the age of about 12 years.

Who was Barrister Tunde Abbas?

Barrister Abdus-Salam Oyetunde Abbas was one of the grand children of Chief Abbas Abioye, the patriarch of Abbas family and Baale of Afaake in Ejigbo Local Government. Tunde, as I used to call him, was a younger brother to yours sincerely and an elder brother to Professor Wole Abbas (now the Head of the Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies, University of Ibadan), Barrister Kunle Abbas and a host of others (males and females) from Abbas genealogical tree.

Background of his Islamic Activism

Like yours sincerely, Tunde Abbas was enrolled in a Madrasah in Iwo, Osun State, where the cutting of his teeth in Arabic language began after his elementary school education at Tajudeen Primary School, Ilawo, Ejigbo, in the early 1960s. He then moved to the famous Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies popularly known as MARKAZ in Agege, Lagos State, from where I had graduated before proceeding to the University of Ibadan for a Certificate Course in Arabic and Islamic Studies.

Before Tunde graduated from MARKAZ, a strong agitation had tacitly been prompting me to equip my younger brothers and sisters with a rare ornament which our family’s religious tradition had not permitted me to be garlanded with. And that was Western education. During our kid age, our parents would not want to hear of Western education for their children because, to them, that was a euphemism for conversion to Christianity. In those days, it would only be a matter of accident and exceptional luck to see even one out of ten Muslim children enrolled in Western oriented Secondary Schools to remain a Muslim after graduating from those schools despite school fees and other charges paid by their parents from scarce resources. In other words, Muslim parents who desired Western education for their children, at that time, were paying heavily to get those children/wards converted to Christians under the guise of education.

Exposure

Yours sincerely became exposed to Western education when I got admitted into the University of Ibadan, at about the age of 18 in 1968, following a successful performance in a concessional examination. The background that prepared me for the courage to go for that course was the combination of Modern School Certificate (an equivalence of today’s JSS Certificate), which I already possessed, with that of MARKAZ. And, when the certificate I obtained from UI propelled me to become a proud tutor in a conventional secondary school where I started earning a handsome salary, my eyes became wide opened and I decided not to limit such a unique privilege to myself alone.

Family Tradition

At that time, the tradition imbibed by our parents was for all children in the family to attend madrasah where they could be thought about the fear of Allah with decent character and the act of worship in the way of Islam to enable them become big Islamic clerics in life. Thus, the so-called western education was to our parents a diversionary aberration from the path of Allah.

Crucial Decision

Unknown to our parents at home, as soon as Tunde completed his final year examination in MARKAZ, in 1971, I decided to smuggle him into a conventional Secondary School where he could be qualified to obtain the West African School Certificate, an opportunity I never had. I, therefore, approached one brother  Abdur-Rashid Ajani Raji who was then teaching at Nawairud-Deen Grammar School, Obantoko, Abeokuta, for assistance in getting him admitted. But brother Raji thought it was already too late for that year as admission process had closed. He advised that the boy should be represented for admission the following year. But, dissatisfied by that suggestion, I implored brother Raji to please, get my brother admitted into Form II as his starting point in the conventional secondary school. But when brother Raji who was later to become a Professor of Islamic Studies and Chief Imam of the University of Ilorin expressed doubt about  the boy’s  ability to cope, I promptly disclosed to him that Tunde was coming from the great Institution called MARKAZ and that he would surely meet up with any standard set for that level. Brother Raji then reluctantly assisted in getting him admitted into Form II in the belief that if he failed to cope, he could repeat the class. Surprisingly, however, after the first two terms of acclimatization,   Tunde held all his tutors nonplussed by topping the class in virtually all the subjects. Brother Raji was so much impressed that he quickly drew the boy very close to himself as a symbol of pride. From thence, Tunde became the bull’s eye of his class which was targeted by all potential and real rivals. And for the four (instead of five) years he spent in that school he was the enviable model of his set coming first in most subjects. Eventually, he passed his WAEC examination with a Grade I status.

His Higher School Certificate (HSC)

His Grade I WAEC status was the impetus I needed to get him admitted for HSC at Ahmadiyya College, Agege, where I was then teaching Arabic and Islamic Studies. And, despite the strictness in that school’s admission process, it hardly took me 10 minutes of waiting to get my brother admitted on merit in that first Muslim Secondary School in West Africa that was established in 1948. And luckily for me, the boy lived delightfully up to my expectation by displaying the real MARAKAZI in him. He finally graduated from that school with an academic wreath of honour by scoring A in two of his principal subjects and B in two others. But by the time he was preparing for his final HSC examination in 1976, I had succeeded in securing admission with scholarship for myself to study in a tertiary institution abroad. I had to hand Tunde over to some trusted Muslim brothers (the Akangbes from Oyo Alaafin), who were my bosom friends, when I had to vacate the one room apartment in which I was living with the boy. Thus, my supervision of his educational progress and that of others in the family became a matter of frequent instructions dished out through letters from abroad.

Tertiary Education

By the time I came home on holiday in 1977, Tunde had got the results of his HSC examination and sought and got admission OFFERS into four different Universities. Those were the days before the establishment of JAMB. The Universities to which he applied for admission were: University of Ibadan where he was offered admission to read Philosophy; the University of Lagos where he was offered admission to read Law; the University of Ife where he was offered admission to read Political Science and the University of Benin where he was offered admission to read English. Seeing those results and admission offers with unlimited gladness, I asked my brother to name his choice of course to study and he proudly mentioned Philosophy. When I asked him for his reason he said apart from the fact that UI was the Premier University in Nigeria, he preferred Philosophy as a course because of the bewildering pronunciation of its name: ‘PHILOSOPHY!’.

Ordered to Read Law

Following that conversation, I ordered my brother to go and accept the UNILAG admission offer for Law because we would need a lawyer in our family. But, for the first time ever, my brother disagreed with me on the argument that our parents at home must not hear of his pursuit of a Law degree in the University. However, I promptly debunked his argument by reminding him that our parents never knew that he (Tunde) attended a secondary school in the first place because all they knew was that all of us were still in madrasahs. What I did to see him through the conventional secondary school at that time was to use the Madrasah fees (coming from our parents) to settle the charges in the convention secondary school. But when I noticed reluctance in my brother on my choice of a course for him, I decided to follow him physically to UNILAG to ensure that he complied with my guiding order. I had to ensure that he completed the process of registration in the Law Faculty at UNILAG before I returned abroad. That was how Tunde became the first child from Abbas family not only to obtain WAEC and HSC but also to obtain a degree in Law. Alhamdu Lillah! Today, our family has about 10 lawyers among the grandchildren and great grandchildren of Abbas Abioye, an achievement that turned that family into a cynosure of awe and admiration in the entire Local Government. And there is hardly any other beneficial profession in which our own children are not well grounded.

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 term. As humans, all we know about life is that we are on a journey which naturally conveys us through series of coffins before arriving in the puzzling transit which we globally call the world. This means that the loins of our fathers are a coffin. The wombs of our mothers are a coffin. And the larger transit called the world which some people take as their final destination is a coffin. When we are in a car, a bus, a train, a ship or an aircraft, we hardly remember that we are in a coffin. Each of these coffins is a transit leading to another.

Process of Human Journey

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, albeit unconsciously, 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 an   aquatic pond before growing into various sizes of fish. Those in the fishery sector are in a better position to understand that analogy.

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 that could fall at any time and in any place. 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 sights, they look small. Some are moderate in size while some are actually small. Consequently, each functions according to its pre-destined assignment. ALLAH AKBAR!

Classified in Greatness

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 can positively aid the continuation of their own lives.

Philosophy of Life

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

“…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…”. In what way can this seemingly axiomatic observation be faulted?

News of Death

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 that Abdus-Salam Oyetunde Abbas has moved a step ahead of us in the pilgrimage of life, we are duty bound to pay him a debt which we all owe him. And, that debt is DU‘AU. But whether we pay it or not, 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, tunde’s life has become a chapter in history. And from that chapter, those of us who are still alive can 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 sheer ignorance, see death as an intruder, Tunde Abbas’ death might have come as “a rude shock”. But to genuine 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 will no one help another to bear the scourging effect of death. Every soul, according to the divine 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.

Who will not die?

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 (Jesua) who came into the world without a father is no more. All men and women born of fathers and mothers who had sojourned at one time or another in this world before us had 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?

Attribute of Destiny

Death is an attribute of destiny. An Arab poet once said about death in a famous stanza thus:

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

Today, like billions or even trillions of mortal beings who had passed through this world before him, Barriater Abdus-Salam Oyetunde Abbas, the husband of Hajiya Muibat Omobolanle (nee Sanni) Abbas is no more. One of the known characteristics of death is to change the name and status of its prey and those around him. That is why Hajiya Muibat is now a widow while her children have become orphans.

Particles of Hiatory

Now, after Tunde’s demise, all other things about him are particles of history. But from those particles of history is a lesson to learn by those who are succeeding him in private and public lives.

We pray the Almighty Allah to grant his soul the divine mercy of forgiveness and blessings while He preserves that soul in eternal bliss. We also pray Him to imbue his wife, children and larger families on both sides with the needed fortitude to surge ahead in life without rancour. Amin!

APPRECIATION

In our peregrinations on earth as human beings, some of us live meaningfully in associations. Some others live meaninglessly in isolation. Each of these has an indelible mark on the rock of life. For those who live in associations, there are times to look back with appreciation of the individuals’ roles in forming and building the associations that bind us together. The same cannot be said of those who live in isolation.

Despite the short notice that the announcement of the demise and internment of our son/brother, Barrister Abdus-Salam Oyetunde Abbas, took last Saturday, February 29, 2020, you all left your scheduled programmes and turned up in droves from all walks of life and from all parts of the country to play your roles as Muslim brothers and sisters in bidding one of you auravoire forever. You paid your last respect to him in awe on the platform of Farduk-Kifayah and that of Sunnah. Those of you abroad or far away from Lagos, where he was buried,   either called passionately by phones or sent messages online to commiserate with his family.

That was a confirmation of the meaningfulness of living in associations. It was also an evidence of building a formidable foundation of Muslim Ummah today for propelling Islam to higher pedestal tomorrow.

Mere expression of theoretical appreciation without practical gratitude by which to live in common as a community cannot serve as a measure of accorded esteem.

It is on this premise that the entire family of ABBAS hereby says THANK YOU ALL for standing by us at that moment of agony.

We pray the Almighty Allah not to make our reciprocation of this sorrowful gesture a repetition of agony or that of sadness.

God bless, guide and stand by you all in all circumstances of life. Amin!

FEMI ABBAS

“…And beware of a calamity that may not spare even the innocent ones among you, if it descends; and know that Allah’s retribution can be very severe”.                 Q. 8: 24

Preamble

or obvious reason, today’s article in this column is deliberately given the title seen above. The word sphinx simply means a winged monster, in Greek mythology, which had the head of a woman and the body of a lion.

