Religion

By Abdurrazak Muktar Makarfi

In the depths of the night, when most of the world sleeps, there are those who choose to rise. They are the ones who understand the value of Qiyamul Lail, the act of waking up to pray during the night. This predawn vigil is not just a spiritual obligation for Muslims but also a powerful manifestation of one’s deepest desires and intentions.

Qiyamul Lail is an act of devotion and a reflection of one’s commitment to one’s faith. It is a time when the world is still, and the heart is most receptive to spiritual connection. The act of willingly sacrificing sleep to stand in prayer is a testament to the strength of one’s faith and the sincerity of one’s desires.

Desire, in its purest form, is the driving force behind our actions and aspirations. It is what motivates us to work hard, to overcome obstacles, and to strive for better lives. But how can we measure the depth of our desires? Qiyamul Lail offers a unique litmus test.

If you find yourself desperately wanting something in life, be it success, happiness, or peace, and yet you are not waking up for Qiyamul Lail, then you may need to question the authenticity of your desires. True desire demands sacrifice. It requires us to prioritise what matters most to us. When we value something deeply, we are willing to make sacrifices to attain it.

Waking up for Qiyamul Lail is not just about fulfilling a religious duty; it’s about demonstrating the intensity of your yearning. It’s a declaration that your connection with the Divine is so profound that you are willing to forgo sleep, one of the most basic human needs, to nurture that connection.

Moreover, Qiyamul Lail is a time for reflection, self-examination, and supplication. It is a chance to pour your heart out to the Creator to seek guidance, forgiveness, and blessings. It is a moment when you can lay your deepest desires and concerns before the Almighty with a heart filled with humility and hope.

In the stillness of the night, when the world is hushed in slumber, you have the opportunity to reflect on your aspirations and the path you are on. If your desires are sincere, if you truly long for your goals to be realised, then Qiyamul Lail is your arena to prove it. It’s a chance to show that your ambitions are not mere words but a profound yearning that drives you to action.

So, let the night prayer be a reminder—a reminder to measure your desires against your actions. If you’re desperately wanting something and you’re not waking up for Qiyamul Lail, then you don’t want it enough. But if you’re willing to rise from your slumber, stand in devotion, and whisper your desires to the heavens, then your desires are genuine, and you’re on the right path to fulfilling them.

By Abdurrahman Muhammad

The Ansarudeen Society of Nigeria began its three-month-long centenary programme on Friday, 20^th October, 2023. Meanwhile, an Islamic human rights organisation, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has sent a message of solidarity to the society. MURIC described the Ansarudeen as the leading Islamic organisation in Nigeria in the area of education.

MURIC’s solidarity message was contained in a statement given to newsmen on Monday, 23^rd October 2023, by the Executive Director of the organisation, Professor Ishaq Akintola.

The statement reads:

“A foremost Islamic organisation, the Ansar-ud-Deen Society of Nigeria (AUD), began its three-month-long centenary programme on Friday, 20^th October, 2023.  The celebrations will come to an end in December 2023.

“MURIC expresses its unflinching solidarity with the AUD on this momentous occasion. We felicitate with the National President of this great organisation, Alhaji Aare Dr. Abdul Rafiu Ademola Sanni whose visionary guidance and exemplary leadership have propelled AUD to greater heights.

“AUD is a golden lamp that has illuminated all that is around it. Millions of Nigerians have benefitted from its programmes, particularly education. AUD primary and secondary schools are spread throughout the nooks and crannies of Nigeria, while the organisation has capped its educational edifice with colleges and a tertiary institution, Summit University, Offa, Kwara State. This is apart from its empowerment programmes for women and youths.

“We extend our acknowledgement to the spiritual leader of the AUD, Shaykh Abdul Rahman Ahmad. As the Chief Missioner of the society, Shaykh Abdul Rahman Ahmad has been a good ambassador.

“MURIC appeals to the federal and state Governments in the country as well as Muslim philanthropists to vigorously fund projects of the AUD. We charge the organization to remain focused and to pay greater attention to its youth wing in order to preserve its enduring culture of spiritual and social growth.”

