By Babatunde Jose

Human life is a journey that can be compared to a day from dusk to dawn. Elaborate with reference to ‘The Seven Ages’ by William Shakespeare. The cycle of life from birth to death is inescapable and we should play the roles assigned to us at various stages just like professional actors

A human being’s journey of life is like a day. When he is an infant, he is very gentle and sweet – just like dawn. Slowly, when he goes to school, he is lazy just like in the morning. Then he is a lover filled with illogical thoughts. Then he plays the role of a soldier, very angry, just like the scorching sun of the noon. Slowly, the age shifts, just like the temperature of the sun. Now he is full of advice and good thoughts. Then he becomes a slippered pantaloons, just like the setting sun. At last, comes a halt to his life and he has nothing, like the darkness of dusk.

Dawn is young and energetic, beautiful and peaceful, just like a newborn child. His life is calm and not chaotic. He brings with him hope and love, just like every sunrise. As the day commences, every living soul loves the mild sunlight, just as everyone loves a child. Noon is the time the sun shines bright and brims with all the emotions as if trying its best to please every soul touched by its rays. Similar is the state of a human when in love.

The wings of time fly and now the sun is no more bright, yet strong enough to make its presence felt. Then comes evening, which shows the sun is about to set and its rays are very mild. One, in this phase, is old and needs support. As it is the time for the sun to set, so is there a time for one to leave this world. Yet, both leave with the promise to return, be it in the same form or another, and travel their journeys of life all over again.

Slowly but surely, the landmarks of one’s childhood, youth and adult years disappear, and so do those one spent those years with. And there are other sorrows as well.

For those who have had an active life; retirement and progressing age bring feelings of uselessness and despair. Those who have worked their entire lives now find it difficult to kill time since their lives previously revolved around their work schedules. The lack of activity or involvement is a major cause of depression among the elderly. With fewer responsibilities on their shoulders and not having tasks to do, they often begin to lose purpose in life and begin to think that they are now useless and sometimes even a burden on the family and society.

For many parents, a time comes when their children are no longer with them; some leave for greener pastures while others may consider a nuclear family as better suiting their lifestyle and hence move out, leaving the parents alone.

The parents may be well provided for and may have other people or domestic help caring for them and doing their chores, but the very thought that they are away from their children adds a feeling of loneliness to depression.

Alhaji Nasir is one such senior member of society who spends almost every evening with a couple of like-minded (and like-aged) people from his community. Presently, he is working on establishing a small computer centre and library around the nearby mosque.

This is just one example. There are so many ways in which the elderly can make the most of the time on their hands and keep themselves busy. They can pick up hobbies and interests for which they didn’t have much time when they were professionally busy; they can read books (or write books, for that matter) or help with small routine chores around the house. The key is to keep oneself busy and useful. Don’t count the years that have passed; count the ways you can make the remaining one’s matter.

It should be remembered that from 60, after attaining the evening of life, the time remaining on this terra firma can never be as much as the time spent. Each day in the twilight of time becomes an added grace. It is therefore a signal to start tidying up our affairs.

Our thoughts are – nominally – free to go in any direction at any time of day or night. In practice, perhaps far more than we dare to admit, they remain tightly tied to wherever we happen to be on the Earth’s twenty-four-hour axial journey around the Sun.

There can be no more resonant span in this rotation than the interval we know as dusk, when the sun slips below the horizon and throws its beams across the lower atmosphere, rendering the sky – for up to forty minutes in the northern latitudes, and as little as twenty minutes in the equatorial ones – neither quite light nor quite dark.

There might be many sorts of dusks around the world, but what they whisper to us tends to be very similar. Harald Sohlberg, Spring Evening.

Throughout daylight hours, we are invited to be purposeful. Our horizons are limited to the human world. The shadows are short, and our perspectives can grow so too. We push our miniscule part of history forward a few more millimeters: we send emails, call meetings, attend conferences, write a paper. With the sun high in our meridian, we grow tall in our own estimations. We make plans, we accuse someone of disrespecting us, we get frustrated with our progress.

