Letter From Ouagadougou

(Published Saturday, 07 March 2009)

Ouagadougou (pronounced Wagadugu) is the capital of  Burkina Faso. Your correspondent is here this week to attend the biennial Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (Festival Pan-Africain du Cinéma et de la Télévision de Ouagadougou), better known by its French acronym FESPACO, Africa’s equivalent of Cannes and the Oscars combined.

FESPACO, now in its 20th edition in 40 years, has come to define African expression through the film medium. It is the largest African film festival as well as the biggest regular cultural event on the African continent. It focuses on the African film and African filmmakers and offers African film industry professionals a chance to establish working relationships, exchange ideas and to promote their work. It is a hugely successful event.

FESPACO’s stated aim is to “contribute to the expansion and development of African cinema as means of expression, education and awareness-raising”. Since FESPACO’s founding in 1969, the festival has attracted visitors from across the continent and beyond. Usual winners of the Étalon de Yennenga (Stallion of Yennenga), the highest prize at stake, have mostly been filmmakers from French-speaking West Africa: Burkina Faso itself, Mali, Senegal. But at the last Festival in 2007, Nigerian-born Newton Aduaka (who incidentally lives in France) won with his powerful, lyrical French-produced feature film Ezra, about a child soldier in Sierra Leone.

Although FESPACO itself is exhilarating, getting to Ouaga (short form of Ouagadougou) is not funny. Despite late General Murtala’s declaration in 1975 at the OAU Summit in Addis Ababa that “Africa has come of age” politically, Africa has apparently, and sadly, not come of age economically. Ouaga is on the same latitude with Kano, this writer’s hometown so, were there a direct flight due west from Kano, Ouaga could be reached in a little over an hour. But alas there isn’t, so one had to fly to Lagos, then on to Abidjan, then on to Ouaga, spending upwards of 24 hours on the way.

 No matter. We are in one of the world’s poorest countries, Burkina Faso. But what a proud country! They know how to manage their poverty. Most of their taxis are Mercedes Benzes and, although weather-beaten and ancient, they do run. Yes, you share the road with donkey-carts, but even the donkeys, and their riders, obey the traffic lights which work and are all over Ouaga’s generally straight roads. Here, almost everyone, especially women, has a motorcycle, but it is rarely, if at all, used for commercial purposes. Anyone riding as passenger may well be a relative.

 This country, like many African products of colonialism, was named by the French Haute Volta (Upper Volta) after River Volta, the biggest in the country. It took a young revolutionary, Captain Thomas Sankara, to change the colonial name to Burkina Faso, meaning “the land of upright people” in Mossi and Djula, the two major languages of the country.

 Sankara became President in 1983 and brought literally earth-shaking revolutionary changes in the country. These included banning of tribute payments to and obligatory labour for the traditional village chiefs; abolishment of the rural poll tax; nationalisation of all land and mineral wealth; and the most revolutionary step of all: The Day of Solidarity with Women where men were encouraged for once to go to the market, buy the grocery and prepare the day’s meal so that they experience for themselves the conditions faced by women!

Alas! Like other African revolutionaries before him, Sankara was assassinated on October 15, 1987 in a coup at the age of 37. He was killed, according to www.mathaba.net/www/black/sankara.shtml, on the orders – if not at the hands – of one of his oldest friends, now President Blaise Compaoré. Echoes of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar as well as Disney’s The Lion King? The revolution Sankara led between 1983 and 1987 was one of the most creative and radical that Africa has produced in the decades since independence. Sadly, like other radical African leaders such as Patrice Lumumba, Amilcar Cabral, Murtala Muhammad, he was shot down as a result.

When Sankara died, his most valuable possessions were found to be his bikes, three guitars, a fridge and a broken freezer. He was the world’s poorest president. While President, Sankara had refused to use the air conditioning in his office on the grounds that such luxury was not available to anyone but a handful of Burkinabes. When asked why he had let it be known that he did not want his portrait hung in public places, as is the norm for other African leaders, Sankara had said: ‘There are seven million Thomas Sankaras’.

In 1985, Sankara had said, in one of his most famous quotes: “You cannot carry out fundamental change without a certain amount of madness. In this case, it comes from nonconformity, the courage to turn your back on the old formulas, the courage to invent the future. It took the madmen of yesterday for us to be able to act with extreme clarity today. I want to be one of those madmen. We must dare to invent the future.”

So let us today end on a poetic note.

AU REVOIR OUAGA

UN says Burkina Faso c’est poor

But let me a contrary story tell

Resource poor Burkinabe may be

But how able to manage they have been

They have pure water too

But Ouaga is clean as Sahel can be

One week here not a dim in light

O PHCN! To shame Burkina puts thee

Burkinabe are orderly as Africans can be

As they board their buses as in Paris do

Voila! Bus stops, routes, even Acaba lane!

