Shari'ah

By Muḥammad San

I have read the PhD thesis of the Emir of Kano, and just like in his Gamji days, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (now Muhammadu Sanusi II) remains forthright in expression and uncompromising in his quest to balance Shari’a.

Some may dismiss contributions like mine as disturbing or argue that we are too little academically to weigh in on the Shari’a debate. But this is a debate that dominated Nigeria at the turn of the millennium, and Sanusi himself was at its centre. Having read his papers, watched his TED talk, and reviewed the recent compendium of his essays, I can say I have at least a fair understanding of his intellectual outlook.

Sanusi has always been controversial. His now-famous remark that a wife should slap back or retaliate against an abusive husband is a good example. That boldness, perhaps, was the same energy that pushed him to the University of London to produce a doctoral thesis on Islamic family law, using Morocco and Kano as his comparative space.

The Emir is an ardent advocate of girl-child education, but this passion seems to have narrowed his focus, leaving him blind to the ordeals of men under the same system. While women’s marginalisation has been widely documented, men, too, are now facing a new wave of vulnerabilities. The cases are there for anyone who cares to look.

The infamous Maryam Sanda case, in which a woman brutally murdered her husband, remains etched in public memory, yet the debate around it was clouded by sympathy. In 2021, a young wife in Kano was convicted of poisoning her husband after repeated disputes. In 2022, another woman fatally stabbed her husband during a quarrel over financial neglect. These are not isolated events. They highlight the rise of what can be called “feminine defence,” but they also expose the growing fragility of men trapped in broken family systems.

Sanusi himself points to Morocco as a model. “What did they do in Morocco? They built schools and invested in transportation so that girls could be moved from villages to the nearest schools. They also invested in school feeding and provided financial support to the poorest families ready to send their sons and daughters to schools,” he said in an interview with Time Africa Magazine. Yet the contrast is sharp. In Kano, the state government spends millions on lavish emirate ceremonies, while journalists like Dan Bello continue to expose the dire state of public schools in the very heart of the metropolis.

To be fair, Sanusi’s thesis tackled the historical marginalisation of women in Islamic family law with rigour and depth. But in amplifying women’s rights, it failed to defend men or acknowledge their growing vulnerabilities in a rapidly changing society. By leaning heavily on the Moroccan Moudawana, itself a product of feminist activism, the work framed men only as a dominant class to be restrained. Missing were the struggles many men face: unemployment, the crushing demands of polygamy, and the relentless pressure to perform as patriarchs without resources.

This omission is striking. In Kano today, the rise of wives killing their husbands is not just a crime. It is a signal of imbalance in the family system, a warning that reform is incomplete. Without addressing male fragility alongside female empowerment, Shari’a reform risks becoming a zero-sum game. Sanusi’s thesis suggests that empowering women alone can resolve family crises. But true reform, as Shari’a itself demands, must be a balanced restructuring that preserves the dignity and well-being of both men and women.

Muḥammad Sani is a freelance and public policy writer from Zaria. Can be reached via muhdusman1999@gmail.com.

By Saidu Ahmad Dukawa 

Introduction

At last, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, has made the decision he had long planned against Nigeria, following complaints by some Nigerian Christians who alleged that they were victims of religious persecution in the country.

Trump had once placed a similar sanction on Nigeria during his first term, but after he lost the election to Joe Biden, Biden reversed that “rash and unfair” decision.

This new ruling, however, requires Nigeria to take certain actions in line with America’s interests — or face a series of sanctions. For example, these “American interests” could include the following:

1. Any Nigerian state practising Sharia Law must abolish it.

2. Any law that prohibits blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) must be repealed.

3. Any location where Christians wish to build a church must grant them permission to do so.

4. Anything that Christians claim makes them “uncomfortable” in the country — such as businesses involving halal trade — must be stopped.

5. All businesses that Christians desire, such as the alcohol trade, must be freely allowed across the nation.

These are just examples of the complaints made by some Christian groups to the United States, which may also include political and economic demands.

This action by Trump mirrors what America once did to Iraq under Saddam Hussein — accusing the country of possessing weapons of mass destruction, just to justify an invasion.

If true justice were the goal, then both sides — the accusers and the Nigerian authorities — should have been listened to, including Muslim organisations that provided counter-evidence.