That symbolic   monster was noted for terrorizing people who refused to subject themselves to the scourge of its spell. Anybody who had an encounter with the mysterious object became like a rider of tiger who ended up in the belly of that vicious animal.

Genesis of Sphinx

Nigerians who are well familiar with European literature must still remember an historical riddle of a sphinx in the city of Thebes. That city, on the island of Ithaca, was once the capital of ancient Greece.

In a tragic drama entitled ‘Oedipus Rex’ and produced in 411 BC by a Greek dramatist called Sophocles who lived between 496 and 406 BC, we learnt of a curse that once befell the land of Thebes.

As a result of the curse, not only were citizens afflicted by mysterious ailments that were killing them in droves, the cattle and the herds therein were  also gripped by an epidemic of reindeer-pest just as the crops in the farms were terribly blighted.

It was at about that precarious time that one young man whose name was Oedipus emerged as the king. He had earned his people’s trust with a reputation of integrity and was he determined to solve the prevailing insuperable problems which he inherited from his predecessor.

At a Younger Age

As an adolescent, long before he became the king, Oedipus had saved Thebes from a strange calamity wrought by a monstrous sphinx which mysteriously took its permanent seat on a rock by the roadside in the middle of the city.

The sphinx had divided the city into two thereby splitting the citizens into separate camps where no side could interact with the other. An example of that scenario can still be found in today’s capital of Cyprus called Nicosia.

The Sphinx’s Riddle

The mysterious sphinx in Thebes had a coded riddle with which it confronted every passerby. And it promptly devoured any accosted person that failed to decode the riddle. Thus, for a long time, the city of Thebes remained under the plague of the monstrous sphinx which was feeding fat on the blood and flesh of the citizens.

For quite some time, the sadness and hopelessness engendered by that unprecedented calamity turned Thebes into a   permanent   mourning city for its inhabitants.

The Kano Jinx

The similitude of politics in today’s Kano State is like that of the sphinx in Thebes of yore. Any good political observer must have noticed that politics in Kano State, currently, has a superficial democratic face that is combined with a despotic heart. While the face is visible, the heart is invisible.

Yes, it is possible for any Governor intoxicated by power in that State to discard the memorable effect of  history while basking in a vainglorious euphoria of an ephemeral office, but the indelible rule of posterity will  eventually remind such a Governor that he will also be discarded sooner or later by history at a time when there may be no room for repentance after exit from office.

Politics as a Phenomenon

The world of humans is predominantly governed by a pervasive phenomenon called politics. No individual or group or even family can escape the web of that phenomenon no matter how strong or weak he may be.

Overtly or covertly, politics, particularly in Africa, is without doubt, a devastating cankerworm cruising recklessly through the veins of most living men and women and eating greedily and deeply into their fabrics.

In the continent of the black race, where resignation from an office or abdication of power is an aberration, Politics is one phenomenon that permeates all spheres of human life directly or indirectly and showers those spheres with a dew of acid.

In Nigeria, like in some other countries of the world, there is as much politics in economic, social, cultural and religious aspects of life as there is in education and even sports.

Travails of a Monarch

Contrary to speculations   and rumours flying  about  from certain quarters, the travails that led to the deposition of Mallam Muhammad Sanusi Lamido Sanusi II as the Emir of Kano, neither started in Kano nor in recent time.

Those travails had rather started about seven years ago (2013) in Abuja with a probing letter written by Mallam sanusi to the Presidency as  Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and dated September 25, 2013.

It was in that letter that he formally complained patriotically about the failure of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to remit 19 months proceeds of oil sales to the Central Bank as statutorily required by the constitution.

The political backlash of that patriotic disclosure later denied the man of a second term of five years in office and it almost cost him the stool of royalty in Kano. It was therefore not surprising that such a personality would come under the eagle’s eyes of politicians as he later did as an Emir.

The Beginning of the End

When the late Tai Solarin was writing an article with the title (The Beginning of the End) towards the twilight of the 20th century, hardly did he know that the backlash effect of that article would manifest at the dawn of the 21st century.

In his heydays as a versatile newspaper columnist, Tai Solarin, a renowned educationist and atheist, had a way of casting the titles of his articles to suit his ideas and thoughts. It was to an article he wrote in 1974 as a reaction to General Yakubu Gowon’s U-turn on his earlier promise to return democracy to  Nigeria in 1976 that he gave that title.

In that year (1974), General Gowon suddenly told Nigerians in a nation-wide television broadcast that his promise of returning power to civilians in 1976 was unrealistic after all. He did not mention a new date.

And, incidentally, that article was the premonition that culminated in a military coup that swept General Gowon out of power in July 1975 after nine years in office as a military Head of State.

Silencing the Oedipus  

From the look of things, the country called Nigeria seems to have penchant for silencing the voice of progress which, in other words, means a preference for retardation.

At the twilight of the 20th century, an Oedipus emerged in the name of MKO Abiola to kindle the light of hope for Nigeria. He was not only silenced but killed in detention.

At the dawn of the 21st century, another Oedipus emerged in the name of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi to right what is perennially wrong. But those who enjoy monopoly of power think he should be silenced.

And, incidentally, the two (Abiola and Sanusi) are Muslims and their silencers are also Muslims. Where are we going from here? If these great Nigerians are deemed to be silenced can the truth they vividly represent be also silenced?

Essence of History

The real essence of history is for human beings to learn from its lessons. Without such lessons, history would have served no purpose in the life of man. Governance is like driving on a high way where no one, including the driver, can claim to know all or see all.

The essence of having people around you as a leader is to seek and utilize the constructive advice given by those people so that if any failure occurs you will not bear the brunt all alone.

No human being has monopoly of wisdom and nothing in governance is as destructive as unilateral decisions taken for selfish reason. To think and concentrate on personal benefit momentarily is the height of folly in human life. It must always be remembered that  office will surely outlive the officer.

Islamic Position

In Islam, the theory of ‘giving to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s’ holds no water because both Caesar and whatever he portends to own belong to God alone who is never tired and will never seek rest.

Thus, in a situation where public funds are brazenly stolen with impunity in public glare, genuine Muslims cannot and should not keep silent. Prophet Muhammad (SAW) once counseled Muslims about this kind of situation through Hadith.

He said: “Whoever sees something obnoxious among you should change it (physically) with his hands. If he is incapable, let him  change it with his tongue (by condemning and admonishing against it).

And if he is still incapable of doing that, he should then endeavour to change it with his mind (by tacitly rejecting it or by praying for its stoppage)”.

The Prophet however added that “the last option signifies the weakest level of faith”. That is the situation that Emir Sanusi Lamido Sanusi II could not stomach which led him to blowing the whistle unprecedentedly from time to time. He believes that it is a sin for a true Muslim to keep silent on such criminal acts.

Obasanjo’s Letter

At about the same time that Mallam Sanusi wrote the referred historic letter to the Presidency, as the CBN Governor, an Ex- President, Olusegun Obasanjo, also wrote a similar letter to President Goodluck Jonathan on December 2, 2013.

It was a kind of epistle loaded with undisguised missiles of allegations that came frontally to the public through the media. The main gist of Obasanjo’s letter, as usual, contained allegations of corruption, bad governance and insecurity. It was heavily pregnant with political bile the summary of which can be called tit for tat.

The contents of the letter were a bundle of messages that conspicuously outweighed the messenger. And, reading carefully between its lines, the letter could be compared to a pot trying to paint a kettle black. In a nutshell, the addresser and the addressee in that letter could be described as two sides of an un-spendable coin.

Uniqueness of Sanusi’s Deposition

Although Emir Sanusi Lamido Sanusi II is not the first or only Emir to be deposed in Northern Nigeria, the courage and gallantry with which he received that fate distinguished him as a great leader.

He knows that even Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was forced to migrate from Makkah to Madinah in his mission to propagate the truth, it was that same migration that paved his way to a triumphant reentry into the same Makkah after eight years of suffering.

And, in emulation of that greatest man that ever lived, Mallam Sanusi believes that nothing, including a triumphant reentry into Kano, can be ruled out in the program of Allah.

Effect of Whistle Blowing

Although the message in Obasanjo’s letter generated a loud brouhaha across the land, it nevertheless remained a mere rhetoric with which Nigerians were already familiar.

If anything sounded strange in that letter at all, it was the mention of a killer squad allegedly  being kept by the then Presidency against about 1000 political opponents and other perceived enemies of the government.

It must however be remembered that by the time of writing that letter, Obasanjo had torn his Peoples Democratic Party’s membership card and had surreptitiously crossed over to APC unofficially.

The only seeming benefit of that letter to the public was the washing of the supposed leaders’ linens in the open which the populace watched with unreserved amusement.

It gave the impression that the only expected legacy from this crop of leadership is nothing beyond despair in spite of the rare opportunities they have in preserving the tranquility of the country. What lesson can the youths learn from such a gang of political cultists?

Political Peculiarity

For Nigerian politicians, political drama can never be strange. But the peculiarity in this case is the tacit mobilization of the suffering masses as archers deployed to forage the grassroots on foot while the gladiators keep galivanting on horses.

Like an accursed nation, Nigeria has the misfortune of engaging misfits in the name of leaders to pilot their affairs especially in a very cloudy environment.

Or how can one classify a situation where two supposed national leaders decide to strip naked for competitive dance in a market place and expect sellers and buyers in that market to clap for the winner. Isn’t that shameful?

Like in the past, Nigerians have once again found themselves in a hollow ship wandering through an implacable Atlantic ocean. The destination of that ship remains unknown.

Its pilots seem to have lost the compass. An urgent need for a Noah to sail this drifting ship to the Cape of Good Hope should now be a matter of priority if this country will continue to be called Nigeria.

Femi Abass

“Have you not seen how your Lord planted a seed of parable? A beautiful word is like a magnificent tree with formidable roots and delightfully gorgeous foliages sprouting pleasantly into the firmaments of the orbit by Allah’s grace. It (the tree) produces nourishing fruits (for the consumption of man) from season to season….” Q. 14: 24-27

For Nigerian Muslims of the 20th/21st century, the month of March is a gladdening month of a marvelous revolution. It is the month in which an unprecedented revolution began at the twilight of the 20th century in preparation for an historic dawn of wonders in the 21st century. Without irritating noise or mere media hype, that revolution is the turn of Nigeria’s religious screw for accentuation of Islamic reality in contemporary time. If anything can be called a reconfirmation of how actions are truly based on intentions, it is that NASFAT’s providential revolution. The evidence is glaring.

Preamble

Many contemporary religious observers around the world have been wondering about the fortuitous emergence of NASFAT as an Islamic Organization. Many others have continually been marveled by the astronomical rise and phenomenal spread of NASFAT across nations and races around the world. It is one queer spiritual development that beats anybody’s imagination and transcends any tendentious guess by any pessimistic individuals or groups about Islam.

