• About Us
Wednesday, August 17, 2022
  • Login
The Daily Reality
  • Home
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
    • All
    • Sports
    Marrying money and today’s marriage industry (I)

    Marrying money and today’s marriage industry (I)

    Multi-talented Nigerian director, Biyi Bandele, is dead

    Multi-talented Nigerian director, Biyi Bandele, is dead

    Kannywood directors bemoan IGP’s order on police kits in films

    Kannywood directors bemoan IGP’s order on police kits in films

    Mo Farah says he carries fake identity

    Mo Farah says he carries fake identity

    Sound Sultan: Family releases posthumous album

    Sound Sultan: Family releases posthumous album

    Kogi Governor, Yahaya Bello, joins Buga dance challenge

    Kogi Governor, Yahaya Bello, joins Buga dance challenge

    Poetifying the North: Six years of Poetic Wednesdays poetry revival

    Poetifying the North: Six years of Poetic Wednesdays poetry revival

    Monstrous Madrid face Liverpool in UCL final after eliminating Man City

    Monstrous Madrid face Liverpool in UCL final after eliminating Man City

    Transition of Tashe

    Transition of Tashe

  • Local
  • Education
  • International
  • Kannywood
  • Entertainment
  • Religion
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
    • All
    • Sports
    Marrying money and today’s marriage industry (I)

    Marrying money and today’s marriage industry (I)

    Multi-talented Nigerian director, Biyi Bandele, is dead

    Multi-talented Nigerian director, Biyi Bandele, is dead

    Kannywood directors bemoan IGP’s order on police kits in films

    Kannywood directors bemoan IGP’s order on police kits in films

    Mo Farah says he carries fake identity

    Mo Farah says he carries fake identity

    Sound Sultan: Family releases posthumous album

    Sound Sultan: Family releases posthumous album

    Kogi Governor, Yahaya Bello, joins Buga dance challenge

    Kogi Governor, Yahaya Bello, joins Buga dance challenge

    Poetifying the North: Six years of Poetic Wednesdays poetry revival

    Poetifying the North: Six years of Poetic Wednesdays poetry revival

    Monstrous Madrid face Liverpool in UCL final after eliminating Man City

    Monstrous Madrid face Liverpool in UCL final after eliminating Man City

    Transition of Tashe

    Transition of Tashe

  • Local
  • Education
  • International
  • Kannywood
  • Entertainment
  • Religion
No Result
View All Result
The Daily Reality
No Result
View All Result
Home Opinion

Arewa Today: Shari’ah for the masses, democracy for the elite

Admin by Admin
6 August 2021
in Opinion, Religion
6
Epistle: Letter to Arewa bandits and kidnappers

Engr. Ibrahiym A. El-Caleel

0
SHARES
729
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

By Ibrahiym A. El-Caleel

Northern Nigeria, Arewa launched her Shari’a project on the eve of the third millennium, precisely in 1999. The project was cheered by Muslims, who are the larger share of the Arewa population. But, on the other hand, the project became a thorn in the flesh of liberal Muslims as well as Islamophobes. Therefore, this generated heated discussions within the Arewa intelligentsia, from the mosques’ pulpits to traditional media pages.

Immediately Shari’a was launched, additives were added to strengthen its influence over the years. The Shari’a courts appeared visibly effective and powerful in their jurisdictions. On the other hand, they were feared due to their initial charisma. Shari’a hudud (penalties) were unapologetically executed in states that subscribed to the project. In 2003, Kano State impressively established the Kano State Hisbah Corps to deepen Shari’a application further. All these were efforts that every conscious Muslim found impressive. Nigerian Muslims were able to leverage democracy to re-establish their lost treasure of Islamic Law. It was a sort of blessing in the eyes of conscious Muslims. Today, however, things are beginning to fall apart.

In recent years, we see rather poor management of the Shari’a project. Convicts in Shari’a courts now find a way to evade justice, leveraging the weak points in the project. More problematic is the visible selective application of Shari’a among Arewa Muslims. Concerning the Shari’a application, Arewa currently operates a caste system. Masses are prosecuted under Shari’a for the slightest offences, but the elites commit big offences and get away with impunity. The Shari’a practised by the earliest Muslim generations was egalitarianism, where everyone was equal before the Islamic Law. But in Arewa today, Shari’a is an elitism that only applies to the nobodies in the society, while the elites break the code and fingers are not raised at them.  