Even among Christians, many reasonable voices have spoken against these exaggerated claims, yet their words are ignored. Clearly, a plan against Nigeria had already been set in motion.

So, what is left for the Nigerian government and its citizens to do? Here is my opinion:

WHAT THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT SHOULD DO

1. Use diplomatic channels to inform the Trump administration that the situation is being misrepresented. Even if America remains adamant, the rest of the sensible world will know that any step America takes against Nigeria on this basis is pure injustice, and that knowledge itself will have benefits.

2. Reduce dependence on the United States in key areas such as trade, education, and healthcare. Nigeria should instead strengthen its ties with other countries, such as Russia, China, and Turkey.

3. Unite Nigerians — both Muslims and Christians who do not share this divisive mindset — to resist and expose any malicious plots against the nation.

WHAT THE NIGERIAN PEOPLE SHOULD DO

1. All Nigerians — Muslims and Christians alike — should begin to reduce their personal and travel ties with the United States, especially visa applications, as it may no longer be easy to obtain them.

2. Those who hold large amounts of US dollars should consider converting their funds into other global currencies.

3. Muslims with good relationships with Christians should not let this tension destroy their friendships — and vice versa. Let unity prevail.

4. Muslims must not lose hope or courage. They should realise that they have no powerful ally. Non-Muslims are the ones with global backing. The Jews can commit atrocities against Muslims, and America will support them. In India, Muslims are being killed — America is silent. In China, Muslims face persecution — America is silent.

In Nigeria, there is no single town where Muslims have chased out Christians, but in Tafawa Balewa, Christians expelled Muslims and took over the town. Terrorists who kill indiscriminately in Nigeria have taken more Muslim lives than Christian ones — yet Trump publicly declared that only Christian lives matter.

Still, Muslims can take comfort in one fact: Islam is spreading fast in both America and Europe. Perhaps, one day, when Islam gains ground there, justice and fairness will finally return to the world — because today’s problem is rooted in the injustice that Western powers built the world upon.

5. Nigerian Christians themselves need to wake up to the truth — that the Western world does not honestly care about Christianity, only about controlling resources and power.

If they really cared about Christian lives, they wouldn’t have ignored what’s happening in Congo — a country with one of the largest Christian populations — where Christians kill one another. The same goes for Haiti, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and Rwanda.

There are numerous examples of Christian nations facing crises. And when Nigerian Christians think of running to the US for refuge, they will realise that America will not take them in. Therefore, it’s wiser to live peacefully with their Muslim brothers and sisters here in Nigeria.

6. Finally, it is the duty of all believers to constantly pray for Nigeria — that God protects it from every form of harm and evil.

Peace and blessings of Allah be upon you all.

Dr Saidu Ahmad Dukawa wrote from Bayero University, Kano (BUK).

By Aliyu Zangina

The people of Kano State woke up to the news of the resignation of the Commander-General of the Kano State Hisbah Board (Hisbah). This came after criticisms directed at some of the activities of the Hisbah Corps by His Excellency, AbbaKabirYusuf, the governor of the state.

The Hisbah Board is a creation of the Kano State Hisbah Law 2003. Its primary responsibility is to advise on and enforce religious morality within the state. Despite this mandate, the corps has been criticized for violating moral codes and secular laws of the land by making illegal arrests, which are a damning affront to human dignity. It is on this premise that I seek to explore law and morality vis-à-vis the arrest in controversy.

THE INTERSECTION BETWEEEN LAW AND MORALITY

Arguments on the relationship between law and morality in the jurisprudential sense have lasted for ages and still rage on. The controversy surrounding Hisbah brings it to the fore.

Laws are loosely defined as enactments by a state, with binding and coercive force on individuals and institutions throughout the state.

While morality can be loosely defined as a proper behaviour in differentiation of what is right and wrong.

The major difference between them is while a breach of law attracts sanction, A breach of morality can only attract moral reprehension. The long age principle of law is that law and morality are poles apart. However, in the celebrated case of R v. Dudley & Stephens (1884)14 QDB 273 DC it was states that

“Though law and morality are not the same, and many things may be immoral which are not necessarily illegal, yet absolute divorce of law from morality would be of fatal consequence.”