Observation

Two things are positively strange about this Organization. One is the timeliness of its millennial emergence. The other is the manner of that emergence. At a time when some contemptuous non-Muslim Nigerians were trying to heighten their negative perception of Islam by tagging that divine religion an anachronistic faith meant for primordial people, an infinitesimal, unassuming group of Muslim elite with diverse professional backgrounds fortuitously emerged with an unprecedented stunner that came to render the world nonplused. Without any iota of doubt, that tacit revolution was a timely answer to an untimely question.

Undeniable Evidence

Never in the history of Islam in Nigeria has a Muslim Organization with so fragile background and so mean provision risen so astronomically within so short a time. It is unprecedented.

From a one room congregation of a few men and women of Islamic faith in Ibadan and later in Lagos, a gargantuan Islamic Organization emerged like a cyclopean tree with incredible foliage forming a formidably protective umbrella of faith for millions of Muslim faithful across the globe. Today, NASFAT is not just a global household name but also universal case study for people in the academia as well as other research fellowship spheres with religious inclination. The evidence is undeniable.

What is NASFAT?

The word NASFAT is an acronym for an abridged verse of the Qur’an which goes thus: “…Nasrun minal-Lahi wa Fathun Qarib…” (Q. 61:13) meaning: “…With (strong) help from Allah, victory is surely attainable”. From that Qur’anic verse, the name of the Organization was formed as ‘NASRUL-LAHI-AL-FATIH’ Society and shortened to NASFAT for easy pronunciation. Thus, it is with that name that Allah’s coded parable of tree quoted at the beginning of the article can be meaningfully decoded at this dawn of the 21st century.

The Spread of Tentacle

Initially, the idea of forming NASFAT as an Islamic Organization was conceived to be limited to Nigeria. But, unimaginably, in less than two decades of its existence, this Organization rapidly outgrew even an African image and went global. Thus, whether you are in Africa, Europe, America, Asia or Australia today, you will find NASFAT to be a familiar name with a familiar status. And, then, you will discover that familiarization with NASFAT socially and spiritually is trualy a concept of equanimity.

Profile

NASFAT was founded as another Islamic Organization for Nigeria’s Muslim elite in March, 1995 by a group of young Muslim professionals, mostly bankers. There had been a myriad of elite Islamic Organizations before it especially in Lagos and other parts of the South West Nigeria. Some of such elite Organizations include Ahmadiyyah Jamat; Jama’atu Islamiyyah; Ahmadiyyah Movement in Islam; Anwarul Islam Movement; Ansar-Ud-Deen Society of Nigeria; Nawairu-Ud-Deen Society; Zumratu Islamiyyah; Muslim Association of Nigeria; Muslim Students Society of Nigeria (MSSN), National council of Muslim Youth (NACOMYO); Federation of Muslim Women Associations of Nigeria, (FOMWAN); The Companion; The Criterion and a host of others.

At the advent of its establishment,  the objective NASFAT, as an Islamic Organization was clearly reflected in its mission statement which went thus: “to develop an enlightened Muslim society nurtured by a true understanding of Islam for the spiritual uplift and welfare of mankind.” That objective has since sticked to NASFAT as skin to the body.

Mission Statement

Like any other Islamic Organization, NASFAT fathomed a Mission Statement that was to serve as its guide in words and in action. However, its own Mission Statement was like a dream not given a chance of realization. But it later turned out to be the most wonderfully realized dream of the century. If anything can be described as the 20th century crown of success for Nigeria’s Muslim Ummah, it is NASFAT, the initially rejected stone that later turned out to be the Corner Stone of the House.

The small group that had such a dramatic dream over two decades ago has now grown in limbs and in wings into such a miraculous magnet  attracting members in their thousands to form a non-such formidable Organization that cannot be taken for granted anywhere by any power. NASFAT’s membership comprises of young professionals, Educationists, Muslim Scholars, Civil Servants, Journalists, Company Directors, Business Executives, Computer Experts, Members of Security Forces, Members of the Judiciary, Politicians, State Commissioners, Legislators, Traders, Artisans, Farmers, Students, name it.

Today, NASFAT is, arguably, one of the fasted growing religious Organizations in the world with about three million members. As a matter of fact, the similitude of NASFAT is like that of Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, which was established in a Mosque by a small Muslim group of in Cairo, Egypt, in 970 CE. The name Al-Azhar was coined from an appellation of Fatimah the daughter of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) who was popularly called Zahrau (meaning adorable flower). With time, Al-Azhar University, which emerged from the Mosque, became one of the earliest established Universities in the world.

Now, about 1046 years old, Al-Azhar University is one of the three oldest Universities in the world. The other two are Qarawiyyin University in Fez, Morocco and Zaytuniyyah University in Tunis, Tunisia. Being contemporaries in age and reputation, these three Universities otherwise known as educational tripod came to confirm to the modern world that what we call University today in all parts of the world is an indelible Islamic heritage that keeps the track of knowledge actively alive.

Cacophony of Gossip

The problem with some hypocrites who masquerade in the cloak of mischief but claim to be Muslims in Nigeria is that of cacophony of gossip, witch-hunting, blackmail and sticking tenaciously to retardation on the bedrock of incurable ignorance. I have for long been familiar with their parochial antics and cannot be disturbed by their diversionary gimmicks.

NASFAT’s Branches

When NASFAT was fast becoming unmanageably large, due to an unexpected upsurge in its membership roll, the leadership of the Organization decided to create branches nationally and internationally for the convenience of all and sundry. That was as far back as 2002 when the Organization was just about seven years old. Today, NASFAT has about 400 branches in Nigeria and abroad cutting across the geo political zones of the world.

Impression

Whatever impression anybody may have about NASFAT’s mode of operation is immaterial at this stage as long as that Organization is not acting against the fundamental norms of Islam. After all, it is crystal clear that the real champions of Islamic propagation (Da’wah) in contemporary Nigeria are the Muslim elite who know little about Islamic theology, and not the so-called Imams and Alfas whose impact of theology is hardly felt in the society. All the above listed Organizations in Nigeria were established by progressive, non-clerical Muslim elite including those of NASFAT. But if any grouop feels otherwise, it should show us its own achievements.

Perhaps, without NASFAT, there would not have been any Islamic University in Nigeria or at least in Southern Nigeria, today. If any other Islamic University now exists, NASFAT should be credited for showing the pioneering way and for unilaterally facing the challenge that woke others up from their slumber.

Notable Point

There is a sharp difference between a Muslim University, and an Islamic University. The earlier is registered in the name of an individual Muslim. The latter is registered in the name of an Islamic Organization. In that case, ownership is the main determinant of status. Only two of several private Universities attributed to Islam in Nigeria today are truly Islamic. These are Fountain University based in Osogbo, Osun State and owned by NASFAT, and Summit University based in Offa, Kwara State and owned by Ansar-Ud-Deen Society of Nigeria. Incidentally, both originated from Lagos. However, there is an exception. That exception is Al-Qalam University based in Katsina, Katsina State which is an Islamic University owned by Katsina State. Others generally perceived as Islamic Universities are only privately owned by individual Muslims and not Islamic Organizations.

Fountain University is like Al-Azhar University that was founded by the Fatimids in Cairo over 1046 years ago and keeps waxing stronger today with functional faculties that harbour   virtually all fields of human endeavours a standard educational curriculum.

In the same token, Fountain University is one of the major achievements of NASFAT. This University was founded by NASFAT in 2007 after being licensed by the Federal Government of Nigeria through the National University Commission (NUC).

Sited on about 250 hectares of land where academic activities have since been in full and uninterrupted swing, Fountain University is operating a fully accredited curriculum of any standard University in the world. Most of the graduates of Fountain University, so far, whether Muslims or Christians, are now proud of thorough education and not just the certificate for advanced literacy now generally obtained from most Nigerian Universities.

Summary

By all standards, Fountain is a University indeed and a clear attestation to this assertion is evident in the conducts of the graduates of this University to whom the future glory is eagerly beckoning. Unlike in some non-Muslim Universities, the freedom of religion entrenched in the administrative policy of Fountain University alone is a clear evidence of religious sincerity on the part of the proprietors and management of that University.

Home of Peace

Among other NASFAT’s achievements is a Village, being planned to serve as ‘Daarus-Salaam’, (Home of Peace). That village is a model estate for Muslim families in a serene environment. The project is located on 40 hectares of land on Lagos- Ibadan Expressway, in Ogun State of Nigeria. It is meant for any NASFAT member or interested Muslim who wants to live peacefully with fellow Muslims. It is another revolutionary innovation that serves as a ‘Lighthouse’ for conscious Nigerian Muslims.

Hajj and Umrah Company

As one of its achievements also, NASFAT is engaged in Hajj and Umrah Halal business aimed at making pilgrimage relatively comfortable for Nigerian Muslims without fear of exploitation. The company licensed for that business is called TAFSAN Tours and Travels. Not only that, NASFAT also feels so concerned about the spate of poverty among Nigerian Muslims that it established an agency which handles Zakah and Sadaqah with collection and distribution for the purpose of alleviating poverty among the Muslims and advancing the course of needed Muslim projects in the society.

Daw’ah activities

Like some other prayer groups, NASFAT is known for recitation of prayers congregationally in a book which contains selected Dua’u from the Glorious Qur’an and prayers of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) every Sunday; It is also known for Providing economic empowerment for jobless Muslim youths; fixing up the qualified ones among those youths in employment vacancies  and granting soft loans to those who require such loans  for small scale businesses as well as assisting Muslim traders in financing  genuine local purchase orders (LPOs) through the NASFAT”s Cooperative arm.

There is also the Usrah (family) in which basic knowledge of Islam is imparted to couples, parents and children alike on a weekly basis. This helps, not only in cementing the marital relationship of those couples but also in facilitating close relationship between parents and their children on the basis of knowledge and piety.

Educational Programs

Believing in education as the solid foundation of human existence, NASFAT organizes general lectures pertaining to Islam, peace and morals for all its members who are interested in such lectures. This program is mostly handled by the Society’s Mission Board members including the Imams. And, for diversification of tastes and exposure,  guest lecturers are sometimes invited from within and outside the country to deliver some of such lectures.

Tutorial Class

Another NASFAT’s notable program is ‘Tutorial Class’ which is specifically designed for professional-male and female members of NASFAT and other interested Muslims to learn the the recitation and understanding of the Qur’an as well as the Hadith for the purpose of solidifying their understanding of Islam. This program has produced more than 3000 youth and adult graduates nationally and internationally.

Children Classes

Another interesting program that further confirms the uniqueness of NSAFAT is Children Classes. In this program, various classes are organized to teach Muslim children the Qur’an and Hadith and thereby inculcate in them Islamic culture and values. And quite encouragingly, Muslim children, through the prompting of their parents, have been responding appropriately to this program as expected.

Scholarship Awards

Another vital program of NASFAT is award of scholarships to indigent Muslim pupils in the Primary, Post-Primary schools as well as Tertiary Institutions. Such scholarships are usually funded from the Zakat collected during the corresponding year.

