Bismillaah Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem
ABOUT THE CONTEMPORARY NIGERIAN POLITICS
(Being
excerpts of a sermon delivered by the Chief Imaam, Fountain University, Osogbo,
Sheikh Abdul-Hafeez A.A. Adedimeji, in the University Main Mosque on Friday, 2nd
of Rabi'ut-Thaani, 1436 A.H. corresponding to 23rd January, 2015
C.E.)
All the praises and thanks are due to
Allah, the One who commands His servants to be good and He Himself is better
endowed with this virtue. On the other hand, He forbids them from being
oppressive and aggressive and He purifies Himself from these vices. May His
peace and blessings be upon our most cherished Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.S.) who
was quoted to have said: " You (Muslims) should not envy one another, you
should not quarrel among yourselves and you should not wage wars against
yourselves. Rather, you should be servants of Allah who co-exist as brothers
(and sisters)". May Allah's blessings and benediction be upon the
household of this most referred Apostle, his faithful companions and the
generality of his followers till Yaomul-Qiyaamah (Day of Judgment).
Dear servants of Allah, we should all
know that leadership is a trust that Allah bestows on whoever He wishes. The
person who is privileged to be in position of leadership is having numerous
responsibilities that he\she must carry out. Failure to live up to the
expectation will subject him\her to bitter criticism from the citizens and
tarnish his image here in this world and he\she will be accountable for this
negligence on Yaomul-Hisaab (Day of Accountability). May Allah protect us from
His severe torment and unbearable wrath (Aameen).
Brothers and sisters, unlike the
Christendom and other religions that put a line of demarcation between religion
and life, spiritual and mundane, divine and secular, and worshipping and
politicking, Islam is a complete and all-round ideology, belief and practice as
it does not only purifies man's spirit thereby making him to deserve his
Creator's favour that guarantees eternal bliss but also guides man's politics,
regulates the economy, chats course for the family life and generally leads to
a better and fulfilling life. The Exalted Allah says:
( Say (O
Muhammad ): "Verily, My Salât (prayer), My sacrifice, My living, and My
dying are for Allâh, the Lord of the 'Alamîn (mankind, jinns and All that
exists)."He has no partner. and of This I have been commanded, and I am
the first of the Muslims.)" (Chapter 6, Suuratul-An'aam, verses 162
&163).
Dear listeners, as the much-awaited
and the most controversial election in Nigerian history is just some three
weeks away from us, it is pertinent ask and educate ourselves on the position
of Islam on politics, intensive campaigns
and the electioneering process that are associated with it in the
contemporary time. I want to make categorically clear that the inordinate
ambition of our so-called politicians and their desperate actions geared
towards attainment of positions, whether elected or appointed, are alien and
detestable to Islam. The Prophet of Islam (S.A.W.S.) said while condemning the
disposition of one his companions, Abu Dharr, who sought to be appointed to
occupy a position of authority thus: " O Abu Dharr! You are indeed a weak
person and what you are asking for is a responsibility. Any position of
responsibility will be a discredit and regret for whoever it is saddled with on
the Day of Judgment, except for whoever genuinely deserves it and acts
justly in it". The hadeeth was narrated by Muslim.
There is another condition laid down by
the Prophet (S.AW.S.) for the rulers and all those who are in the position of
authority. This condition is that they should neither lobby or campaign for it.
The Prophet (S.AW.S.) says thus: "Never demand to be appointed to a position
of authority, because if you are appointed based on your agitation or scheming
for it, you will be left alone to shoulder the responsibility. On the contrary,
if luck just smiled on you and you are appointed without any lobbying, you will
surely be guided to accomplish its onerous responsibilities". (The duo of
Bukhari and Muslim concurred on its narration).
It can be easily derived from the
above-quoted traditions that Prophet Muhammad (S.AW.S.) is enlightening the
entire Muslim Ummah that in order to succeed in piloting the affairs of men in
whatever capacity, the ruler or manager needs divine support and guidance. In
other words, a leader, no matter how dedicated and intelligent he\she is, will
fail woefully if he\she is not divinely guided by Allah. In order to make this
position glaring and clear to all and sundry, the Prophet (S.AW.S.) refused to
appoint people who bargained for the position of authority. He took this
position when one of his companions demanded to be appointed as a Governor of one
of the Islamic regions and he (S.AW.S.) told him thus: "I swear by Allah,
it is not in my habit to appoint people who either bargain or aspire to be in
positions of authority". (This prophetic tradition was also narrated by
the duo of Bukhari and Muslim).