Only one pothole in Ouaga I saw

And Viva Air Burkina lives!

Remembering Murtala Muhammad

(Published Saturday, 28 February 2009)

And finally, to the third hero who was assassinated in February: General Murtala Muhammad, without doubt the greatest Nigerian leader ever. Last February 13 marked the 33rd anniversary since Nigeria’s most dynamic leader was assassinated in an abortive coup in 1976. Had Murtala lived, he would have been 71 this year, as he was born in 1938 (see Twenty Naira note). Sadly, Murtala died before he was 40: he was 38.

Much has been written about Murtala and much will continue to be written. Apart for from the fact that, within the 199 days he was Nigeria’s Head of State (from July 29, 1975 to February 13, 1976) Murtala initiated the return to civilian rule, created more states, initiated local government reform, initiated the movement of the Federal Capital from Lagos to the middle of the country, it can be argued that his most important contribution to nation-building was in instilling discipline in the citizenry.

Writing on Murtala, a writer, Nowa Omoigui, mentions that “in his almost legendary book ‘The Trouble With Nigeria’, Chinua Achebe tells the story of how on the first morning of Murtala’s regime, the notoriously tardy Lagos employees managed to find a way to get to work on time – beating the stifling traffic and transport problems which had always formed part of their standard excuse for being late for work. The new helmsman’s ferocious reputation was such that Lagosians dared not cross him on his first day in office. Despite the fact that there were just as many vehicles on the road, Lagosians got to work on time for fear of offending the military strongman from Kano.”

Another writer, Aliyu Ammani, says “On Tuesday the 29th of July 1975, the military struck for the third time in our nation’s history. The inept administration of General Gowon was toppled in a mercifully bloodless coup, the first in our nation’s history of military incursion in politics. Thus began the 199 most dynamic, pragmatic, breathtaking, purpose driven, result-oriented period of our country’s political history.”

 Ammani’s commentary deserves to be quoted at length: “Murtala jolted a sleeping nation into life. The vibrancy in his voice was arresting. The fire in his eyes charmed and awed the nation. In contrast to the extravagant style of Gowon, Murtala adopted a low profile policy. For the 200 days Murtala was Head of State, he lived in the house he had occupied as Director of Army Signal Corps. He drove to work at the Dodan Barracks every morning from his house. No convoy. No sirens. No outriders. Few days after his assumption of office, Murtala shunned the sirens and convoy and rode alone with his driver, from Lagos to Kano , a journey of more than one thousand kilometres, in his personal car.

  “Murtala had never detained a single person in the 6 months that he led the Nigerian nation. When former Lagos University Law Lecturer Dr. Obarogie Ohonbamu wrote in his magazine African Spark that Murtala had corruptly enriched himself before becoming Head of State, and accused him of owing fleets of trailers and rows of houses; Murtala did not descend on him with his heavy booth as most military dictators, he quietly went to Igbosere magistrate court and sued Ohonbamu for libel. At the last hearing, the case was adjourned till the 17th of March 1976. Murtala was assassinated on the 13th of February.

  “In an interview with The Punch of May 4th 1982, the late Chief MKO Abiola, a very close friend of Murtala’s, said that Murtala had only Seven Naira Twenty Two Kobo (N7.22) in his bank account when he died.

“Murtala pursued an aggressive foreign policy with Africa as its centre piece. On the 11th of January 1976, an extra-ordinary meeting of the OAU Heads of Government was convened [in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia] to tackle the Angolan question. Murtala made the historic and flamboyant appearance at the conference where he gave the powerful Africa Has Come of Age speech.

“’Mr. Chairman, when I contemplate the evils of apartheid, my heart bleeds and I am sure the heart of every true blooded African bleeds.’  Thus, Murtala opened the powerful and deep moving Africa Has Come of Age speech.’Rather than join hands with the forces fighting for self-determination and against racism and apartheid, the United States’ policy makers clearly decided that it was in the best interest of their country to maintain white supremacy and minority regimes in Africa … Africa has come of age. It’s no longer under the orbit of any extra-continental power. It should no longer take orders from any country no matter how powerful…gone are the days when Africa will ever bow to the threat of any so-called superpower…’ There was thunderous ovation from the Africa Hall and Murtala Muhammad went back to his seat, little knowing that he had exactly 34 days more to live.”

In Murtala, the age-old argument about leaders being born or being formed raised its head significantly. But, as Wikipedia says, leadership has qualities which include: Charismatic inspiration (attractiveness to others and the ability to leverage this esteem to motivate others; initiative and drive); guiding through modeling (in the sense of providing a role model); initiative and entrepreneurial drive; preoccupation with a role (a dedication that consumes much of a leader’s life); a clear sense of purpose or mission (clear goals, focus, commitment); results-orientation (directing every action towards a mission); optimism (very few pessimists ever become leaders); and rejection of determinism (belief in one’s ability to ‘make a difference’), etc.