Kano Hisbah is famous for coming into the spotlight with all sorts of amazing arrests and “Shari’a law enforcements”. There are pictures of them randomly stopping youths and cutting their hair because they have kept bushy and unkempt hair. To me, this should be a minor thing that should bother Kano Hisbah, when every week, men and scantily dressed women converge at costly-rented event centres, dancing and freely mixing in the name of celebrating weddings. Kano Hisbah never shows up in such Shari’a noncompliant events because they might be meeting the last son of a commissioner, the wife of a minister or even the nation’s First Lady herself. Apologists of this caste system might say perhaps Kano Hisbah never comes across these numerous events that happen frequently and simultaneously. But the answer is, after concluding the events, these “untouchables” audaciously flaunt the immoral pictures and videos on social media to the public glare. And nothing still happens.

Shari’a in Arewa will continue to be feeble because Arewa leaders are not genuinely committed to executing it. Only Allah knows the hearts of men, but the body language we are seeing is that these leaders use Shari’a in the spirit of populism; to woo political fandom. If we have Shari’a, then everyone must come equal before it. In a sane society, everyone comes equal before the law. This is called “the rule of law”.

It was narrated that during the reign of Caliph Umar bnul Khattab, Amr bnul Aas was the governor of Egypt. This governor had a son who entered a horserace with an Egyptian man, and the Egyptian man won the race. This defeat angered the governor’s son, so he decided to flog the Egyptian man. The man left Egypt and travelled to Madinah to complain to Caliph Umar. Umar summoned Governor Amr bnul Aas and the son to appear before him. When they showed up, Umar asked the Egyptian man to flog the Governor’s son as he had flogged him. Then he said to the governor, “when did you start to enslave people when they were born free?”. This incident indicates that Caliph Umar, as one of the most influential leaders in history, never allowed impunity and elitism to prosper in the land.

Secondly, when a lady from Bani Makhzum committed theft, the people of Quraysh requested Usama bn Zayd to intercede for her with Prophet Muhammad (Peace be Upon Him). When Usama spoke about it to the Prophet (Peace be Upon Him), the Prophet said, “Do you try to intercede for somebody in a case connected with Allah’s Prescribed Punishments?” Then he got up and delivered a sermon saying, “What destroyed the nations preceding you, was that if a noble amongst them stole, they would forgive him, and if a poor person amongst them stole, they would inflict Allah’s Legal punishment on him. By Allah, if Fatimah, the daughter of Muhammad stole, I would cut off her hand.”

Prophet Muhammad (Peace be Upon Him) is the grand patron of all leaders executing the Shari’a. This is him (Peace be Upon Him) saying if his own most beloved daughter were found guilty, he would apply the laws on her with no regard to her exalted status. May Allah’s salutations be upon him. He indeed is our ultimate role model worthy of emulation.

Until Arewa leaders take the Prophet (Peace be Upon Him) as a role model in the Shari’a project, we will continue to be a laughingstock. It is quite shameful that daughters of Arewa governors and emirs dress immodestly at their weddings. We have seen the daughter of former Kano Emir Mallam Muhammadu Sanusi II taking a handshake from the Vice President, an ajnabi (strange man), in front of her father. The daughter of Kano State Governor Khadimul Islam, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, dressed immodestly on her wedding day. She wore a sleeveless wide-necked gown that almost revealed her chest. As if that was not enough of breaking the Shari’a code, she danced in this outfit to the visuality of strange men. The daughter of former EFCC Czar Mallam Nuhu Ribadu also made a similar appearance some months back.

This week, the trending topic on Arewa Facebook centres around another Kano princess, Zahra Nasir Ado Bayero, who is getting married to the President’s son, Yusuf Muhammadu Buhari. In her bridal shower event in Abuja, the princess appeared in a tight wedding gown, exposing the upper part of her torso. Of course, her hair was styled and opened to the public like her fellow sisters in the Shari’a code-breaking. People are wondering how Kano Hisbah is not seeing all this and issuing a press release.

