How We Underdeveloped the Ummah and the Way Forward

By

Ibrahim Ado-Kurawa

majekarofi@yahoo.com

Prepared for the National Unity Conference held in Kaduna 30-31 July 2004

At first I expected this to be a topic of discussion and not a paper because it is too wide and contentious. I do not consider myself appropriate to speak on this topic in a gathering that contains some of the cream of the Ummah who have made by far more outstanding intellectual contributions and other members of the intelligentsia that have made contributions to their professions. This topic requires several definitions. Which Ummah? Is it the Nigerian Muslim? Is the Nigerian Muslim monolithic? Do Nigerians have other identities? What is development? What is the cause of predicament? Do Nigerian Muslims have separate destinies from those of other Nigerians? Do Nigerians as a whole have any say in the world today? And several other questions!

Some of the problems facing the Ummah today have to be traced to their historical root. Nigerian Ummah shares many things in common with the Muslim world in general. Hence the present situation must be traced to the decline of Muslim power in the world. Several reasons have been given for this weakness in the contemporary world of modern industrial civilization. Most of these reasons are categorized as morality tale. In the sense that most Muslims believe that, their weakness in power relations has to do with the fact that they abandoned the straight path of Islam. Yet others would say that the peak of the Muslim civilization was during the Abbasid era most of whose leaders were not very pious. The Ottoman Empire was one of the greatest powers of the modern world and for centuries it was a world power its leaders were also not very pious. The Caliphate of Walid bn Abdulmalik was also not very pious but he ordered an expedition that eventually liberated Sind (present Pakistan ) because some of the inhabitants raided a ship carrying Muslim pilgrims. This reminds us how modern states go to war to protect their citizens but hardly does any “Muslim” state have that capability. The modernists believe that Muslims are weak today in terms of power relations because they have refused to modernize and reform Islam as Christianity was reformed. Most of us here are better informed than myself that the modernists have failed and Islam cannot have a reformation similar to the Protestant Reformation. One writer has categorized both answers as morality tale[1]. From a scientific point of view there is every reason to believe that his position is more correct even though the morality tales have some elements of correctness. This is because his position is based on geographic and demographic conditions of Muslim societies that made them to lag behind European societies that had a more favorable climate, which helped them to improve their agriculture thus increasing their population ahead of Muslim populations of the Middle East . With a better agriculture and eventual discovery of alternative routes to the East the Muslims were cut off and they lost the revenue. The Europeans accumulated capital from the trade, improved their military and went ahead colonized many Muslim countries.

With colonization came shame and the destruction of the societies. Even before colonization Africa had a greater share of the tragedies beginning with Moroccan invasion of the Songhay to boost the ego of Sultan Ahmad al-Mansur of Morocco [2]. Timbuktu was a great city of that period with 100000 inhabitants 25000 of them were scholars after that invasion the city continued to decline up to its present pathetic situation. Many of us here today are better informed than myself that colonization is about exploitation and the replacement of the culture of the colonized with that of the colonialists or any other hybrid. The colonialists have consistently testified to this plan[3]. Today most of us have lost an important aspect of our culture, which is our language and we are communicating with a foreign language. Africa is one of the greatest victims. Most of African countries have foreign languages as lingua franca and no civilization has ever been established with a foreign language. In Nigeria we have Hausa language that has over fifty million speakers yet it is one of the few languages of that size that is not a lingua franca. The fact is that many Africans especially Nigerians are excluded because they lack the language to communicate for proper education. One of the few leading publishers of Africa has observed:

It is a tragedy in our history that, as Africans, we have not noticed the relationship between language and civilization or even between language and economic development. No civilization has developed with a foreign language. If the Chinese had used only English to train four billion people to the level they have attained, they would not have achieved economic strength.

One of the benefits of the Japanese revolution after World War II was that every book that was viable for education was translated from the European languages to Japanese. The universities consciously translated all the major subjects and texts from the natural sciences to modern technology into their own language. They were able to do it cheaply; effectively and efficiently, thus the education process was smoother for young people. Africa needs to get to the point where we can do this in order to place ourselves as force to reckon with in education and information. Our efforts to achieve economic development simply by assuming other peoples languages is problematic[4].

