Islam

Friday Sermon: Hijab 1: A Historical Excursion

Published

2 years ago

January 20, 2023

Eric

By Babatunde Jose

The issue of the veil and hijab has created so much controversy and continues to do so depending on which side of the religious and social platform we stand to observe the unfolding events. The issue raises many fundamental questions which cut across historical, social and traditional spheres, Quranic pronouncement and Hadith, Islamic jurisprudence, Sharia and the whole gamut of Islamophobia and Hijabophobia. Finally, issues of law across nations where the question has been, to ban or not to ban.

We would start our discourse with a historical excursion into the institution of veiling across the ages and its metamorphosis into a symbol of Islamic identity.

We shall interrogate the Quranic provision and determine if it was recommendatory or mandatory. Therefore, without the hijab, would the Muslimness of a woman become null and void? Can what is made recommendatory by the Holy Quran be metamorphosed into mandatory dicta by hadith which is supplementary to the Quran? These and other issues shall be explored in the Sermons to come.

There is no doubt, the controversy over the hijab arose out of the age-long interpretations given the Quranic verses, some hadiths, and the role of Islamic schools of jurisprudence after the demise of the Prophet.

Veiling did not originate with the advent of Islam. Evidence of veiling dates back as far as 2500 BC. Elite women in ancient Mesopotamia and in the Byzantine, Greek, and Persian empires wore the veil as a sign of respectability and high status.

In ancient Mesopotamia and Assyria, they had explicit sumptuary laws detailing which women must veil and which women must not, depending upon the woman’s class, rank, and occupation in society. Female slaves and prostitutes were forbidden to veil and faced harsh penalties if they did so. Veiling was thus not only a marker of aristocratic rank, but also served to “differentiate between ‘respectable’ women and those who were publicly available”; pro bono publico.

Strict seclusion and the veiling of matrons were also customary in ancient Greece. Between 550 and 323 BCE, prior to Christianity, respectable women in classical Greek society were expected to seclude themselves and wear clothing that concealed them from the eyes of strange men. Roman custom included the practice of the head covering worn by the priestesses of Vesta (Vestal Virgins).

It is not clear whether the Hebrew Bible contains prescriptions with regard to veiling, but rabbinic literature presents it as a question of modesty. It became an important rabbinic virtue in the early Roman period, and it may also have been intended to distinguish Jewish women from their non-Jewish counterparts in Babylonian and later in Greco-Roman society. According to rabbinical precepts, married Jewish women have to cover their hair. According to Fadwa El Guindi, at the inception of Christianity, Jewish women were veiling their heads and faces.

The Bible attests to the veiling of women as we read in the passage in 1 Corinthians 11:4-7: “every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head”.

The early Church Fathers, including Tertullian of Carthage, Clement of Alexandria, Hippolytus of Rome, John Chrysostom and Augustine of Hippo attested in their writings that Christian women should wear a headcovering, while men should pray with their heads uncovered.

There is archaeological evidence demonstrating that headcovering was observed as an ordinance by women in early Christianity, and the practice of Christian headcovering continues among female adherents of many Christian denominations today.

In the Indian subcontinent, Hindu women cover their heads with a veil in a practice known as ghoonghat. Intermixing of populations resulted in a convergence of the cultural practices of Greek, Persian, and Mesopotamian empires and the Semitic peoples of the Middle East. Veiling and seclusion of women appear to have established themselves among Jews and Christians before spreading to urban Arabs of the upper classes and eventually among the urban masses. In the rural areas it was common to cover the hair, but not the face.

According to Leila Ahmed, the rigid norms pertaining to veiling and seclusion of women found in Christian Byzantine literature have been influenced by ancient Persian traditions, and there is evidence to suggest that they differed significantly from actual practice.

Available evidence suggests that veiling was not introduced into Arabia by Muhammad, but already existed there, particularly in the towns, although it was probably not as widespread as in the neighboring countries such as Syria and Palestine.

