Femi Abbas
“I shall pass through this world but once; If therefore, there is any good that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any human being; Let me do it now; Let me not defer or neglect it, for I may not pass through this way again”
Monologue
It was as if the young Nigerian Muslim Journalist, Waheed Bakare, who departed the shores of this ephemeral world on Eidul Fitr day last Sunday, May 24, 2020,
knew the secret of the divine schedule of his death date.
His concept of life, despite his virtual indigent status, tallied perfectly with the above quoted poem in accordance with Islamic philosophy of humanitarianism and welfare management. That concept, which the deceased young man willingly adopted
as his guiding principle of life now represents the footprint which serves him in death as an irrigation that nourishes the seed of kind-heartedness and philanthropy by which he lived his life.
Preamble
Life is like a cycle which constantly rotates around a permanent axis. Whatever goes forth comes back. Whatever goes up comes down. In summer season, the sun rises in the East every day and travels to set in the West. It comes back the following day to repeat the same journey without losing its track. That is the divine will of Allah which no mortal being can ever change.
Parable of Life
Human life is like the rotation of the seasons in their turns. Seasons exchange batons on a quarterly basis. Spring, autumn, summer and winter, all come at their right time without one taking the place of another.
Children come into the world daily and grow up to become adults with time. Parents rear their children the way they, themselves, had been reared so that the cycle of life may continue after their demise. We sleep and wake up just as we eat and defecate almost daily until we are stopped by the supreme force that fixes and schedules everything in our lives. And our successors proceed from where we stop if only to keep the cycle of life rolling in continuity.
Human beings are like cash crops. We germinate into embryo from spermatozoa. We transform biologically from stage to stage until we blossom into youthful adolescents and grow up into productive adults just like fruitful trees. And, then, we begin to grey as an indication that we are starting to wither away like trees which leaves are turning into yellow or red colours. However, when the icy hand of death comes to pluck us like ripe fruits, the indication is that our transit visa in this ephemeral world has become automatically expired. But our journey still continues from the unknown to the unknown until we are summoned by our Creator to give the account of that journey.
Man’s Mission on Earth
No man comes into the world without a mission. The mission may be positive or negative. It may be completed or carried out half way. But what is common to all is a place in history which may serve as an encouraging guide for others or a warning against the vanity of human wishes or both. In man’s initial journey into the world, the soul is firmly in harmony with the flesh. Both work in tandem physically and spiritually. At that stage, a spade is always seen and called a spade. And that is why children are said to be innocent. But after some time, the flesh outgrows the soul and becomes like a mossy stone eagerly wishing to crush the fragile lily that the soul represents in human body.
At that stage, Satan begins to assemble his destructive tools with which to rework or dismantle man’s engine of life to enable him propel his own destructive mission. No one drives a car without an engine. But when the engine is removed from the car or damaged, the body of that car becomes immobile. The same is the case with the corpse of man after the exit of the soul. But blessed are those who do not nourish the flesh at the expense of the soul.
Waheed Bakare
The similitude of the cited car is like that of the life of the young man, Waheed Bakare, a Journalist, who, like a falcon, flew away forever while leaving the falconer behind. Waheed had a young wife and four young children of school ages. Now, neither the wife has a spouse to call her husband nor the children, the eldest of whom is just about 16 years old, have any bread winner they can call their father. Now, for that wife and her young children, the reality of life has avowedly come on board to distinguish itself from imagination. Every married Muslim wife can put herself in the position of Waheed’s wife. And, every Muslim father can imagine what could have become of those children if he were to be in the present position of Waheed Bakare. This is where we, Nigerian Muslims, should honestly re-examine ourselves about our practice of Islam.
The Lockdown on Zakah
Ordinarily, as responsible adherents of Islam, we should not be calling on members of the public for help whenever we have a case like that of Waheed at hand. Waheed was only lucky to be associated with people who can do that for his family. What about millions of other Muslims, widows and widowers as well as orphans and elderlies who have no means of reaching out to the public? Zakah as a whole pillar of Islam should automatically take care of the underprivileged people and give us a befitting confidence as practitioners of Islam. But here we are in the hands of certain clerics who dogmatically believe that Zakah should serve as a protecting factor for the rich rather than for the poor. Those are the clerics who insist that the Nisab of Zakah must be based on the current price of gold as determined by the Jews who are globally known to be the principal merchants of gold. To those clerics, the Nisab of Zakah must be far, far ahead of the incomes of most Muslims.