Educational Recreation

Meanwhile, one major addition to NASFAT’s education program is educational recreation that includes children’s holiday camping, women’s week, youth week and National Qur’anic quiz competition. That program also includes social services such as welfare visitations to prison yards, orphanages, old people’s homes and the likes.

Besides all the programs mentioned above, NASFAT has also confirmed its seriousness in acquisition of education by establishing over a dozen standard Islamic Nursery and Primary schools and a number of secondary schools to cater for the future of Islam in Nigeria. More of such schools are still in the making.

Footprint

All the above mentioned efforts and activities including job creation and empowerment for the purpose of promoting Islam to further the course humanitarian gestures have come to form a footprint on the sands of time which not evil antics can ever efface. Alhamdu liLlah!

Conclusion

If within 25 years of existence, NASFAT could achieve so much despite the hash economic environment and hostile religious tendencies it faces from time to time, who says this unique Organization is not a front line model to serve as a positive reference point in Nigeria? ‘The Message’ Column hereby joins millions of well- wishers around the world in saluting the courage of NASFAT to engage in   various legitimate activities towards the promotion of Islam globally just as it prays specially that such courage and the wherewithal to summon it should never, never wane. Amin! CONGRATULATIONS on the glorious Silver Jubilee Occasion. Ilal Amam in Sha’Allah!

FEMI ABBAS

Monologue

The title of this article is a question which only conscientiously guided readers can answer scrupulously. For decades, some Nigerian charlatans with feeble but foxy minds have been duping innocent masses by presenting religion to them, not only as a profession but also as a commodity meant for sale to gullible buyers in the name of evangelism.

Preamble

Judging the above mentioned charlatans   (males and females) by their fraudulent claim to be prophets/prophetesses and seers of tomorrow, one cannot but conclude that they are the modern day hoaxers living like vampires on the blood of fools.

By their unbridled mode of operation, it is apparent that those charlatans are not for God but for Satan through money. And, the richer they get in their deceptive trade the poorer the members of their congregations become and the more Nigeria is afflicted by un-foretold calamities.

The Furry of a Virus

The current global furry of an invisible virus codenamed COVID 19 is a typical example of the above cited calamities.

Within just three months or thereabout, that virus has taken the lives of humans in thousands across nations and regions and the count keeps rising.

Yet, the regular advertising slogan with which those charlatans lure innocent people into their satanic dragnets is MIRACLE.

Now, where is that constantly and lousily advertised MIRACLE?

Reminder

It will be recalled that before the adoption of the deceptive word ‘MIRACLE’ by some demonic merchants as a magnetic slogan, Nigeria was never known to be a hub of calamities as she is today.

And, even, at this precarious time, when the country is fiercely confronted by the globally pandemic disease called COVID 19, those disciples of the Lucifer continue to regale in chanting the usual obnoxious slogan of MIRACLE for the purpose of self-enrichment.

Is the so-called MIRACLE in any way dissimilar from the word MAGIC which some vagabonds do audaciously display as a gimmick with which to dupe foolish people? What else is called fraud? And who does not know that only the agents of devil can commit fraud with such unbridled audacity as those Nigerian charlatans do in the name of God?

The Antics of Fraudsters

Fraud, in all its characteristics, is like lightening in the life of a night marauder. Whenever it flashes its dazzling flare from the sky, the marauder feels delighted in self-deception and believes that the needed illumination with which to move ahead has been provided. Thus, the similitude of fraud, especially in the religious sphere, is like that of a spider’s cobweb which provides security for the spider that weaves it but serves as a trap for other mobile objects that want to pass through it.

Like Miracle like Magic

Unknown to   many people, miracle without divinity, is to the religious sphere what Magic is to mundane life. In other words, it is a religious hobby for certain greedy and avaricious elements, especially in today’s Nigeria, to masquerade in the cloak of religion and hide behind one finger to dupe gullible people.

 Functions of Conscience

Conscience, according to Nigeria’s great scholar of the 19th century, Sheikh Usman Dan Fodio, is an open wound which only the truth can heal. It is also the compass of human life through which the soul of man can find its way towards Allah’s mercy. Whoever loses his conscience to Satan on the journey to Allah’s mercy has automatically lost that divine mercy at a point where it may not be retrievable.

Season of Distinction

This is a season of clear distinction between satanic predictions and fake prophecies in Nigeria. This is one of the seasons in which some obvious fraudsters who are known for basking in an empty euphoria of delusion do parade themselves as prophets in the midst of idiots.

This is the season when such fraudsters give the false impression that prediction and prophecy are one and the same and therefore take undue advantage of some people’s blatant ignorance and fanatical gullibility to dupe them in the name of MIRACLE.

Whereas prediction is about mere imagination sometimes influenced by Satan just as foresight is about intuition based on experience, both are evidently human while prophecy is divine.

The Puzzling Angle of Prophecy

There is something strange about prophecy which continues to puzzle the rightly guided human beings. It is like the night that is invisibly pregnant but which surprisingly delivers wonders in the day. Genuine prophecy is neither by wishful fabrication nor by devilish pretext.

Its roots are firmly planted in the rich soil of divinity while its genuine envoys were divinely chosen and called Messengers of Allah. The last of such messengers was Prophet Muhammad (SAW) who left this world over 1400 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.

Wealthy Prophets

Ordinarily, religion is a mode of showing gratitude to the immortal Creator and a means of ventilating decency in the society via the rule of law. On the contrary, it is not, an instrument of deceit and self- enrichment.

Except for King Daud (David) and his son, King Sulayman (Solomon), who were divinely guided to show the world how wealth should be legitimately acquired and managed, no Prophet of Allah was ever stupendously rich. This can be compared to the situation of today in which the quality of prophecy is foolishly measured in terms of the material wealth possessed by the fraudsters who are parading themselves as prophets and seers.

Today, mere expression of wishes and satanic prediction have deliberately been tagged prophecy, which in turn, have 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 or politicians who will die in a locality in the coming year or the governors who will regain or lose their seats to opponents or even occurrences of accidents on the roads that makes a person a prophet. Genuine prophets are known not by fabrication and the amount of wealth accruing from such fabrications but by the exemplary actions that may serve humanity in good stead for many centuries or even millennia after their demise.

Prophets Isa (Jesus) and Muhammad (SAW) are good examples of such genuine Prophets. Both of them had no material wealth while alive and they left no material wealth behind as heritage. Yet, no names compare with theirs today in terms of universal acknowledgement and   spiritual glory.

Prophecy, therefore, is not to be judged by certain fraudsters’ annual fraudulent predictions who satanically claim to be ‘prophets’. It is rather a matter of divine guidance towards future events that are genuinely backed up by divine rules of law.

Today’s Fake ‘Prophets’

In contrast to the above definition of genuine prophecy, however, fake prophecy is, today, a fabricated commodity which finds a large market in Nigeria for which gullible people queue up in multitudes before fraudsters with the intention of gaining illegitimately from those fraudsters, through the back door, what they are not divinely destined to gain in life legitimately.

And, 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 stupendously into material fortune without any regard for conscience.

Read Also: COVID 19: FG creates Digital Platforms for interaction among MDAs

How Charlatans aid Crimes

Most criminal activities in Nigeria today, particularly, corruption and other social crimes are products of fake prophecies and insensitive display of wealth by some fraudsters called religious leaders. It is evident that most stolen funds by bank Executives and Public Servants end up in the pockets of some the so-called overseers of certain religious denominations who are desperately competing to be listed among the richest people in the world. At least we have not forgotten the episode of a $15 million ammunition contract involving the private jet of a so-called religious leader which was seized in South Africa in 2014. Is that a duty of an evangelist?

Ownership of Sanctuaries

Perhaps, one of the most satanic crimes in Nigeria today emanates from heartless preaching of prosperity at all costs by some so called religious leaders who are so desperate to be rich at all costs. It is a well-known fact that the common bragging in vogue among those charlatans in Nigeria today is about the number of sanctuaries that each of them owns in the country as well as the number of branches their sanctuaries have in outside the country.

Thus, the richer those overseers become, the deeper the members of their congregations sink into the abyss of poverty. And the reason for this is not far-fetched. The poor worshippers are cajoled or hypnotized into paying the pittance in their pockets into the ever demanding purses of their satanic preachers called ‘prophets’.

A Prophetic Warning

Prophet Muhammad (SAW) had forewarned the Muslim Ummah, over 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 as contained in the Qur’an and Sunnah.

Rule of Law

Prophet Muhammad (SAW) 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 (the 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 satanic dragnet. In other words, the Qur’an is an everlasting prophecy recalling the occurrences of the past, serving as the guiding law of the present and turning focus on the future expectations with a view to clearing the way for the pious ones.

The Prophet’s Objective

By asking the world to follow the rule of law in all their actions, the Prophet never thought of rising from his grave one day to usurp the governance of any particular nation or region of the world. Neither did he leave any heir behind who could inherit the governance of this ephemeral 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. Today, is there any individual, group or nation not affected negatively by discarding the rule of law as divinely provided? 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 from the soil and are fed through their roots in accordance with the natural rule of law that governs them. Disharmony prevails only when deviation from the rule of law occurs. 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 total   disharmony today not because of innocent mistakes but because of deliberate deviation from the rule of law by those who are supposed to uphold it. 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.

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.

What the Qur’an teaches which Prophet Muhammad (SAW) 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   (as Muslims) or that of the Bible (as Christians).

Authenticity

Prophet Muhammad (SAW) never spoke in a vacuum. His utterances were divinely guided. And the Qur’an confirms this as follows: “He (Muhammad) never speaks out of sheer whim; his expressions are no other than inspired revelations; he is taught by the One who is mighty in power…” Q. 15:3-4

Warning

The fraudsters of today who are parading themselves as ‘Prophets’ and Custodians of MIRACLE should repent and refrain from fraudulent act. Otherwise, they will end up like those of the past who were eventually consigned to  a rubles of 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 the evil conception 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 who are masquerading deceptively in the cloak of religion. Amin!

Femi Abass

Beyond sheer lamentations and horrific fear of the consequential affliction of an invisible but dreadful virus codenamed ‘COVID 19’ that is currently terrifying the entire world with little regard  for technology and arrogance of power, the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), held an emergency meeting of its General Purpose Committee (GPC), last Saturday, March 28, 2020. The purpose of the meeting was to answer, according to Islamic tenets, certain fundamental questions arising from the seeming catastrophe engendered by COVID 19, as a way of guiding the Nigerian Muslim Ummah aright at this precarious period.

As a bona fide member of NSCIA’s GPC, yours sincerely participated actively in that meeting and hence, the report here.

The main agenda of the meeting which was held online, through teleconference, was to deliberate mostly on the aftermath of affliction by that virus and the next line of action. Specifically, that GPC meeting raised some curious questions on what could become of the corpses of Muslims who might die as a result of the ongoing ravaging affliction of Coronavirus. Some of the questions raised and answered at that meeting, which were   aimed at serving as guidelines for Nigerian Muslims will be highlighted shortly.