Similarly, to the practice among Greeks, Romans (Byzantines), Jews, and Assyrians, its use was associated with high social status. In the early Islamic texts, the term hijab does not distinguish between veiling and seclusion, and can mean either “veil” or “curtain”.

Allah says “O Prophet! Tell your wives & daughters & the women of the believers to draw their cloaks (veils) all over their bodies (screen themselves completely except the eyes), that will be better that they should be known as respectable women so as not to be annoyed or molested. (Quran 33:59)

The Holy Quran does not make wearing of hijab or headgear mandatory for Muslim women. Whatever is stated in the above Ayat, is only directory, because of the absence of prescription of penalty or penance for not wearing hijab, the linguistic structure of other verses supports this view.

The only verses in the Qur’an that specifically reference women’s clothing are those promoting modesty, instructing women to guard their private parts and draw their scarves over their breast area in the presence of men.

The contemporary understanding of the hijab dates back to Hadith when the “verse of the hijab” descended upon the community in 627 CE. Now documented in Sura 33:53, the verse states, “And when you ask [his wives] for something, ask them from behind a partition. That is purer for your hearts and their hearts”. This verse, however, was not addressed to women in general, but exclusively to Muhammad’s wives.

As Muhammad’s influence increased, he entertained more and more visitors in the mosque, which was then his home. Often, these visitors stayed the night only feets away from his wives’ apartments. It is commonly understood that this verse was intended to protect his wives from these strangers. During Muhammad’s lifetime the term for donning the veil, darabat al-hijab, was used interchangeably with “being Muhammad’s wife”.

Because Islam identified with the monotheistic religions of the conquered empires, the practice was adopted as an appropriate expression of Quranic ideals regarding modesty and piety. Veiling gradually spread to upper-class Arab women, and eventually it became widespread among Muslim women in cities throughout the Middle East.

Veiling of Arab Muslim women became especially pervasive under Ottoman rule as a mark of rank and exclusive lifestyle, and Istanbul of the 17th century witnessed differentiated dress styles that reflected geographical and occupational identities.

By the 19th century, upper-class urban Muslim and Christian women in Egypt wore a garment which included a head cover and a burqa (muslin cloth that covered the lower nose and the mouth). The name of this garment, harabah, derives from early Christian and Judaic religious vocabulary, which may indicate the origins of the garment itself. Up to the first half of the twentieth century, rural women in the Maghreb and Egypt put on a form of niqab when they visited urban areas, “as a sign of civilization”.

Hijab has been referred to as the veil that covers the head and is usually worn by Muslim women. It is taken as a symbol of modesty and privacy. The Quran never explicitly used the term hijab in reference to body veiling, instead used the words khimār and jilbab. The word hijab means “a screen or curtain” and is used in the Quran to show the meaning of a screen, partition, or curtain. None of these words are used in the Quran in reference to what the Muslims refer to today as a dress code for the Muslim woman.

Some meanings for the word include screen, covering, curtain, drapes, or partition. Hijab in the Quran has nothing to do with the Muslim women dress code.

Jews practiced the tradition of wearing a veil (by women) and cover (by men), as apparent from Talmud quotes (Talmud equals the hadiths and sunnah, but neither of which are the words of God Himself). The Christians adopted this further. The people belonging to the above-mentioned religions cover their heads in the synagogues, weddings, and religious festivities.

Christian nuns are seen in full veil all the time. In pre-Islamic times in Arab, everyone used to wear a veil only out of tradition. In Saudi Arabia up to this day, men cover their heads with veils. In North African Sahara, the Tuareg Tribe has men wearing veils instead of women. In pre-Islamic times people used to cover themselves more fully in order to protect themselves from the harsh weather conditions, especially in the Arab states with scorching heat.

Covering the heads was neither a religious nor a social obligation. But today it has assumed a potent religious ammunition, particularly with the weaponization of religion.