The statutory facts of Zakah are clear and obvious. And, Islam is a dynamic, not a dogmatic religion. Zakah is the only pillar of Islam that touches the lives of others, especially the downtrodden poor. But in a Nigerian situation where Nisab is rising astronomically every year and the number of Zakah payers is geometrically dwindling just because it must be done as it was done in the time of the Prophet. As of now, the locally prescribes Nisab is about N1.74 million or thereabout. How many Nigerians of today can boast of such net income? Thus, in a situation like this, where is the statutory protection for the poor? Yet, thousands of Nigerians are going Hajj and Umrah regularly witout ever paying Zakah in a country where millions are helplessly wallowing in abject poverty.
This is one of the reasons why yours sincerely promised to open a new column on the problem of Zakah in Nigeria after Ramadan. That column will be entitled ZAKAH REVOLUTION. And, its main objective is to discuss regularly cluster areas of Zakah, based on evidential research until Nigerian Muslims really understand it to the benefit of Islam. As a columnist in the defunct Concord newspaper I started writing on certain major issues in since 1982, when most Nigerian Muslims were not quite familiar with them. Among those issues were Zakah, Hijrah calendar, Hijab, Indebtedness in Islam as well as orphanage and Muslim Will.
Personal Concern
As a payer of Zakah, in my own little way, I do not pray to become a recipient of Zakah again in my life. But the shame to which Islam is being subjected through the ridiculous rampancy of begging in our society is a major concern of my life. As for the modalities of Zakah payment and the issue of Nisab, when we get to the bridge, we shall cross it through this column in sha’Allah.
An Appeal as Usual
As a Muslim and a Journalist, if anything implacably constitutes an irritating nuisance to me, it is begging in the name of Islam. But, unfortunately, that is not just the fashion in vogue now in Nigeria, it has also become the principal norm by which Nigerian Muslims are known in the society. And some clerics believe invariably that such a nauseating norm is preferable to payment of Zakah on a reasonable and lawful Nisab even when earners of the monthly minimum wage of N30000 in Nigeria are paying tax to the government willy nilly.
Back to Appeal
Lest I forget, my appeal here is to kind-hearted Nigerians whose children are joyously and hopefully attending schools as well as those whose children have graduated, to please, join some others who have kindly indicated interest in giving a helping hand to Waheed’s family whose bread winner has fortuitously vacated the stage even without saying bye to his innocent children. It should ordinarily be the responsibility of the Muslim Ummah to rescue this young family from an impeding scourge of poverty if seriousness had be duly applied to the management of Zakah in Nigeria. Actually, but for the highly laudable efforts of some Muslim groups and organizations whose commendable efforts have opened the eyes of Nigerians to that pillar of Islam, Zakah would have been completely forgotten. To unwreawake the consciousness of Nigerian Muslims on Zakah, the unwarranted lockdown rigidly imposed on Nisab of Zakah by some theoretical lerics in the name of the primordial norm is must be removed.
Bak Account Details
The Bank Account Details of the wife of Waheed Bakare are as follows:
Name of Bank: First Bank
Account Number: 3148987691
Account Name:
Bakare Basirat Adekemi.
I pray the Almighty Allah to safeguard the lives of kind hearted Nigerians home and abroad, who are ready to rescue the lives of these innocent children from the cobweb of moral and education confusion that would have put them on an endless rigmarole. I pray the Almighty Allah never to subject the educational lives of your own children to begging.
Read the Poem Again
Meanwhile, while appreciating the marvellous gestures of some brothers and sisters who have been enquiring about the bank account details for assistance, I call on the readers of this article to please, read the top quoted poem once again and try to live by its contents. Yes, it is Waheed Bakare’s turn today even in the month of Ramadan, no one knows whose turn it may be tomorrow. God bless you all.