Negotiation with bandits: Between two Malams

 (Published in Daily Trust)

Malam Nasir El-Rufa’i, Malam Ahmad Gumi

Amid worries about the capability of the Nigerian military and other security agencies to end banditry in northwestern Nigeria, many observers including public commentators and religious clerics continue to propose alternative strategies.

A prominent Kaduna-based Islamic cleric, Malam Dr Ahmad Gumi doesn’t only believe in the imperative of engaging the bandits in negotiations but has taken it further by reaching out to them. His initiative has been welcomed by many and dismissed by many others.

The Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasiru El-Rufa’i’s dismissal of Malam Dr Ahmad Gumi’s initiative triggered a clash of views between the two Malams. On the one hand, the former who got his “Malam” title at some point of his life perhaps in reference to some “Malam qualities” he had, or maybe he was simply named after someone of Islamic scholarly repute in his immediate or extended family, insists on the need to deploy overwhelming military force to crush the bandits once and for all.

On the other hand, the latter who obviously earned his “Malam” title from his training as an Islamic scholar albeit with a previous military background advocates negotiations and reasoning with the bandits to desist from banditry. 

Until the recent BBC Hausa interview with Governor El-Rufa’i where he stressed that stance, many observers had probably assumed that Dr Gumi’s initiative was at least approved by the Kaduna State Government, for, after all, other governors in the region have been involved in similar negotiations with bandits in their respective states.

Now, the question of who is right or wrong between the two Malams requires some considerations to address, for neither is absolutely right or absolutely wrong. The validity or otherwise of either’s stance depends on the extent of its pragmatism.

Interestingly, a typical competent government fighting, say, insurgency or banditry never sounds desperate for negotiation with the bandits or insurgents even when it's actually not strong enough to crush them. This is a common tactical strategy to preserve the prestige of the state and avoid inadvertently demoralising the security personnel and emboldening the criminals. Besides, doing so undermines the government’s bargaining position during any future negotiation and enables the criminals to blackmail the government into making unnecessary and costly concessions.

Anyway, during the interview Governor El-Rufa’i wasn’t talking from that tactical perspective; he instead meant exactly what he said.  And looking at his stance against the backdrop of the current circumstances, it’s hard to rightly dismiss it. Because, unlike Dr Gumi, being the governor of the state hence its chief security officer who has access to sensitive security intelligence he must have had compelling arguments to justify his stance. 

Besides, at things stand at the moment, nothing justifies let alone warrants negotiation with the bandits for now.  That could only be rightly considered when they have been largely eliminated with the survivors on the run desperate to cling to life.

The charades of reconciliations with bandits, which some state governors in the region oversee only embolden the criminals. A typical so-called reconciliation occasion where bandits show up well-armed and speak arrogantly suggests extreme desperation on the part of the government, which the bandits capitalize on to dictate their terms. For instance, a particular viral photo of Governor Masari of Katsina State posing with a ragtag bandit clutching an AK-47 rifle during one of such purported reconciliation occasions is particularly frustrating.

That also explains why after every so-called reconciliation the bandits only suspend operations for some time in the relevant area while probably still operating elsewhere before they resume operation in the same area as well. Meanwhile, other bandits out there who weren’t part of that “reconciliation” perpetrate their operations in any case. 

Anyway, though the controversy generated by Governor El-Rufa’i’s stance wasn’t unexpected, he should be challenged to, in return, challenge the federal government to order the military and the other security agencies to embark on an overwhelming operation against the bandits as he envisages since he believes it remains the only feasible option.

However, while I for one also have the same view in this regard, I believe Malam El-Rufa’i’s stance doesn’t downplay the importance of Malam Gumi’s initiative. The two strategies can be pursued simultaneously, for they aren’t mutually exclusive.

Yet, Malam Gumi can achieve better and more sustainable results by focusing more on persuading the bandits to first and foremost be committed to the teachings and values of the Islamic religion, which most, if not all, of them claim to believe in. Because having been accustomed to making easy money through banditry and kidnapping, only that commitment would enable them to develop sustainable spiritual resistance against the temptation to revert to banditry. After all, there have been many instances of some so-called repentant bandits resuming their activities.

Also, as Governor Malam El-Rufa’i rightly observed in that interview, mere negotiations cannot make a bandit who in the past could hardly make a hundred thousand Naira a year from a cow sale but now makes millions from banditry, to desist from 

Kano Kogo cleric

(Read it also in Daily Trust)

                                                                    Abdul-Jabbar

Even from afar one can perceive the extent of public anger in Kano and beyond over the heretical utterances of one Abdul-Jabbar, a Kano-based “cleric” on a mission to discredit the Sahaba and successive generations of Muslim scholarly authorities over the centuries.