At least one can speak conveniently that the adoption of non-native language as a language of communication in primary schools has not been useful in the Hausa speaking areas and pupils finish twelve years of primary and secondary without proficient in either their native language or English.

Many of those who believe in self hate which was part of the colonial education consistently testify that African and Muslim countries have been independent for decades and therefore have no one to blame but themselves. This is partially true but we are all aware that the issues are more complex than this simple explanation. The oft repeated examples are the South East Asian countries such as Malaysia which is a Muslim country that was far behind and it is now the 17^th trading nation of the world. African countries and indeed many third world countries have not been allowed to develop on their own. They have been disrupted and manipulated. Angola for example has been subjected twenty-five years of civil war. Zaire (now DRC) has been subjected to the worst crisis since the Second World War because of the interests of some Western companies in diamonds and other natural resources of the country. But in Nigeria who is to blame? The blame is obviously shared.

This brief paper will now discuss some of the problems of the Ummah and at the same attempt offering some of their solutions under three broad headlines for the sake of clarity although they are inter-related. These issues have been discussed time and again. Many scholars regard them as symptoms and not the actual cause of illness, nevertheless everything is open to discussion especially in this important gathering and it depends on perception.

EDUCATION

It is generally believed that education is the major vehicle for development. But development has remained contentious. Agbo based his arguments on Fagerlind and Saha (1989) who “contend that a dialectical process occurs between education and society….education is a process of society and at the same time acts continually upon society to effect change”. The dimensions of development, for example “economic, political and social dimensions act upon education” which in turn acts upon each of them therefore ‘the contribution of education to development depends upon the other dimensions of development in a given society at a particular time”[5]. The federal and state governments of Nigeria for several decades have designed several policies for educational development and yet it still seems there is hardly any end in sight to the enormity of the problem and there is even near collapse of the system in Nigeria as a whole. Education is one of the areas in which almost everyone is an authority because everybody is a stakeholder and has an opinion hence there are many opinions as the number of those involved in the discussion[6].

The challenges of education amongst the Muslim Ummah in Nigeria vary with locations. The challenges facing the Muslims in the north are different from those facing those in South. Both are rooted in history of the peoples of these areas. We should also learn from each other. In the South there is greater community involvement to the extent that in some extreme cases there is complete state absence[7]. Whereas in the north the people depend so much on the state to do everything in extreme cases there is hardly any contribution from the communities. Some individuals are so irresponsible that they do not even pay the minimum of pennies known as kudin laraba to the Qur’anic teachers. In the South a lady who sells akara could spend her last kobo to sponsor her child this rarely happens in the north. Most of the progress in education in the South is because of community and individual commitment, which is lacking in the north. To solve this problem in the north there must be vigorous campaigns by the state and the civil society. And until this, is done the north will remain backward and continue to affect the whole Muslim Ummah.

There is no doubt northern state governments have a large share of the blame for the predicament of education in northern Nigeria but this does not tell the whole story. What is the investment of these states in education compared to other Southern States? I doubt if there is free education in Delta State , which earns more than Kano , Jigawa, Katsina and Bauchi States combined together. But in Kano from primary up to the university level there is government sponsorship. Primary and secondary schools are free, while there is scholarship for all courses at the university level. Yet people are averse to schooling and the output is very low. Bayero University for example has been in Kano for almost forty years yet there is hardly any subject that we have fifteen Kano State indigenes with PhD. How do we have qualified teachers in the tertiary institutions and the secondary schools when we lack enough PhDs and cream of scholars that will guide and teach them. What does it take to produce PhDs in humanities and social sciences? The problem is both of the state and the society.

Qur’anic Schools

Many northern Muslim elites have expressed concerns about the issue of child beggars popularly known as Almajirai. Many experts of education and sociology have discussed the history and causes of this phenomenon extensively. But with all due respect we have to move away from merely condemning the system as one scholar wrote that in his “candid opinion” the makarantar allo (Qur’anic school) “has become obsolete and at variance with the nation’s socio-economic and political realities”[8] to options that are rational and acceptable to the stakeholders based on the values they cherish. In this case the Ulama must be involved because they hold the key to legitimacy. The bureaucrats and politicians (military and civilian) have tried implementing policies relating to this system without incorporating the Ulama and such efforts resulted in failures. Mere decrees, edicts, acts or laws banning begging may not succeed without moral backing of those who are more respected by the society than state agents.

