Shabby Practices Branded as Superior Intelligence: Northern Nigeria as a Case Study -By Hussein Adegoke

Almost everyone of us used to be proud of weddings in the Arewa, until much recently. It has mostly become a thing of an eyesore especially from the wealthy ones’ end that barbarity is celebrated. All sorts of lascivious music, lewd talks and nudity are celebrated now, bringing them closely to the West whenever there is a wedding feast. I think this is basically due to the influences from those amongst the Hausas who were educated abroad. Their influxion into the country, and especially northern Nigeria, have come to underplay the beautiful islamic culture that the majority of the Hausas used to be known with. Due to the mental backlash that these sets of people get for their “inferiorities” in foreign lands, they try to reach for a compromise; settling for what is ridiculously less to their original brands and general make-up. How would dressing shabbily be superior to being magnanimously shrouded in raiment? I could not be more ashamed of these Arewa’s sordid changes…and their inclination towards satanism in every marriage occasion. They are Muslims, and we all should be that before ANYTHING!

This populous view of a superiority in the West’s tradition is only a thing from an UNINFORMED perspective. For an instance, the subjugation they think Islam does to women is actually the greatest elevation, by far. Men go out there…to hustle (for the entire family) while the wife basically ‘sits back’, and yet, they think the former has the ‘domineering’ influence. How so? I watched in some couple of days back, how an Ustaadh (who is steadfast upon the Sunnah) rode past me with his wife, a Niqabi, right at the owner’s corner. That woman could be busy taking glances at every passerby but her husband was at the wheels, eyes darting so he could be safety compliant, almost looking like Madam’s ‘driver.’ The feminists of the world would rather be be blind at this and hesitate always in appreciating the bigger picture. Their newly driven values have subjugated women—whom from time had been assigned less strenuous roles for being the weaker gender in the society—more and more. Adichie is ‘proud’ now her daughter could fix a wheel or precisely, in the Nigeria parlance, ‘change a tire’. How so impossible?!

The point I am making is that the average Nigerian Muslim is not even aware and informed that his own values are more lucrative. That the Muslim women veil is intellectually more sound as what is as precious as a ruby is not found in thin air. What is more consciously protected is often scarce and worthy. Also, that the men amongst us (could) marry up to four wives is intelligent, too, but we don’t often perceive these things as such. How many a pastor would it be that was found culpable of some extramarital affairs? That ‘god of man’ would be allowed to take just one wife by his doctrine and so, he could only find the means to an end in gratifying a lustful desire. Allaah has known men to be polygamous by nature so he would not, as He promises (Q2:286), burden us with so much more than we can bear.

Allaah has replaced alcohol with At-Tayyibat (pure foods, in their numerous counts) yet, it is the ONE THING he forbids that always strike a cord in the sinful mortal man. He has legislated An-Nikkah (marriage) and has prohibited al-Fashai (indecency, and contextually now, zina), but it is that ‘one thing’ he frowns at that man would rather gun for. Talking about the beauty of Islaam which many Muslims have obscured to themselves, one should behold the eminent way in which the Muslims transmit their dead ones (not to throw them about and allow them to decay before burying them). See the incomparable way we pray or perform Iqamat As-Solah, too. It is an unrivalled one among all the religions of the world. But then, the average Muslim would shy away from his heritage. That an ideology is superior to yours is only a product of the mind…and your mental framework. If those two faculties (of the mind and the brain) were to be uncorrupted for once, we all would acquiesce to Islam being the way and the truest religion to salvation! Arewa should heed!

Two weeks, Two Deaths, Too Much

Just yesterday (Monday, Jan 4th, 2020), I was to leave for my place of work when I saw my mom working on our house’s frontage. A drainage system had passed by the building, transmitting into our premises, dirt, from the neighborhood. The poor woman was only out to put out some of the mess this had caused us. So, I couldn’t resist joining her. As we continued with the exercise, a woman from the neighborhood passed by us and greeted, “Good morning, my son” she had called out to me. “Good morning, ma” I responded. “Mommy, good morning oo. Una well done.” She greeted my mom, too. Mom had responded very warmly. That woman was, amongst many things, known for her affableness. Even if one never saw her, she would call one out, to invent a greeting form. She would bow a little, to even ‘underlings’ like this author to launch some greetings, and one would but marvel at her courteousness. But it was a disaster to me as I came back from work to learn that the same woman had slumped on her way to the restroom. Perhaps, she could not stand back on her feet, so she was rushed to the hospital. She gave up the ghost just before the midnight.

Our country has become a terrible place to live. Just two weeks ago, or thereabout, a man by the alias “Eazy” within this same neigbourhood had died. He did slump, too, before finally yielding to Heaven’s call. He had a wife and some children, a set of which are of a multiple birth. I tell you, it is pathetic on one hand to imagine the number of lives hunger has claimed in our darling country. It is worrisome again to imagine us having a government that is almost insensitive to our plights. Prices of foods are persistently hiking every day and the average Nigerian (not to even talk of the downtrodden) could barely put food in his mouth. Those departed souls I mentioned would have had one ailment or the other and of which they mostly are not oblivion. But they had endured with such till death carted them away. It is to no strangeness of the UN— which put the life expectancy rate in Africa to a figure around fifty—that death is constantly snatching us. Many compatriots are but some walking corpses. Those in their mid-forties especially, that are at the mercy of diabetes and stroke and in need of constant blood sugar and HBP tests but could not afford the sumptuous bills by hospitals—even the so-called ‘goverment-owned’—are summarily waiting to be seized by death in someday, perhaps, on their way to the cemetery, oh sorry, the bathroom!