Memo to Abuja, Kaduna Mauludiers

…also published in Daily Trust

It’s common knowledge that, in addition to the so-called Maulud celebration of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW), the two major Sufi mystical orders in Nigeria (i.e. Tijjaniyya and Qadiriyya) have also introduced different Mauluds to celebrate the birthdays of their respective mystical saints. However, what’s particularly interesting and indeed ironic is that, the Maulud of Shehu Ibrahim Inyass introduced by the Tijjaniyya mystical order has always outclassed even the so-called Maulud of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in terms of grandeur, glamour and follower turnout.

Though this year’s Maulud of Shehu Inyass, which comes up tomorrow wasn’t initially scheduled to take place in two cities, a disagreement between feuding parties within the mystical order over which city (between Abuja and Kaduna) would host the occasion has necessitated holding it in both cities simultaneously as a result of the insistence of each party to hold it in its chosen city. At the time of writing this piece, the situation remains the same.

Now, obviously there is no better time to address this memo to the mystical clerics of the Mauludiers in both cities, hopefully to prompt them into action against the ‘yan haqiqa among their followers who, in the name of glorifying Shehu Inyass, have been propagating their blasphemous belief that includes, among other things, equating Shehu Inyass with Allah the Almighty, and, in fact, elevating him above Him while also insulting Him (Allah) so audaciously and in the most abusive language that even the Shaitan and the likes of Fir’auna and Abu Jahl couldn’t even imagine, let alone utter.

They have been propagating their extremely blasphemous ideology of haqiqa insisting that they are the real followers of Shehu Ibrahim’s teachings, and that they are actually propagating what they have imbibed from his written works and other books of the Tijjaniya mystical order. They also often insinuate that their fellow Tijjaniyya adherents who claim to differ with them are actually only too timid and indeed too insincere to publicly propagate it even though they, in reality, equally believe in it. 

Though on a few occasions since the beginning of ‘yan haqiqa’s release of blasphemous songs and speeches, some few mystical clerics of the Tijjaniyya order have distanced themselves from them and sought to absolve the order from their blasphemous belief, their (clerics’) reaction has never been enough compared to the sheer gravity of the blasphemy they (‘yan haqiqa) have been propagating. For instance, I doubt if the mystical clerics have ever convened a gathering dedicated solely for the condemnation of ‘yan haqiqa. Of course, I am not that naive to go to the extent of expecting them to convene a gathering that’s even remotely comparable to what they convene to celebrate Shehu Inyass’s Maulud, knowing, after all, that even on the few occasions they condemned them, they did it in the course of, or at the end of speeches in events unrelated to ‘yan haqiqa’s propagation of blasphemy, which could suggest that they actually only did it under pressure of public expectation.

By the way, ‘yan haqiqa aren’t obscure; they are well known in the society, and they haven’t secluded themselves either. In fact, they are always part of the congregations of the Tijjaniyya adherents reciting the order’s mystical hymns and performing its mystical rituals, which also highlights yet another underlying irony, and indeed hypocrisy. Because, though I never believed in mob action against any individual(s) rightly or wrongly accused of blasphemy or any other offence for that matter, yet, the fact that ‘yan haqiqa get away with the worst form of blasphemy, suggest a deep-rooted hypocrisy in the society where on several occasions in the past, many alleged blasphemers were lynched by unruly mobs with the tacit endorsement of  a considerable percentage, if not most, of the society. Besides, this clearly proves that the mob actions weren’t actually for the alleged blasphemy but were basically ethnically-motivated simply because the victims weren’t originally from the region. 

  

Anyway, if the Tijjaniyya mystical clerics do indeed reject ‘yan haqiqa’s blasphemy as they claim, then they should unanimously come up with strongly-worded and categorical condemnation, expel all ‘yan haqiqa attending these gatherings and stop tolerating them in their midst henceforth. Besides, they should introduce a concerted and sustained series of public preaching sessions across northern Nigeria to counter ‘yan haqiqa with what they believe are the correct interpretations of the relevant contents of Shehu Inyass’s written works contrary to their (‘yan haqiqa’s) perception.

In this regard, they should emulate the success of their Sunni-salafi counterparts who no sooner had late Boko Haram leader, Muhammad Yusuf begun propagating his misguidance in the name of Salafism than they began to challenge him intellectually. On different occasions, late Sheikh Ja’afar Mahmud Adam and late Sheikh Muhammad Auwal Albani Zaria shared with the public details on some instances where they and other Sunni-salafi scholars challenged him intellectually, debunked his misconceptions, exposed his falsehood and absolved Salafism from his illusions. Also, even when the group began its terror campaign targeting whoever dared to expose their misguidance, the Sunni-salafi scholars carried on debunking the group’s misguided ideological arguments despite the high risk involved. In fact, even the group’s apparent involvement in the murder of Sheikh Ja’afar and its assassination of Sheikh Albani, as confirmed by its subsequent leader, Shekau, couldn’t scare them away from their Juma’a pulpits, public lessons and preaching sessions where they continued to debunk the group’s ideological delusions.   

 

This is how the Tijjaniyya mystical clerics should handle ‘yan haqiqa ,otherwise their apparent reluctance to challenge them intellectually proves their (‘yan haqiqa’s) insistence that they are following what Shehu Inyass maintained in his written works and other mystical books of the Tijjaniyya order written before him.