There is nothing bad in the adornment of hijab by choice by women to protect them from the lustful attention of the menfolk and also to project their Islamism, but when its use is being forced as we have in some Talibanic societies under the guise of Hadithi injunctions, then it becomes a questionable exercise open to interrogation. This brings into fore the various interpretations of the provisions of the Quran and the fatwa of the various schools of Islamic jurisprudence on the matter. To be continued.

Barka Juma’at and happy weekend,

+2348033110822

Islam

Friday Sermon: The Concept of Gratitude in Islam

Published

6 days ago

October 4, 2024

Eric

By Babatunde Jose

Therefore remember Me, I will remember you and give thanks to Me and be not ungrateful to Me (Quran 2:152).

This verse underscores the idea that being grateful to Allah for His blessings leads to an increase in those blessings, while ingratitude may lead to divine consequences.

Gratitude is when you feel thankful for the good things in your life. This could be things people often take for granted, like having a place to live, food, clean water, friends, and family. Gratitude is taking a moment to reflect on how lucky you are when something good happens, whether it’s small or big.

The Islamic message of gratitude is “Alhamdulillah for everything I have, Alhamdulillah for everything I had and Alhamdulillah for everything I will have.” In Surah Al-Ala, ayat 7 it says, “Except what Allah should will. Indeed, He knows what is declared and what is hidden. And We will ease you toward ease.”(Quran 87:7)

The Prophet (SAW) was a leading example when showing gratitude towards the creation and the Creator. Many du’ā uttered by the Prophet (SAW) include words of gratitude to Allah and he would often pray excessively for those who carried out favours for him.

Gratitude reminds us that everything that happens to us comes from God and that we shouldn’t take the many bounties in our lives for granted. The Qur’an says: “And whatever of blessings and good things you have, it is from God” (Quran 16:53). And gratitude is not just about giving credit where credit is due.

The 3 stages of gratitude are: Stage 1: Acknowledging what you’re grateful for in your life. We have all experienced these types of feelings, but mostly they are fleeting. Stage 2: Expressing gratitude to others. …Stage 3: Integrating the essence of gratitude into your life and psyche.

The six pillars of gratitude are: relatedness, sincerity, empathy, self-regard, integrity, and humility. To be able to move from the sense of gratitude as an emotion to gratitude as an action – or deep gratitude – requires a commitment to putting priority on the relationships in our lives.

These feelings are part of the ‘increase’ that Allah says He gives to His grateful servants: “If you are thankful, I will give you more” (Quran 14:7). The ‘more’ does not have to be ‘more’ materially, but a feeling of fullness, satisfaction in the heart, and closeness to God.

Allah is Ash-Shakur, meaning the most grateful, the rewarder of good deeds, and is most appreciative.

It is Allah who has created us, made us an intelligent species, and favored us with many blessings. Whatever good we achieve – whether relating to material, professional, personal, or spiritual life – is ultimately from Allah. As He states in the Quran, “And He gave you from all you asked of Him. And if you should count the favors of Allah, you could not enumerate them. Indeed, humankind is [generally] most unjust and ungrateful.” (Quran 14:34)

The above ayah emphasizes the need for frequently expressing gratitude to Allah. However, many of us are unaware of how exactly to do so – what constitutes gratitude and what does not? Here are ten practices and attitudes for showing thankfulness to Allah.

1) Contemplate His blessings in your life: Begin by reflecting upon all that is worthwhile in your life – including your relationships, abilities, possessions, and achievements. If you are not consciously aware of what there is to be thankful for, then you simply cannot be thankful for it. Also think about what could have been worse in your life: imagine being deprived of something valuable or picture yourself living in a homeless shelter. These scenarios, disconcerting as they may seem, allow you to appreciate your situation in life, and not take things for granted.

2) Be content at heart: Do not yearn for what others have; rather, be content with what you can acquire, without overworking yourself or trampling upon someone else to get there. If you constantly compare your financial status or perceived well-being with anyone else, you are not going to achieve peace of mind. And without peace of mind, there is no contentment of heart.