In practice, morality complements the law, as many enactments were propelled by the moral demands of the people. For example, laws prohibiting theft and murder are rooted in the moral consciousness of the fact that taking other people’s property or life is morally wrong. Many laws embody moral principles within them, protecting and guaranteeing fundamental moral values. At the same time, the fundamental force is given by its moral obligation.

ACTIVITIES OF HISBAH

The term Hisbah in Kano has always been associated with controversy from its inception to date. When it is not President Obasanjo accusing the institution of jihadist tendencies, then it is people from the southern part of the country attacking the institution for destroying trucks of alcoholic drinks. The body has always been (in)famous for enforcing morality despite its efforts in curbing social and moral vices.

In November of last year, the Hisbah corps came under attack after raiding several hotels. A video of their operation surfaced on the internet, evidencing male officers harassing and apprehending female suspects and grabbing them in a commando style. Indeed, it was an affront to Islamic moral values. The actions of the Hisbah corps could be qualified as degrading treatment and, hence, unconstitutional. Allusions made to the video by the governor of Kano state prompted the commander-general’s retirement on March 1, 2024.

ARE LAWS REGULATING ARRESTS IN NIGERIA AT CONVERGENCE WITH OUR MORAL VALUES?

Unlike laws regulating search where the search is to be conducted by “persons of the same sex with strict regard to decency” and “reasonable time to withdraw” which must be given to a woman in purdah before a search is conducted on a premise she occupies, the laws regulating arrests in Nigeria have less regards to our moral values and culture as they do not have similar provisions regarding arrests to be conducted by persons of same-sex.

Therefore, the arrest carried out by the Hisbah corps is illegal only to the extent that it was done without a warrant, and their conduct violates the dignity of the suspect. However, the confinement of the female suspects by the male officers with excessive restraint cannot be faulted legally if there was a reasonable apprehension of violence, as our law does not mandate that the arrest of a woman be carried out only by a woman. This is not to serve as a justification for the degrading treatment meted out to suspects by the Hisbah corps during the arrest. They are suspects, not convicts, and even convicts are only deprived of their liberty, not their dignity.

CONCLUSION

“It is tempting to speak of law and morality as if they constitute two completely normative system whose prescriptions sometimes coincide and sometimes conflict. Maybe it is much more exact to consider law and morality as complementary. The complementarity of law and morality belies their separateness even though the two are not parallel streams whose water never mixed at any time.” UZOUKWU V. IDIKA (2022)3NWLR, (PT1818) (P, 462, paras G-H)

Many laws overlap with moral codes in Nigeria. Some laws were enacted to uphold our morality, but where the law does not contemplate our morals, it is our duty to call upon our senses of right and wrong. The Hisbah male officers should not have carried out the arrest of women, even though that alone cannot make the arrest illegal. It is their moral duty to have sent in their female officers to handle the entire scenario with a modicum of professionalism.

It is therefore put forward to our legislators that our Administration of Criminal Justice laws be amended to accommodate the model of arrest that will reflect our morals, culture, and dignity, just like the provisions on search.

Aliyu Zangina is a lawyer, and can be contacted via zanginaaliyu96@gmail.com.

Isma’il Hashim Abubakar, PhD

If there is one government institution that citizens of Shari’a states in Northern Nigeria ought to regard as their personal property which cannot be politicised and subjected to jeopardy and machination due to its direct relevance and importance in preserving Muslim norms and values, that institution will undoubtedly be the Hisbah Board. 

In other words, by virtue of being Muslims, all Muslims in these states and, of course, in the rest of northern Nigeria are expected to regard themselves as natural and bona fide members of Hisbah, even if they do not wear the Board’s uniform, are not participating in its anti-immorality patrol and of course not in the payroll of government. This, therefore, underscores the collective and societal support and endorsement that Hisbah is supposed to enjoy since its creation and transformation during the tenures of Engineer Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso (1999-2003 and 2011-2015) and Malam Ibrahim Shekarau (2003-2011).

During the administration of Shekarau, the time when Hisbah was entirely transformed and formally mainstreamed into government bureaucracy, representing one of the major arms of Shari’a implementation agencies established by the state government, Hisbah Board confronted daunting challenges and opposition from all angles that only a sincere political will, uncommon determination and superior commitment would have saved it from being scrapped.  

Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria’s President (1999-2007) who opposed the transformation of Hisbah, sought to use all the presidential powers at his disposal to not only thwart the Hisbah from undertaking its task of sanitising the moral climate of Kano but also to proscribe it and mischievously label it as a terrorist organisation. Obasanjo’s wrath on Hisbah was merely a manifestation of his unsuccessful struggle to sabotage the implementation of Shari’a, whose winds had blown with an unprecedented force in 12 northern states. Even Obasanjo’s resort to legal machinery could not abort the Shari’a project. He, willy nilly, oversaw a federal government that had to allocate grants to states whose main priority was to promote moral values and eradicate vices that bedevilled the society, the hallmarks of the Shari’ah program as advocated by its proponents at the turn of the 21^st century.

Obasanjo ultimately banned Hisbah through an announcement by his Inspector General of Police, who also shamelessly alleged that Hisbah guards were trained in Libya, and ordered the arrest of the Hisbah commandant, the late Shaykh Yahaya Farouk Chadi and his deputy Malam Rabo Abdulkarim. The Kano State Government headed by Shekarau gathered all its strength and entered into a decisive battle with the federal government, irrespective of whether this could culminate into a funny, fruitless and audacious fight between a rat and an elephant, leaving no one with a doubt as to where the victory and defeat ordinarily lied. 

After all, Shekarau was pushing for his second term as general elections were approaching, which explains how the attention of Shekarau and his government would be divided. This scenario could be juxtaposed with the climate of anxiety that befell the current governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf, who almost lost hope after the first and second rulings of the tribunal and appeal courts in favour of his opponent, Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna. The development necessitated a momentary pause in regular government activities. It brought about a wild and arbitrary push of things that could be interpreted as valedictory stages of a short-lived tenure. Stability was restored in the psyche of the government and its supporters only after the Supreme Court issued a final verdict that annulled the rulings of both the tribunal and appeal courts and affirmed victory for Abba Kabir Yusuf.

The Shekarau-led government, which, before institutionalising Hisbah, had followed the legislative procedures to get the Board appropriately legalised and signed into law, summoned enough courage to sue the federal government in court. The legal battle ended in favour of the Kano State Government after the court, in March 2007, a few weeks before the elections, described the arrest of the two top heads of Hisbah as illegal and forced the federal government to pay them damages. Nonetheless, allegations had gained currency in Kano by that time that Farouk Chedi, who died in 2010 after a protracted illness that made him look too frail and emaciated, was a consequence of an intravenous poisoning applied to him while in detention. This gradually ravaged him and eventually took his life.

Like Chedi, Chedi’s successor, Shaykh Ibrahim Maibushra, was also a professor at Bayero University, Kano. He built on the intrepid pedestal chartered by his predecessor and the government that recruited him. Maibushra displayed extreme gallantry by, as I was told by a Hisbah guard, going to the extreme of jeopardising his job when he detained an elite belonging to a royal family who was caught committing a crime. 

Maibushra’s zealousness to discharge his duty was, as evidenced by the report above, not limited to the poor whom his guards frequently chased but rather knew no discrimination between the poor and the elite or between the weak and the strong. The suspect remained in Hisbah’s custody, and even after the interference of bigwigs within and outside the royal family, Maibushra stood on his ground and refused to release the man. With the endorsement of the then patriarch and the most respectful royal figure within Nigeria and beyond, Maibushra continued to retain his detainee and treated him the way every Tom, Dick or Harry was ideally treated once he fell into the hands of Hisbah. 

Maibushra, I was told, was so fearlessly courageous to chase and catch not only low-ranking soldiers but also high-ranking officers like army colonels. Of course, needless to say, without the support of the government of the day, the Hisbah commandant would have been in greater trouble. However, it was likely that Maibushra would not have performed contrarily, regardless of whoever held the reins of power at the time.

When Shaykh Aminu Daurawa emerged as the new commandant of Hisbah after the election of Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso in 2011, only ‘pessimistic’ people would doubt his competence and preparedness to at least show equal sacrifice, even if not outshine his predecessors. After all, Daurawa was one of the most outspoken voices who denounced their membership in Shekarau’s Sharia-related committees, criticised the mode of Shari’a implementation of the Shekarau administration and rallied around Kwankwaso, culminating in the latter’s victory against Salihu Sagir Takai, the candidate of the then ruling ANPP. 