But then comes dusk with its range of contrary messages. A narrow band of cloud many miles away turns a brilliant crimson. Distances we had forgotten about make themselves felt. We are no longer the measure of all things. Whatever has agitated us recedes in importance. The moment bids us to loosen our mind’s fervent hold on the memory of the missing document or the course of the tetchy meeting; for the first time in many hours, we know viscerally that these things, too, will pass. Harald Sohlberg, Spring Evening.

Dusk invites all of us – the desperate, the anxious and the arrogant – into the shelter of night, where grown-up priorities can weigh less heavily on us. There is nothing more we can do to alter anything now; we will have to wait and keep faith. We must stop grandstanding. And for a few especially pained ones among us, dusk is there to confirm that it might all be OK, despite the hatred, the shame and the ignominy.

The miraculous thing about every day – often missed by people who are extremely busy, content or conceited – is that it will inevitably end. However dreadful it has been, and some days are mightily so, it will reach a close. And all the things that draw their seriousness from the height of the sun will be dimmed by the approach of night.

How unbalanced we would be if – through some technological innovation – we managed to banish night altogether. Dusk saves us through erasure. Without dusk, there would be no more recalibration and no time for our arrogance to abate nor for our anxiety to be absorbed. We can be grateful that, despite all our gadgets and our pride, the wisdom of dusk is only ever a few hours away.

Unfortunately for man, the dusk does not promise a new dawn. It marks the journey to the end of days. It’s a journey of no return. 

Talking about the twilight years of man, we come to the realization of the entry of our big brother, Latif Adisa Adejumo, who today moves up to the 8^th floor of life. Like his late father before him, he is a quintessential good man. My late father met his father in 1948 and they bonded and developed a friendship that developed into inseparable brotherhood. Brother Latif was just 4 years old then.

Writing in his epic book. ‘Walking a Tight Rope’ my father had this to say about his friend: “ . . .  (1948) I met Abdul Raheem Akande Adejumo. At the end-of-Ramadan Eid prayer at Obalende, Lagos, a man beckoned to me to come on his mat. When the prayer was over, the man introduced himself to me as Raheem Adejumo, a police sergeant in the Special Branch (Intelligence). We shook hands and he invited me to have a drink with him in his one-bedroom apartment at Igbosere Road. . . . Three years later, he retired from the Police Force as an Inspector, but he has remained my most trusted friend and confidant, after my father.

“When I was going to England for attachment to UK newspapers in 1951, he was tempted to go for law studies. His elder brother, Alhaji Brimoh Adejumo wanted to finance his studies. But my friend calculated the cost of five years stay in England and decided that he could use the money to trade with real benefit.

“By the following year, he left the Police and started trade with money provided by his brother. Today, he is the Chairman of Adejumo Fam Nigeria Limited, a wealthy businessman, a philanthropist and one of the leading promoters of lawn tennis in Nigeria.”

It is fortuitous to note that when the late Jose and late Adejumo met in 1948, Adejumo had a 4-year-old son, Latif who had lost his mother. He would remain in his father’s apron until Papa remarried and started having other children. But Latif would forever remain his father’s pet-child, his eyes and ears and his right-hand man, following in the business started by his illustrious father.

Brother Latif, as we all fondly call him, has been an inspiration to us all. Studied Textile Technology in Manchester and came back in 1971 to take a position in his father’s business. He has since retired from active business involvement but not from life.

A devout Muslim and religious leader in NASFAT, Brother turns 80 today and we pray that Allah will preserve him and grant him many more years in good health.

“Our Lord! Condemn us not if we forget or fall into error; our Lord! Lay not on us a burden like that which Thou didst lay on those before us: Our Lord! Lay not on us a burden greater than we have strength to bear. Blot out our sins, and grant us forgiveness. Have mercy on us. Thou art our Protector; help us against those who stand against Faith.” (Quran 2:286)

Barka Juma’at and happy weekend.