By Professor Abdussamad Umar Jibia

In 1992, about 20 years after Nigeria severed ties with Israel, General Ibrahim Babangida’s administration restored diplomatic relations with the Jewish occupier state. This followed incessant calls for doing so by Nigerian Christians. 

Islamic scholars berated the Christian clerics who called for restoring ties with Israel for their blatant ignorance of the Jewish state and what it stood for. Contrary to what is believed by the Nigerian Christian clergy, Israel is not a Christian state, and Jews do not believe in Jesus Christ either as a Messiah like the Christians believe or even as a Messenger of God like I, a Muslim, believe. As far as the Jew is concerned, Jesus is an illegitimate child of Mary who is a product of fornication committed by his mother.

And what is special about Israel? Unlike Ghanaian, Nigerian, Pakistani and other nationals who feel at home whenever they are in their countries, the Israeli carries the guilt and discomfort of an occupier even while “at home” in the land now called Israel. Many countries do not recognise the existence of Israel as a state. 

What followed Babangida’s diplomatic decision is a shame. A Christian Pilgrims Commission at the centre and a Christian Pilgrims Board in each state. That’s not all. While my own grandfather travelled to Saudi Arabia to perform the hajj on foot without any Government facilitation, and I saved my own money to go on hajj by air because we believe in hajj as part of our religion, an average Nigerian Christian is waiting for Government to pay for him to visit Israel to do what they call a “religious” duty. The journey, year in and year out, by Nigerian Christians to visit Israel for ‘pilgrimage’ has thus been a huge burden on the Nigerian Government. I believe there should be an act of the National Assembly to criminalise the sponsorship of pilgrims by Governments at all levels to whichever holy land the former want to go for their worship. 

The latest struggle by Hamas to free Palestine from Zionist occupation is now in its second week. Governments and individuals worldwide have been voicing their opinions, with many taking sides and others calling for cessation of hostilities. One would commend the Christians Association of Nigeria (CAN) for being cautious this time. The Nigerian Christians’ umbrella body spoke against bloodletting and preached the sanctity of human life. I am personally impressed. The leadership of CAN under Daniel Okoh should go a step further to end hostilities against non-Christians in Christian-majority communities of the North. This would contribute towards the desired peace and development that has eluded Nigerians.

If CAN exercised caution under Most Rev. Daniel Okoh, the same cannot be said about the overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye. When I saw him calling Jews his “brethren”, I wondered whether I would laugh or cry. No matter how one tries to give Pastor Adebayo the benefit of the doubt for being a Nigerian respected by many, one will have to admit that the Pastor has, in this case, behaved like one of those roadside church-goers who have not been to school. Otherwise, how on earth would a Christian refer to Israeli criminals as his brethren and even ask thousands of unsuspecting RCCG members to pray for them?

Perhaps Pastor Adebayo is unaware of the Jewish state’s atrocities against innocent Palestinian Christians. Only recently, the head of the Roman Catholic Church in Jerusalem, Pierbattsta Pizzaballa, was reportedly complaining of increasing attacks by Jewish extremists “emboldened by [the] Israeli Government”. 

The attacks on the Christian community in Israel, whose record is handy for anyone looking for it, include attacks on Christian sites, which people like Adeboye say they go to Israel to visit and Christian worshippers whom the attackers refer to as idol worshippers who should be, “killed according to Torah”.

According to a recent NBC News report about Jerusalem, “Churches have been graffitied and clergy who live and work here report being frequently spit on, harassed and even physically attacked by extremist Jews”. The report concluded that “Christian leaders say most incidents are never thoroughly investigated,” confirming that it has the backing of the Zionist state.

Hear Pastor Adeboye, “It is my prayer for all our brethren in Israel that the Almighty will grant you absolute peace from now on in Jesus’s name”. Haba Pastor! What does Jesus have to do with Zionists? And what do Zionists have to do with Jesus? The only non-Christian group who accepts Jesus, the son of Mary and believes in the virgin birth, are Muslims. 

And he said, “The almighty God, the only one of Israel…”. My dear pastor, which God are you referring to here? Is it Jesus Christ whom they refer to as an idol or the only God who created Jesus without a father, just like he created Adam without two parents?