3) Express gratitude with words: Call upon Allah each day to express how grateful you are for His favors. Praise Allah by saying “Alhamdulillah” every time you eat or drink something, and whenever something good comes your way. Remember Allah frequently, call upon Him without any intermediary, and praise Him for His beneficence and generosity.

4) Obey the commands of Allah: Obedience to the commands of Allah is the most practical form of gratitude. Therefore, make every effort to enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong. Strive for the truth even if it goes against you or those close to you.

5) Value your relationships: Appreciate the people around you who add value to your world. Think about what each important person in your life does for you. Make sure you don’t take anyone for granted – whether your parents, spouse, children, friends, relatives, co-workers, or anyone else you routinely interact with. Never let a disagreement or an unpleasant exchange with one person adversely affect your conduct towards others. Think of ways to improve your relationships, knowing that it is Allah who has placed you in the midst of certain people.

6) Thank people who do good to you: Express gratitude to any person who does something for you – no matter how small.

7) Share your blessings with others: Everything that you possess ultimately belongs to Allah; you are merely its custodian and beneficiary for a period of time. It thus makes sense to share your blessings with fellow humans.

8) Do not waste your blessings: Wasting food, water, and other resources is a sign of indifference towards Allah’s blessings. Millions of people around the world are deprived of basic necessities such as regular meals and clean water.

9) Exercise patience in difficult times: What better way is there to counter a difficulty than to show patience and determination? Instead of feeling dejected or angry, trust Allah to help you, and take you over the line. As Prophet Yaqub said, “Indeed, no one despairs of relief from Allah except the disbelieving people.” (Quran 12:87)

10) Remain committed in times of ease: In good times, it is easy to imagine that nothing can go wrong. Hence, one may end up neglecting the remembrance of Allah, and becoming absorbed into worldly life.

If you appreciate Allah’s favors, He has promised increased Rahma or mercy for you. Allah’s reward for your gratitude is unlimited and unconditional. “If you are grateful, I will surely give you more and more” (Quran 14:7).

Islam does not only teach us to thank Allah, but we are also told to thank our parents, our spouses, our friends, our neighbors, and all those who do any good to us. The Prophet (SAW) said, “Those who do not thank people, they do not thank Allah.” (At-Tirmidhi).

Islam forbids ingratitude in all forms. Like the Yorubas say; ‘eni ti ase ‘loore ti ko dupe, bi olosa akoni leru lo ni’. The ingrate is like a thief who carts our valuables away.

Studies are showing that there are endless health benefits of a regular gratitude practice. It turns out that cultivating a gratitude practice reduces the stress and physiological indicators of stress. Expressing gratitude can also increase feelings of happiness and satisfaction in life.

Gratitude is an emotion similar to appreciation. The American Psychological Association more specifically defines this phenomenon as a sense of happiness and thankfulness in response to a fortunate happenstance or tangible gift. Gratitude is both a state and a trait (Jans-Beken et al., Gratitude and Health: An Updated Review. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 15(6), 743-782. 2020).

Gratitude comes from the Latin word “gratus” meaning “thankful” or “pleasing.” Being grateful is a feeling of appreciation for acts of kindness and thankfulness for what we have, such as supportive friends, family, coworkers, pets and service animals, fulfilling careers, and good health.

Matthew 6:25-34, puts everything in perspective. . In everything thank God…

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin and yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you – you of little faith?”

“Therefore, do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ for it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all of these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.”

Allah has promised us in the Holy Qur’an (14:7) that if we are grateful He will give us more. “More of what?” we may ask. Imam Ghazali furnishes the answer when he says that Allah will grant us more of His blessings.

In order to encourage us to be grateful, Allah discloses part of His limitless love and mercy to us when He categorically states that if we are grateful He will not punish us. He first promises this in the form of a question in the verse: What can Allah gain by your punishment, if ye are grateful and ye believe? Nay, it is Allah that recognizeth (all good), and knoweth all things.(Quran 3:147)

In one of his admonitions, Bearer Adeniji Kazeem SAN wrote: Live in gratitude, when you are thankful for what you have, you are always rewarded with more. There is an old saying that, if you have forgotten the language of gratitude, you will never be on speaking terms with happiness. It is good to see people do good, do good, be humble, life is always enjoyable, we just have to learn to steal pleasure from small things, it is not happy people who are thankful, it is thankful people who are happy, stay positive, may Allah(swt) strengthen our faith, accept our good deeds.

