The Decadence Of Islaamic Practices In Nigeria

The Decadence Of Islaamic Practices In Nigeria: A Matter Of Serious Concern

Abubakar A. Muhammad

It was barely two centuries ago, in 1804 to be exact, when the Sokoto Jihaadists under the banner of authentic Islaam and the leadership of the revered Shaikh Uthmaan Bn Muhammad Bn Fodiyo and his major lieutenants Shaikh Abdullaah Bn Muhammad Bn Fodiyo and Muhammadu Bello Bn Uthmaan Bn Fodiyo established what was believed to be the most puritanistic and theocratic Islaamic state in the then West African region in the northern part area of what is today called Nigeria. The Sokoto Jihaadists were then forced to go into battles with the Habe rulers who though they claimed to be Muslim rulers were indeed everything but that for they practiced series of un-Islaamic conventions and practices that were completely alien and repugnant to Islaam, hence, the reasoning of the Jihaadists to try in the process to change the society and bring it under the Sharee’ah. It was because of their puritanistic and sincere goals that Allaah [swt] gave them victory against all odds over an overwhelming and powerful Habe rulers who had earlier on sought numerous illegitimate ways to crash what was first a peaceful rebellion of the Shehu and his Almajirai. It was well known that the Shehu [as he is popularly known] had himself tried every peaceful manner or conduct in his style of educating the masses first about the pure Islaam as it was practiced in the glorious days of the noble Messenger of Allaah [saw] and after his demise what came to be known as the period of the Khulafaa-ar-Raashidoon. Indeed the Shehu and his Almajirai were never interested in ceasing power to become rulers. At the grassroots level they saw themselves as intellectuals who had responsibility and a duty to preach openly and get the masses back to Islaamic doctrine of seeking true knowledge and involvement in practicing Allaah’s Commandments through the well known doctrine of “Ta’aawanoo anil birri wat taqwaah walaa ta'aawanoo anil ithmi wal udwaan." Therefore the Shehu and his mobile school moved from town to town gathering the unsuspecting poor and teaching them Islaam in its purest form while counseling the Habe rulers how to adhere to governing their subjects with justice according to Islaamic Sharee’ah. It was well known that the Shehu often turned down overtures from the rulers when he was invited to their palaces because he did not want to be associated with them lest they used his growing popularity to further victimize their subjects. Instead he continued to write and preach against the well known injustices of slavery, numerous illegal taxations of the poor, bori [magical cult] practices among the rulers and the ruled, and various other un-Islaamic rituals. Because of the Shehu’s sincere and peaceful Da’awah to cleanse the society from the corrupt practices of Masu Sarauta and the Hausa society in general, it did not take long for the rulers to realize that the Shehu and his supporters must be stopped by hooks or crooks and it appeared that by the year 1804 the only means that remained on their cards was to evict the Shehu from his homeland just as the Messenger of Allaah [saw] was expelled from his homeland of Makkah by the pagan Arabs.