Adebayo and other African Christians should get their priorities right. Palestinian Christians have done so long ago. They have always identified with Palestinian Muslims in their struggle for freedom. 

Professor Abdussamad Umar Jibia wrote from Kano via aujibia@gmail.com.

By Zayyad I. Muhammad

Before and during his 2023 presidential campaign in the North, Bola Ahmed Tinubu was a household name among the ordinary citizens in the North. Now, President Tinubu’s public relations (PR) image in the north is fast dwindling; the Christian community is still bitter with the All Progressives Congress’s (APC) Muslim-Muslim ticket in the 2023 presidential elections, and the Muslim majority is feeling sidelined in the Tinubu government despite their massive vote for the APC during the 2023 presidential elections.

The Tinubu government has some of the best minds in public relations (PR) and the media space in its media team, but the truth of the matter is that Tinubu’s PR image in the north is dwindling and suffering, so to speak. What went wrong?

First, to be fair to Tinubu, he has allocated some good positions to the North according to its ‘rights’, but it was poorly communicated, and the appointees are in a kind of incommunicado with the North.

Secondly, many people, even outside the north, felt that the southwest had taken most of the ‘lucrative posts’—well, it is normal for any president to bring on board his own economic teams, including the people that he knows too well and has confidence in them to deliver his agenda and his party’s manifestos. Tinubu has the right to appoint anyone he wishes to, but unlucky for him, his predecessor’s actions and inactions will be used to gauge his government’s actions and inactions. President Tinubu couldn’t have jettisoned a little bit of this privilege—the idea of appointing only the people he knows too well in his economic team and close aides—since he succeeded a Buhari government that was highly accused of nepotism.

Thirdly, Tinubu’s government interaction with the north appears limited to the high echelon of society; thus, the people at the bottom of the ladder who were told that the Muslim-Muslim ticket would be ‘their government’ now feel they’re sidelined and were misled.

Fourthly, the Tinubu media and public relations teams are good, but they’re disconnected from the real north; they are not sufficiently aware of the approach and ‘language’ to talk to the north, especially APC’s strongholds. A good example is the recent CBN’s lifting of FOREX restrictions on 43 items. The general belief in the north is that the government has opened the borders for rice, maize, and other farm produce; thus, it is a direct attack on northern farmers and rice mills in the north. Up until now, there is no explicit explanation in a language, and from the ‘faces’ the northern farmers and rice millers will understand and believe.

Lastly, the Tinubu government is missing one point: it basically campaigned in its strongholds in the north on the fulcrum of the Muslim-Muslim ticket; now, its body language is that it has tilted away from the north’s political and economic interests; thus, even the ulama ( the clergies) who  ‘campaigned’ for it, is now not talking on its behalf; in fact, many of them are hammering the government. The Muslim-Muslim ticket is like an albatross to the APC, which the party must carry till and after the 2027 presidential elections; it has to continue to ‘nurture’ it like a nursing baby and also, at the same time, prove to its opponents that there is no harm in it.

What Tinubu should do: his subsequent appointments and policy pronouncements should try to pacify the north, especially the APC’s strongholds. Politics is about reward systems, and Tinubu is a master of reward systems in politics.

Secondly, appointees from the north should be visible and reachable to their communities. Many people in the APC’s strongholds in the north don’t even know some people from their folds are now appointees in the Tinubu government.

Thirdly, as earlier said, the Tinubu PR and Media team is good, but it must still be jack-up with more people from the north who know the ‘language’ and have faces that the north will understand.

Lastly, and most importantly, the Tinubu government should constantly inform the north of its efforts and activities in the areas of security, agriculture, and youth programmes in a way and in a language the north will understand and appreciate.

Zayyad I. Muhammad writes from Abuja. He can be reached via zaymohd@yahoo.com.

By Abdurrahman Muhammad

The move by the Kano State Government to remove some lewd and pernicious teaching materials from the curriculum of both public and private basic schools in the state has been commended by the Muslim rights advocacy group, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC).

The Kano State Government, through the office of the Special Advisor on Private and Voluntary Institutions, issued the prohibition in an announcement made on Thursday, 5th October 2023. 