Preamble

Generally, in Islam, one of the major duties of the living Muslims is not just to safeguard the welfares of fellow living Muslims but also to take proper care of the remains of the deceased ones among them in a proper way and at the appropriate time. The obligatory duty of handling the corpses of Muslims has a traditional timeframe and a conventional methodology as divinely ordained. Thus, with the sudden outbreak of a seemingly genocidal disease called Coronavirus which has now turned virtually the entire world into a mega quarantine camp with implacable plague, Nigeria’s apex body of the Muslim Ummah, NSCIA, had to urgently spearhead   the task of facing that inevitable menace as a challenge to be quickly surmounted. And since the GPC of the NSCIA is a conglomerate of Muslim scholars and professionals in various fields of human endeavour, surmounting such a challenge could not have posed much problem to the Ummah.

Relevant Questions

While the rest of Nigerians and, indeed, the rest of the world, were busy wailing, moaning and running helter-skelter either to escape the scourge of COVID 19 death or to avoid its tragic impact on the living, the NSCIA quickly rose vertically to tackle the backlash of that scourge as a way of preventing a bigger calamity. Some of the questions raised and answered to avert a worse situation in that circumstance are as follows:

• How can Muslims in Nigeria avert the affliction of COVID 19 calamity and escape its entailed termination of lives?
• What will become of the corpses of Muslims who may fall victims of the foraging calamity called COVID 19?
• How will such Muslim corpses be identified as Muslims in the midst of dead bodies?
• Right now, who are those charged with the responsibility of handling those corpses according to Islamic norm?
• How will Guslul Janazah be performed on the remains of those corpses without infection implications?
• How will those corpses be shrouded according to Islamic law?
• How will Salatul Janazah be observed on their bodies before burial?
• Can such Salatul Janazah be observed congregationally as statutorily required at this period when congregations are forbidden?
• How will Muslim corpses be buried in this critical situation without further spread of the viral disease that killed them?
• Where, when and how will their burial take place without endangering the lives of their undertakers?

There were many other questions.

Prompt Action

After a comprehensive deliberation on these and other questions relating to safety for the living and their possible economic survival under plague, the meeting resolved, as a matter of urgency, to first act promptly to ensure that Muslim corpses are buried as Muslims and according to Islamic regulation. This warranted an immediate contact with the Presidency through which a request for full involvement of understanding   Muslim Medical Doctors in the process of handling this aspect of COVID 19.

And, the request was granted with automatic alacrity.

Thus, Muslim Medical Doctors with good Islamic understanding were immediately nominated to be part of Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) at both the Federal and State levels. Now, all the 36 States of the federation as well as the Federal Capital Territory are duly represented in the COVID 19 Presidential Committee to take care of Muslims who may become victims of COVID 19 according to Islamic norm.

Guidelines

As a way of implementing the resolutions reached at the mentioned GPC meeting, the following steps were immediately taken:

1. A public statement was made to further counsel the Muslims in the country on how to abide by the rules and regulations issued by the Federal and State Governments as precautions to avoid falling victim of the dreaded virus.
2. Samples of the shroud to be used for COVID 19 Muslim corpses (male and female) were designed and presented to the Presidential Committee on that scourge for adoption at the Federal and State levels.
3. Muslim Doctors who are representing the Muslim Ummah in that Committee should ensure that every Muslim corpse is treated with befitting Muslim funeral.
4. Since congregations of any kind have become dangerous these days and Muslims cannot come together to observe Salatul Janazah on the deceased, those in the vicinity of the COVID 19 victims should arrange among themselves, possibly by telephone, to observe Salatul Gaib from time to time, inside their houses, for the Muslim corpses as the situation may arise.
5. The shrouding and burial of Muslim corpses should be arranged and supervised by the Muslim Doctors who represent the Muslim Ummah in the Presidential Committee.
6. As for survival of indigent living Muslims who are compulsorily restricted to their homes by COVID 19, NSCIA implored all Muslims with wherewithal in their neighborhood to be of great assistance to them in terms of food items, medicament (where necessary) and other required necessities. These steps are expected to serve as guidelines for all Nigerian Muslims who may find themselves in a dilemma or even confusion on what is next in the current circumstance. Now, we are particularly in a period of effective brotherhood in Islam when care for neighbours as a strong act of Ibdah should be most exhibited.

 Observation

The current globally ravaging and genocidal disease called Coronavirus and codenamed COVID 19 is here with us as a matter of physical experience in its true, undeniable reality. Its arrival in the human world as a calamitous guest of the 21st century is neither new nor strange. Every century has its own peculiarity which, if chronicled into history for the coming generations to learn from, may be received with tokens of doubt. But here we are today, experiencing practically and not just witnessing or hearing of a catastrophe which constitutes itself into an overwhelming plague on the universe. We can see, clearly, how parents are dying in droves leaving their children behind as orphans, if not in our immediate vicinities, in other parts of the world. We can see how young and middle age children are frequently hooked like fish thereby leaving their parents behind like childless men and women.

We can see how the giants of December 2019 Christmas have become Lilliputians of Easter in April 2020. And we are witnesses to the swelling figures of widows and widowers even in the so-called advanced countries where all facilities are presumed to be available as a means of preventing this kind of disaster. But now, we suddenly wake up to find ourselves in a world where wealth cannot buy health and foods cannot build immunity even as Kings and Queens as well as Presidents and Prime Ministers are taking turns to address their subjects in languages of pacification but which cannot bring solution to the prevailing problem. Where is an escape route in all these without the WILL of the Almighty Allah?

Comment

The current pandemic disease has globally become like a basketball being tossed around among its alleged inventors who are also its principal players. The real repercussion of that game is nothing but death that waits for no prediction in terms of when or how. Some people may tag it a disease of power tussle. Some others may call it an ailment for the juggernauts. There are also those who may consider it an economic war by other means.  But most people across the world today, tend to see it as a vivid sign of the end of time or an indication of a cataclysmic revolution in the making. Perhaps that is the reason why the authorities of some countries like Russia and Spain where God was never given any recognition of immortal entity are now resorting to the invocation of God’s mercy as a means of overcoming this implacable calamity that defies any technological bravado.

Parable of a Beehive      

The similitude of human world is like that of a beehive in which a Queen is the ruler and commander-in-chief. All other bees in the hive have their duties and assignments in forms of separation of power and division of labour. But they all report back to the Queen either for better   coordination or for further instructions. Whenever any of them faces a difficulty, the rescue lies with the Queen. But where it is the Queen that encounters difficulty, the entire occupants of the hive may be in trouble. Today, the Queen of England is in the dragnet of COVID 19 just as the Prime Minister of the once ‘Great Britain’ is caught in the same dragnet. Also, the Chancellor of the strongest economy in Europe (Germany), has been afflicted by the menace of the vicious virus called COVID 19. Scores of others are waiting for their turns. If these juggernauts are now the victims of the dreaded, invisible virus, who will then lead the rescue mission in their nations? And, now, the inlet and outlet gates of virtually all industrial nations in the world are closed willy-nilly, thereby causing an undreamt   plummeting of the price of oil for OPEC countries.

In short, humanity, as a whole, is tacitly passing through a period in history when life has become so meaningless that Mosques and Churches are standing idle with no worshipers to keep them alive even as death is being frighteningly touted on a minute to minute basis. And, even here, in Nigeria, where some idiotic nonentities used to laugh sadistically at Muslims for performing ablution five times a day, the divine reality of life has compelled them also to perform ablution, without spiritual intention, innumerable times. And no miracle can change that.

Warning

If we had heeded a warning that was passed to us in form of prediction over a millennium ago, perhaps an invisible virus now called COVID 19 would not have come to hold us spellbound as it is currently doing globally. It took an Arab poet to remind us of that cogent warning some centuries ago in an axiomatic stanza that will remain valid for long. The poem goes thus:

“This is the period against which we had been warned in the words of Ubayy Bn Ka’b and those of Ibn Abdullah Bn Mas’ud; a period in which the truth becomes totally rejected while falsehood and evil machinations are duly acknowledged and deified; If this period is allowed to linger for long without change, humanity may zoom into a situation where there may be no mourning on the death of a beloved person and no rejoice on the birth of a new baby”.

Now, is this not the predicted period? Where can the world go from here without the grace of Allah?

Origin of Corona Virus

Going through the archives of history is a major way of recalling some pandemics that had rattled human population with mass deaths through the millennia. One of the earliest pandemics that wrapped mankind in an envelope of plague, according to the records of history, was the Justinian Pathogen that occurred in the 6th century AD during the reign of Emperor Justin I of Byzantine Empire. That unprecedented catastrophe reportedly wiped out about 50 million people, a figure   which was said to be about half of human population at that time. It was followed by the Black Death of the 14th century that was said to have killed almost 200 million people across the world. And then came the 1918 Spanish Influenza that   reportedly killed between 50million and 100 million people and changed the world in pattern and in style. History also revealed to us how over 200 million people were killed by Smallpox in the 20th century alone. How many of such tragic incidents can one recall here without frightening the readers?

Characteristics of Killer Viruses

One of the common characteristics of the viruses that often plague mankind from time to time with different names is the symptomatic exhibition of threat to life through such infectious pathogens like sneezing, coughing and sometimes, bleeding. Some of these symptoms are now vivid in the current ravaging surge of coronavirus. We pray the Almighty Allah to save us individually and collectively from calamity of this period. Amin!

By Femi Abbas

Monologue

AT At a gloomy time like this, when an invisible virus called Coronavirus and codenamed COVID-19 turns itself into a merciless biological ‘hurricane’ foraging the lives of humans and   threatening those lives with death, famine and poverty even as it changes hopes into forlorn, taking a retrospective view of the past and borrowing a formidable garland of experience that may serve as an armour of safety should be a matter of necessity.

Now that the global focus is mainly on COVID-19, we can jointly seize the opportunity of the current global helplessness to share thoughts and ideas, through this forum, about the causes and effects of ailments generally as well as their possible prevention and cure.

It is a fact, universally   acknowledged, that without ailments there would have been no need for medicaments. Incidentally, however, it is the combination of both   ailments and medicaments that prompted the idea of establishing certain healing institutions, in the primordial time, that came to be named hospitals in the contemporary time.

Origin of Hospital

The word hospital itself is a mediaeval English coinage that originated from the Latin word ‘hospes’ or ‘hospice’

(meaning  guest) while the word ‘patient’, used to describe a health seeker, also came from the Latin word ‘Patior’ which means suffering. Thus, philologically, hospital means a place where suffering guests are given proper care for normal comfort of body system.

Ironically, today, however, despite the ubiquity of hospitals in all nations and communities around the world, pandemics like COVID-19 randomly perch on the earth to, stubbornly, prove resistant to any synthetic antidote while rendering those hospitals helpless even as humanity grows incredibly restive with no cute assurance for rescue.

In such a bewildering situation where this virus has become like a stormy rain   showering the entire world indiscriminately with acid water, will it not be effectively meaningful and rewarding to people of reason and foresight to seek a permanent solution than to keep scampering for temporary cover? That is what motivated yours sincerely to write this article for the benefit of today’s generation and that of tomorrow.