Operating from his so-called As’habul-Kahfi centre otherwise known as Kogo in Filin Mushe, a Kano inner-city neighbourhood, he introduces blasphemous interpretations to authentic Prophetic Hadiths to deny the authenticity of the Hadiths and discredit its narrators i.e. the Sahaba and the subsequent generations of Muslim scholars who have over the centuries collected, preserved and disseminated it.

To prepare the ground for his purported logical questioning of the authenticity of any Prophetic Hadith he targets, he begins by interpreting it out of its context then subjects it to his flawed literal understanding of the Arabic language to come up with a heretical interpretation of his own and reject the Hadith on that basis.

He also adopts Mu'tazilite, Orientalist and Shiite philosophical criticisms of Hadiths albeit without citing the sources; he instead brags that they are his own conclusions following his profound intellectual efforts and critical analyses to purge Islam of what the Sahaba and their successors over the centuries ascribed to Islam, according to him.

Many people rightly wonder how Abdul-Jabbar who often struggles to just recite the Qur’anic verses yet hardly gets it right would claim to come up with the right interpretations of the Prophetic Hadiths contrary to the perception of the very generation who the Messenger of Allah (SAW) addressed i.e. the Sahaba.

His obvious and gross inadequacy in the basic Qur’anic recitation (not even memorization) skill disproves his claim to Islamic scholarship, for there’s absolutely no way anyone can be an Islamic scholar without mastering the Qur’an in terms of recitation skill, its science, Tafseer, jurisprudence and other related disciplines in all of which Abdul-Jabbar is grossly inadequate.

While any fair-minded fellow with a reasonable background in Islamic scholarship can attest to that, it isn’t a coincidence that he attracts largely narrow-minded, overzealous and thuggish followers who massage his ego to sustain his empty pride.

What’s hardly explicable, however, is how some others who aren’t necessarily his followers have turned themselves into his apologists just to spite those who challenge him. Out of sheer prejudice, some folks desperately struggle to justify or at least downplay the implications of his heretical views simply because most of those who challenge him are Sunni Ulama with whom such folks have underlying philosophical, ideological or sectarian differences. They are mostly Ulama-hating “liberal” Muslims, Shiites or bigoted Sufis.  

Though the Ulama in Kano and other states are doing their best in terms of countering Abdul-Jabbar's delusions with compelling scholarly arguments, they need to do more on addressing the implications of discrediting the Sahaba. Because many people don’t seem to realize the magnitude of those implications. Many people reject vilifying the Sahaba only because they consider it unethical, which is absolutely right. However, not many of them realize the real target and agenda behind it.

In reality, the Sahaba per se aren’t the ultimate target in this regard after all; the ultimate target is the Islamic religion itself. Because being the only generation fortunate enough to have learnt the Qur’an and imbibed Islamic religion including its fundamentals, worship rites, injunctions, moral values etc. directly from the Messenger of Allah (SAW); practised it in his presence, propagated and taught the subsequent generation, discrediting the Sahaba is necessarily tantamount to rejecting the authenticity of the Qur’an itself. Because you cannot discredit them yet claim to believe in the authenticity of the Qur’an since they were its only transmission source. In other words, you either believe in their trustworthiness or simply reject the Qur'an; a belief in the authenticity of the Qur’an and discrediting the Sahaba are and will remain mutually exclusive.

Though the Sahaba were fallible as individuals, their consensus was/is absolutely infallible as indicated in various Qur’anic verses. Besides, with the exception of the prophets and messengers of Allah, no human generation ever received the amount of Allah’s Accolade in the noble Qur’an close to what they received, which confirms His Pleasure with them that, in return, guarantees them Paradise as clearly mentioned in many verses in the noble Qur’an.

That’s why over the centuries, the integrity of the Sahaba has always been the target of anybody with a mission to irreparably undermine Islam and empty it of its substance. Shiites and Orientalists have been particularly unrelenting in this regard, but Allah the Almighty has always and will always preserve His religion.

Now, though the Kano State Government has rightly banned Abdul-Jabbar from public “preaching” and closed down his notorious Kogo, the Ulama shouldn’t relent in their commitment to refuting his delusions intellectually. After all, his books and lectures on video and audio formats would continue to circulate. He may also carry on his activities in other states.

In any case, as it has always been the fate of his likes over the centuries, he may equally last for some time propagating misguidance before he ends up in the dustbin of history in due course. And unless he repents and retracts, he will definitely stand before Allah the Almighty for a trial between him on the one hand, and the Sahaba and other individuals and generations he has spent his life vilifying, on the other.