One of the suggestions made on the expansion of literacy was the use of indigenous language in Arabic script (Ajami) that dates back to 15^th century when mass literacy was first introduced in Kano under Sarki Rumfa[9]. This literacy project in Ajami will involve many members of the society and thus contribute to mass education. This is because it is an easier means of dissemination since it is more accessible to the large number of people who read the Qur’an in Arabic script. It also has legitimacy because the people accept it as the script of the Qur’an the most Holy Book.

Efforts by the State

Northern regional government under the Premier Sir Ahmadu Bello made efforts of integrating Qur’anic and Islamic Schools into the formal system. Previous efforts include the establishment of state schools. The School for Arabic Studies Kano was the first state secondary school of that category opened in 1934. Thereafter several state and private schools of that nature were established. The first phase of the current Kano State project, which involved census of the over twenty thousand of such schools has now been completed. It involved almost a third of the population. The results of the exercise are now undergoing analysis. There is also the advocacy and sensitization program that has been going on. This involved series of workshops and seminars for teachers of Qur’anic and Islamiyya Schools . The main aim of these programs and projects is to rise the status of Qur’anic schools by affording them the recognition they deserve and eventually eliminate begging by pupils of such schools. Graduates of such schools are to be absorbed into advanced schools and eventually the service of the state hence eliminating the policy of exclusion that was entrenched by the colonialists[10]. The projects of the Kano State Government are expected to be achieved through interventions as well as learning from the experiences of other societies with similar systems, hence a tour was organized for some of the Qur’anic teachers to Sudan. The major success of the advocacy program is that the teachers have for the first time appreciated government efforts for trying to find solutions to the problems facing such schools and teachers.

General Observations and Some Suggestions

This is based on a previous submission with modifications[11].

Service delivery: This includes learning environment (physical structures, etc), teachers’ welfare and provision of all necessary teaching and learning materials. It is noteworthy that there is now considerable attention to teachers’ welfare enhanced by better remunerations at the primary and secondary school levels. State governments should also liaise with NGOs based outside Nigeria who tried several times to send educational aids in form of books and equipments but bureaucrats thwarted their efforts during the military era.

Capacity building: Theoretically a pupil or student may not rise above the level of his/her teachers; therefore continuous up date of the knowledge of teachers is very necessary. This could be achieved through retraining seminars and workshops. At the moment many of the primary school teachers in some of the northern states are yet to acquire the minimum qualification for teaching in primary schools. They must be trained because no amount of physical rehabilitation of schools can improve the system without qualified teachers. Thirty years ago a child in the remotest part of the north could aspire for self-actualization through the school because his teachers were well trained but today hardly could a child who attended a local school attain the highest level of education.

For China to reach its present stage of technological development it had to give a three-year ultimatum to its over 8 million primary and middle school teachers to acquire the minimum educational qualification or quit[12]. The north more than any other area requires the retraining of teachers to acquire minimum qualification and even higher qualifications. With modern teaching aids such as radio, television and the Internet this is achievable within the shortest possible time.

Advocacy: Schools do not exist in a vacuum. They are located where people exist. Therefore for the educational system to be successful, the state must sensitize and mobilize the community to understand the role of the parents and their wards, the need for community participation and assistance to the state. The barest minimum will be the protection of government property.

Empowerment of alternative providers of education: Since education is a fundamental human right of every citizen and with the present outcry of lack of funds there is the need for the state to support individuals and organizations that provide this service so that it could be accessible to as many citizens as possible.

Empowerment of Native Languages: Those who against the adoption of a Nigerian language as a lingua franca should save their breath. Native languages should be empowered legally. In this sense they should be languages of instruction in schools and governments should direct translation of relevant texts into these languages. This will ensure mass education as in other countries. Without legal backing efforts of others would not be touted as was done by Bayero University when it refused to accept partnership in the NCE program in Arabic medium by the Kano State College of Education in the 1980s. This policy of empowering local languages has been done in South Africa where nine local languages have been empowered and also in Eritrea . Hence “it is now okay to speak in Xhosa, Ndebele, Zulu etc. And the school systems need to provide us with textbooks. This in turn translates into jobs; jobs for writers, translators, thinkers, printers or publishers…This situation is not peculiar to these countries but can be applied to Ghana , Nigeria and any other African country for that matter”[13]. 