Invention of Hospital

The healing   institution   called hospital is not, in anyway, an invention of the modern time. It is rather as old as human ailments for which it was established even if it was crude primordially.  Whether for the purpose of prevention or that of cure, this institution had been in existence since the creation of man.

As a mortal being, man was not created with freedom from ailments. And in a deeper philosophical understanding, it must be noted that ailments may not necessarily be an issue of mental or physical disturbance in human biological system.

On the contrary, an ailment   may be of the mind as prompted by sheer imagination or postulation. For instance, the greatest ailment ever, in human life, is ignorance which requires sound and appropriate application of knowledge as a  potent antidote.

One of the natural characteristics of mortal beings is to be ignorant of certain things at certain times. And that is what actually warrants the search for knowledge in various ways, by various means and at various times . But for that major factor in the nature of man, no reference to him as a mortal being   would have arisen.

Thus, like in the primordial time, the contemporary   time is passing through mental, physical and psychological traumas for which a soothing balm of an appropriate medicament is a sine qua non.

Classification of Medicaments

Whether in the olden days or modern time, medicaments have had to be classified into natural and artificial segments. But because of the sophistication of the modern time, the one is said to be conventional while the other is known as synthetic.

However, none of them enjoys the permanency of time and space in the absence of knowledge. It is with knowledge that ailments are diagnosed. It is also with knowledge that medicaments for their prevention or cure are prescribed. In other words, ailments of any type can only gain access to man in the absence of knowledge.

Prophetic Medicament

Incidentally, the most potent medicaments of all times, for all ailments, including contagious pandemics like COVID- 19, are the ones prescribed by the unlettered Prophet from Arabia, Muhammad (SAW) the son of Abdullah and Aminah over 1,440 years ago.

And those medicaments remain as validly potent today as they were when they were prescribed in the 7th century AD. And, they will continue to be as much potent throughout the remaining period of human existence on earth because they are unalterably backed up by divine authority.

From Adam to Muhammad

Prophet Muhammad’s prescription of medicament for ailment was a confirmation of the coded remedy primordially prescribed by the first human being called Adam.

That primogenitor of mankind was the first human being divinely designated as a Prophet. From the Qur’anic historical record, Muslims came to learn that Adam was hardly one hour old as a creature when he started prescribing medicaments with which to heal ailments.

He was commanded by Allah to teach the Angels the names of all creatures, which the Angels had confessed not to know when Allah asked them to name those creatures. Thus, by teaching the Angels those names, Adam became not only the teacher of Angels but also their Doctor and this was to spark off a fierce controversy, later in life, among intellectuals and certain professionals on what should be called the first human profession.

While some scholars regard teaching as the very first profession of man, some professionals, especially those in the Information/Communication sector called journalists, believe that what Adam actually did by teaching the Angels the names of creatures, which they (the Angels) did not know, was more of information dissemination through communication than actual teaching.

And, in fairness to the proponents of that argument, there can be no effective teaching without adequate information disseminated through communication. That is why nobody can claim to be a teacher or even a Doctor without strong ability to communicate effectively.

Adam as a Doctor

By teaching the Angels the names of all creatures through the guidance of Allah, what Prophet Adam really did was to cure the worst disease (ignorance) in those Angels. If Adam had not taught the Angels the names of all things on earth, by the grace of Allah, those Angels would have remained permanently ignorant.

And if he had not healed the Angels of the disease called ignorance,  Allah’s subsequent messages to mankind, through His appointed Messengers and Prophets, would not have come to mankind through them.

Natural and Artificial Medicaments

In ordinary man’s view, medicament is the substance required to cure an ailment. Such substance may be natural or artificial. It may also be as crude as raw herbs or as sophisticated as surgery. Meanwhile, it is generally believed that a person does not need medication unless he is ill.

That is why the Western conventional medicine of the cotemporary time is rather considered to be curative than preventive. As a norm, physical human illness resides in human body just as an abstract illness like ignorance makes man’s mind its abode. Today, in most cases, people neither go to the hospitals nor take medicine unless they fall sick or feel ill.

Observer’s Analysis

A person is said to be poor-sighted when he cannot see well without artificial aid. He is deemed poor in memory when his remembering ability becomes weak. He is also pronounced poor in health when some of his body organs malfunction or when he loses some active enzymes or minerals or vitamins. Thus, man may be poor, not in terms of money or material needs but despite his possession of both.

As an antidote for ignorance, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) prescribed constant recitation and thorough understanding of the Qur’an. And, for body ailment, he prescribed honey and black seed.

Prophetic Foresight

Though unlettered, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) had known, by divine intuition, the different types of ailments and their required medicaments before he diagnosed two basic ailments and prescribed two fundamental medicaments for them.

The first of those ailments is ignorance for which he prescribed thorough understanding of the Qur’an and obedience to the rules and regulations therein in one’s own interest. The second ailment is poverty. And, poverty in this case, is not lack of material wealth alone as many people erroneously believe. It is also lack of many things including health and conscience. Many people are victims of one of these ailments. Many more are victims of both.

Prophetic Medicament

As an antidote for the ailment of the mind which is ignorance, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) prescribed constant recitation and   thorough understanding of Allah’s rules and regulations for mankind which is called the Qur’an. And, for body ailments, he (Prophet Muhammad) prescribed     two different medicaments. One is Han (ie honey) which is a product of an insect called ‘Bee’.

The other is ‘Habbatus-Sauda’u’ otherwise known as Black Seed from a plant called ‘Nigella Sativa’. Honey is just one of the seven products of the Bee.

But it is the most popular of them all. Black Seed, on the other hand, is a wonderful natural seed of a plant that is native to the Middle East, South Western Asia, North Africa   and some parts of Eastern Europe. This seed can come in three different forms: raw seed, powder and liquid.

The Role of the Qur’an

Qur’an is the encyclopedia of life which embodies and personifies knowledge in all its ramifications. There is nothing spiritual or mundane about knowledge that is not comprehensively contained in the Qur’an either in explanatory or coded form.

Thus, by recommending the Qur’an as the medicament for ignorance, the Prophet simply provided a permanent cure for the ailment of the mind. And by prescribing Honey and Black Seed as antidotes for body ailments, he encouraged longevity through the strengthening of human immune system.

It is, therefore, not by accident that Suratun-Nahl chapter 16 of the Qur’an, is named after the insect called Bee which heals human ailments with its products. The contents of Verse 68 in that chapter of the Qur’an read thus:

“And your Lord revealed to the Bee (saying): Build your homes in the mountains, in the trees and in the hives which men shall make for you. Feed on every kind of fruit and follow the trodden path of your Lord’. From its belly comes forth a fluid of many hues as a healing substance for mankind. Surely in this, there is a sign for those who can reason….”

Other Products of the Bee

Contrary to general belief, honey is not the only product of the Bee. There are six others so far known to man. These are: Propolis; Pollen; Royal Jelly; Bees wax; Bee Venom and Bee Bread. More can still be discovered as research continues along this line in accordance with the Qur’anic challenge.

Each of these products has specific functions in maintaining, sanitizing and immunizing the human hormone system. And each of them has tremendous health maintenance value in the life of man. But there is neither time nor space here to discuss them in full details now. A better chance may come in the near future.

Composition of Honey

Pure honey in its raw form contains about 80 different substances that are most important for human nutrition. Besides glucose and fructose, honey contains all of the B-complex minerals and vitamins such as A, C, D, E and K as well as trace elements such as magnesium, sulphur, phosphorus, iron, calcium, chlorine, potassium, iodine, sodium, copper and manganese. The enzyme content of honey is one of the highest of all existing foods on earth. Honey also contains an antimicrobial, as well as antiviral and   antibacterial factors.

Other ailments for which honey may be found appropriate as an antidote include staphylococcus, respiration, constipation, whitlow, burns and wounds.

Comment

After many centuries of disputing the above facts ignorantly, conventional Doctors finally came to realize that no medicine is as effective in sealing up surgical wounds and healing sores as honey.

Thus, today, at the instance of the World Health Organization (WHO), honey is globally used for these purposes in most public hospitals in various parts of the world, Nigeria inclusive.

Types of Black Seed

Ordinarily, there are three ways in which Black Seed can be put to use for effective cure or prevention. One way is the chewing of raw Black Seed. Another is grinding it (Black Seed) into powder while the third is turning it into a lotion. But the three are not dissimilar in potency or efficacy. They are all the same.

Governor Seyi Makinde’s Rescue

While the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, who tested positive to COVID-19 recently, was still writhing hopelessly in untold agony at the intensive care unit of a London hospital, Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Nigeria was easily rescued from the claw of Coronavirus in Ibadan after about nine days in the isolation gulag of that deadly virus.

It was a Muslim brother, Dr. Muyideen Olatunji that was said to have introduced the medicament to him at that precarious moment of his life after almost one and a half millennium that Prophet Muhammad (SAW) had prescribed Honey and Black Seed as potent medicaments.

But, in fairness to Governor Makinde, he 0penly confessed to that effect and gave a public testimony in appreciation of that unique gesture. That is one of the contributions of Islam to the continuity of human life and the civilization of mankind.

Rental Criers

In another clime,  the marvelous gesture from Islamic spiritual foundation that rescued a COVID-19 infected Governor  would have been turned upside down as  some marauding  self-appointed ‘miracle merchants’ claiming to be prophets would have renamed the honey as ‘Anointing Lotion’ and the Black Seed as ‘Miracle Seed’ even when Prophet Muhammad who prescribed those medicaments did not attribute them to deceptive  miracle or false anointing.

Conclusion

That Prophet Muhammad (SAW) knew that much even as an unlettered person at a time when the world was evidently assailed by blatant ignorance and primitivism is a further confirmation of Michael Hart’s classification of him as the greatest human being that ever lived. What else will Nigerian charlatans who are parochially claiming to be prophets say to counter this axiomatic fact? God bless the readers of this column.

Femi Abass

Human life is full of junctions. And every junction is an axis at which the baton of life is periodically changed. At a time, that baton may be positive. At another time, it may be negative. Thus, people who find themselves in a circumstance of comfort today should not expect that circumstance to remain so for ever. Ditto those who are in the circumstance of discomfort. That is a confirmation that comfort and discomfort are two phenomena of life which constantly rotate like days and nights around the axis of existence. There is no permanency in the ephemeral enclave that we call human life.

Examination Hall

For Muslims, the world of man is like an Examination Hall in which success or failure of candidates is the main determinant of what may become of the statuses of those candidates later in life. For those who do not want to be tested, however, there is a way out and that is to avoid coming into the world at all. But, can any human being claim to be alive without passing through the Examination Hall of life? Allah is so merciful to mankind that He does not leave His creatures to the cobweb of failure without providing rescue. That is why, at some periods of catastrophe or melancholy, He (Allah) sends agents of rescue to the world in form of Guests. It is this wonderful divine mercy that elicited, in yours sincerely, the thought of writing this article with the title allotted to it. Right now, as humanity is wallowing helplessly in a ‘thorny’ valley of an unexpected pandemic, a spiritual Guest, deployed by the Almighty Allah, is fast approaching the world with a rescue mission that will soon be greeted with a thunderous chorus of ALLH AKBAR1! (Meaning God is great). The name of that Guest is RAMADAN.