There were high hopes that Daurawa would build on Hisbah’s achievements and improve in the areas he criticised in the past administration. Interestingly, although Kwankwaso did not primarily campaign on the Shari’a mantra, the Islamic clerics within his circles, including Daurawa himself, had assured electorates that Kwankwaso would be more forthrightly supportive toward Shari’a implementation since he was believed to be more no-nonsense, fearless and invincible than his predecessor. 

Although there was a relative shortage in the money allocated to Hisbah for running costs and operations, Kwankwaso deserved commendation for reportedly giving Hisbah’s leadership adequate autonomy to carry out operations with little interference. A source from Hisbah confided in me that Kwankwaso admitted being callow about Shariah and Islamic knowledge in general and, as such, gave Islamic clerics within his circle enormous power to decide on any matter relating to religion, including issues affecting public religious institutions to whose leaderships Kwankwaso assigned the various clerics who campaigned for, supported or backed his election bid. With an intrepid head of government like Kwankwaso and with zero challenge from either the federal government or any other visible quarters, Daurawa was expected to leverage the available power and resources of government to improve in areas he unleashed censures on the past administration. 

Of course, mass wedding (auren zawarawa) was one of the main notable projects and inputs which Daurawa’s Hisbah championed. At the same time, all other ground operations and patrols were conducted not better than what was obtained in the Hisbah under the leadership he inherited. Meanwhile, Daurawa was behind the decline in sacrifice in the model of Chedi’s leadership or Maibushra’s flat and indiscriminate approach toward criminals and their cronies among influential partners. 

It was Daurawa who appeared in one video, which still circulates on social media and confessed that as Hisbah commandant, he deliberately avoided arresting the elite and concentrated on the poor because, according to him, the poor are powerless and easy to deal with, unlike the elite who could use their influence to manipulate his sack from the job. In my opinion, this public confession of weakness and a thirst to remain politically relevant, which Daurawa made, partly set the foundations of what Hisbah is going through at this trying moment. 

Daurawa has been the longest-serving Hisbah commandant since its institutionalisation. He served between 2011 and 2015 during Kwankwaso and was reappointed by Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, serving for more than four years. Even as relations between Kwankwaso and Ganduje worsened, Daurawa, who belongs to Kwankwaso’s camp, was retained at the time. Politicians with political loyalty to Kwankwaso were not carried along. 

Similarly, after resting for only four years throughout the second tenure of Governor Ganduje, which distanced him from the corridors of power, Daurawa successfully reunited with his seat immediately after the emergence of Abba Kabir Yusuf as Ganduje’s successor in May 2023. Although it is an uncomfortable truth that cannot be denied, Daurawa has got so engrossed with his rank in Hisbah more than being too courageous enough to live by the dictates of his old credentials or even at least to maintain the tempo of his predecessors, one of whom had even lost his life in the cause of his Hisbah. In contrast, the second would have lost the job entirely had he not got a superior intervention.

It is precisely this stand and posture that Daurawa is expected to display when tired of the massive campaigns to turn the Muslim north immoral by impolite TikTokers, the Hisbah resorted to preaching and interacting with TikTokers a few months ago with the hope that they shun promoting lewdness and vices which contribute to moral degeneration of northern Muslim society. That was a good move since it would serve as a warning that would justify applying force in bringing TikTokers to order and sanitising the too much spoiled social media space. 

The recent arrest by Hisbah of Murja Ibrahim Kunya, a prominent TikToker, had restored some hope that Hisbah leadership did not only want to, at the time its activities are most needed, remain a timid institution principally different from how it used to be 20 or so years ago. Murja Kunya was taken and presented before the court. It was a relatively good move. Still, it would have been safer and better if she was presented to the court within Hisbah, and of course, this would have saved Hisbah from further disgrace and wanton defeat that resulted from what unfolded later. People woke up on a certain morning in February 2024 with the news that Murja, who was detained in prison and awaiting trial, was arbitrarily released in mysterious circumstances.