The amoralism is getting institutionalised by the children of Arewa leaders. It speaks volumes to why Shari’a is still a baby in Arewa despite spending more than 20 years in the system. People who could give us a formidable Sharia are issuing licenses to their children to abuse the code and go scot-free. This is why even convicted blasphemers these days do not end up suffering the penalties. Anyone with some copper coins in their pockets and a little political network can find a way out. Only the poor and the unconnected can be convicted and be eventually punished. This is the caste system we have awaken to in Arewa today. Unfortunately, leaders are not ready to walk the talk. We need a leveller to be able to have an effective Shari’a system. What is good for the goose has to be good for the gander. Else, we are all joking around.

Ibrahiym A. El-Caleel is a Civil Engineer by training with an interest in public and social commentary. He writes from Zaria and can be reached via caleel2009@gmail.com.

Tags: ArewaGovernor Abdullahi Umar GandujeHisbahIslamKanoMuhammadu Sanusi IIMuslimsShari'ah
Previous Post

Messi leaving Camp Nou — Barcelona

Next Post

Messi: He came, he saw and he conquered

Next Post
Messi: He came, he saw and he conquered

Messi: He came, he saw and he conquered

Comments 6

  1. Usman Bello Nalizai says:
    1 year ago

    Really sad, may Allah bless us with capable hands that are ready to take the bull by the horn🙏

    Reply
    • Najib Sani Ilyas says:
      1 year ago

      This is none but a plain truth. Jazakallah khairan.

      Reply
  2. Engr Abubakar u saleh says:
    1 year ago

    Very Good observation brother, keep up

    Reply
  3. Muhammad Wakili says:
    1 year ago

    Well said Engr. JazakaLlahu khairan.

    Reply
  4. Musa Usman Mahmud says:
    1 year ago

    The situation has been crystally and clearly described, may Allah see us through…

    Reply
  5. Ahmed T Hamza says:
    1 year ago

    A society will never know peace unless and until the law of the land is applicable to all it citizens without discrimination of who is who.

    Good observation from Mal I. A. El-Caleel

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recommended

Insecurity is corruption-in-motion

Insecurity is corruption-in-motion

11 months ago
MURIC dissociates Sultan’s JNI from supporting terrorism

Arrest Owo church killers now – MURIC

2 months ago

Popular News

    Connect with us

    Facebook Twitter
    The Daily Reality

    The Daily Reality

    The Daily Reality is an online news medium with a physical address in Kano State, Nigeria. As our name suggests, we aim to be realistic and truthful to our readers. Moreover, we are an independent, non-partisan company. Thus, we will always do our best to be fair, factual and accurate in our journalism.

    Follow us on social media

    Category

    • Business (23)
    • Education (183)
    • Engausa (6)
    • Entertainment (23)
    • Health (36)
    • International (102)
    • Kannywood (22)
    • Lifestyle (30)
    • Literature (25)
    • Local (194)
    • National (185)
    • News (797)
    • Opinion (728)
    • Politics (179)
    • Religion (109)
    • Science (12)
    • Sports (18)
    • Technology (36)
    • Travel (4)
    • Uncategorized (3)
    Nigeria Jubilee Fellows Programme: Advice to three applicant categories

    The English teacher who failed kinds of nouns

    17 August 2022
    The imperatives of Nigeria’s war against poverty (I)

    The imperatives of Nigeria’s war against poverty (I)

    17 August 2022
    As an affected student, I have solutions to ASUU’s strikes

    ASUU strike continues as meeting with FG ends in deadlock

    16 August 2022

    © 2022 The Daily Reality - Powered by EasyLife Creative Studio.

    No Result
    View All Result
    • Home
    • News
    • Opinion
    • Politics
    • Business
    • National
    • Entertainment
    • International
      • Kannywood

    © 2022 The Daily Reality - Powered by EasyLife Creative Studio.

    Welcome Back!

    Login to your account below

    Forgotten Password?

    Retrieve your password

    Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

    Log In