Education and Industry: For the educational system to be successful it must be properly linked to the industry (also known as employers). The problem of underemployment and graduate unemployment is not restricted to any geographic location in Nigeria [14]. In order to avoid unnecessary graduate unemployment there should be proper coordination with the industry so that the courses in demand will be given higher priority even if it means advising students to take remedial courses so that they could change their careers and be useful to the society. It is the primary responsibility of the guidance and counseling divisions to link with the industry and they should be encouraged to do so.

ECONOMY

This section is also an adaptation from previous works[15]. Both Muslim  and non-Muslim scholars have agreed that no society will succeed if it adopts another culture[16]. This ideology is called Kemalism  after Kemal Attaturk who tried to Westernize Turkey . The ideology failed and Turkey became a torn country[17]. Europe  has refused to accept Turkey since it is not Christian[18]. The Turkish leadership has remained humiliated as beggars instead of assuming a more dignified and impressive role as the leaders of the Muslim world based on their history, geography, human and material resources[19]. A Muslim  society must be inward looking. It should be aware of its adversaries. But it must not blame them for all its problems because that may lead to total failure since without internal problems adversaries may never succeed[20]. In other words the society must search within itself for its problems. More importantly it should learn from others because "wisdom is an attribute of the believers they take from whoever".

For the society to develop economically it must search for the elements of its culture that promote economic development. In other words the development strategy must have basis in the culture of the society this will ensure smooth transition. Any attempt to import foreign strategies wholesale will fail as experienced in other societies. It must also be emphasized that relaying on only “normative  incentives  for economic ” development cannot solve all economic problems. There must be “emphasis on routine bureaucratic  authority , merit , specialization, material incentives for economic effort and responsible leadership”[21]. History has shown the progress of societies that harmonized their economic strategies with their culture. One of such examples was the Sokoto Caliphate, because “by giving Hausaland  a polity appropriate to its economy” its leaders “made it the most prosperous region in tropical Africa ”[22]. The state system of the Sokoto Caliphate was the “most effectively organized system of indigenous rule to be found south of the Sahara ”[23]. Sarkin Musulmi Bello encouraged crafts and urbanization[24]. The emirate authorities pursued the policies recommended by Sarkin Musulmi Bello as indicated in their social welfare provision observed by Clapperton[25] and urbanization policies[26].

It is not possible to totally eradicate poverty  in the society in the shortest time but it could be reduced. This may be achieved by refocusing the development strategy to include the small entrepreneurs  because one of the reasons for the failure of most development plans is the “thinking big” syndrome. And it has been correctly observed that:

In the process of thinking big, anything small was bound to be forgotten. Similarly, most of the efforts of the World Bank  to reach the small farmers  (especially after the famous speech of McNamara in the World/IMF meeting in Nairobi in 1974), did not result in anything substantial. Aid agencies and more recently the “Ngos” were unable to reach the small farmer and, therefore, found themselves operating and wasting resources in an environment, which they could not comprehend[27].

It is a fact that a state government  has no control over macro-economic  policies, which generally determine the level of economic activity in the whole country. But it could invest wisely, reduce consumption and it could also provide incentives  for investments. These will stimulate economic activity and in the long run lift up the standard of living of most of the people of the state since production will be increased.

For any poverty  alleviation program to succeed it must be comprehensive in approach this will mean “having a program of well targeted transfers and safety nets for those poor  who are unable to work or suffer deprivation due to some reason”. The strategy should include promoting “the productive use of the poor’s most abundant asset-labor. This requires economic  policies, market  incentives , sociopolitical structure, infrastructure  and technology that are geared toward those ends”[28]. A training workshop organized by the NCEMA made several observations and recommendations for making NAPEP more effective which are relevant to all stakeholders[29].