Whatever the case and whoever was responsible for her release, someone with even the slightest inkling of the sensitivity of the Hisbah Board and the foundations upon which the institution was set up would never expect a mere arrest of an immoral TikToker would attract the interest of some influential figures within the circle of Kano State Government. Most people rejoiced after Murja’s arrest that the development would mark the end of the ascendance of an empire of vulgarity and obscenity that has taken the grip of northern Muslim social media. 15 or 10-year jail term for Murja, which religiously inclined and Islamic-compliant people prayed Murja would be served with, would have deterred hundreds of TikTokers receiving inspiration from her from treading along her path. 

The release of Murja represents one of the most shameful artificial calamities that Hisbah would witness in its two decades of operation; unless all stakeholders, including the remaining figures in the past administrations and all concerned Muslims, have risen to this big challenge, the decline of Hisbah would be one of the last phases of the fall of Shari’a which started at the turn of the century and reached peak, only to fall to this too low level. Who is Murja Kunya, and how can one ever imagine that she would be an obstacle to Hisbah?  It is disheartening and regrettable that a responsible government in the past would challenge, fight and successfully defeat the Obasanjo-led federal government in a legal battle on Hisbah, but a different, less committed Hisbah leadership cannot fight a mere gullible TikToker.

Daurawa has, during one of his interviews with the press in the aftermath of Murja’s illegal escape from prison, commented that Hisbah has done all within its power, implying that it has no business whatsoever with what transpired afterwards. Although this is partly true, it is altogether unacceptable; Daurawa would have used every means possible to register his protest against the sabotage of Hisbah by a fifth columnist within the government that appointed him. 

There are two reasons for Daurawa’s protest, even though a voluntary resignation would have been a decent solution. Daurawa criticised the Shari’ah implementation process in the past because he was dissatisfied with the government attitude of the day. Now that he was put at the helm of affairs, it would only be reasonable if Hisbah’s principles and values were protected or if he took his leave. Secondly, continuing to remain in a government that has less commitment to eradicating immorality and vices, as illustrated by Murja’s release, would be equal to prioritising one’s position over preserving ideals that one has been preaching for decades.

Finally, although the ugly picture of the fate of Hisbah painted in this essay seems to be discouraging, Hisbah is yet the most visible of all government machinery that has been symbolically and, of course, practically reminding Muslims that Kano and other sister states are still legislatively covered by Sharia. A political will, which we hope will be revived by Kano power brokers, can anytime restore the tempo and spirit of Sharia and decisively tackle and fight the social media agents who have been hell-bent on depriving Muslims of their norms and values. Although very painful to admit, one can say that for now, immorality is gradually winning the war against morality in a society that used to prefer death rather than surrender to a violation and corruption of norms and values. 

One of the most cogent ways of tackling social media immorality, which I hope relevant government agencies like Hisbah will adopt, is having a unified network of a joint task force within Hisbah and similar institutions in some northern states and, if possible, to sign this into law after passing necessary legislative process. This would make it easy for Hisbah to detain criminals everywhere in these states without struggling with issues of arrest warrants and areas of jurisdiction.

Dr Ismail wrote this piece from Rabat, the Kingdom of Morocco and can be reached via ismailiiit18@gmail.com. 

With all sense of honour, respect and humility, your Excellency, I humbly write this letter to convey a fundamental message (worth noting) to you and members of your executive council as well as other relevant stakeholders.

Your Excellency, as you know, Kano State is among the most consequential and venerated African lands. The state hosts international and influential clerics of high repute that promote Islam and the sunnah of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (SAW) to all domains in the north and beyond. Moreover, Kano has been the African commercial hub since the nineteenth century and the centre of learning and administration. For that cause, Kano is always at the front line of religious development and other aspects of human life. In addition, after the re-introduction of Shari’ah in early 2000, Kano embraced it in haste. Muslims have welcomed the development in good faith and unwavering conviction that if Shari’ah is appropriately implemented, life will become good and better in this world and have good fortune in the future existence.