It could be said that Murtala possessed all, if not more, than these leadership qualities. One thing Murtala had in abundance was charisma, known in Hausa as kwarjini. This was not unrelated to the fact that he had been a fearless person since he was a small boy. (This writer remembers reading somewhere the late Chief Sunday Awoniyi recollecting that, at Barewa College in Zaria, Murtala did not pick fights with his equals: he fought higher, with his seniors.)

The sociologist Max Weber defined charismatic authority as “resting on devotion to the exceptional sanctity, heroism or exemplary character of an individual person, and of the normative patterns or order revealed or ordained by him.” Charismatic authority is one of three forms of authority laid out in Weber’s tripartite classification of authority, the other two being traditional authority and rational-legal authority. The concept has acquired wide usage among sociologists.”

Perhaps the greatest contrast in history was the one between Murtala and his successor: while the whole world remembers Murtala as dashing, his then deputy dashed for cover during the abortive February 13 coup.

It is almost unbelievable that the heroes celebrated on these pages during this February died relatively young: Imam Hasan Al Banna at 42, Malcolm X at 39 and Murtala at 38. How old are you, Dear Reader? Meanwhile, may Allah’s mercy be upon General Murtala Muhammad.

Remembering Malcom X

(Published Saturday, 21 February 2009)

As we said on these pages last week,the Ides of February are, to this writer, more ominous than Shakespeare’s Ides of March. We discussed how, during the month of February, three heroes Imam Hasan Al Banna, Malcolm X and Murtala Muhammad were assassinated. Today, the 21st day of February, is the exact date of the murder of El-Hadj Malik el-Shabazz, better known as Malcolm X, arguably the greatest African-American ever. Born Malcolm Little on May 19, 1925, Shabazz was killed a few weeks short of his 40th birthday. But what eventful 39 years he lived!

Malcolm’s biographer, Alex Haley (author of Roots), narrates what happened that fateful day of February 21, 1965 at the Auduborn Ballroom in New York City: “[Malcolm] walked out onto the stage into the applause...then came his familiar ringing greeting: ‘Assalam Alaikum brothers and sisters!’ ‘Alaikum Salaam!’ the audience responded. Just then, about eight rows of seats from the front, a disturbance occurred. In a sudden scuffling, a man’s voice was raised angrily: ‘Take your hand out of my pocket!’ The entire audience was swiveling to look.

“Hold it! Hold it! Don’t get excited,’ Malcolm X said crisply: ‘Let’s cool it,

brothers.’ With his own attention distracted, it is possible that he never saw the gunmen. One woman who was seated near the front says: ‘The commotion back there diverted me just for an instant, then I turned back to look at Malcolm X just in time to see at least three men in the front row stand and take aim and start firing simultaneously. It looked like a firing squad...I saw Malcolm hit with the shots, with his hands still raised, then he fell back over the chairs behind him...”

Inna lillahi wa inna ilaihi raji’un! So ended the life of one of the greatest humans in history. Muslims believe there can never be another prophet after Muhammad, upon whom be peace. But Allah still sends gifted people as reformers who make a difference on this earth one way or another. Malcom X was one of them, as Imam Hasan Al Banna was another (as Dr. Yusuf Al Qaradawi was quoted in last week’s piece).

In a recent tribute to Malcolm, Melissa Harris-Lacewell, Professor of Politics and African-American Studies at Princeton University, said: “As we stop to reconsider Malcolm X...we should reaffirm our own commitments to creating a more just and fair world. We should express to his spirit our gratitude, not for his perfection, but for his courage and for the lessons he imparted to us, to light the way for our struggle.” She was spot on: Malcolm was the one who, more than anyone else, opened the door through which President Barack Obama strode to become what he has become today.

Therefore, let us visit vintage Malcolm in his own voice:

“[In Accra, Ghana] I went down to my hotel’s restaurant for breakfast. It was full whites discussing Africa’s untapped wealth as though the African waiters had no ears! It nearly ruined my meal, thinking how in America they set police dogs on black people...and now, once again in the land where their forefathers had stolen blacks and thrown them into slavery, was that white man...I made up my mind that as long as I was in Africa, every time I opened my mouth, I was going to make things hot for that white exploiter – it had been her human wealth the last time, now he wanted Africa’s mineral wealth.”

At the University of Ibadan, Nigeria: “...I was made an honourary member of the Nigerian Muslim Students’ Society. Right here in my wallet is my card: ‘Alhadji Malcolm X. Registration No. M-138.’ With the membership, I was given a new name: ‘Omowale.’ It means, in the Yoruba language, ‘the son who has come home.’ I meant it when I told them I had never received a more treasured honour.”