Preamble

Guests, everywhere in the world, are of different types. Some are on a beneficial mission and are treated with honour because of their acknowledged garland of clues to many knotty issues in human life. Some are bereft of honour because they are on empty missions that have no meaningful purpose to serve in human life. But despite the emptiness of the latter guests, they are somehow tolerated for their nuisance value. That is the other side of human life. In Islam, no litigant or defendant can be a judge in his own case just as no examinee can be the marker of his own examination paper. This message can be well understood only by wise readers of this column who are not fraudulent.

Categories of Guests

Each time we talk of guests, most people think only of humans alone in the erroneous belief that no other creature could be qualified for that dignified title. What such people don’t seem to realize consciously is that humans are just a fraction of Allah’s creatures. There are millions of other creatures that are not often noticed by man. One of such creatures is the phenomenon called ‘Season’ which often influences and sometimes regulates the conduct of environments. Seasons come in different forms with different postures and at different times of the year. They are like the tides of an ocean. They roll out spirally in quick succession and reshape the world’s environment from time to time as they come in multiples of months. No one can measure a season in the absence of months as there can be no seasons without months.

Seasonal Guest

In a few days’ time, a unique but abstract guest will arrive in the world with grandeur of clues to human problems and an array of clemency with which to serve as a bearer of succour. The arrival of this guest will be the divine catalyst with which the long awaited respite will be ushered into the minds of genuine Muslims, all over the world, as a replacement for the current tribulation that intensely grips the minds of the entire mankind. Once again, the name of that awaited guest, as mentione above, is RAMADAN.

Respect for Seasons

Europeans have so much respect for seasons that whenever they visited by an important guest, they give him a seasonal   treatment and call him an ‘August visitor’. This is because the month of August that shares that honourary term as a matter of nomenclature is the peak of summer season that harbours hospitality at its peak for the Caucasian race of Europe. In Islam, the most venerable guest of the year, throughout the world,   is the month of RAMADAN. Yet, the visiting time of that sacred month is not restricted to any particular season.

A Guest of All Seasons

The arrival of Ramadan in the world may coincide with that of any season. And that is what qualifies it eminently to be called the Guest of all seasons.

With Ramadan as a Guest, therefore, not only the Muslims but the entire humanity is consciously or unconsciously engaged in hospitable activities as a show of respect for that great Guest. Those who cannot fast in that sacred month do take advantage of its presence to readjust their social conducts by taming the brute in them even as some of them engage in buying and selling of some relevant needs either for the purpose of humanitarian charity or for strengthening social acquaintances. Thus, there can be no indifference to the awful presence of Ramadan in any part of the world.

In Retrospect

Yours sincerely can vividly recall the description given this sacred month in this column, some years ago, which is still as relevant today as it was then. The description went thus:

“Once every year, something creeps glamorously into the world like the early morning light. It moves kaleidoscopically into an arena where the center becomes its stool. It lifts its unraveling veil and beams a special focus on the world with an arresting attention during the days. It envelops the nights in a shroud of divine covenant and links believers’ dreams directly with fulfillments. No one, except the Almighty Allah, knows Ramadan’s port of embarkation and no human being can claim to know its destination. All we know of this sacred month is that of a Guest that is so vividly present in our world and yet so physically invisible. Its arrival in the world is often heralded by a retinue of other lunar months that form its entourage. The two most prominent among those lunar months are ‘Rajab’ and Sha’ban’.

Ramadan’s Convoy

As an annual   principal Guest to mankind, Ramadan does not come into the world of man without being accompanied by an entourage that forms its convoy. In the forefront of that entourage, to alert mankind of the imminent arrival of the globally expected Guest of Rescue are two prominent lunar months called Rajab and Sh’aban. Thus, like the sun in the midst of stars, Ramadan, on its arrival in the world, ascends the throne of human destiny in full regalia while all other months, (lunar and solar) quickly take their bow in salutation.

In that grandiose circumstance, Ramadan can be called the king where other months are just chiefs and it can be called the doctor in a world of physically and spiritually sick people. It can also be called the compass with which to find the rightly guided way in the wilderness of life. This same sacred month can also be called the sanitizer of human soul, the sterilizer of human spirit as well as the purifier of human biological system. Besides Rajab and Sh’aban that lead the convoy of Ramadan, there are also certain invisible ministers that serve as its personal bodyguards. Among such Ministers are piety, knowledge, truth, justice and peace. All of these jointly usher that Guest of guests into the world with splendour”.

Why Ramadan?

“The ninth lunar month called Ramadan, in which fasting is divinely ordained, derived its name from the Arabic word ‘Ramd’ (meaning baking). That name had been in existence before the advent of Islamic calendar. It was coined from a baking summer that followed the then freezing winter. Ever since, Ramadan’s mission has been to firm up all loose ends in the life of man. And it does that with a ruling touch of perfection”.

The Mission of Ramadan

The 30 or 29 days of Ramadan are fully spent by Muslim believers in fasting from dawn to dusk. Such fasting is not about abstinence from foods and drinks alone. It is also about self-restraint from all sinful acts and self-equipment with a reign of impeccable discipline.  More importantly, Ramadan is about repackaging human destiny through a new but sincere resolution.

Fasting during this sacred month is figuratively believed to be the burner of all sins. It was in this glorious month that the revelation of the divinely reformative guidance called the Qur’an first began.

Paradise and Hell

In the sacred month of Ramadan, all gates of Paradise, according to Prophet Muhammad (SAW), are wide open for all those aspiring to gain entry into it while the gates of Hell are tightly closed. That is a mark of Allah’s mercy for remorseful Muslims

Who do not want to remain in the fetters of Satan.

Classification

Traditionally, Ramadan is classified into three segments. The first ten days in the month are said to be of blessings galore for pious Muslims who need Allah’s blessings and seek them spiritually. The second ten days are believed to personify forgiveness for those who realize the gravity of their sinful acts, repent on them and resolve never to return to such sinful acts again. And, the last ten days, are divinely earmarked for spiritual emancipation of mankind from the shackles of satanic   slavery. Thus, Ramadan, in the psychological and spiritual comprehension of its mission in the life of mankind, is, by far, beyond an ordinary   month. It should   really be seen as a whole season that serves as an exemplary template for other seasons.

The Night of Power

It is in the last segment of Ramadan, which consists of the last ten days of the sacred month that a particular night called ‘Laylatul Qadr’ (Night of Power) in which the secret of human destiny is encapsulated. Meeting that night consciously and spiritually is like securing the master key to one’s own permanent apartment in Paradise. However, to meet that night, there is a proviso. And the proviso is that one needs to remain awake throughout those last 10 nights to be fortunate to meet the D night of majesty.

It must, however, be noted that Allah did not disclose, even to Prophet Muhammad (SAW), which particular night of the sacred month of Ramadan is called Laylatul Qadr. Nevertheless, by asking the Muslims to look for it in the odd nights of the last ten days, the Prophet has helped the rightly guided Muslim Ummah tremendously. But, who can be so sure of the odd nights in that segment of the month when the issue of sighting the crescent before commencing Ramadan fast is often controversial? That is why it is better for all fasting Muslims to keep the entire 10 nights of that segment awake.

Spiritual Seclusion

The last ten days of Ramadan also grant a rare opportunity to some willing Muslims, in accordance with the tradition of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), to either go for Umrah in Makkah or take to I’tikaf (spiritual seclusion) locally, to reaffirm their total submission to Allah. Following this is a session of charity made compulsory for all Muslims irrespective of age, gender and status. Such charity is given to the poor and the needy especially in the neighbourhood or in a  lager vicinity. This charity is called Zakatul Fitr or Sadaqatul Fitr. It is given out in the very early morning of Ramadan Festival Day called ‘Idul Fitr’ or the night before it, to enable the poor and the needy celebrate the festival with the Ummah in a festive mood.

Preparation

Islam is not a religion of levity. The spiritual seriousness of this divine religion is such that everything that needs to be done in it requires preparation.

For instance, to observe Salat, Muslims prepare by performing ‘wudu’ (ablution) or even Guslu (bath) when necessary. To pay Zakah, Muslims prepare by calculating their annual income and working out Nisab (net income) on which payable amount should be based. And to perform Hajj, Muslims prepare by knotting up  the intention to that effect and by paying any outstanding debt as well as by taking care of the home front for family members. It is that same spiritual concept that warrants the monitoring of the appearance of the crescent as the   symbol of preparation for Ramadan fast.

Indices of Recognition

Although the indices of recognizing the beginning and the end of the month of Ramadan are naturally vivid to those who care, sighting the crescent is foremost among those indices.

Ramadan is not preceded by two glorious lunar months of ‘Rajab’ and ‘Sha’ban for fun. The number of days in those two months is to enable any serious Muslim know the time of the arrival of Ramadan and prepare for it. In Islam, no lunar month exceeds 30 days and none is less than 29 days.

Therefore, crescent or no crescent, it is very possible and easy to know when to start Ramadan every year even without waiting to be prompted. The regular confusion often created by the sighting or non-sighting of the crescent, especially before the commencement of Ramadan is therefore avoidable.

Anti-climax

The first day of the month of Shawwal, immediately after Ramadan, which is traditionally spent in great celebrations with rejoice and observed as ‘Fast-Breaking Festival’ (Eidul Fitr) by Muslims when a congregational prayer is observed in accordance with the Prrphetic ‘Sunnah’, is the anti-climax of the sacred month of Ramadan. That festival itself has its own preparation and methodology.

Questions

Looking at the uniqueness of Islam as a religion in terms of hygiene, dressing, spiritual discipline in observance of Salat, the spirit of charity which Zakah and Sadaqah represent, the rules and regulations guiding social interaction during Hajj performance and the codes of the divine law that governs the lives of Muslims as accentuated by the month of Ramadan, one cannot but ask relevant question as follows:

Where else can one find a Guest like Ramadan? Where else can one meet a Guest that serves as the host to his supposed hosts and becomes a supernatural doctor that heals mankind of ignorance and physical diseases? It was probably more to Ramadan than to man that Prophet Muhammad (SAW) referred when he said: “whoever believes in Allah and the ‘Last Day’ should venerate his guests”. That is why Muslims often greet one another in this unique month thus: ‘RAMADAN KARIM!

“They (the non-believers) want to extinguish the light of Allah with the winds of their mouths (but unknown to them), Allah has perfected His light even though the unbelievers passionately abhor that fact….”Q. 62: 8

Monologue

It is a fact of historical reality that Muslims anywhere in the contemporary world are brothers and sisters of other Muslims everywhere. Thus, the plight of American Muslims before the outbreak of the pandemic called coronavirus must be a concerned plight of all Muslims worldwide.

