In Defence of the Sahaba

Also published in Daily Trust

Over the past couple of days, Shiite religious adherents in many cities around the world held their annual procession purportedly to mourn the martyrdom of Hussein ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib who was killed in Karbala, Iraq, one thousand three hundred and seventy-seven years ago. It’s an annual Shiite religious occasion in which the Shiites openly chant curses and unprintable insults at the Sahaba i.e. the companions of the Messenger of Allah, Muhammad, peace be upon him, especially Abubakr As-siddeeq, Umar ibn Al-Khattab, Othman ibn Affan etc, and particularly two of his wives, Aisha bint Abibakr and Hafsat bint Umar.

The main procession was, of course, to the city of Karbala in Iraq, which, according to their religious belief, is holier than Makkah, as they also believe that whoever makes a ‘pilgrimage’ to the grave of Hussein therein, especially on the Day of Arafat while Muslims are in faraway Makkah performing Hajj, earns a reward as though he has performed Hajj and Umra one thousand times. (See Biharul-Anwar, v101, p109, and Furu’ul Kaafi, v1, p324).

Nigerian Shiites who equally maintain this belief, are also growing increasingly audacious enough to openly and unambiguously insult the Sahaba in their public gatherings and Hussainiyya shrines, unlike in the past when they would only utter derogatory innuendoes and other vaguely insulting insinuations against them.

A post-Buhari Nigeria

Also published in Daily Trust

Though it’s perhaps too early to be obsessed with post-Buhari political scenario in Nigeria especially considering the probability of him seeking reelection in 2019 when his current tenure expires, and in fact the probability of him getting reelected then hence serving his maximum two terms in office, yet considering how time flies so fast, it is indeed high time that Nigerians began thinking of his potential successor in 2019 or 2023, as the case may be.

Though Nigerians are sharply divided in their assessments of his performance so far, and despite his real or perceived shortcomings in terms of competence, he must be succeeded by not only a more competent successor, but equally uncorrupted also, for the country to sustain the rare glimmer of light it’s beginning to see at the end of the tunnel in spite of the huge challenges that still bedevil it.

Reflections on Buhari administration

Also published in Daily Trust 

As Nigerians groan under the current excruciating economic hardship, which is arguably the most severe ever experienced in the country, their growing sense of disappointment in government is quite understandable, considering their hitherto high expectations following decades of drift that reached its worst during the previous administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

Though many Nigerians weren’t being realistic in their expectations, in the first place, many others had rightly expected President Buhari to kick-start his administration at a swift yet measured tempo necessarily needed to arrest the drift and effect reasonable and tangible economic development achievable in light of the available resources. In other words, on President Buhari’s assumption of office, many Nigerians rightly assumed that, within the period between his election victory and his assumption of office, a substantive and comprehensive action plan had already been prepared. Soon afterwards, however, some clues indicating otherwise and instead indicating his government’s inadequate readiness to immediately roll-out its promised economic reform strategies, began to manifest themselves. It turned out that, even tasks as relatively easy as shortlisting the names of the candidates for various major political appointments simply hadn’t been done.

Hajj, Al-adha sacrifice and Ikhlas

Tomorrow is the Yaum-At-tarwiyya that marks the beginning of this year’s Hajj when Muslim pilgrims are expected to flock to the tent city of Mina on the outskirts of the holy city of Makkah, to spend the next few days performing Hajj rituals there and at a few other holy sites around. The exercise climaxes on the Day of Arafat, i.e. this Sunday, to subsequently usher in the Eid-Al-adha the following day, as the remaining Hajj rituals and Eid Al-adha festivities continue concurrently over the subsequent few days.

As one of the five pillars of Islam, Hajj attracts divine reward too large to measure, which explains the authentically narrated Hadith where the Messenger of Allah (Peace and Blessing of Allah be upon him) said ‘Al-Hajj Al-mabroor (i.e. Hajj free from vice) ‘has no divine reward for it that is befitting enough except the Paradise’ (Narrated by Bukhari and Muslim. Interestingly, he (i.e. the Messenger of Allah) further explained Al-Hajj Al-mabroor where he said ‘Whoever performs Hajj throughout which he does not commit obscenity and wrongdoing, sloughs his sins and turns sinless as the day he was born’ (Narrated by Bukhari and Muslim).

The '–iyya’ suffix in Kano politics

Also published in Daily Trust

The trending practice of adding the Arabic-inspired '–iyya’ suffix to the last name of a politician probably began in Kano when ‘Kwankwasiyya’ coinage emerged in the run-up to, or shortly after, the 2011 gubernatorial election in the state, which saw the return of Eng. Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso to Kano State Government House as Governor, after he had lost his re-election bid in 2003 to the hitherto politically obscure civil servant, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau who subsequently reigned for eight consecutive years.

L-R: Eng. Rabi'u Musa Kwankwaso, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje

Whether it was coined deliberately or spontaneously, Kwankwaso soon adopted it as the name of his personal political project, which he had been discreetly pursuing all along dating back to his previous tenure as Governor, and through which he has been apparently seeking to achieve unrivalled political influence and leave  behind a political legacy to rival or even outrival the political legacies of late Mallam Aminu Kano and late Alhaji Muhammad Abubakar Rimi whose political charisma outshined and indeed outlived their respective political parties.