In the announcement, the Kano State Government listed some six (6) textbooks prohibited for instructional use “due to observed inclusions(sic) of inappropriate and sexually explicit contents that are harmful to the morals of our young students.”

The decision of the Kano State Government, under the leadership of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf, to prohibit the use of obscene teaching materials in the state has come at the right time. Therefore, all parents, educationists, learners and advocates must embrace and support the initiative so as to tame the alarming rise of immorality amongst the youths in the state. 

The human rights group lent its support by calling on the authorities to ensure strict compliance by both public and private schools in the state. 

The commendation was contained in a statement released by the Chairman of the Kano State Chapter of the group, Malam Hassan Sani Indabawa, on Friday, October 6, 2023. 

Mr Indabawa further said:

“As one of the front-line advocates for the removal of all obscene teaching aids from the nation’s educational system, we at MURIC rejoice and commend the Kano State Government for doing the needful by prohibiting the use of some selected teaching materials found to contain sexually explicit contents which are perverse to the moral upbringing of pupils in the state.

“The surreptitious inclusion of explicit sexual contents in some of the basic education teaching materials was part of the Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) developed by the United Nations Population Fund (UNPF) for worldwide use to promote promiscuity, fornication and homosexuality. This is one of the evils of globalisation. Certainly, this strange knowledge contradicts our faith, culture and values.

“Aside from the CSE, many textbooks used in Nigerian schools have been corrupted with lewd contents. 

“Nigerians may be well aware that in the last twenty years or so, classical English literature books and novels such as Macbeth, Julius Caesar, Merchant of Venice, Weep Not Child, Things Fall Apart, The Man Died, African Child, Akin the Drummer Boy, Mine Boy, The Delinquent and so forth have been removed from our school curricula and replaced with sex-related local English literature and other science books containing lewd and pernicious matters to give the unsuspecting young school pupils the wrong impression that self-control is unnecessary and that casual sex makes them feel good; that they should engage in casual sex before marriage; that ‘safe sex’ is what to aim for in life provided that they don’t get pregnant and if they do get pregnant, they should go for abortion. 

“As we may equally be aware, one of the negative consequences of this is the sexualisation of primary and secondary school pupils.

“Therefore, the prohibition of the use of offensive textbooks by the Kano State Government must be backed by appropriate legislation to provide a legal framework for sanctioning any erring school authority for effective implementation of the government’s directive.

“The Office of the Special Advisor on Private and Voluntary Institutions and Kano Educational Resource Department (KERD) must be well-equipped to ensure strict compliance as it is our belief that some self-seeking, unscrupulous and unconscientious groups and individuals may attempt to frustrate the effort with the support of the global conspiracy designed to destroy the fabric of our family value system, decency and modesty.

“We also call on other state governments to emulate Kano State Government by reviewing and removing all lewd and pernicious teaching materials from their various basic education curriculum.

“Finally, we reiterate our earlier call, made on the 25th May 2023, to the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), a federal government agency charged with the responsibility of implementing educational policies in Nigeria, to immediately review and expunge any sex-related content from the curriculum being used in Nigerian basic schools.”

By Abdurrahman Muhammad

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has accused a section of the media and its allies of continuously neglecting the increasing death toll of Nigerian Muslims but are quick to report the fabricated number of dead Christians at the instance of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN).

It has come to our notice that the majority of security-related challenges being faced in Nigeria, most of which result in the death of Muslims, especially when in large quantity are mostly unreported or, at best, under-reported; we at the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) have seen this as a ploy to portray Muslims as the perpetrators of these various crimes in Nigeria, ranging from terrorism, kidnapping, cattle rustlings, banditry, etc.

The Muslims have always been complacent, consoling themselves without making noise on various social media platforms whenever the unpleasant news of the death of their brothers and sisters in Islam filters in. This is because Allah has emphasised to us through the Holy Quran that “All Souls Shall Taste Death” (Qur’an 3:185), whereas CAN is always quick at playing the victim card, and its voice can be heard at the seventh heaven.

Social media and traditional news media also become awash with unprintable comments to escalate the incident beyond the real magnitude. The Muslims are, therefore, always at the receiving end. In contrast, Muslims lose the highest number of victims of the security challenges Nigeria is currently facing.