By Babatunde Jose

In 630 AD, Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and his nascent Islamic group conquered the city of Mecca and his Quraish adversaries. It turned out to be an anti-climax as it was a bloodless war, despite the age long animosity of the Quraish to the young Islamic religion and its forced exile to Medina Munawara ten years earlier.

The first port of call of the Prophet (SAW) and his party was the Ka’aba, the ancient citadel of monotheism which had been serially desecrated and made to house over three hundred idols that were being worshipped by the Arab dwellers. It was even reported that the circumambulation of that building known from ancient times as the Tawaf, was sometimes performed naked, presumably accompanied by an orgy of spiritual nature by the Arab tribes.

The Ka’aba which was allegedly built by ‘father’ Abraham and his son Isma’il (the progenitor of the Arabs) as a monument to their God, 2000 years earlier, required spiritual and physical cleansing which the prophet (SAW) carried out personally with his followers.

With the cleansing and institution of modern Hajj rites, it was never envisaged that impure people, people of doubtful religious piety, people of questionable faith, people of dubious religious persuasion, people with atavistic penchant for corruption and proclivity for political, social and economic crimes would turn the holy pilgrimage into a faith laundering annual exercise. This is exactly what our leaders have turned the Hajj into. But they forget that you cannot mock God.

This year again, they have gone to Mecca in droves to ‘face Mount Arafat’ on the 9^th day of the Islamic month of Dhu’l Hijjah, which is tomorrow, Saturday 15^th of June, a day for the atonement of sins, confession and supplication for Allah’s forgiveness. They will be chanting the Talbiyah: “Labbayka Allaahumma labbayk, labbayka laa shareeka laka labbayk. Inna al-hamd wa’l-ni’mata laka wa’l-mulk, laa shareeka lak (Here I am, O Allah, here I am. Here I am, You have no partner, here I am. Verily all praise and blessings are Yours, and all sovereignty, You have no partner).”

Which God are they reciting Talbiyah to? A God whose injunctions they have serially flouted and abused, or His people whom they have abandoned and sentenced to a life of poverty and tattered penury. The concepts of justice, equity and fairness enjoined on them are being operated in the breach. These are three interrelated concepts that combine to make a spiritual whole.

Justice is the sum-total, in a sense, of all recognized rights and duties, as it often consists of nothing more than a balanced implementation of rights and duties, and of due regard for equality and fairness. The Quran is emphatic on the objectivity of justice, so much so that it defies any level of relativity and compromise in its basic conception. A perusal of the Quranic evidence on justice leaves one in no doubt that justice is integral to the basic outlook and philosophy of Islam. But are our leaders just?

The injustice being perpetrated by our leaders is being witnessed daily in our clime, where our rights are denied and trampled upon; no potable water, no roads, no  electricity for the vast majority who have had to live like cavemen in the 21 Century, no education for their children, no future for those that are educated not to talk of the teeming population of uneducated, no employment and where they are employed, no salaries. Yet our leaders have dusted their jalabiya and ihrams in anticipation of hoodwinking Allah. But He will not be deceived by these vile men who have refused to carry out the job which they were elected to do.

Should the country, for example, have spent 160 million Naira each to buy SUVs for our Legislators? Should we have spent so much on the Vice President’s lodge and other Governors’ lodges across the country? Does splurging a 90 billion Naira on pilgrimage make sense? Why are international companies exiting the country?

It has been alleged that an Executive Governor in one of the states flew his mother to Saudi Arabia in a private jet to perform Hajj. He is also recorded as defending the Government’s position that the minimum wage cannot be afforded by the country.

At a time, the government is dragging its feet to increase minimum wage for workers, the chairman of a federal agency, is alleged to have squandered over N3.5billion of taxpayers money on six Lexus LX600 Bulletproof SUVs. Very callous and ungodly act.

Yet as a result of the hike in the electricity tariff, over 300 Companies have shut down, and 380,000 jobs lost, as revealed by the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria.

