National Prayer; A Solution To Bad Governance In Nigeria? -By Ibn Solih Ridwanullah

I once discussed with a friend about the state of affairs in Nigeria. He described Nigeria to be a “theatre of tragic comedy”. I didn’t get the full picture until now. The events that keep unfolding in recent times make me conclude that the definition is perfectly fitted. Looking at it from afar, it appears as a comic relief. It becomes tragic the moment you look deeper. These occurrences are such that left one in utmost bewilderment. You don’t know whether to wail or hail.

One of them is the proposed national prayer. Of course of I have a strong belief in the potency of prayer. I am the least of the people who would champion a campaign of calumny against prayer or any means of Godly intervention. I am myself a practising Muslim. But we must set our priorities right. What exactly do we want from God that we are not blessed with? Has it stopped raining? Have our crops stopped yielding? Has the ever-fertile soil stopped being so? Sun is no longer rising? Moon has refused to set? Are the abundance of natural resources we have in the country no longer traceable? What else do we want from God that requires the power of prayer to make it a reality?

The two prominent Islamic countries whose development attracted the whole continent in the medieval world were Baghdad and Andalusia. The contribution of these two places in today’s medicine, astronomy, philosophy, chemistry and other fields of human endeavour can not be overemphasized. This great civilization wasn’t achieved by converging in a place for prayer sessions. Al Mahmu, the then caliph of the old Baghdad understood the power of knowledge. Rather than organising a prayer session, he built a house of wisdom. He didn’t stop at that, he funded research and headed a movement to translate Greek discoveries into Arabic. Same with Andalusia, the caliph and his people despite knowing the power of prayer, channeled their energies towards knowledge acquisition and passing the baton of scholarship to the later generation.

The result of these were developments recorded in these great cities that produced scientists such as -Kindi, al-Rāzi, al-Farābi, Ibn Sīna, the great Andalusian physician Ibn Zuhr, al-Khwārizmi, Avicenna and Averroës, and several other great personalities whose contribution in science remain relevant till today. They understood the place of spirituality as much as the place of human effort. They sought Godly intervention in areas beyond human intervention. Both of which play a key role in the development of their various regions. They did not hail the politicians to collect tips and afterwards prayed to Allah to touch governance with his magical wands.

Why is it that it’s only in this part of the world that tools would be given, with all the necessary supplements to complete a task, yet, we would seek the giver’s intervention again? Has Allah not given us enough to make it right ourselves? Are we more Islamically inclined than Dubaians who despite not having enough natural resources as we do, are doing excellently well? Dubai did not become what it is today by its people being prayer warriors. Rather, it is what it is because of decisive actions taken by Dubaians. Nigeria reportedly sent financial aid to Saudi Arabia in the good old days. Not only that, Nigeria was once a medical tourist for Saudi as we had one of their kings flown here for treatment. Nigeria of that period was not so because of prayer but rather by the judicious use of her God-given wealth.

Today, Saudi is not only doing fine economically but sending aid to Nigeria and other countries of the world. Did they achieve this by clinging to prayer? No! The country is one of the advocates of scholarship, rolling out funds to encourage scientific output. Their library is filled with books with students from within and outside the country reading from. The opposite is what we all see in viral videos of a looting spree in Nigeria. The so-called agent of change stole everything in a library in Kano, leaving only books. We all saw the eyesore burgling of Digital Industrial Park (DIP) Kano to a mere structure. How are we different from the so-called bad government officials?

Allah to whom they intend to pray has already made us know the road to good Governance. Prayer is none of them. What is traceable is rather what can be likened to the former president’s change mantra. “Indeed, Allah will not change the conditions of a people, until they change what is in themselves” (Quran 13:11) Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was reported to have said in one of his authentic sayings “Be merciful to those on the earth and the One in the heavens will have mercy upon you.”

Thousand years of prayer cannot change anything if we remain in this state without any effort to change our ways. The blessing we intend to seek can not come until we are merciful to our fellow human beings.