Barka Juma’at and happy weekend

Islam

Friday Sermon: The Concept of Mercy in Islam

Published

2 weeks ago

September 27, 2024

Eric

By Babatunde Jose

The Vulture has a bald head, the monkey has hairless buttocks, the hornbill- Akalamagbo, has goiter on its neck, and the sheep lacks upper front teeth, each faces it’s unique challenges, there is no human without imperfections or shortcomings, all praises are due to Allah who has taken away from us discomfort and granted us relief, every good thing starts with Bismillah and end with Alhamdulillah, may Allah be pleased with us, forgive our sins, grant us long life, good health, and make Aljannah our final abode – Bearer Niji Kazeem SAN

One way of exploring mercy is by looking at what it means to people of different faith traditions. Their scriptures and beliefs can enrich our own understanding. To examine a theology of mercy in Islam may seem somewhat strange in today’s context of what could be called a plague of terrorist attacks by Islamic fundamentalists against both Muslims and non-Muslims in many parts of the world, especially with Boko Haram, ISIS and its derivatives in our clime.

However, their interpretation of the Qur’an and the teachings of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) – which forms the religious rationale for their political and military movements – do not represent the vast majority of Muslims.

It could therefore be helpful to take a brief look at a different interpretation. What is the theological understanding of Mercy in Islam? This can be found in the two primary sources of revelation, the Qur’an and the Sunnah.

Mercy in Islam is seen as having two manifestations – internally: a kind heart and compassionate soul, and externally: “pardoning those who slip, forgiving those who are mistaken, helping those in trouble, assisting the weak, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, tending to the sick, and consoling the grieved…as well as many other things”.

The importance of the concept of mercy in Islam is seen in its use in the Qur’an. The Arabic invocation Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim appears at the beginning of all but one of the 114 Suras (chapters). Translated, bismillah (or Basmala) means “In the name of God (Allah)”. It is also used at the beginning of any activity and is therefore an essential element of a Muslim’s identity.

The second part lists two of God’s names or attributes, rahman and rahim, which are derived from the Semitic root r-h-m. These two terms are often translated into English as “The Compassionate (or Gracious or Beneficent) and The Merciful”. Both words, rahman and rahim, are derived from the same word, rahmah meaning ‘mercy’. Rahim (raham or rahm) is also the word for ‘womb’.

In the Hadith collection of Al-Tirmidhi, the Prophet (SAW) reports that “Allah the Exalted said: I am Ar-Rahman. I created the Raham”. In this saying, Raham is related to the Arabic word rahm (womb). Veronica Lawson, in her book The Blessing of Mercy, explains the Hebrew use of words in the Bible relating to mercy and ‘womb-compassion’: “The noun raḥamîm, the verb raḥam, to mercy or to show womb compassion, and the adjective raḥûm, merciful or womb-compassionate, are all related to the Hebrew word for womb, reḥem”. The close relationship between these concepts in Islam and Judaism and their similar use in Greek in the Christian New Testament, offers great potential for dialogue and shared commitment to mercy between these three Abrahamic religions.

This womb-compassion of God is reported in another Islamic Hadith: The Messenger of Allah, Prophet Muhammad (SAW)…said: “Those who are merciful will be shown mercy by the most Merciful. Be merciful to those on the earth and the One above the heavens will have mercy upon you. The womb is derived from the Most Merciful, thus whoever keeps relations with [their] family then Allah will keep relations with [them], and whoever abandons [their] family then Allah will abandon [them]. (Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith no. 1924).