There are several provisions in Islamic precepts that encourage economic development. It has also been demonstrated that even in the US , physical factors contribute just over half of all output growth and one scholar "calls the unexplained part the measure of our ignorance". The unexplained part is the moral factor. It has been shown that Muslims  could "accelerate the role of economic  growth by greater use of moral factors". Economic development could be reduced to "engendering internal change". This is because the desire to grow is deeply rooted in the human spirit hence Islam  emphasizes spiritual  training , which "should be the highest goal of every Muslim  individual and society". The Muslim intellectual Malik Bennabi  stressed this when he observed that the important economic issue in the Muslim world "is that of harnessing the social force- humanity, land, and time-in a project propelled by a cultural will undeterred by any difficulties". Tahawi has also shown that "invoking Islamic  injunctions in the context of development efforts will release powerful forces from the masses". While Chapra believes "that Islam envisages an economic system that promotes human well-being and a good life (hayah tayyibah ) by giving the utmost importance to brotherhood and socio-economic justice , and requiring a balanced satisfaction as regards humanity's material and spiritual needs". It has also been observed, "that within an Islamic framework  of work ethics, economic accomplishment turns into spiritual achievement, for the bounty of God is earned by seeking His acceptance". From the forgoing there is enough evidence to show that Islam "provides a strong motivation of economic growth". It is therefore the responsibility of the Muslim elites "to encourage Muslims to regain their past glory, for when they become aware of this, they will make concerted efforts to achieve rapid economic growth"[30].

Divine injunctions in the Qur'an  and Sunnah have provided the motivating factors for economic growth in a Muslim society . Islam  as the final message that balances between the spiritual  and profane "induces growth promoting tendencies by encouraging the human instincts of acquisition, provision, and enterprising behavior"[31]. According to Fetullah Gulen: “At least in this world, God treats people according to their attributes”. Thus your attributes are important. A believer is expected to have the finest attributes that will make him successful in this world and if he abandons them he has no one to blame. He also observed that: “If other believers spend all their time in the mosque but lack believers’ attributes and do not grasp the spirit of the matter, they cannot succeed in worldly affairs”[32]. Islam "discourages such growth-inhibiting tendencies as begging, sloth, the waste of time and resources, and extravagance by invoking tendencies favorable to economic growth". The injunction against begging is contained in this Hadith  transmitted in Musnad of Imam  Ahmad , which enjoined the believers thus: "Beg not anything from people". The injunction against extravagance is contained in the Qur'an ( 17: 26 ): "But squander not (your wealth) in the manner of a spendthrift" and in this Hadith transmitted by Imam Bukhari : “Verily Allah likes three things for you and dislikes three things for you. He is pleased with you that you worship Him and associate not anything with Him, that you hold fast to the rope of Allah and be not scattered; and [He disapproves for you irrelevant talk, persistent questioning and wasting of wealth]”[33].

Islam  favors and encourages “growth-promoting tendencies” with injunctions in the Qur’an  and Sunnah . For example in the Qur’an  Allah enjoins the faithful: “And when the prayer is finished, then disperse in the land and seek Allah’s bounty”. And in the Sunnah it is reported that: “Allah desires that whenever anyone of you performs a job, he/she does it perfectly”; “To earn an honest livelihood is a duty (ranking) next to the chief duty (of offering prayers)”[34].

Muslims  are encouraged to utilize natural resources for the benefit of their societies in ways “that are economically efficient and ecologically sound”[35]. These resources are available for the faithful and others as contained in this verse: “And He made in it (the earth) mountains above its surface, blessed it, and placed therein provisions in due proportion, in four days, alike for all seekers”. (34: 9). Muslims are especially enjoined to utilize these resources for improving their life as contained in Qur’an  7: 32. Economic growth is essential for acquiring “the material strength for the defense of Islam ” as implied in this verse: “Make ready for them what thou canst of (armed) force and of horses tethered that thereby ye dismay the enemy of Allah” (8: 60)[36].

Islam  encourages Muslims  to trust each other and above all to have good opinion of their Creator. This is in the mutual interest of all Muslims, which is an important means of achieving social justice. Therefore “as a general rule, a transaction is forbidden if it means gain for one individual but loss for another”[37]. Some non-Muslims scholars have even asserted that the future belongs to those societies in which the people trust each other and their institutions. Business flourishes when partners trust each other.