At other places:

“Stumbling is not falling.”

 “Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.”

“Be peaceful, be courteous, obey the law, respect everyone; but if someone puts his hand on you, send him to the cemetery.”

“Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you’re a man, you take it.”

“Power never takes a back step - only in the face of more power.”

“You don’t have to be a man to fight for freedom. All you have to do is to be an intelligent human being.”

“I believe that it would be impossible to find anywhere in America a black man who has lived further down in the mud of human society than I have; or a black man who has been any more ignorant than I have been; or a black man who has suffered more anguish during his life than I have. But it is only after this deepest darkness that the greatest joy can come; it is only after slavery and prison that the sweetest appreciation of freedom can come. I do believe that I have fought the best that I could, with the shortcomings that I have had. I know that my shortcomings are many.”

“It is a time for martyrs now, and if I am to be one, it will be for the cause of brotherhood. That’s the only thing that can save this country.” (February 19, 1965, just two days before he was murdered).

May Allah’s mercy be upon His great servant Abdul Malik Shabazz (Malcolm X).

Remembering Imam Hasan Al Banna

(Published Saturday, 14 February 2009)

Shakespeare left many literature lovers with a sour taste in the mouth for the month of March, when he had us warned to ‘Beware the Ides of March’ in Julius Caesar. For those who remember history and literature, Caesar, perhaps the most famous of the Roman Dictators, was assassinated in the month of March. But for this writer, as far as assassinations of important people are concerned, February should have more Ides than March. Three of this writer’s heroes were assassinated in February: Imam Hasan Al Banna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan Al Muslimun) in Egypt on February 12, 1949; Abdul Malik Shabazz (Malcolm X) perhaps the greatest African-American, in the United States on February 21, 1965; and General Murtala Muhammad, Nigeria’s best ever leader, on the morning of Friday, February 13, 1976. Much has been written, and will continue to be written, on and about Brother Malcolm and General Murtala but, to many readers, Imam Hasan Al Banna is almost an unknown even among the Muslims on this side of the Sahara. But to understand why Muslims are angry with the West; to understand why Al Qaeda had to evolve; to understand why the Clash of Civilisations between Western Christendom and Islam is (almost) inevitable; to understand why Hamas and Hezbollah are steadfast; to understand the Palestiniain struggle itself; one has to understand the history and antecedents of the Ikhwan (www.muslimbrotherhood.com) and its founder, Imam Hasan Al Banna, who was assassinated on the streets of Cairo sixty years ago when he was barely 43 years old. To take a circuitous route in linking the founding of the Muslim Brotherhood in 1928 in Ismailia, Egypt, to the US occupation of Afghanistan in 2001, one need to understand the impact of the teachings of Imam Hasan Al Banna on the Ikhwan’s leading ideologue, Sayyid Qutb. And then contemplate the influence of Sayyid Qutb on his brother Muhammad Qutb. And then reflect on the impact of the younger Qutb on Ayman Al Zawahiri, ideologue of Al Qaeda, and then Zawahiri’s influence on Osama bin Laden, who needs no introduction, and finally Osama’s impact on Mullah Muhammad Umar and the Taliban. Imam Al Banna was the Egyptian social and political reformer who established the Ikhwan as a response to British and Western colonial hegemony in the Muslim World in the centuries after the fall of Muslim Spain. Crucial in the early struggle of the Brotherhood was the question of Palestine which was, like Egypt then, under the British who were hobnobbing with Zionists hopeful on creating today’s Israel. From those early days (the Imam was assassinated just as Israel was been formed) Al Banna saw that jihad for liberating Palestine and supporting its people was a must; he said in a message to the British ambassador to Cairo - published in Al-Nazeer on 26th December 1938 that: “The Muslim Brothers will sacrifice their lives and their money for the sake of keeping every span of Palestine with its Arab and Islamic identity until doomsday.” He said also in a message that he sent in May 1939 to the Egyptian Prime Minister, Mohamed Mahmoud: “The British and the Jews will understand only one language, the language of revolution, force and blood.” Al Banna’s thought expressed an early and advanced state of maturity in the dialectics of the relation between the project of Islamic revival and the liberation of Palestine, as he saw that solving the Palestinian issue would have to be through the parallel lines of unity and jihad. The second plank of Imam Al Banna’s influence on the global Islamic Movement was his spiritual method which was one that conformed to the wide parameters of the orthodox Sunni but with an uncanny tendency to resolve controversies and challenges in a manner that seemed reasonable, consistent with the texts, and backed by scholarship. Shaykh Yusuf Qaradawi, a contemporary intellectual imbued with the teachings of the Imam, is so impressed by Hasan al-Banna that he has reaffirmed in his ‘Priorities of the Islamic Movement in the Coming Phase’: “Shaykh Muhammad al-Ghazali was right to call Hasan al-Banna ‘the Mujaddid (reviver) of the fourteenth Islamic century’” - in reference to the hadith related by Abu Dawud and Hakim, wherein Prophet Muhammad, upon whom be peace, had said: “God will send to this Community at the head of every century one who will renew for it its religion.” One of the greatest spiritual contributions of the Imam is the Wazifa (litany) of Al-Ma’thurat. The Sufic influence is unmistakeable - a facet of the Imam’s personal being that remained with him for life, and which he attempted to impart to his movement. Despite being persecuted by successive Egyptian governments, the Ikhwan have been steadfast and populist. It is known that, were there to be open democratic elections in Egypt and many Arab countries, the Muslim Brotherhood and its ‘branches’ would win hands down. Martyrdom of the Ikwan’s leaders (starting from Al Banna himself in 1949 and the hanging of Sayyid Qutb in 1966), as well as the incarceration of Ikhwan’s workers (such as Zainab Al Ghazali), have not deterred the Movement. Today in Egypt, the Ikhwan leads almost all professional organisations (the Bar Association; Academicians; Engineers; Doctors; etc). The Ikhwan may yet one day lead Muslims out of their lethargy, not only in Egypt, but in the whole Muslim World and beyond. And may Allah’s mercy be on Imam Hasan Al Banna.