In Surah Al-Nahl: Allah commands justice, the doing of good, and liberality to kith and kin, and He forbids all shameful deeds, and injustice and rebellion: He

instructs you that ye may receive admonition. (Quran 16:90)

In Surah Al Ma’idah, Ayah 9, it is said that we should stand firmly for Allah as witness to fairness:  O ye who believe! Stand out firmly for Allah, as witnesses to fair dealing, and let not the hatred of others to you make you swerve to wrong and depart from justice. Be just: That is next to Piety: And fear Allah. For Allah is well acquainted with all that ye do. (Quran 5:9)

Narrow dictionary equivalents for Justice and Equity are the words Insaaf, ‘Adl and Qist. But the words are more comprehensive in their meaning and application.  The root meanings of the word ‘Adl’ include the sense of Justice, Equity, Fairness, Non-Discrimination, Counterbalance, to Rectify, Put in Order, Evenness, Proportion and the like. When Prophet Muhammad (SAW), said “help the oppressor and the oppressed”, he was stressing this same concept. The Companions responded that they understood what “helping the oppressed” meant, but what did he mean by “helping the oppressor”? He replied, “By preventing the oppressor from oppressing others”. The root meanings of the word Qist include Equity, Fairness, Justice, Fair Distribution, Correctness, Balance, and Scale. See Surah Al Nisa’, Quran 4:135

It has been said that the issues of injustice, unfairness and inequitable dispensation of resources are an all-pervasive malaise. From the flinching tramp by the roadside, the woman who sells her body for money, the rich with their insatiable thirst for more, to the legislator, who is the sole beneficiary of his legislations and the executive who corners the people’s commonwealth to feather their own nests, are all guilty. The disproportionate emoluments of our legislators, government officials, governors and the tribal lords in Aso Rock is not only an injustice but a sin.

When justice, equity and fairness depart from a society, that society is finished. We are reminded when Allah said: “And O my people! Give just measure and weight, nor withhold from the people the things that are their due: Commit not evil in the land with intent to do mischief. (Quran 11:85)

But Allah said in Surah Taha that He would punish the transgressors saying: “. . . . . .And those on whom descends My Wrath do perish indeed!” (Quran 20:81)

However, for the genuine pilgrims who are intent on turning a new leaf, changing and mending their ways and returning to the path of righteousness; we wish them a rewarding Hajj. And to them we say “Hajj Mabrur!

May Allah’s condemnation never fall on us, Amin! And may Allah accept the prayers of the oppressed and the supplications of the hopeless and the distressed.

Barka Juma’at and Barka de Sallah.

By Babatunde Jose

“O ye who believe! Obey Allah, and obey the Apostle, and those charged with authority among you. If ye differ in anything among yourselves, refer it to Allah and His Apostle, if ye do believe in Allah and the Last day: That is best, and most suitable for final determination.” (Quran 4:59)

One year after the coming of the present administration with its promise of ‘renewed hope’, and the complete dashing of all hopes: ‘high cost of living, hunger, starvation,  food inflation, insecurity, monumental corruption, divestments by multinational oil corporations, the flight of capital to other countries, the unabating spread of a culture of hate in the country, poor governance, and bad politics’, it becomes appropriate for us to revisit the morphology of the socio-political situation in the country. Hence, a return to the sermon on ‘the Evil Leadership and Complacent Followers’.

Islam makes no sharp division between sacred and secular affairs; it expects governments to be imbued with righteousness. Likewise, Islam expects Muslims to respect the authority of such a government for otherwise there can be no order or discipline. This, however, is the bane of religious precepts in a secular environment. It is not in consonant with participatory democracy and the qualities desired from followers in modern democratic society. This is the origin of the proverbial docility, acquiescence and unquestioning acceptance of leadership and the ‘rankadede’ syndrome, an unquestioning obeisance of leaders. The above verse of the Quran (Quran 4:59) assumes a theocratic state.

Modern nation states demand a different set of qualities and paradigms. Unfortunately, most of these qualities are lacking in the followership in our society.