Wahiduddin (Richard Shelquist) sums up this idea of womb-compassion: …the phrase ir rahman ir rahim is a recognition and honoring of the very source of all existence, the source of all blessings, the source of all compassion, the source of all mercy who gives endlessly to us and who also responds according to our moral integrity, our harmony with all of creation and our love of Allah.

In the Qur’an, God is revealed as having mercy on believers: “[God] is ever merciful (Rahim) to the believers” (Quran 33:43). ‘Believers’ in this context refers to those who believe in God and have accepted Muhammad (SAW) as the Messenger of God, i.e. Muslims (Quran 4:136). The Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was sent as a messenger of this divine mercy to his followers: “Surely, a Messenger has come to you from among yourselves; …ardently desirous is he of your welfare; compassionate and merciful towards the believers” (Quran 9:128). His mission also extended beyond ‘the believers’ to all: “(O Muhammad!) We have only sent you as a mercy for all worlds’ (Quran 21:107). The Turkish scholar, Cafer Yaran, says: “Therefore, it is possible to conclude that mercy is one of the most essential Islamic virtues and anything which conflicts with mercy does not coincide with the Prophet’s mission”.

When asked to pray against idolaters, Muhammad (SAW) is reported as replying: “Verily I was not sent to invoke curses, but rather as mercy” (Muslim, Hadith no. 2599).

Muslims, as well as receiving the mercy of God, are required to extend mercy to others. The Prophet said “Allah will not be merciful to those who are not merciful to the people.” (Bukhari, Hadith no. 6941 and Muslim, Hadith no. 2319). Being merciful is basic to being a Muslim.

This brief exploration of a theology of mercy reveals an aspect of Islam that is very important to millions of Muslims. Following various terrorist attacks, many Muslim leaders make public statements condemning the actions and motivations of the perpetrators, and their message is: “They do not represent us”.

Muslims in general hold strongly to their belief that Islam is a religion of peace, and being merciful is an essential element of being a good Muslim. Being merciful is also an essential element of being Christian. This common ground between Muslims and Christians is an invitation for mutual exploration.

Our world is dangerously polarized, and religion is often regarded as part of the problem. Yet religions should be contributing to one of the chief tasks of our time. Our religious traditions are rich and multifarious—they differ significantly and in important ways. But they all agree that compassion is the test of true spirituality and lies at the heart of morality.

The compassionate imperative has been epitomized in the aphorism that is sometimes called the Golden Rule: “Never do to others what you would not like them to do to you” (or, in its positive form, “Always treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself”).

The prophets and sages insisted that we cannot confine our benevolence to our own group. We must have concern for everybody: love the stranger in our midst, love even our enemies, and reach out to all tribes and nations. If we want a viable world for the next generation, it is essential that in the global community, all peoples, whatever their nationality, ethnicity, or ideology, are treated with respect and can live in harmony.

If this principle had been applied more stringently in the past by, for example, the colonial powers during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, we would likely have less problems today.

If we want a peaceful, just, and sustainable world, we have to behave more compassionately. The compassionate message of religion is more sorely needed now than ever. There is a worrying imbalance of power and wealth in the world and consequently an escalating mix of rage, malaise, alienation, and humiliation that has, in some cases, led to terrorist atrocities that endanger us all. No day passes without sad news of people being kidnapped, killed or maimed by terrorists.

We are engaged in wars and conflicts that have entailed horrific civilian casualties and denial of fundamental human rights. Islamophobia has become a growing trend in Europe, North America and even here at home; and its divisive discourse threatens fundamental human decencies.

In a world in which small disaffected groups will increasingly have destructive powers hitherto confined to the nation-state, it has become imperative to apply the Golden Rule globally, ensuring that we treat all people as we wish to be treated ourselves.

Compassion is no longer an option—it is the key to our survival. If our religious and ethical traditions fail to address these challenges, they will fail the test of our time. It is crucial that we develop a more global outlook. We need a global democracy, in which all voices— not merely those favored by the rich and powerful—are heard.

At the same time as the world is so perilously divided, we are bound together more closely than ever before. We are interconnected economically: We are also linked politically: And we are drawn intimately together on the World Wide Web; and we all, without exception, face the possibility of environmental catastrophe.