 

My Barber and My Dandruff

(Published Saturday, 07 February 2009)

No, I don’t have dandruff. And I know I don’t have dandruff because my wife, who should be the first to complain if I have dandruff, is not complaining. And there is no itch on my head, which I understand is a symptom of dandruff. So in summary, in totality and finality, I don’t have dandruff. But my barber insists I do.

 

You see, my barber is quite popular with ‘honourable’ heads. At the salon the other day, I bumped into an honourable member of the National Assembly; and the other other day a couple of honourable Commissioners. So all in all, my barber does some brisk business with top heads. And because the price of a haircut is fixed, and not every customer remembers to leave a tip, my barber has to invent more ways of survival. His fundraising way with me is with my ‘dandruff’. Almost every time I go to have a haircut, the first thing he says when he reaches near my scalp is that “Alhaji, you have dandruff.”

 It began like a joke. I would laugh and say, “Hey, I don’t have dandruff!” Then he would scrape my scalp and show me some powdery white stuff: my very dandruff. So I gave up resisting. The third time he said I had dandruff, I said, “Yeah, yeah, I have dandruff, and it’s killing me. What do I do about it?” He had the right remedy: a big bottle of hair shampoo which he assured would do away with the irritant in no time: “Just rub in at every shower and you are bye-bye to dandruff”, he said. So I bought the hair shampoo on which was written Head and Shoulders. (I still wonder what my shoulders had to do with it). I took it home but actually never got round to using it; so convinced I was that I had no dandruff for a start, but not for a finish. And that was the beginning of my travails.

 At the next visit, he commended the healing process of my dandruff, but announced with a flourish that yet another, better, remedy had come into town. This time, it was an ointment which you would rub into your scalp after every morning shower. Rather than argue, I bought the stuff. And took it home. And put it on the side of the big bottle of shampoo on the shoulder of my bathroom mirror. Out of curiosity I one day opened the ointment bottle to smell the content; it was so strongly ghastly I nearly threw up, and so threw it away.

 A couple of weeks later, I went back to my barber. All this time I had not used any of those remedies. Yet he complimented me for a job well done: my dandruff (which I knew never existed), had all but disappeared, he commended. So I was on my guard for any further recommendations he would make. Lo and behold, he offered an after-dandruff rub which, he claimed, would ensure it never came back. I bought up and gave up.

 Over the few years I have been a ‘patient’ patient at this dandruff ‘surgery’, I had been coaxed into buying an ear- and nose-hair trimmer (“the perfect thing for busy people such as you Alhaji”). And he recommended a new apron, and a new set of clippers. By the time he was done with me, my bathroom had as many gadgets as he had in his show glass. Over the course of a few years, my barber has made me buy a range of hair-care products I can well do without. So far I have several shampoos, a couple of ointments, a set of brushes, two clippers, a napkin, an apron (yes, including an apron), and that ear- and nose-hair trimmer which needs batteries that I haven’t come round to buying. Simple predatory marketing, I must admit, but I was the fool for it.

 So how did I fall into this trap? I am otherwise quite a thrifty person with my scarce resources, yet look at this barber who has made sure he parted me with my hard-earned money over time. He must have something which I don’t. On closer scrutiny, I found that the one who holds your head (and has a weapon to hand) brooks no argument. So it was instinctive buying.