However, it is regrettable that in the
contemporary world and in most especially in Nigeria, an influential or rich
man is always sure that he\she can easily steal his\her way to any vintage
position, be it legislative or executive, by either buying voters' conscience
or outright rigging of votes.
The above guideline about not bargaining
for positions is general rule in Islam. Some Islamic scholars however exempt
when a person his sure of his capability and incorruptibility. They positioned
that such attributes may just lobbying and requesting for positions as evident
from the action of Prophet Yusuf (A.S.W.) towards the King of Egypt as narrated
by Allah in the Glorious Qur'an thus:
(And the king said: "Bring Him to me; I
will appoint him exclusively for myself". And when he spoke to him, he
said: "Indeed, you are today established in position and fully
trusted."Yûsuf (Joseph)] said: "Appoint me over the storehouses of
the land; I will indeed guard them with full knowledge" (i.e. as a minister
of finance and agriculture in Egypt, in place of the former occupant of the
position, Al-'Aziz, who was dead at that time)(Chapter 12, Suurat Yuusuf,
verses 54 & 55).
We can see from the above verses that
ability and trustworthiness are the two cornerstones of deserved leadership in
Islam. It is, however, mindboggling that most of our leaders in Nigeria are not
only desperate in seeking power, they are grossly inept and mindlessly corrupt
in the discharge of their duties when getting to the corridors of power. It is
only disturbing that it has been uncovered that a Nigerian Senator earns more
than the American President, the rate at which our elected, selected, appointed
and foisted leaders embezzle our commonwealth is amazing. For these set of
leaders, I will admonish them to always remember the Allah's stern warning to
His Prophets:
(It
is not for any Prophet to take illegally a part of booty (i.e. embezzle public
funds), and whosoever indulges in this act of illegal taking from booties (and embezzling
people's money), he shall bring forth on the Day of Resurrection that which he
took (illegally). Then Every person shall be paid in full what he has earned, -
and they shall not be dealt with unjustly). (Chapter 3, Suurat Aal 'Imraan,
verse 161).
Dear listening brothers and sisters, if
you ask me whether you should vote or not in the forthcoming February elections
or any other elections organized under the present secular constitution of
Nigeria or any similar environment, my reply goes thus:
In general sense, Muslims are not
allowed to participate in elections with non-Muslims, as such act is deemed as
an acceptance of the Western concept of democracy which is not only a
misleading and alien concept both to our religion and culture but also
atheistic in principle and nature. An Islamic state that operates Shari'ah in
all ramifications is what a Muslim should aspire to have in a non-violent way.
However, it is allowed to benefit from
certain aspects of laws enacted by non-Muslims if it is established that there
are some benefits derivable for Muslims from such laws\systems. Based on this
fact, our participation in the elections may be a product
of necessity as neglecting this civic duty may give non-Muslims and unjust
politicians upper hand in determining the fate of our country in the next four
years to come. We should therefore troop out en masse come February 14th
and 28th to elect
transparent, responsible and responsive leaders who will not only govern us
with fear of Allah and manage our limited resources well but will not harm the
interest of Islam if they are unable to promote it. Being Muslims should be an
added advantage in the contestant that we should vote for, in addition to
ability, capability and trustworthiness as earlier stated. Allah is the most
knowledgeable.
Finally, I enjoin all of us not to
submit our conscience to desperate politicians who will resort to various means
of name-calling, character assassination, scandalmongering, gerrymandering and
racketeering to either cling on to power, destroy opposition or gaining power.
Our students and other teeming youth should not allow themselves to be used as
thugs and hooligans by these desperate elements.
We pray Allah to see Nigeria and Nigerians
through the next general elections and shame the enemies who prophesize
Armageddon for our dear country. (King Abdullah, contribution to mosque,
toilets maintenance matters and prayers for examination success).
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