So after the Shehu’s rise to popularity in a matter of twenty or so years of itinerary preaching in and outside the main Habe centers of Gobir, Zamfara, and Gwandu, the Habe rulers under the leadership of Sarkin Gobir Bawa and Sarkin Gobir Yunfa decided to completely stop the Shehu from all forms of preaching and teaching Islaam and what they saw as his antagonistic tendencies of educating the masses about their rights and understanding the authentic tenets of Islaam which require leaders to be just and fair in their dealings with their subjects. In or about the year 1804 when the Shehu made the Hijrah [migration] from his homeland of Degel to Gudu it could be said the Shehu’s defensive Jihaad had indeed become fait accompli. In that year, the Gobir ruler, Muhammadu Yunfa wrote to many other Habe rulers inviting them to come together to extinguish what he saw as a fire that would likely burn all of them. Sarkin Gobir Yunfa was right for in a matter of few years of propagation the Jihaadists had by Allaah’s help overrun the powerful Habe state of Gobir and other centers, sacking the strategic city of Alkalawa in February of the same year following the example of the momentous victory of the pioneer Mujaahidoon under the leadership of the final Messenger of Allaah [saw] when they won the first and most strategic battle of Badr. For the Sokoto Mujaahidoon the rest was history as within few years the powerful Habe states of Gobir, Zamfara, Kano, Katsina, Bauchi, Zazzau, Kazaure, Hadeja, Gwandu, Kebbi and others came under the sovereign leadership of the Shehu and his lieutenants. With this victory, the Shehu retired in 1809 to his study, teaching, preaching, writing, and guiding the newly formed theocratic state in all its affairs of worldly life and the Hereafter. Thus the reformed Islaamic state was born in the northern part of what makes up Nigeria today, and rightly, the leadership of the various satellite states and provinces went to the victorious leaders who participated in the Jihaad movement of Shehu Uthmaan Dan Fodiyo, [may Allaah have Mercy on him]. Not only did the Shehu succeed in rejuvenating true Islaam in this part of the Islaamic world, he also left behind a formidable Islaamic empire governed purely under the Sharee’ah by new rulers who had the most fear of Allaah [swt] in guiding the masses. The Sokoto Khaliphate as it came to be known was born out of sincere effort at reforming Islaam, hence the Shehu was referred to as the Mujaddid [reformer] but had himself never held the title of the Commander of the Faithful, [Sarkin Musulmi], an acronym that became necessary after the Shehu’s demise in 1817. That was the condition in the Hausaland for the next one hundred years when the British colonialists under the so called West African Frontier Force used brute force and sophisticated military hardware and maneuvers to seize just a few strategic centers of the Hausa-Fulani administration and declared themselves the new colonial rulers over the Sokoto Khaliphate. The British were wise for even in spite of their use of brutal force against the Khaliphate armies in Bidda, Bauchi, Zazzau, Kano and finally Sokoto, the stronghold of the Khaliphate, they realized they had to follow that victory first by pursuing the Sarkin Musulmi Attaahiru to Bama where his numerous supporters throughout the Khaliphate poured in and stood their ground again against the British army of occupation. The town was held under siege for days with the Muslims inflicting heavy casualties against the colonial army. The war ended when the British made a surprising and cowardly attack against the Mujaahidoon at prayer time, brutally raining ammunitions against defenseless worshippers in the mosque and killing in the process the Ameerul Moomineen and his numerous supporters, [may Allaah accept their martyrdom]. Such attack of defenseless people was of course against what later came to be known as the Geneva Convention as rules governing humane conduct in wars and the treatment of war prisoners. Still there was continuing resistance against the British army of occupation throughout the Khaliphate, notwithstanding the British strategy of adopting the so called indirect rule by which they left the Sokoto Khaliphate intact after appointing the new Ameerul Moomineen. In 1903 there was another serious tawaye [rebellion] against the British colonial rule and its army of occupation was again brought in to suppress the rebellion.at Satiru, near Sokoto. The Satiru rebellion was the last effort of the Muslims to repel the army of occupation but the Khaliphate which had survived had been severely wounded when the new colonial rulers began to delete the Sharee’ah legal system from the lives of the Muslims throughout the Sokoto Khaliphate administration.

This brief update was necessary to show us not only an enviable history of a viable Islaamic state in Nigeria but to understand that Muslims in the northern part of Nigeria had indeed a glorious past in Islaam contrary to the modernists views who continue to see the West, including the British empire, as pace setters in human endeavors and progress. As Muslims we need to go back and study our rich history and cultures using Islaam as the guiding force of our unity and progress. It is because we have long abandoned our clear identity as Muslims and had borrowed alien and un-Islaamic values and ideologies that we find ourselves in the pitiable state we are in today. We have since lost the values and principles of fairness, honesty and fear of Allaah [swt] replacing Him with western doctrines and disbelieving characters that we see today as the raison deter of our well being and survival as a ‘progressive people.’ Even with remnants of the Khaliphate, which had virtually lost control of its members to self imposed, sleazy and greedy political leaders and westernized elites it still did not appear to the ordinary Muslims in Nigeria that nothing will rectify the Ummah except they turn to Islaam and Islaamic doctrines of fairness and compassion as dictated by the Book of Allaah [swt], the Sunnah of His Messenger [saw] and the collective consensus of past authentic Muslim leaders and their teaching, among them the Mujaddid Shehu Uthmaan Bn Muhammad Bn Fodiyo. Why is it with every generation of Muslim leaders from the time of the so called independence from the British colonial rule there has been a retrogressive slide to anarchy, immorality, insecurity, sleaze, greed, nepotism, joblessness and accumulation of wealth by a few and grinding poverty for the rest? If a so called modern political system like ours allows glorified thieves to take control of the affairs of the people why would the Ummah not begin to look back to its glorious past with a view to forcing a change of behavior of the criminals that we today call our leaders? I am not calling for revolution, far from it. I am saying the Ummah needs to cry out for an Islaamic system that gives them voice and allows them to elect credible and authentic leaders like the revered and indefatigable leaders such as the Sardauna, Alhaji Ahmadu Bello; Abubakar Tafawa Balewa; Malam Aminu Kano; Alhaji Kashim Ibrahim; Aliyu Makaman Bidda; Muhammadu Ribadu; Alhaji Isa Kaita; Zanna Bukar Dapcharima; Alhaji Shehu Musa; Alhaji Ladan Baki; Alhaji Shehu Shagari; Alhaji Maitama Sule, Alhaji Ali Munguno; Alhaji Ahman Pategi; Alhaji Muazu Lamido and a host of other distinguished and remarkable leaders. These were leaders who even under a western political system saw themselves first and foremost as servants of the masses, who were answerable in discharging their stewardship to Allaah [swt]. These leaders not only served the Ummah well to the best of their ability, but in so doing they stood up for the Ummah in every conceivable way and died poor in order to improve the conditions and quality of lives of those they led. What a glorious past they left behind! To say that the Ummah has had these leaders, a few of whom still live, within the last forty years is to make the pain of their loss even more unpalatable, more so, when those that followed them today are midgets in achievement and completely untrustworthy.