What afflicts the eye necessarily concerns the nose, if the rich and affluent think that they are immune to the predicaments and suffering of the poor, they are deluded. When ‘the come’ comes to become, all will be consumed by the conflagration. A word is enough for the wise. Ihdinas Siratal Mustaqim – (Quran 1:6)

Barka Juma’at and happy weekend

Islam

Friday Sermon: Of Tragedy and Hope

Published

3 weeks ago

September 20, 2024

Eric

By Babatunde Jose

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)

Our lot as a people can be summed up as a situation of tragedy and hope. Our condition is tragic as this sum up our economic, social and political impotence and inability to change the game; our spiritual powerlessness to invoke the higher authority to lend a hand on our affairs as a result of our iniquities and moral degenerative state and spiritual delinquency. Not only have we been unable to chart a clear and unambiguous path for sustained economic advancement, we have failed to harness our God given potentials as a people to create self sustained development like other countries faced with similar tragedies. Today, majority of our people live in tattered penury, naked poverty, want and spiritual hunger.

Oscar Wilde said: ‘Behind every exquisite thing that happens, there was a tragedy.’ We have all heard about the pacifying clichés like, ‘bad things can lead to good’, ‘A blessing in disguise’ or ‘beauty from ashes’. This however, is not the case with poverty, which for people in low-income settings, the tragedy of poverty has been turned into a case of double jeopardy. It is as if people in poverty are being punished twice for the same crime: that they are poor and that due to their poverty, they are unable to bring about change in their condition. They are literally, the ‘forgotten’, forsaken by man and their creator.

For many, poverty elicits very personal terrible memories. A case in point: Adidi was born the tenth of 16 children in a small town in Umudike. His father worked a medium income job and their mother stayed home to look after the children. At 14, his father unexpectedly had stroke and died within one week.

For all his childhood he knew only one meal a day. He saw poverty ruthlessly ravage his family like a lion tears apart its prey. Some of his siblings and childhood friends remain trapped in poverty. For most of his school days, he used kerosene lamps to do his homework. He has no good memories of the unpleasant smells, the coughs and lung infections they suffered from inhaling the smoke from these lamps – night after night.

What are more dangerous are the generational effects of poverty. Adidi has seen good-hearted, generous former classmates of his turn into mean, selfish politicians and bureaucrats, who take community funds for themselves and their families because poverty has taught them that there aren’t enough resources for all to share.

Looking at our clime we see an economy that is trapped in corruption because poverty taught us to hold on to what we have, for tomorrow, we may not have it. This really is a monumental tragedy.

Nigeria and South Africa, which together make up more than half of sub-Saharan Africa’s gross domestic product, are in deep trouble. Their economies are in trouble.

The naira is under pressure, foreign exchange is rationed, the budget is strained and a balance of payments crisis is looming, not to talk of debt ridded economy where the future of its people has been mortgaged.

The grotesque use by politicians of the people’s money and resources around the continent is a reminder that corruption is alive and well. Just this week, we received the report of the son of recently retired Intelligence Chief making away with a cool $2,000,000 cash from his father’s safe. Where did the retired Chief get that kind of money from, if not the proceeds of crime? He must be one of the modest thieves in the cleptocracy. More humongous funds have been stolen and starched in septic tanks, village stores, and burial grounds than this paltry 2million.

Judging from the experience on the continent, there are evidences that democratic governments do not necessarily produce better economic results. Our experience in the last 25 years is a glaring testimony to this thesis.

Our middle class is also very fragile, where it exists at all. Many of the so-called “middle class” are scraping by on a few dollars a day in insecure jobs. Many well-paid jobs are in the bloated public sector, funded by governments that may no longer be able to afford such expense. We have seen the trauma occasioned by unpaid salaries.

The biggest flaw in the middle class story is that, with a few exceptions, we are not a manufacturing nation. The economic model continues to be to dig stuff out of the ground and sell it to foreign companies without any added value; which is still the same old colonial economy.