It is a known fact that the majority of the act of terrorism by the dreaded terrorist organisation in Nigeria (Boko Haram) has led to the death of more Muslims than Christians; the terrorist group detonated bombs in metropolitan areas in the northern part of Nigeria where the Muslims have the highest population. It is, therefore, only logical to say that the terrorist group targets Muslims more than Christians; thus, any Christian who becomes a victim is more collateral damage because the real targets are the Muslims.

In an effort to set the records straight, MURIC has carried out a statistical analysis of violent attacks and has gathered data on Muslims who were casualties of various attacks carried out by armed groups such as Boko Haram, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), armed bandits, herdsmen and the so-called unknown gunmen.

It was discovered that between 2021 and 2022, the total number of Muslims who have become casualties is as high as two thousand two hundred and sixty-four (2,264). This figure is for reported cases. Only Allah knows the exact number of thousands of unreported cases of Muslim deaths.

Of this figure, 1,829 were killed by Boko Haram, 288 Muslims fell victim to banditry, 98 were killed by unknown gunmen, 36 by herdsmen and 13 by IPOB.

We appeal to the Muslim populace not to seek vengeance as Allah is sufficient for us, and only Allah knows the punishment most suitable for perpetrators of the killings. We also remind co-country men to tread softly and not to insult the sensitivity and cool-headedness of Nigerian Muslims; our religion teaches “Peace”, and on that mantra, all our engagements are based.

Lastly, while we acknowledge that efforts made by the security agents are already yielding results, we implore them to increase their vigilance to ensure a prosperous and peaceful nation.

By Abdurrahman Muhammad

An appeal has gone to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to ensure that all regions, faiths and sections benefit from political appointments made by his government while no ethnic group or faith is seen to be favoured above others. 

Making the appeal on Monday, 18th September 2023, was the Executive Director of the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), Professor Ishaq Akintola. The head of the Islamic human rights organisation added that appointments made so far by Tinubu are lopsided because they favoured mainly Yorubas and Christians. He advised the president to ensure balance in coming appointments. 

The full text reads:

“We are shocked to our marrows that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been appointing Christians and Yorubas mainly to key positions since the inception of this administration at the expense of Muslims. For instance, five out of eight security chiefs appointed earlier are Christians. Ministerial posts have not been different.

“All five key appointments made by President Tinubu to revive the economy were given to Christians and Yorubas mainly. These new appointees include the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun; the newly nominated CBN Governor, Dr. Michael Cardoso, Hon. Zacch Adedeji; Acting Chairman, FIRS; the Chairman, Tax Reforms Committee, Mr. Taiwo Oyedele and Mr. Tope Fasua, Special Adviser on Economic Affairs.

“Many competent Muslims who campaigned and voted for Muslim-Muslim ticket during the presidential election were ignored. It is interesting to note that some of those Muslims are eminently qualified to hold key political offices since there are professors, engineers, medical doctors and holders of doctorate degrees among them.

“To add salt to injury, one of the best Muslim ministerial nominees, the man who championed the Muslim-Muslim ticket and mobilised the whole North behind Asiwaju, has been jettisoned. Also, Professor Ali Isa Pantami, who took the communication and digital economy to enviable heights during the last administration, was ignored. Where, then, is our Muslim president taking Nigerian Muslims?

“MURIC rejects this trending narrative that makes competence the raison d’etre for concentrating appointments in any particular tribe, religion or group. Government’s tentacles should be spread nationwide in the search for competence. Neither should the need for skills be used as a cover for the marginalisation of some sections of Nigeria. 

“We assert clearly, emphatically and unequivocally that competence is not the monopoly of any tribe, faith or group. Talented Nigerians are to be found everywhere if sincere searches are conducted. 

“Besides, government should take the lion share of the blame if competent hands cannot be found in any section, creed or group for certain assignments. It means the government has not, ab initio, allowed educational and training facilities to be fairly and evenly distributed, or that the government has failed to consciously integrate all segments of the Nigerian society. All sectors must therefore have equal opportunities to participate in governance.