 So there is no conflict at the top of my head. As there is no conflict at the top of our national government. If the top is at peace, the bottom should fare well. So it is with concern that I warn people who look at our top man and comment, “Kai! This guy really looks ill”, to sheath their swords, or clippers, as the case may be. Who said he is unwell? Is he complaining to you? Is she complaining? So what is your own commenting where you are not required to comment? As there is no conflict on my head, there cannot be conflict at the nation’s top. People just scrape some powdery white stuff and claim it is dandruff. It is not.

 Even if I had dandruff, come to think of it, was I complaining? But the barber had this scary theory that, left untreated, dandruff can descend into one’s eyes, and one’s teeth. Fie! If dandruff can sit unobtrusively on my head without the head-owner complaining, why can’t our top guy sit safely on his seat? The nation is not complaining of any itching and/or scratching on its head. The head is perfect.

 Therefore, O my barber, just leave my dandruff alone. I am not complaining. We are not complaining whether the top man looks ill or doesn’t; whether he is up and doing, or down and undoing. There is no conflict whatsoever. My dandruff only affects me. So let him be. And let my dandruff be.

"Water Extinguishes Fire"

(Published Saturday, 31 January 2009)

Exactly a year ago on these pages  we narrated the story of Bryan  Anderson, the kind person whose kindness was returned before the evening ran out. Bryan’s story brought many a tear in the eyes of many a reader. Today we return to that theme of kindness with the story of a wealthy man called Ibn Jad’aan who lived more than a century ago. He had many camels, then the ultimate wealth of the Arabs. One day as he was inspecting his camels, he noticed a particularly healthy she-camel whose udder was so full of milk. He immediately remembered his poor neighbour and his family who hardly had anything to eat. So he said to himself that he would give the she-camel out and her calf as Sadaqa (charity) to this neighbour. He took her along with her calf and knocked on the door of the neighbour and told him to accept it as a gift from him. The neighbour’s face broke into happiness and gratitude, but he was so overwhelmed he was unable to utter anything. The poor family tremendously benefitted from the she-camel’s milk. As usual with Bedouin nomads, after the spring had passed, the dry summer would come with its drought and they would have to begin looking far and wide for water, which was usually found in the duhool (plural of duhul, or ‘holes in the earth’), situated underground leading to water traps underneath the ground. Ibn Jad’aan and his three sons found one such waterhole. He entered into it so as to bring some water to drink while the sons waited outside. However he did not return. They waited for him for three days and finally became hopeless. They thought he might have been stung by a snake and had died. As it so happened, they were keen on his demise for their greed to take over his wealth. So they returned home and divided their father’s wealth. Then they remembered the she-camel. They went to the neighbour and asked for its return, promising to give him another camel in place of it, or they would take it by force. The neighbour said that he would report them to their father. They laughed and informed him that he had died. He inquired as to how and where Ibn Jad’aan had died and they told him. The neighbour said: “Please take me there! And take your she-camel. I don’t want anything from you in return!” They took him to the waterhole and left him there. He brought a rope, tied it to a tree outside the hole and to his waist, and then stepped into the hole crawling on his back. Eventually the smell of moisture became closer, and then all of sudden he heard the sound of a man by the water groaning and moaning. He went closer and closer towards this sound in the darkness, putting his hands out all over, until his hand fell on a man. It was Ibn Jad’aan! He checked his breath and found he was still breathing after one week! He pulled him out slowly, covering his eyes so as to protect him from the sudden sunlight. He carried him to his house and nurtured him back to health without telling the sons. After Ibn Jad’aan’s strength had returned, the neighbour asked him: “Tell me, by Allah, how come one week underground and you didn’t die?” “I will tell you something very strange,” Ibn Jidaan said, “I got lost, so I said to myself I had better stay close to the water. So I started to drink from it, but hunger had no mercy and water alone does not suffice. For three days, my hunger intensified. While I was lying on my back weak from hunger, I surrendered myself to Allah and put all my affairs in His hands. All of a sudden, I felt the warmth of milk pouring into my mouth. It was dark, and did not know where it was coming from. I drank from it until my hunger abated! This occurred three times a day. But then as suddenly as it had come, the milk stopped these last two days, and I didn’t know what happened. My hunger then returned.” His neighbour, full of surprise, said: “If you know the reason why the milk stopped you will be amazed! Your sons thought you had died and they came to me and took away the she-camel which Allah was giving you from its milk! But Allah saved you for your original kindness.” Allah had stated in the Qur’an: “...And whoever puts his trust in Allah, then He will suffice him.” Prophet Muhammad, upon whom be peace, had said, “Sadaqa extinguishes sins as water extinguishes fire; it appeases Allah’s anger and averts evil. And even a smile in your brother’s face is sadaqa.” But of course, make sure you give the real needy, not the typical, cheeky Nigerian beggar as narrated in the following story, The Nerve of the Nigerian Beggar, with which we close today’s lesson: “A man walks past a beggar every day and gives him N20. That continues for a year. Then suddenly the daily donation changes to N15. “Well,” the beggar thinks, “it is still better than nothing.” Another year passes until the man’s daily donation suddenly becomes N10. “What’s going on now?” the beggar asks his donor. “First you gave me N20 every day, then N15 and now only N10. What’s the problem?” “Well,” the man says, “last year my eldest son went to university. It is very expensive, so I had to cut costs. This year my eldest daughter also went to university, so I had to cut my expenses even further.” “And how many children do you have?” the beggar asks. “Four,” the man replies. “Well,” says the beggar, “I hope you don’t plan to educate them all at my expense.”