The Ummah leadership in Nigeria and in the northern part of the country in particular must become more aware of its distinctive responsibilities first to Allaah [swt] and to the masses that continue to suffer under its oppression and misrule even as the masses have remained silent. Our leaders should be reminded lest they forgot that the first responsibility of a leader is to improve the condition of life of the very people he leads. He can achieve this by painstakingly taking care of their interests in all aspects of life while he expects from them unflinching support and encouragement. A situation where the leader looks to his interests alone and has absolutely no regard to the general interests of the people he leads is untenable in Islaam. The leader must be just and fair to all, irrespective of their social status, nobility, race and religion. How can our leaders today be seen to be fair and just when they see leadership as a way of acquiring for themselves and their next of kin ill gotten wealth that gives them even greater power and authority? This is what breeds corruption, the very antithesis of justice and fairness in Islaam. Corruption is a taboo in the annals of Islaamic history as past leaders had always been averse to injustice and greed because these and other vices are condemned and totally forbidden in Islaam. The Qur’aan is replete with statements of the rights of the poor over those who lead them. Corruption, which defies everything that is good, including the fear of Allaah [swt], destroys a nation as Shehu Uthmaan Bn Muhammad Bn Fodiyo [rha] was reported to have said that a nation can survive Kufr in the land but will collapse due to injustice and or misrule. In Nigeria today, the poor and especially those found in the Muslim North are living on borrowed times; they have no jobs; they have no shelter; they have no voice; they have no security; they are without rightful education; they have no food and they are sick without care. All this is happening in-spite of enormous wealth the State governments receive partly from the Federal government coffers and from other revenues within the States. This is unacceptable as it is flagrant injustice in Islaam. Corruption and injustice breed abuse of power and should have no hiding place in Islaam as it is clearly stated: “O you who believe! Stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to Allaah, even though it be against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin, be he rich or poor, Allaah is a better Protector to both [than you]. So follow not the lusts [of your hearts], lest you may avoid justice…” [An-Nisaa 4: 135].