Kingsley Moghalu argues that declining oil prices are just the spur Nigeria needs finally to diversify and become a manufacturing force. Yet Nigeria is not even at the starting line. Home to 2.5 per cent of the world’s population, the country has just 0.1 per cent of its installed electricity capacity, inadequate potable water, and no serious industries to write home about. It has non-industrial labor, a devalued currency and a business class skilled at making money through arbitrage and rent-seeking.

IS THERE HOPE OF A RENEWD HOPE?

It’s not sure what one means by hope; whether you mean hope of a better economic, political emancipation or hope of a better society. In search for this elusive and hopeless hope, people turn to the scriptures. But there is no help from there.

It’s been repeated that the meek will inherit the Earth. See Matthew 5:5. But under the present circumstance, that looks like a furlong hope. Given the negative connotations of meek as passive submissiveness in modern English, this is a problem.

Some linguistic archaeology is needed, both for Psalm 37:11 ‘But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy peace and prosperity. The lowly will possess the land and will live in peace and prosperity. But under the present circumstance, this is not going to happen. Like they say; the patient dog starves to death’.

Without a doubt one of the classic descriptions of the poor comes from the book of Job: Like wild donkeys in the desert, the poor go about their labor of foraging food; the wasteland provides food for their children. They gather fodder in the fields and glean in the vineyards of the wicked. Lacking clothes, they spend the night naked; they have nothing to cover themselves in the cold. They are drenched by mountain rains and hug the rocks for lack of shelter (Job 24:5-8).

Job continues, in his description, by pointing out the unfair nature of the social and economic situation, hinting at an abusive and unequal reality, and raising hard questions about the justice of God: 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. . . . . . (Job 24:8-12)

Job has described what modern sociologists term “the social construction of poverty”. The category of “the poor” is socially constructed and socially maintained, at least in part, by those who are not poor.

Various kinds of social injustice are very much operative at various levels, namely, political, economic, social and even religious. The dialectics of the struggles between the rich and the poor, the haves and the have not’s; the employed and the unemployed, the powerful and powerless, has become a common place in Africa and has proved itself a great source of worry for the African masses.

We have got nepotism, provincialism, ethnocentrism or tribalism, and various forms of institutionalized social discriminations. This sort of social atmosphere, deeply poisoned and violently charged as it is, poses a serious obstacle to justice and its administration and to the recognition and observance of human rights.

In the domestic sphere, there is the glaring fact of irresponsible procreation or rather irresponsible conception which stubbornly perpetuates the reckless practice of launching new babies into the community, with or without the visibility of the means of livelihood.

In consequence recognizable human values are being jeopardized. It is human dignity and decency and security in the standard of living that are here being assailed, if not sacrifices.

Often irresponsible reproduction gives rise to domestic classrooms of ape-looking children suffering from acute malnutrition and want of care. It is also evident to all observes that illiteracy like malaria is a widespread plague.

Probably the greatest, obstacles to the realization of the human person is ignorance and illiteracy which warp and surround with darkness the human personality, as they inhibit its growth and development and kills and dims all hope.

The good life, which is often acknowledged as the purpose of education becomes impossible where ignorance and illiteracy are the order of the day. What they need is poverty alleviation spearheaded by education, even at its rudimentary level, which will open to them a vista of opportunities in a world increasingly dependent on knowledge.

This is where the state comes in, but unfortunately it has abdicated this role.

It is therefore striking to note that poverty is largely manmade, and not as a result of bad luck or unalterable destiny. What is obvious is the existence and operation of unjust sociopolitical and hence power structures, built on networks of domination and exploitation of the poor by the rich and powerful, which are a major cause of poverty.

Rabbana atina fid-dunya hasanatan wa fil ‘akhirati hasanatan waqina ‘adhaban-nar. Our Lord! Grant us good in this world and good in the hereafter, and save us from the chastisement of the fire. (Q2:201)

Barka Juma’at and happy weekend