 

Beating About the Bush

(Published Saturday, 24 January 2009)

We shall miss former US President George W. Bush. He was a real character: wickedly funny, legendarily foolish, fastly shoe-ducking. The words ‘legendarily’ and ‘fastly’ as used here will fit in very well with what is now known as Bushism: a neologism that refers to a number of peculiar words, phrases, pronunciations, malapropisms, spoonerisms and semantic or linguistic errors that have occurred in the public speaking of former US President George W. Bush. The term has become part of popular folklore and is the basis of a number of websites and published books. Without beating about the Bush, let’s enjoy a serving of Bushisms as Bush enjoys in Texas. All spellings are as are.

General

· “They misunderestimated me.” (Bentonville, Ark., Nov. 6, 2000)

· “There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.” (Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002)

· “Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream.” (LaCrosse, Wis., Oct. 18, 2000)

· “I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully.” (Saginaw, Mich., Sept. 29, 2000)

· “Before I arrived in President, During I arrived in President.” (December 1, 2008)

· “I want to thank my friend, Senator Bill Frist, for joining us today. He married a Texas girl, I want you to know. Karyn is with us. A West Texas girl, just like me.” (Nashville, Tennessee, May 27, 2004)

· “I’m telling you there’s an enemy that would like to attack America, Americans, again. There just is. That’s the reality of the world. And I wish him all the very best.” (White House, Washington, D.C., Jan. 12, 2009)

· “It’s clearly a budget. It’s got a lot of numbers in it.” (May 5, 2000)

Foreign Affairs

· “Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.” (Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004)

· “And they have no disregard for human life.” (Describing the brutality of Afghan fighters, Washington, D.C., July 15, 2008)

· “There’s no question that the minute I got elected, the storm clouds on the horizon were getting nearly directly overhead.” (Washington D.C., May 11, 2001)

· “The war on terror involves Saddam Hussein because of the nature of Saddam Hussein, the history of Saddam Hussein, and his willingness to terrorise himself.” (Grand Rapids, Michigan, January 29, 2003)

· “Free societies are hopeful societies. And free societies will be allies against these hateful few who have no conscience, who kill at the whim of a hat.” (Washington, D.C., Sept. 17, 2004)

· “The best way to defeat this enemy in the long run is to deny them the recruiting tools, that are and—and recruiterments made possible by resentment.” (November 2007)

 Economics

· “I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family.” (Greater Nashua, N.H., Jan. 27, 2000)

· “I understand small business growth. I was one.” (New York Daily News, February 19, 2000)

 Education

· “Rarely is the questioned asked: Is our children learning?” (Florence, S.C., Jan. 11, 2000)

· “As yesterday’s positive report card shows, childrens do learn when standards are high and results are measured.” (George W. Bush, on the No Child Left Behind Act, Washington, D.C., Sept. 26, 2007)

· “You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test.” (Townsend, Tennessee, 21 February, 2001)

 And finally...

· “One of the things important about history is to remember the true history.” (George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., June 6, 2008)

· “I’ll be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this Oval Office.” (George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., May 12, 2008)

 We today conclude with excerpts from an Open Letter written to newly sworn-in US President Barak Hussein Obama by Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, former Prime Minister of Malaysia:

 ”Dear Mr. President. I did not vote for you in the Presidential Election because I am Malaysian. But I consider myself one of your constituents because what you do or say will affect me and my country as well. I welcome your promise for change. That is because America and Americans have become the most hated people in the world. Even Europeans dislike your arrogance. May I politely suggest that you also resolve to do the following in pursuit of Change:

1) Stop killing people. The United States is too fond of killing people in order to achieve its objectives.

2) Stop indiscriminate support of Israeli killers with your money and your weapons. The planes and the bombs killing the people of Gaza are from you.

3) Stop applying sanctions against countries which cannot do the same against you.

4) Stop your scientists and researchers from inventing new and more diabolical weapons to kill more people more efficiently.

5) Stop your arms manufacturers from producing them. Stop your sales of arms to the world.

6) Stop trying to democratize all the countries of the world. Democracy may work for the United States but it does not always work for other countries.

7) Stop the casinos which you call financial institutions. Stop hedge funds, derivatives and currency trading.