“This regime must be wary of allegation of nepotism, which the previous regime was accused of. Nigeria is a vast country with talented men and women in all nooks and crannies. The government must not just pick the low-hanging skills or those on the water surface. It must send its underwater swimmers to dive below the surface in order to bring the gems to dry land.

“Our message to President Tinubu is this (and we want the president’s handlers to take this to him) the cacophony of voices of dissatisfied Muslims has reached an unbearable crescendo such that MURIC is now constrained to speak up. People are complaining, particularly Muslims from the North and South West, and they can only be ignored at the risk of foregoing 2027. 

“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is our Muslim brother, but that should not stop us from criticising him if he does the wrong thing. The Prophet (SAW) said, “Help your brother when he is wronged and even when he is wrong…”

“Traceable as well as well-known authors on social media are exchanging lopsided lists either tilted in favour of Christians who did not vote for the Muslim-Muslim ticket or in favour of Yorubas only. Such lists raise questions of nepotism and that of marginalisation of the same Muslims who stood behind Asiwaju and voted massively for him. 

The pervading hunger everywhere in the land may force some regions to seek a pound of flesh in 2027 if they are denied political appointments where it matters. In particular, President Tinubu should ensure that the North, which was his strategic ally in the 2023 presidential election, is not stinted of political appointments. Otherwise, he will destroy the thin veneer of solidarity which currently exists between the North and the South West.

“We remind President Bola Ahmed Tinubu that all regions, faiths and sections deserve political appointments. The Tinubu administration must not be the exclusive preserve of the Yorubas at the expense of other tribes, nor the monopoly of Rome at the expense of Madinah. No region must be sentenced to hunger, starvation and political isolation. 

“Tinubu’s next appointments must see a shift in body language. All regions, faiths and sections must benefit from political appointments made by this government, while no ethnic group or faith is seen to be favoured above others.

“Meanwhile, we in MURIC accept full responsibility for the dilemma facing Nigerian Muslims as their Muslim-Muslim ticket has turned into a ‘Christian majority government’. We admit being in the forefront of the campaign for a Yoruba Muslim presidency which has become a bone in the throat of Yoruba Muslims in particular and Nigerian Muslims in general. 

“With heavy hearts, we tender unreserved apology, first, to the former governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, for what we led him to even though he showed no interest at the beginning, and to other Nigerian Muslims, particularly those who have been accusing us of misleading them. 

By Huzaifa Dokaji

When people reflect on the fall of the Sokoto Caliphate in 1903, they often conjure up images of British soldiers armed with the formidable Maxim gun on the left, juxtaposed with local inhabitants wielding swords, bows, and arrows on the right, fervently chanting “Allahu akbar.” Unfortunately, this portrayal does not align with historical reality. The foot soldiers were mainly Africans, while Europeans primarily served as commanders and strategists rather than frontline combatants. The bulk of the invading forces were drawn from previously subjugated regions, frequently comprising individuals from the target community itself.

As demonstrated by Philip Afaedie’s PhD thesis, The Hidden Hand of Overrule: Political Agents and the Establishment of British Colonial Rule in Northern Nigeria, 1886–1914, individuals such as Adamu Jakada established their reputations and livelihoods by providing valuable intelligence to European forces. In the case of Kano, for instance, Ciroman Kano Abdu Lele, the son of Emir Kano Tukur (reigned 1893–1895), supported the British invasion in exchange for their promise to restore him to the Kano throne, which his family had lost after the Kano Civil War (1893–1895), known as the Basasa (of course they didn’t honour the agreement after the war!). Others, driven by diverse motivations, also aligned themselves with the British cause.

As recounted by Baba of Karo to Mary Smith (see Baba of Karo: A Woman of the Hausa Muslim), people in rural areas, fed up with pervasive political and social corruption, celebrated colonial conquest with a popular song, “Nasara kun dade ba ku zo ba”. The Resident of Kano also noted in an intelligence report to the British acting High Commissioner on July 9th, 1903, that the peasantry embraced British conquest due to their deep-seated resentment towards their rulers. “Nasara kun dade ba ku zo ba” carries more profound implications than its composers may have intended. Scholars like Murray Last (1967), Rudolph Ware (2014) and Paul Lovejoy (2016), along with others, have shown us how and why the Sokoto Jihad was one of the most important political and social revolutions of the 19th century, thanks to the egalitarian nature of its goals. However, Nasara kun dade ba ku zo ba demonstrates how such ideals were lost by the closing decade of the century, prompting common people to seek refuge in the hands of Christians. Nevertheless, the intellectual class remained committed to their quest for an egalitarian society through the Islamic ideological vehicle.