Another duty the leadership of the Ummah owes to its citizens is to safeguard security of the people. It is so imperative there is peace and security if the Ummah is to make any headway to fulfill its obligations first and foremost to its Creator in terms of worship and to discharge its social and economic responsibilities that could lead it to greater heights. How can the Ummah attain this lofty goal to establish the rule of law when its leadership no longer sees itself as the provider and guarantor of safety and peace in the land? Shehu Uthmaan Dan Fodiyo [may Allah have mercy on him] considered that the first role of the leader is to safeguard the rule of law. He stated that the Khaleefah [Islaamic leader]: “….is appointed with a specific mandate to uphold the rule of law, to ensure justice and equality in such a way that the citizen gets his entitlements and the property and well-being, the infirm, the insane and so on, are safeguarded. Far from it! The Ummah today under its leaders is exposed to all kinds of uncertainties: mismanagement of funds and resources; insecurity; unaccountability; fraud; greed and other evils that make the life of the poor hazardous and pitiful. Leaders are more concerned with their own security in the midst of uncertainties that have become the pattern of life for the majority. Take the role of the political bodyguards of those that usurp power from the masses by the very use of registered or private armies: the INEC; ‘Yambangas;’ the Area Boys; and numerous street and jobless youth groups who are armed to the teeth by the so called leaders to attack, maim and destroy their opponents in times of political campaigns or these vandals and hooligans are simply employed to maintain the status quo and political power of their benefactors. A nation with leaders who provide security only to themselves is practically on the verge of total collapse. Once upon a time our streets, our houses; our work places; and indeed our market places were safe and well guarded and no one dared steel even at night without the high risk of running foul with our ever watchful local police [‘yan doka] or in some cases the Nigerian police. Today robbery, murder, arson and other crimes carry the day. They are committed by men of the underworld with such bravado it makes one wonder where are our law enforcement agencies? It is no longer safe to travel the highways even in the broad day light let alone at night unless one is giving up ones life. But it is not only the poor, the hapless that get killed, high profile political assassinations have become mysteries as they are never properly investigated for fear those in the corridors of power may be implicated. Nigeria is in a state of siege even in time when it is not physically at war with any nation on the face of the earth. Nigeria must be rescued by the Ummah before it rolls slowly but surely into self destruction. If the leaders in the states that have declared themselves ‘the Sharee’ah states’ are sincere and serious then they have so much to offer to the rest of Nigeria in the conduct of the rule of law. It is not about the use of power by those that govern as leaders; it is the principle that everyone, the rich and the poor; the leader and the led are all equal in law and in practice. The Shareea’h, contrary to what we have seen happening in the Sharee’ah states provides equality of justice and fairness so that a thief is treated like one with regard to what he stole, in private or in the case of a public figure, from the public funds which he is entrusted with. Practicing the demands of the Sharee’ah justly and equally will show that the Sharee’ah is not just about the infliction of the hudood [capital punishments] solely to the voiceless poor, but it is the totality of how one should subject himself to the Will of Allaah [swt] in all his affairs and that all those who are under the Sharee’ah system of government are protected for their welfare, their honor and property; their security individually and collectively and above all they cannot be treated by leaders with disdain. Likewise the non-Muslims under the Sharee’ah system have equal rights for protection and welfare so long as they accept the dominance of the Sharee’ah even as they are free to take their cases to other courts in the community. This part of the Shareea’h doctrine has neither been properly discussed nor explained to the masses, Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

The leaders of the Ummah must work hard and faithfully too to save this nation from the havoc and victimization by an oppressive and bankrupt political system. We must accept by now that the western political democracy as it operates in Nigeria has lost its bearings and has completely failed the Nigerian nation in general. You may argue it is the political operators of the Nigerian constitution that have failed to provide dividends of the so called democracy and that there is still a chance for western democracy to succeed in the largely Muslim North. In my candid view that is still taking more chances to criminalize the society by replacing the Sharee’ah system known to the Ummah; a system that was successfully practiced over the decades of the existence of true Islaam within the Ummah. I happen to believe that in a Nigerian polity the Sharee’ah system can work more favorably side by side with the Nigerian Constitution that indeed had allowed such religious and cultural differences to be echoed and defended as and when necessary and to pretend, as our political elites do, that Nigeria is a monolithic society is a blatant disregard to reality on the ground and an abuse to the wishes of the ordinary masses in Nigeria. If the operators of the present political system can find themselves in leadership positions they do not deserve and there is no way the poor can replace them within the polity because of their monetary and political clout it is time to go back to a system that clearly provides the most fundamental and comprehensive rights of individuals to choose their leaders and hold them fully accountable in serving their interests under the Sharee’ah system. Whereas the present constitutional system which is a replica of western democracy has made the judges and legislators partisan politicians, hence they have vested political interests to protect within the polity, the Islaamic judges are non-political appointees and are completely answerable to Allaah [swt] and the masses in the way they grapple with justice and dispense with the rulings that must be in accord with the Qur’aanic text and Sunnah. It goes without saying a truly Islaamic and independent judiciary, not the type of politically motivated and half baked Sharee’ah judges we witnessed in the last few years, is bound to be workable and more in line with the beliefs and wishes of the people than what we have today under the western style of democracy where the rights of the people have been hijacked by the powerful and manipulative political and westernized judges and elites in our society. It is ironic the President’s so called political review committee that have been jetting the country was only involved with the memoranda how to make the western political system more westernized than to afford the masses opportunity to boot out the political thieves and incompetent leadership they have been saddled with for too long. Above all there have been no terms of reference given to the review committee to look into alternative systems that would be more prudent; more transparent; and above all more accountable to the people they are supposed to serve.