As followers we are too timid and complacent. Starting from the issue of social services, we do not make forceful demands on our rulers. We acquiesce and resort to self-help. We make little or no demands on our leaders for accountability and limit our complaints to rancorous discussions at the beer parlor or at social events over plates of ‘jollof rice’ and Coca Cola. Yet a culture of protest is a sine qua non of democracy.

Protest movements are struggles to be seen and to be heard. In the last 60 years protest movements around the world have mobilized against injustices and inequalities to bring about substantial sociocultural, sociopolitical, and socio-economic changes. Whilst familiar repertoires of action persist, such as strikes, demonstrations, and occupations of public space, the landscape is very different from 60 years ago when the so-called ‘new social movements’ emerged.

Protest movements are a key function of democracy. They represent an expression of ideas and principles to challenge dominant orthodoxies and have resulted in significant changes to policies and legislation as well as to attitudinal transformations in local, national, and international contexts. Protest movements show no signs of abating in the twenty-first century as people challenge governments, regimes, economic structures, austerity, material inequalities as well as advocate for global issues such as food, water, energy, healthcare, and climate change.

Protest is an operation of democratic power which can be performative; it is both an act and an enactment. Protest is a collective struggle which calls into question ‘the inchoate and powerful dimensions of reigning notions of the political’. The democratic public performs its existence through resistance: it demands recognition, embodies visibility, articulates a political voice, and communicates ideas/demands. In doing so, protest constitutes ‘the people’, and through the aesthetics of protest, ruptures conventions of doing politics.

Protests emerge when people come together to react against exclusion, inequality and injustice, usually propagated by the state or government, though other actors or structures including environmental precarity or economic instability can mobilize people to act. “The founding moment of French political history was the Revolution. Since then, French people speak directly to power through protest: Although not necessarily in such a bloody way.”

Protest movements have been recognized as significant contributors to processes of political participation and transformations of culture and value systems, as well as to the development of both a national and transnational civil society.

In the words of Prof Wole Soyinka: “Let us begin with some collective introspection. I have become increasingly convinced that, between leadership and the led, there is only a very thin dividing line, often nearly indistinguishable. There is no question in my mind that, most often, the so-called led are their own worst enemies, even to the point of self-betrayal and treachery to their own existence…” Wole Soyinka: ‘Handshake Across History’.

Public participation, therefore, as a political principle or practice, and may also be recognized as a right. … It implies that the public’s contribution will influence the decision. Public participation may also be regarded as a way of empowerment and as a vital part of democratic governance. The key role of citizens in a democracy is to participate in public life.

Protest is possible because we have inalienable rights to assemble, to associate, and to speak. Rather, the enactment of protest signifies democracy in its most essential form, one that is founded on action and enactment: ‘Democracy is, properly speaking, the symbolic institution of the political in the form of the power of those who are not entitled to exercise power – a rupture in the order of legitimacy and domination. Democracy is the paradoxical power of those who do not count’ (Rancière and Panagia 2000: 124).

Protest is not only concerned with seeking recognition; protest seeks to disrupt the existing political order, transcend, or abandon its ideological trappings, and create new possibilities.

Protests invoke images of mass demonstrations, riots, and sit-ins, all of which are common tactics used by civic activists, often to advocate for a cause or protest a government policy. At the heart of protest culture is a firm belief in the value of free speech, and the power of the collective in making demands on the state. Protest culture thus has its roots in the democratic ideals that enable them to take place: justice, equality, and fraternity, to name some of them.

Protest culture, however, need not lead to a slippery slope of divisive identity politics, if it is rooted in a thoughtful, engaged citizenship. This cuts to the heart of the state’s distrust of protests – a fundamental lack of respect for, or trust in, the citizenry by the state due to paternalism. Such paternalism views protestors as petulant children who make demands without considering the complex challenges that policymakers face and inevitable trade-offs they have to make. Protests are seen as outlets for populism and xenophobia, rather than a meaningful intervention into existing debates.