8) Sign the Kyoto Protocol and other international agreements.

9) Show respect for the United Nations.

If you can do only a few of what I suggest, your embassies will be able to take down the high fences and razor-wire coils that surround them. May I wish you a Happy New Year and a great Presidency.

Hamas: The Faith Triumphant

(Published Saturday, 17 January 2009)

With each passing day of the Israeli aggression against the Palestinians, with each additional death of a child or mother, Muslims all over the world are becoming more militant, more fundamentalist, more jihadic. This is very ominous for the West, on whose behalf Israel is doing what it is doing. Samuel Huntington, who died on December 24 last year, wrote Clash of Civilisations.  Now, more than ever before, this Clash is at hand. The call a few days ago by Osama bin Laden for Muslims to take up arms against Israel has been ayed by many all over the world. But for the Western-propped Arab regimes encircling Gaza, many young people would have gone into the Strip to join the martyr army of Hamas. The mere fact that Hamas has been attending a ceasefire negotiation meeting in Egypt indicates that already, whatever the outcome of this massacre, Faith has been Triumphant. Incidentally, The Faith Triumphant is the title of Chapter Eleven in one of the most important books of the Islamic Movement, Ma’alim fit Tariq (Milestones), written by the Movement’s leading intellectual and Martyr, Sayyid Qutb (1906-1966). In Milestones, Qutb wrote: “Allah says, ‘Do not be dejected or grieve. You shall be the uppermost if you are Believers’ (3:139). The first thought which comes to mind on reading this verse is that it relates to the form of Jihad which is actual fighting; but the spirit of this message and its application with its manifold implications, is greater and wider than this particular aspect. Indeed it describes that eternal state of mind which ought to inspire the believer’s consciousness. It describes a triumphant state which should remain fixed in the Believer’s heart in the face of everything, every condition, every standard and every person; the superiority of the Faith. “It means to be above all the powers of the earth which have deviated from the way of the Faith, above all the values of the earth not derived from the source of faith, above all the customs of the earth not coloured with the colouring of the faith, above all the laws of the earth not sanctioned by the Faith, and above all traditions not originating in the Faith. It means to feel superior to others when weak, few and poor, as well as when strong, many and rich. It means the sense of supremacy which does not give in before any rebellious force. “Steadfastness and strength on the battlefield are but one expression among many of the triumphant spirit which is included in this statement of Almighty God. The superiority through faith is not a mere single act of will nor a passing euphoria or a momentary passion, but is a sense of superiority based on permanent Truth centred in the very nature of existence. “The person who takes a stand against the direction of the society – its governing logic, its common mode, its values and standards, its ideas and concepts, its error and deviations – will find himself a stranger, as well as helpless, unless his authority comes from a source which is more powerful than the people, more permanent than the earth, and nobler than life. “Conditions change, the Muslim loses his physical power and is conquered; yet the consciousness does not depart from him that he is most superior. If he remains a Believer, he looks upon his conqueror from a superior position. He remains certain that this is a temporary condition which will pass away and that faith will turn the tide from which there is no escape. Even if death is his potion, he will never bow his head. Death comes to all, but for him there is martyrdom. He will proceed to the garden while his conquerors go to the fire. What a difference!” So wrote Sayyid Qutb. Let us now end today’s treatise with the following story on Challenge, the type the Palestinians are facing: “The Japanese love fresh fish. However, the waters close to Japan have not held many fish for decades. So to feed the Japanese population, fishing boats got bigger and went farther. The farther the fishermen went, the longer it took to bring in the catch. If the return trip took more than a few days, the fish were not fresh. The Japanese did not like the taste. “To solve this problem, fishing companies installed freezers on their boats. They would catch the fish and freeze them at sea. However, the Japanese could taste the difference between fresh and frozen and they did not like frozen fish. So fishing companies installed fish tanks. They would catch the fish and stuff them in the tanks, fin to fin. After a little thrashing around, the fish stopped moving. They were tired and dull, but alive. Unfortunately, the Japanese could still taste the difference. Because the fish did not move for days, they lost their fresh-fish taste. The Japanese preferred the lively taste of fresh fish, not sluggish fish. So how did Japanese fishing companies solve this problem? “To keep the fish tasting fresh, the Japanese fishing companies still put the fish in the tanks. But now they add a small shark to each tank. The shark eats a few fish, but most of the fish arrive in a very lively state. Because they are challenged, they kick and protest and ultimately arrive fresh. Or martyred.” Allah has put a tiny shark (Israel) in the Arab tank. Only some fish called Hamas and Hezbollah are kicking. The others are frozen stiff. RIP. After all, L. Ron Hubbard had once written: “Man thrives, oddly enough, only in the presence of a challenging environment.” May Allah help the Palestinians.