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Street Begging: Exposing the Bankruptcy
of Blatant Paying of Lip Service
By
Aliyu A. Ammani
Some Nigerians give money to street
beggars out of piety, real or counterfeit. Others give to beggars just
to get them off their necks. Yet other Nigerians are, simply put,
philanthropists. What's more, the average Nigerian, regardless of his
socio-political and religious inclination, resort to Boka,
Babalawo or witchcraft for his benefit: to be freed from suffering
of all types including cases of illness that do not readily response to
treatment; to injure enemies, real or perceived, or seek protection from
their evil; or to obtain the desires of the heart. The process usually
involve given alms to beggars. Thus, for more than one reason and in
more than one way, money flows in to oil the engine of street begging.
The population of beggars on our streets
is growing exponentially. The menace of street begging as a potential
threat to our very societal fabric is obvious. Many social commentators
have attributed this astronomical growth in street begging to poverty,
real or imagined, in the North. Is it really as a result of
poverty or due to the manipulation of sentiments by some vested interest
groups? There was really no debate in the sense of an articulation and
consideration of basic issues and dimensions of the matter.
Street beggars constitute the class of
professional beggars: those who take begging as the principal means of
earning a living. This increase in the number of street beggars exposed
the bankruptcy of the blatant paying of lip service, by various
governments, in the name of curbing the menace of street begging in our
major towns and cities.
Islam abhors the adoption of any form of
begging as a profession. Whether we like it or not, to most non-Muslim
minds, Islam is not only associated with begging, but appears to
encourage it. Much as this is a clear misconception, the fact remains
that street begging prevails because we Muslims, particularly some of
our leading Malams, provided it with a fertile ground to thrive.
In the name of almajirci, some
Malams take children away from their parents into major towns and
cities and transformed them into mabarata. So instead of learning
Islamic knowledge, and begging house-to-house for food, these children
are made to beg for money on the streets and perform menial jobs for the
sake of money from dawn to dusk. One wonder when do these children ever
have time to study?
Many leading and vocal Malams
advocate for the continuation of the almajirci system not out of
conviction but rather in a desperate attempt to win followers and remain
relevant in the equation. Through the manipulation of sentiments and
deliberate misapplication of concepts, they make case for mabarata
at the expense of almajirai. The concepts or terms almajirai
and mabarata are purposely used interchangeably in arguments to
cloud the issue. The two terms were never synonyms. A closer look at
each of these terms will drive the point home.
Almajirci, the process of being an
almajiri has its roots in the Arabic word al-Muhajirun
meaning those who migrate. The term was first used in Islamic History
following the Hijrah of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) from Mecca to
Medina in the year 622 of the Christian era. Those Meccans that migrated
with the Prophet (SAW) to Medina were referred to as al-Muhajiruns
(the Migrants), while their hosts in Medina were called the al-Ansars
(the helpers of the migrants). The pre-colonial form of Islamic
scholarship, in what constitute most of today’s states Northern
Nigerian, demands that seekers of Islamic knowledge leave their towns
and villages to other towns and villages to be able to concentrate their
energy towards knowledge acquisition. These students are referred to as
almajirai ( Hausarised form of al-Muhajiruns i.e.
those that migrate in the quest of knowledge.) while their host
communities assumed the role of al-Ansars ( the helpers). There
was a tacit rule then, that members of the host communities for these
Islamic schools contribute plates of food to the Malams and their
almajirai. Sometimes parcels of land were given to the Malams
to grow their own food. Following the introduction of money and other
attendant changes in the economy during the colonial and post colonial
period of our history, the almajirai have to ask their host
community for food. It is noteworthy that the almajirai are
essentially house-to-house beggars of food. They beg for food only if
they are hungry, and once their hunger is satisfied, they return to
their classrooms to continue with the learning process. The
typical almajiri is only out begging for food at most three times
a day: breakfast, lunch and supper.
The mabarata, on the other hand,
are professional beggars: those that live by asking people for money.
There is a historical-cum-cultural precursor to their prevalence in the
North. Until the re-awakening of the Muslim consciousness towards
the proper teachings of Islam, mostly pioneered by the Izala
Movement in the 1970s, Muslims on pilgrimage to Mecca had to go through
Sokoto on Ziyara to the Hubbare of Shehu Usman Danfodio. This
flow of pilgrims through Sokoto, for more than a hundred years, and
their consequent offering of alms at the Hubbare, created a class
of beggars that thrive on pilgrims’ alms. Following the enlightenment of
Muslims on the proper teaching of the Islamic faith, pilgrims understood
that going through Sokoto on Ziyarah en route to Mecca on Hajj is
an unnecessary waste of resources. Thus the army of beggars at the
Hubbare was forced to scatter across other Nigerian cities and
towns.
As far as street begging is concern, the
political class in the Muslim north is gullible and could hardly go
beyond paying lip-service to curbing the menace. The reason is simple.
Many of these politicians lack the proper basis of Islamic theology.
They believe the Malams have supernatural powers. They patronize
these Malams to rig or win elections; intimidate or subjugate the
opposition; or gain and retain political power. Any action that will
make them lose the support of these Malams is sacrilege! So they find it
convenient to choose the part of least resistance: paying lip service.
Through manipulation of religious
sentiments and cheap blackmail, Malams who out of their selfish
interest become strong advocates for the continuation of street begging,
project the image of street begging as an element of Islamic culture and
those oppose to it as villains or a stingy lot. I challenge any leading
Malam or Sheikh in today’s Nigeria who is strongly
advocating for the continuation of the almajirci system to come
out and tell the world how many of his sons are studying under such
system and on what streets they beg for food and money.
Which way forward? First, Governments at
all levels should embark on an enlightenment campaign to make the
populace understand that (a) almajirai and mabarata are
two entire different sets of beggars. (b) a crackdown on street begging
is not a crackdown on any aspect of Islamic culture and norms. This is
to make the Muslim public less susceptible to mischievous Malams
who will like to manipulate religious sentiments to cloud the issue for
their selfish interest.
Second, rather than wasting tremendous
energy and resources, and embarking on paying lip service, all in an
attempt to project the image of reforming the almajirci system: a
system that has clearly outlived its usefulness; the Government should
spare no effort in educating the dramatis personae of the
almajirci system of Islamic education on the advantages of the more
formal, more vibrant, more pragmatic and more relevant Islamiyyah
system. Islamiyyah schools should form an integral part of the
UBE programme. The good news is that Islamiyyah system in some
states in the North has developed both primary and secondary schools
components that have been feeding Universities and Colleges of Education
with students.
Third, Governments should strengthen its
social welfare programmes in such a way that it will be meaningful. This
will stem the tide of situations whereby the physically challenged are
forced into begging as the only means of survival.
Street begging in our society today is
like cancer in the body. Either we sacrifice the attacked part and save
the body or we allow it to invade and destroy the entire body. Street
begging thrives because we, the government and the people, allow it to.
We either summon enough courage or will to break its neck and finished
it once and for all; or we allow it to remain a nuisance and an
obnoxious part of our culture and tradition till the end of time.
The choice is ours.
Aliyu A. Ammani
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