The most important institution available to Muslims  for mobilization for socio-economic justice is the Mosque . This is because among its many attributes the Mosque commands a position of high respect and love, for it signifies the house of God on earth. “All able bodied Muslims are expected to say their five daily prayers in the Mosque” within which “a divine atmosphere prevails” because “people are worshiping, reciting the Qur’an , remembering Allah , as well as learning, teaching and propagating Islam ”. These breed the impetus for “change in the outlook, taste, and aspirations of Muslims and make them more God-conscious” which is the source of strength. If the Muslims are lucky to gain Taqwa  or God-consciousness then they have succeeded because “it embodies the effects of many values, among them trust (tawakkul ), patience (sabr ) and thankfulness (shukr ), all of which are important” for moral regeneration[38]. It was trust and patience that ensured the success of all previous Muslim  generations of the Prophet (SAW),  his rightly guided Caliphs  and even our predecessors who established Sokoto Caliphate[39] , the largest, most complexly organized[40] and most prosperous state in pre-colonial tropical Africa [41].

The Mosque  as an institution provides an excellent framework for achieving Islamic  social cohesion in terms of brotherhood and cooperation. This is because in the Mosque every Muslim  “is a humble servant of God and tries to respect all others”. In the Mosque the faithful “mix freely and enquire about each other’s welfare”. This “produces a feeling of love and cooperation, for the assembly is like a single family: “And the believers, men and women, are protecting friends of one another” (71: 9). The faithful will ripe the fruit of this moral investment and there will be social harmony and genuine affection for each other as in the time of the Prophet (SAW)  as stated in the Qur’an : “And (moreover) He hath put affection between their hearts: not if thou hadst spent all that is on the earth, couldst thou have produced that affection, but Allah hath done it: For He is exalted in Might, Wise (8: 63)”[42].

POLITICS

Like most other African countries Nigeria is not a natural state. It has been rightly argued that African states created by the colonialists and maintained by post-colonial leaders had little resemblance to the pre-colonial ones therefore both the states and the leaders were illegitimate. Hence, they had to depend on “rent-seeking and neo-patrimonialism” to sustain their power. According to this theory, the few African countries that have not suffered this fate have been most economically productive for example Botswana , Mauritius and Seychelles ; they “are also the continents most legitimate states”. This is because “their leadership and political boundaries are embedded in the history and culture of the country”. Therefore “their leaders do not need to maintain power at the expense of development”[43].

Until the structural issues are resolved Nigeria will remain as it is. The international community dominated by the West would only assist in its own interests. The most important interest for the West is economic and in Nigeria ’s case this is represented by oil[44]. With or without the current structure the West will secure its oil supplies. This is because even if restructuring leads to the disintegration of the country oil is located in the area where the people feel inferior to the West[45]. And it could lead to the emergence of a state in the north based on culture and history that could be antagonistic to the West since Muslims never feel inferior to Westerners but superior[46]. These are fundamental issues for Western strategists. It is clear that the status quo favors their interest in this era of increasing Muslim assertiveness.

It is quite obvious that even though Nigeria is not a natural state the citizens now share many things in common. Many intellectuals have argued that the ordinary citizens stand to gain more by being in a large country than fragments because there is a greater opportunity for larger states or regional blocks in current trend of globalization. These are issues that are now subject of debate nation wide largely because of the perceived failure of the political class (military and civilian) but all historians and students of history are cautious of the reasons given by superficial politicians. Such genres of politicians have caused hardships for various peoples in different parts of the world in pursuit of power and wealth. Many sections of Nigeria have peculiar problems that they cannot solve by breaking away although they also have potentials of being great so the choice is indeed a challenge.

Nigerian Muslims share many things in common with other groups. Many are economically deprived and are used by the ruling classes from various religious groups. In as much relationship cannot be reduced to economic basis alone Muslims must be cautious and they must make relevant critique to identify the issues at stake at every given time. The clamor for restructuring must not be taken with levity. Chauvinists must not be allowed to seize the initiative. All the issues currently discussed have been discussed before a loose federation or confederation has been tested before with three powerful regions that eventually culminated in a disastrous civil war[47].

Even though Nigeria is aspiring to be a democracy the level of development people are anticipating would never be achieved without a vibrant civil society that would check the political class. The country would only become a civilian dictatorship and corruption would remain. The clamors for perceived identities would then continue in a vicious cycle. The challenge therefore is how to get out of the cycle.

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