2013 Ramadan Tafsir at Sultan
Bello Mosque Kaduna Alhamdulillah,
today we have
come to the end of this year's
Tafsir with great hope and
anticipations that Allah - subhanahu Wa taala - will
accept our humble devotions and grant
us success in this
world and the hereafter. Amin. This
great Mosque, Sultan Bello
Mosque, which is named after the great Islamic leader and
scholar, Muhammad Bello, the
Son of Shehu Bin Fodio, was
established purposely to propagate
and teach Islam in its
pristine form. It has today remained one of the relics that
linked their past endeavour
with the present and future. It
also represents the epitome of the
Islamic propagation efforts
of Sheik Abubakar Mahmoud Gumi, which earned him the
international recognition and
fame in the service of Islam.
This makes the mosque a stand- alone
edifice that cannot be
muffled, suppressed, diluted or hijacked by any political,
traditional or secular
formations that had worked
persistently to destroy our past.
Alhamdulillah, this Ramadan
has come to a near end without any significant incident of
insecurity problem here. We
however lament the latest
attack on peaceful citizens in Kano
State. There is never any
justification for such an evil act under whatever pretext. May
Allah continue to protect us all
from this evil and expose the
perpetrators of this wicked act. The
nation is fast approaching a
general election in the year 2015. With the ever-changing
contour of the political
landscape, we urge all
politicians to put hands together to
ensure that the
spirit of the democratic governance should be the core
of our mutual peaceful
coexistence. Politicians should
avoid personal, tribal or regional
parochial interest over
the interest of the whole nation. We should understand
the parable of the ship-
travellers described by our
noble prophet - peace be upon him. A
group of people were
travelling in a ship, some in the upper deck while some in the
lower deck. Whenever those in
the lower deck wanted water,
they passed over those in the upper
deck thus disturbing
them and wetting their place. When [the upper deck people]
complained, the lower deck
people took an axe trying to
make a hole in their place to get water.
The prophet said, "if
the upper deck people allow [the lower deck travellers] to do
what they intend, all of them
would perish." Nigeria is a nation that is
bleeding because of political
upheavals from simple lack of
transparency in elections, [from] petroleum pilfering,[from
] official corruption,[from] national
apathy toward hard
work and excellence, [from]
religious and ethnic bigotry,
[from] disproportionate representation in the national
institutions. Nigerians need a
government that will address
these issues will all sincerity. We call on
the Federal
Government, the National Security Council, Northern state
governors to urgently
withdraw the military forces
from the streets and cities of the
northern states. An Arab
adage says: ( ُﻞِﺑِﻹﺍ ﻣﺎ ﻫﺎﻛﺬَﺍ ﻳﺎ ﺳَﻌْﺪُ ﺗُﻮﺭَﺩُ) Meaning, oh Saad, this is not the
way camels are driven to a
water place. It doesn't require military
and
security experts to know that
the military reaction to the insecurity problem the northern
states went through and is still
going through since the inception of
this dispensation is
not commensurate in kind and
size to the actual problem. The military occupation of the
northern states is clearly more a
political message than security
challenge. It has to be seriously
and urgently addressed. The
interest of the nation and our peaceful coexistence should
supersede any envisaged
personal, tribal or regional interest. The
huge budget spent
on this military adventure if
spent in improving the police, training, gadgets and numbers,
would surely have tackled the
menace. The military needs to re-check
itself. Recently [there] was a
document in circulation
especially on the Internet, which portrayed lopsidedness
in promotions, or even victimizations in
the rank and
file. Dissatisfaction of any
quarter is not good for the
military. Kaduna Military Hospital has remained
neglected since the initiative by former
[Chief of Army Staff].
Commandants of military
institutions are grossly lopsided
against the Muslims. We urge the state governments to exert
their influence to see that each state
and local government
area is given [its] due quota in
the intake of these institutions
and other federal positions. Poverty alleviation programs
are highly needed.
Unemployment has become a
national scourge. ASUU strike needs to
be
urgently addressed. In as much as Government should be
responsible in its obligations,
the academics have seriously
damaged the psyche of the young
generation by their
incessant and continued strikes over the decades, teaching [the
youth] that "Man shall live by
bread alone". This noble
profession of teaching is 'bastardized'
by irresponsibility
in Nigeria. It is not then strange that the youth are given to
drugs or prostitution. May Allah
save our youth from moral
decadence. Public sanitation, sewage
conduits and environmental
cleanliness are all national emergencies. We call on Muslims to live
peacefully with their Christian
counterparts; they are equal
citizens of this nation. Islam has
accorded the Christians a
special position of closeness that we need to strengthen.
This is what we learnt in this
year's Tafsir. This, however, does not
negate
the fact that, among the
Christians, are those that are apparently mischievous - those
who manipulate their
associations and sometimes
government apparatus to injure
Muslims. We have found out
that they are usually driven by bigotry and prejudice against
anything Islamic. The best
advice for Christians in this country is
that they should learn
that Islam is a universal religion
that does not impose itself on non-adherents, and that any
attempt to thwart the rights of
Muslims to enjoy their constitutional
rights of
practicing their religion is a
breach of such treaty. Muslims are urged by the Quran,
especially this chapter we are
reading, to fulfil all obligations
and covenants. As we aspire to
fulfil our obligations, Christians
are also advised to do so, so that we can all live in peace
and harmony. We should all continue to
pray
for peace and progress of this
nation. Wassalamu Alaikum.