The saying may well be true that a people get the leaders they deserve and so one could state the deterioration of good leaders results from the fact that the people they lead are like them or worse. Alee bn Abee Taalib [ra] when he was the Khaleefah was asked by a man why it was that he was having problem with his leadership as opposed to the time before him when Khaleefah Aboo Bakr was obeyed more faithfully. His response was that in the time of Khaleefah Aboo Bakr it was followers like him [Alee] that the Khaleefah had to deal with whereas at Alee’s time he stated: “I have to deal with people like you”, in other wards the quality of piety among the followers had gone down during Alee’s time as Khaleefah. We can argue today we have the masses that are worse than their leaders when it comes to applying the Islaamic ethics of behavior and practice of day to day living. Some are in a hurry to make money by hook or crook just like their leaders; still some are ready to sell their honor and their rights for a pottage; others are so ignorant of what Islaam has prohibited so they do not distinguish between worshipping Allaah [swt] and adoration of other human beings and objects, something that comes close to polytheism. It is not uncommon to hear people state they depend on a leader for their sustenance and would do anything for him even when they know it is wrong, in order to satisfy the leader’s whims and caprices. Some leaders and their followers have taken to other un-Islaamic practices of the centuries gone by and seek power, position and influence by unconventional methods that are clearly out of true Islaam. They shamelessly and perhaps ignorantly justify such condemnable practices due to hardship they find themselves going through to retain their status or simply survive. They are quick to tell you it is hard if not impossible to survive by completely following the rules of conduct like honesty and trustworthiness in Islaam and still make a good living through it. Statements like this, believing and acting upon it takes one out of the fold of Islaam because such people no longer truly depend on Allaah [swt] as their Sustainer. The Messenger of Allaah [saw] was also reported to have said: “He is not one of us who cheats.” The belief in fraud and corruption to make ends meet is not in tandem with the Islaamic Faith as it negates reliance on the Creator for all affairs. Surely it is Allaah [swt] who provides, giving others resources in abundance while restricting the same means to others; in other wards the rich is rich by default from what had been intended for him regardless of his legal or illegal ways of acquiring wealth or position. He remains accountable though in the way he acquires and dispenses his wealth and status as nothing escapes Allaah’s Judgment. For the poor and rich alike who are tested by what they have, it is regrettable that anyone would think someone can change or improve on what Allaah had decreed for him. While it stands to reason that the person in power and authority should use it for the benefit of others below him the poor and lowly should be contented with his circumstances as direct result from what was intended for him This though should not stop him from standing up to defend the cause of justice by refusing to collaborate in corrupt practices with those in power who only wish to enslave him and others. This is the heart of the Islaamic principle of “collectively working towards good deeds and piety and refraining to commit acts of sin and corruption.” Authentic and God-fearing leaders within the Ummah have a responsibility to teach the masses all these Islaamic principles of reliance upon Alllaah [swt] alone; they have a duty to teach authentic Islaam that benefits the individual to know his Lord first and foremost and worship Him in the authentic way of leaders that preceded us if we are to change the society to please Allaah [swt [before pleasing ourselves. Otherwise the hustle and bustle of today’s life in Nigeria, just to survive by any foul means, will come to naught. Indeed it has become a life where everything regarding the truth goes while falsehood and greed are glamorized; where honest and selfless leaders are hard to come by while the crooks and the selfish abound; where the perfect Laws of Allaah [swt] have either been abandoned or at best mutilated, while the man-made laws have been elevated; and sadly it is a life where the good and everlasting abode, the Hereafter, has been neglected while the fleeting life of this world is adored. The Ummah in Nigeria is at the cross roads and is looking for authentic leaders who fear Allaah [swt]; leaders who are selfless, competent and incorruptible because they care only for service to Allaah [swt], first and foremost, and they have yearning to help the people they serve. These are true leaders that Allaah [swt] has described in His noble Book and they are those that He will aid: “Those who if We give them power in the land, they will order to perform the prayer; to pay the charity; they enjoin in all that Allaah Has commanded and forbid all that Allaah Has prohibited and with Allaah remains all matters for His creatures.” [Soorah al-Hall 22:41]. I pray to Allaah [swt] for the Ummah a sincere ratification; a blessed and acceptable Ibaadah in Ramadhaan, aameen.

Dr. Abubakar A. Muhammad wrote in from the State of Pennsylvania, United States of America.