As We Continue to Teach God Our Religion -By Abdulkadir Salaudeen

I do not expect our elected Muslim governors, presidents, or lawmakers to understand the jurisprudence of priority. Though if they do, it is better for them and for those who elected them and the masses. If they do not, the ulama close to them should guide them. But sometimes, when I reflect on the way and manner in which our Muslim politicians spend money, come up with policies, execute projects, or make what they call social interventions in the name of religion, I shake my head in pain and pity.

Two years ago, it was N90 billion Hajj intervention from the federal government. I called it spiritual intervention since it was meant to help Muslim pilgrims who MUST go to Makka to perform Hajj (pilgrimage). Then, I wrote in a column titled “We Have To Eliminate This “Religion” If We Must Progress”: “if we don’t kill this ‘religion’ which is draining our resources unjustifiably despite the widespread poverty in the land, I don’t see Nigeria coming out of its miserable economic doldrums.”

As usual, one is attacked from all sides when one critiques hypocritical religiosity to explain religion’s true position. An elder friend messaged me on WhatsApp, asking if I wrote the article. I affirmed. He wondered if I had become a hypocrite and asked if I would go to Hajj if sponsored by the government. I replied, “No. I won’t go except on assignment.” Then I explained to him thus: “If I were to live one thousand years on earth and I don’t have the means to perform Hajj, my Islam is intact and I commit no sin by not performing hajj.”

I further told him: “So, I don’t need government sponsorship and no Muslim should need it. The Supreme Legislator (Allah) legislates that it (Hajj) becomes mandatory if a Muslim has the means. If you do not have the means, there is no burden on you and nobody (including the government) should be burdened.” I then referred him to a column I wrote a week before for better understanding. The column’s title is “Subsidizing the Rich, Senator Ali Ndume, and Hajj Fare Palaver.”

Also, in reaction to that column, here is one of the most visceral attacks I find, though interesting, in the comment section by a Muslim who wrote in reference to my Muslim name as the author: “It’s just a name but the writer is not a Muslim but hypocrite satanic that cannot come out in his full identity but rather prepare pretend to be follower of a Faith he is not, he’s brainwashed free thinker disguised as a Muslim by name while he’s not.” (Quoted without editing).

For those of us who do not suffer from amnesia, do we still recall how the N90 billion was politically butchered by the unkind knife of embezzlement? Here again in Kebbi State, the state government cannot afford to lose its Hajj slot. It was reported that the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) gave Kebbi State 3,300 seats. Out of these seats, only 2,110 intended pilgrims were able to pay their fares before the deadline.

In its ‘wisdom,’ and in order not to lose the sacred seats, the state government stepped in as a spiritual interventor and moderator to help with N10 billion loan; I mean public money. The loan, perhaps to avert spiritual calamity and Allah’s wrath for the unfilled slot, was approved by Governor Nasir Idris to secure 1,300 extra Hajj slots after the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) set a December 5 deadline to complete payments.

This is a state that was ranked 37th of the 37 states, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), in a 2023 Human Development Index ranking. In its December 9, 2025, publication, the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) takes a look at Kebbi’s financial records. It shows “that the N10 billion borrowed for Hajj is equivalent to 58.93 per cent of the state’s entire Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) for 2024, which stood at N16.97 billion, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.”

The ICIR’s analysis further shows that “Kebbi is among the three states with lowest IGR in Nigeria in 2024, trailing Yobe and Ebonyi states closely.” This is a state I wrote about a few months ago in a column titled “Nigerian Journalists: The endangered Species.” In that column, I wrote about a journalist who was arrested  for revealing the ugly side of Kangiwa General Hospital in Kebbi State where elderly patient was seen in a viral video lying helplessly on a bare iron bed frame without mattress.

As I always ask: Who did this to us? One would expect the Governor of Kebbi State, Nasir Idris, to be different in this aspect, being a teacher, an educationist, and a unionist. He should be a progressive. How can a progressive prioritize Hajj that is specifically obligatory in the religion for only those who have the means?

This is a state that also has serious insecurity challenges. It recently shut down all its primary and secondary schools due to security issues. I do not imply by this that Governor Nasir Idris has been doing nothing in the state. He has reportedly invested over N10 billion in education, launching renovations across 120 secondary schools and constructing four mega schools. The government has also hired 2,000 new teachers, increased teacher salaries, and covered NECO and WAEC examination fees for students. Despite these efforts, the state still remains very backward, such that it should not be using taxpayers’ money to support those who should be the least on its scale of preference.

All said, a question begging an answer needs to be asked: Why are our people so fanatical about pilgrimage, such that our governors and elected representatives have made it a foremost duty to finance those who could not afford it and those who could? Our religion (Islam) is very clear about this. I am saying it for the umpteenth time: God, who asks Muslims to perform Hajj once in their lifetime makes it obligatory upon only those who have the means (see Qur’an 3: 97).

Our predecessors understood this not-difficult-to-understand verse and acted accordingly. That is why some great scholars like Ibn Hazm, Qadi ‘Iyaad, Abu Ishaq Shirazi, Imam Al-Bagaawi, and our own Sheikh Uthman Danfodiyo did not perform Hajj throughout their lives. It is so despite the fact that all of them virtually wrote about Hajj’s virtues. Of course, it is not because they did not appreciate or understand its importance and obligatoriness.

History records for posterity how many Muslim kings, rulers, Caliphs of Banu Umayyah, Abbasid dynasty, and the Mamluks did not perform Hajj throughout their lifetime. Some were constrained by poverty. Others were so engrossed in propagating Islam that they lacked time for Hajj. Many, like Andalusian scholars, couldn’t perform Hajj for political and security reasons. Yet, though condemnable, there were kings/rulers who didn’t do Hajj due to negligence and indulgence in worldly enjoyments.

Until our rulers in Nigeria began to teach God their religion, I am unaware of any historical instance where rulers taxed the poor to sponsor the rich to perform Hajj. In other words, I am unaware of any historical instance where funds meant for the state development were diverted to support the rich (or even the poor) to perform Hajj.

Each time I hear about government Hajj sponsorship, what comes to mind is Qur’an 49:16, which says, “Will you inform Allah about your religion?” This question is rhetorical, but it is as if the Nigerian Muslim rulers and the ulama who continue to support them on government Hajj sponsorship answered the question by saying, “Yes! We’ll teach God our religion.”

If our rulers gave governance the seriousness it deserves, maybe they wouldn’t have had time for ‘Umra and Hajj, let alone sponsoring others, due to the taxing nature of governing a complex state like Nigeria. Many would make it an after-tenure exercise and have a genuine reason in the religion for delaying the rite.

In conclusion, I still strongly believe we are people with sense to think. I just pray that our sense regains its thinking and functional ability before it is too late. Meanwhile, let’s reject the distorted version of the religion that we have created and embrace the true Islam that promotes justice and accountability.

Abdulkadir Salaudeen 

salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com