In other climes they protest and riot over increase in the price of bread or rice, fuel and other issues that impinge on the welfare of the people. Here we are content to accept all that they throw at us with equanimity. What have we done about the fantabulous take home pay of our legislators? Nothing! We do not protest the potholes on our streets or the delay in refuse disposal. We make little or no demands on our leaders and do not hold them responsible for our degradation, impoverishment and accelerating poverty.

Political apathy can be categorized as the indifference of an individual and a lack of interest in participating in political activities. Political apathy can lead to low voter turnout and stagnation in government.

It has been argued that religion; in particular Islam, is a contributing factor to the situation of political docility and lethargy of its adherents. Obedience is a divine command from al-Qur’an and Hadith likewise. Islamic history records many instances as far as obedience is concerned.

On the authority of Ibn ‘Umar, The Holy Prophet (SAW) said: It is obligatory upon a Muslim that he should listen (to the ruler appointed over him) and obey him whether he likes it or not, except that he is ordered to do a sinful thing. If he is ordered to do a sinful act, a Muslim should neither listen to him nor should he obey his orders (Sahih Muslim, Book 20, Hadith 4533).

This perhaps accounts for the proverbial acceptance of some of our brothers in the faith for the misrule of their leaders and why they have remained apolitical.

This thesis is however faulted in the light of the ‘Arab Spring’ and other uprisings and protests in patently Islamic climes. It is therefore not Islam or Christianity that makes a citizen apathetic, irresponsible to his political duties and obligations; rather it is the political culture of lethargy and political de-participation.

Despite the suffering and challenges we face, we lack the culture of protest and rejection of bad governance. People are not prepared to make sacrifices on the barricades and as such resign their lives to fate. Yet, in this same country, we had, Aba Women Protest, Enugu Coal Miners Strike, Egba Women Protest, NADECO, Civil Society Groups, Occupy Nigeria and the recent ENDSARS Protest. But no nationwide protest over ASU/Government closure of universities for nearly a year, no pim on the excesses and political paganism of our legislators, nothing on the state of hunger and starvation in the country despite humongous expenditure on SUVs, Hajj and other scandalous spendings.

Yet, protests and counter-protests are all products of a healthy democracy, and thus help engage a wider public in important discourse that is often overlooked because it involves only a small minority of people.

In an age of increased complexity and in which the population has grown to demand more of a say, protest allows all people to make their voices heard, helping to surface opinions that might change Nigeria for the better, but might otherwise never be heard or taken seriously by the state.

Even in Islamic history, there are instances of the importance of followers asking questions and making demands on their leaders. A person cannot be a functioning member of his community if he or she lacks knowledge and wisdom. Equally a follower is expected to be courageous.

According to Mohammed Al-Işfahani: “courage is a quality of the soul, its heart’s strength against shock and composure when experiencing fear.” The Path to Virtue: The Ethical Philosophy of AlRaghib Al-Işfahani: International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization, p 275)  

The earliest followers in Islam were credible, honest and courageous. Therefore, they established themselves as independent, critical thinkers whose knowledge and wisdom are dependable. Bashir bin Sa‘ad (r.a) was a courageous follower during Omar’s (r.a) regime. He was bold enough to tell Caliph ‘Omar that they will straighten him as they do with their arrows if he fails to properly perform his duties as a leader.

Caliph Omar said, “It is the duty of the leader and followers to listen to each other and to voice out their concern.” He added, “When followers do not participate and provide input, they are not contributing something useful. And we are not useful if we do not consent to their contributions.” (Ali, A.J. (2005), Islamic Perspectives on Management and Organization. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. P 135)

Of Tragedy and Hope: The fatherless child is snatched from the breast; the infant of the poor is seized for a debt. Lacking clothes, they go about naked; they carry the sheaves but still go hungry.  They crush the olives among the terraces; they tread the winepresses yet suffer thirst. The groans of the dying rise from the city, the souls of the wounded cry out for help. But God charges no one with wrongdoing (Job 24:8-12)

Barka Juma’at and a happy weekend