Alhamdulillah! For the said development, the Kano state government established agencies to oversee Shari’ah affairs and ensure its implementation. Shari’ah commission was inaugurated as the apex body for Shari’ah matters and related business. Shari’ah courts were instituted and equipped. Well-trained experts were employed as Shari’ah judges. Zakah and Endowment (Hubusi) was founded and systemized to regulate the collection and distribution of Zakah wealth as stipulated by Allah and manage the waqf properties in the best interest of beneficiaries. The social reorientation directorate (Adaidaita Sahu) came into existence to ensure moral compliance by Muslims. The mighty Hisba Board was incorporated to complement the task of the Shari’ah Commission. The Office of Special Adviser on Religious Matters was created to support the Governor in dealing with Shari’ah functions. Above all, Shari’ah penetrates all government agencies and parastatals to the extent that it’s considered in all decision-making.

At districts and wards levels, the good people of Kano have cooperated. Groups of concerned Muslims constituted robust committees to compliment the government’s effort, namely Zauren Sulhu and its likes. They have significantly impacted the lives of ordinary people. Many such initiatives are in existence to this moment for their monumental works.

People believe that if such strategies are correctly implemented, they will bring sustainable socio-religious and economic development. It will curtail the ongoing bribery and corruption in civil service, robbery, burglary and phone snatching, immorality and other social vices. It will improve productive economic activities and reduce the high rate of poverty. It will promote Zakah awareness and boost the collection of Zakah wealth that, if used efficiently, will cater to the needs and demands of vulnerable widows and orphans as it did in history. This gesture will please Allah the Almighty; in return, He will bless Kano abundantly and ease the affairs of the state.

Your Excellency, the considerable success and giant achievements that Hisba is recording from its inception to date are commendable. Hisba is meeting its objective, mission and vision despite the factors hindering national progress. The support you are giving to the agency is laudable.

Your Excellency, what motivates and triggers me to write this letter is that the high poverty level, with over 55 per cent of the citizens being poor, is a matter of concern, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Thus, it may not be a surprise that beggars are trooping and roaming the streets today, begging and occupying masjids and other public gatherings, pleading for assistance in various forms. In addition, radio and Television stations are becoming typical to hear the voices of people echoing for help due to poverty and other reasons for the financial predicament.

Besides, I am aware that the state government created a body responsible for looking after the vulnerable and impoverished per the saying of Allahu (SWT) in the Qur’an suratul Tauba verse number 103. The matter of contention is that; is the state government aware of this situation and giving all the necessary support and attention to Kano State Zakah and Hubusi Commission to execute its responsibilities, or is the commission just becoming worthless?

Your Excellency, it’s a known fact that in early 2022 your administration engaged about 600 people in civil service as tax collectors. It’s indeed a wise decision, for it reduces youth unemployment. However, one may wonder how many zakah workers were recruited to support the activities of zakah and consolidate it to achieve its overall objective.

Your Excellency, sincerely, Kano is lagging regarding zakah collection and distribution in modern times while its neighbouring states and emirates are thriving in this noble course. For instance, in Jigawa state, Dutse Emirate alone is mobilizing zakah wealth that eclipsed that of Kano in multitude. The narration is still correspondingly in Kazaure Emirate and Hadejia Emirate, among others. By extension, Sokoto State Zakah and Endowment Commission (SOZECOM) under Malam Lawal Maidoki, Sadaukin Sakkwato, is providing leadership in the country. In other countries, poverty and unemployment are reduced to the barest minimum. These exciting stories signify that Kano state could also join the race and achieve a lot, as it has immense potential.

Your Excellency, this is a gentle reminder hoping to reach you and praying to Allah to grant you the ability to use it and make it among your legacies. Undoubtedly, instrumental Islamic economic policy will help you lay a solid foundation for uplifting the well-being of the good people of Kano state. Zakah will be a panacea to poverty, unemployment, corruption and all forms of vulnerability in Kano state. I, therefore, wish to submit that our emirates have vital roles to play in the reformation. Moreover, collaboration with key stakeholders is necessary at this stage.

Last but not least, I applaud your efforts to improve security affairs in Kano State despite worsening scenes in the country and other neighbouring countries. May Allah guard and preserve our dear Kano State and Muslim communities in Nigeria and beyond. May Allah support you and grant you maximum success in your reign and beyond. Ameen.

Yours

Aliyu Ɗahiru Muhammad

Department of Economics

Bayero University, Kano

alitahir797@gmail

4/11/2022

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.