M.S. Umar’s seminal work, Islam and Colonialism: Intellectual Responses of Muslims of Northern Nigeria to British Colonial Rule, has powerfully shown us how such intellectuals reacted to British colonial conquest and the various strategies they adopted to challenge it. They saw it as temporary—God’s wrath upon an erring community. Defining the conquest as a temporary setback, the grand vizier of the Sokoto Caliphate equated it to the shaving of a beard.

In his poems titled Nuzhah and Intisaf, Sheikh Yahya an-Naffakh (b. 1898 and known as Malam) described the British conquest as the ‘triumph of absurdity’ caused by scholars who have replaced ‘the humility of Knowledge with the stupidity of ignorance’ and rulers who have exchanged ‘the wisdom of governance with the arrogance of past glory’. Malam himself came from a family that was a victim of such crass anarchy. The winning side of the Kano Civil War imprisoned his father, who was a legitimist. A young Malam secured his release by writing a petition to the Resident of Kano, Mr. Palmer, advocating against the unjust imprisonment.

Although oral traditions suggest that Dan Fodio prophesied the fall of the Caliphate to European Christians, it is more plausible that news of their encroachment reached Sokoto through traders and pilgrims travelling the trans-Saharan trade routes, ultimately reaching Mecca. For instance, in the early 19th century, the influential Lagos trader Madam Tinubu sent a letter to the Caliph of Sokoto, Bello dan Fodio, informing him of European activities along the coast. Furthermore, Paul Lovejoy’s research on Umar el-Fellati reveals that Fellati witnessed the British occupation of Egypt in 1882 and even acted as a double agent, providing the British with information about the Caliphate while simultaneously reporting on British activities in Northern Africa.

Huzaifa Dokaji is a PhD student and teaching assistant at the Department of History, State University of New York at Sony Brook. He can be reached via huzaifa.dokaji@stonybrook.edu.

By Abdurrahman Muhammad

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has condoled the Chairman of Jamā’atu Izālatil Bid’ah wa Iqāmatis-Sunnah (JIBWIS) Nigeria – Sheikh Dr Abdullahi Bala Lau, on the death of a member of the executive of the organisation, Sheikh Abubakar Giro Argungu.

In the condolence message signed by its National Secretary, Malam Ibrahim Musa Yelwa Al-kisa’i, MURIC said that the deceased was reported to have passed away on Wednesday night and buried at his hometown cemetery in Argungu after Zuhr yesterday.

Giro was reported by his son to have sought forgiveness from his friends and family, and in the end, he uttered the Kalimatush-shahādah (the last testimony of belief in Allah). Sheikh Giro was known to be a committed and consistent Islamic scholar throughout his lifetime and had little or no attachments to worldly materials.

His death is indeed a national and international tragedy that befell Muslims, yet we admit that death is a necessary end, and it must be accepted by devoted Muslims in the right way.

The National Secretary prayed on behalf of the organisation for Allah to forgive the deceased and to give all those bereaved by his death the fortitude to bear the loss.

By Muhammadu Sabiu

The Muslim world mourns the loss of Sheikh Abubakar Abdullahi Giro Argungu, a highly respected Islamic scholar whose teachings and dedication to Islam resonated globally.

Sheikh Argungu’s passing was announced on his official Facebook page on Wednesday, casting a profound sense of sorrow throughout the global Islamic community.

Sheikh Giro Argungu’s untimely demise comes as a shock to many, as he had been in high spirits while delivering a lecture the previous night.

The news of his passing has left many followers and admirers grappling with grief and disbelief.

Known for his profound knowledge of Islamic teachings and his unwavering commitment to spreading the message of peace and understanding, Sheikh Argungu was a beacon of wisdom and enlightenment.