And now that some of those American Muslims who have innocently fallen prey to that pandemic are being buried indiscriminately in the rubbles of mass graves, the concern for their plight must astronomically rise in intensity.

This is because, given their numerical weakness and insignificant amount of wealth, the situation of Muslims in that devil’s own country is hardly better than that of a lily by the mossy stone.  But before we talk of the plight of those Muslims vis a vis the fortressing resilience that sustains the formidability of their faith, let us examine some fundamental questions that need to be fundamentally answered if only for posterity.

For instance, how did Islam find its way into that country despite the pathological hatred of the imperialists therein for the concept of Allah as the Creator and Protector of the universe? And, how have the Muslims in that so-called ‘New World’ been coping with the implacable apartheid against their faith?

Preamble

Looking at Islam globally today vis-a-vis the multifarious problems incessantly confronting its adherents, there is tendency for some ignorant and parochial people to think vaingloriously that they have succeeded in plotting the end of Allah’s divine religion.

That tendency is particularly manifest in Nigeria where blind imitation has become the culture of certain lotus eaters who have adopted the lifestyle of vultures that are always looking for the carcasses of preys to devour greedily.

From their actions and utterances, the merchants of that obnoxious culture are desperately looking for anything, no matter how devilish, that can pave their ways towards profiting from it.

But because of their untameable avarice and greed, such merchants cannot understand that when a gargantuan institution like Islam is about to take an unprecedented leap towards heightening human   civilization, it must undergo a trying moment. Such a momentary trial is an indication that an arrogant power somewhere in the world is about to fall.

This is not new in history. Those who are adequately familiar with the World History will recall that similar scenarios had occurred to certain arrogant powers like the old Greek and Roman Empires as well as many others in the past centuries, at the peak of their arrogance.

At least, we can still see through the spectacles of history that if the sun of the once so-called Great British Empire did not eclipse unexpectedly, at its prime, an imperialist America would not have emerged as a foremost modern day world power. And, we have not forgotten that the latter was once a colony of the former. More will be said about this, in this column, in the near future in sha’Allah.

Essence of Instinct

Instinct is the main cursor of vision. It is the indicator of where today’s cruising ship will anchor tomorrow. A man without instinct can be likened to a blind bull struggling to pass through the hole of a needle.

An example of that assertion is now being exhibited in the United States of America. Without instinct there can be neither projection nor premonition. All visionary prophecies of the past were based on regulated divine instincts.

It was only by divine instinct that Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was able to prophesy the signs of the last days when he said: “One of the signs of the last days is for the sun to rise in the West and set in the East….” This prophecy is heavily pregnant with meanings.

Which sun was Allah’s last Messenger to mankind   talking about? Was it the physical or the hypothetical sun? Before now, only a few people of visionary posture in the West could comprehend that prophecy as much as the celebrated Irish Christian playwright, George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950).

His Prediction

Based on his understanding of the contents of the above mentioned divine prophecy, George Bernard Shaw decided to study Islam through deep and comprehensible researches. And consequently, he concluded as follows:

“The Medieval Ecclesiastics, either through ignorance or bigotry, painted Islam, which they renamed Mohammedanism, in the darkest colours. In fact, they were trained both to hate the man (Muhammad) and his religion.

To them he was anti-Christ… I have always held the religion of Muhammad in high estimation because of its wonderful vitality. It is the only religion which appears to me to possess that assimilating capacity to the changing face of existence which can make itself appealing to every understanding age.

I have studied him, the wonderful man, and in my opinion, far from being an anti-Christ, he must be called the saviour of humanity.

I believe that if a man like him were to assume the dictatorship of the modern world, he would succeed in solving its problems in a way that would bring it the much needed peace and happiness”.

“I have prophesied about the faith of Muhammad that it would be acceptable to the Europe of tomorrow as it is beginning to be acceptable to the Europe of today…”

Analysis

America was just emerging as a champion of the modern world when Bernard Shaw made his famous prediction quoted above. Western civilization was then restricted to Europe and Shaw had perceived any emerging civilization from America as an extension of that of Europe.

He had thought that whatever would be acceptable to Europe ought to be automatically acceptable to the emerging power of the New World, the latter being an offshoot of the former. Although, Islam had reached America long before Christopher Columbus arrived in what was then perceived as a New World, very little was known about the Muslims in that country until 1886 when one Moorish immigrant,  by name Noble Drew Ali, of North Carolina started to propagate Islamic faith to the black masses in that country.

However, the fact that Noble D. Ali’s jihad became a prominent feature through the growth of media influence in the United States did not necessarily make him the first American Muslim preacher.

 A Valid Question

Today, with a Muslim population of about 4 million and almost 4000 Mosques, who says Bernard Shaw’s prediction of the early 20th century has not become a reality? If there is still any country in the world today where Islam is not rapidly growing, the name of that country must be coded in retardation.

Today, the geometrical growth of Muslim population in the US, despite all odds, has confirmed Islam as an official religion in America.

Today, there are about 2000 Muslim associations and over 400,000 businesses as well as about 310 regular publications under the firm control of American Muslims. These are not only providing jobs for the residents, they are also enhancing America’s social security.

The Root of Islam in America

The real historical root of Islam in the US is actually traceable to 1790 when the South Carolina legislative body granted special social status to a community of Moroccans, which gave that community the freedom to practise its religion. And in 1797, President John Adams signed a legal policy declaring that United States had no “character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity of Musulmen (Muslims)”.

And, another American President, Benjamin Franklin’s Position  in his autobiography, published in 1791 stated as follows: “ I did not disapprove of a meeting place in Pennsylvania designed to accommodate preachers of all religions”. He concluded that: “even if the Mufti of Constantinople were to send a missionary to preach ‘Mohammedanism’ (Islam) to us, he would find a pulpit at his service”.

President Thomas Jefferson’s Stand

President Thomas Jefferson, on his own, defended religious freedom in America, including those of Muslims and, he explicitly mentioned Muslims when writing about the movement for religious freedom in Virginia.

And, also, in his own autobiography, Thomas Jefferson wrote: “When the Virginia bill for establishing religious freedom was finally passed,… a singular proposition proved that its protection of opinion was meant to be universal.

Where the preamble declares that coercion is a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, an amendment was proposed, by inserting the word ‘Jesus Christ,’ so that it should read ‘a departure from the plan of Jesus Christ, the holy author of our religion.’

The insertion was rejected by a great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend within the mantle of its protection for the Jews, the Gentile, the Christians and Mahometans (Muhammedans), the Hindus and the infidels of every denomination”.

Thus, as a confirmation of that policy, President Jefferson also joined the Tunisian Ambassador for an Iftar (Ramadan fast breaking) in 1809 making him the very first American President to break fast officially with Muslims in America.

Despite the propaganda through over 60,000 publications by the Western Orientalists between 1800 and 1950, disparaging  Islam and denigrating the personality of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), that divine religion continued to wax stronger even as it has consistently displayed unprecedented dynamism as a religion of all times and all ages.

Today, with a global population of about 1.8 billion adherents around the world, and, with certain mundane ideologies and philosophies crumbling like a pack of cards before its illuminating glow, Islam has remained an unstoppable religion, in spite of implacable hostility to it just for pecuniary reason in blind countries like Nigeria.

African American Muslims

The African Americans’ involvement in the propagation of a religion of immigrants though began in 1960s/70s in the American society, Islam had actually made its way into that country in the sixteenth century when Muslims were brought as slaves from Africa but were forced to convert to Christianity.

Those Muslims were followed by a new wave of immigrants who came in the late nineteenth century as labourers from the Middle Eastern countries such as Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.

In the second half of the twentieth century, a large number of Muslims came from virtually every country of the Middle East, South Asia, and Southeast Asia who were more sophisticated than their predecessors in Islamic understanding and propagation.

As those immigrants settled in large cities and small towns, they built Mosques, Islamic Cultural Centres, and Schools. Today, indigenous American Muslims, who have grown in number to well over a million, have succeeded in transforming Islam into an American religion.

A Track Master   

In 1888, the American Ambassador in Philippines, Alexander Russell Webb, surprisingly became a track master by embracing Islam and by becoming the first prominent Anglo-American Muslim in history. Thus, given his status, he became the only person that represented Islam from the US at the first Parliament for the World’s Religions in 1893. That shows how long it has taken the American Muslims to take Islam through a tortuous path in its journey to success.

New York Times

In an article once published in the New York Times and entitled: ‘Muslim Schools in the U.S.: A Voice for Identity’, one Susan Sachs wrote on the rising demands for Islamic schools in the U.S. thus: “across the country, Islamic schools…that offer religion and Arabic classes…are expanding and flourishing, with many becoming oversubscribed so quickly that principals are scrambling for money to build more.

Thus, the surge in the number of Islamic schools may be attributed to the success and determination of a Muslim community that strives “to define itself as a cohesive religious minority in the secular American society”. That was a testimony by an indigenous American to the rapid growth of Islam in a secular America.

The World Street Journal

Before the referred article, an article had earlier appeared in ‘The World Street Journal’ on August 7, 1887, which reported thus: “At a time when Marxism is so debilitated and is being shored up by capitalism; when Christianity lacks much of the missionary fire that once drove it; when Maoism is all but entombed with its founder and when democracy sounds only a muted appeal to much of the world, Islamic fundamentalism stands out as the movement on the march”.

By and large today, not only is Islam formally recognized as the third official religion after Christianity and Judaism in the US, it has also become a tradition for the President and his cabinet to host Muslim leaders in that country to Iftar (fast breaking) during the month of Ramadan.

Today, with technology virtually reaching its climax, and backed up by over 60% of the world’s oil reserve in the Islamic world, the rising of the sun from the West as prophesied by Prophet Muhammad (SAW) is becoming an undeniably vivid reality.

Were George Bernard Shaw alive today he would have nodded with delight to this axiomatic fact.

Conclusion

Given the above historical account, it is unimaginable that a 21st century American President like Donald Trump, who also has personal businesses in many other countries of the world, will want to rubbish his predecessors by destroying the solid foundation which those predecessors had laid for America’s greatness.

But, if, on the other hand, he goes ahead to play a bull in the china shop it will still not be strange. After all, not every child who bears a father’s name can be truly legitimate. With an erratic executive order being signed frequently by fiat, President Donald Trump who has been seeking to ban about 134 million Muslims across seven nations with a view to banishing Islam from America may inadvertently end up being the greatest promoter of Islam in American history.

Meanwhile, for the benefit of doubt, America and other antagonistic countries should know that Islam is like the sun in its full regalia. Any blind person who claims not to recognize its presence is only playing an ostrich. With or without recognition, the sun will always dwell majestically in the orbit with its photosynthesizing rays aglow.

Today is today. Tomorrow is tomorrow. None can take the place of the other. That is a food for thought. When the time comes, history will automatically open up its relevant pages for reading by seekers of the truth. RAMADAN KARIM!