From Mecca to Karbala? Relocating the Qiblah

(Note: This is the unedited version, while the version published in Daily Trust is substantially edited.)

The recent statement by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al- Maliky that, the Iraqi city of Karbala must be adopted as the direction to which Muslims pray i.e. Qiblah instead of Ka’abah in Makkah was a reckless show of disrespect to Allah the Almighty who enjoins Muslims to face the direction of Ka’abah when they pray, as it was also extremely abusive to the sensibilities of Muslims. Yet it was not surprising in view of the illusionary religious beliefs that motivated him to make that statement.

Though Muslims shouldn’t have felt offended by his statement in the first place, however, the fact that he follows a religion that has ever since its creation claimed and indeed managed to deceive the naive that it is part of Islamic religion, justifies Muslims’ anger. (watch Al-maliky video below)

Clash of the desperate

Also published in Daily Trust 

Though even before the military overthrow of Shehu Shagari-led civilian administration on the eve of 1984, the culture of ideologically driven politics had already begun to diminish, yet the hasty formation of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in 1998 by politicians with conflicting ideological persuasions signalled its complete demise and indeed ushered in the era of ideology-free politics. Similarly, though to a relatively lesser extent, the opposition parties were equally formed that way.

Diehard right-wing conservatives, left-wing liberals and even radical academics who had constituted the dynamics behind the pulsating and indeed promising political atmosphere in the country particularly between 1979 and 1983 simply abandoned their ideologies to form some sham political parties under the pretext of making “necessary compromise” to end the prolonged military dictatorship in the country.

Divorce deterrent in Kano

Also published in Daily Trust

Commander-General, Kano State Hisbah Board, Sheikh Aminu Ibrahim Daurawa

In its effort to curb the embarrassingly high divorce rate in Kano, the state Hisbah Board has stipulated that, henceforth for anybody to qualify for its government-sponsored mass wedding scheme, he must agree to pay fifty thousand naira to his wife should he decide to divorce her.

It is however obvious that, given the sheer amount of physical suffering and stress suffered by divorced women and their children in the society, this amount is simply too little to alleviate their suffering let alone enable them pick up the fragments of their shattered lives.  It is also too little to deter anyone deciding to divorce his wife. Besides, even if it eventually applies to all married men in the state, it is not likely to curb the high divorce rate anyway, because, for the average notoriously marriage-abusing Bakano, divorce is not a big deal in the first place.

A "right" to beg

Also published in Daily Trust 

Street beggars staging a protest in Kano

As an utterly embarrassing social phenomenon that constitutes a choking public nuisance, street begging has for long been targeted for eradication by successive federal and state governments in the country. However, due to policy inconsistency, lack of effective implementation mechanism and some socio-cultural challenges, they have not been able to eradicate it.

It is noteworthy that, begging is basically haram i.e. forbidden under Islamic laws, hence the proceeds made from it are illicit. Yet, it is allowed under some specific and urgent circumstances, and for specific categories of people, as explained in the relevant verses of the noble Qur’an and the authentic Sunnah.

Justice for Nazeef

Also published in Daily Trust

Ever since the arrest of Dr Muhammad Nazeef Yunus of Kogi State University a couple of weeks ago by the State Security Service (SSS) operatives, over alleged link to the Boko Haram terror gang, many Muslim scholars and a couple of Islamic organizations, including Jama’atu Nasrul-Islam (JNI) have rightly dismissed the charge against him, affirmed his innocence and called for his immediate release.

The purported evidence given by the SSS for his arrest was utterly ridiculous, to say the least. According to the SSS he was implicated by some suspected members of the terror group, who allegedly claimed that they were his disciples.