This year’s Eid-el-fitr, or Sallah, was celebrated by Muslims in Nigeria with severely tampered joy. All Muslims who saw the end of the fasting period of course gave thanks to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala for being part of His community which He enjoined to fast in the month of Ramadan. They also prayed that their acts of worship and sacrifices will be accepted by Him. They all look forward to another 11 months when they will live without the mandatory abstinence from food and pleasures of the flesh; and they pray that they will continue to raise the standards of their piety and devotion, as well as seek even more vigorously, knowledge, peace and the means to give to those who are more in need than they are.
Nothing will deprive a Muslim of the joys of completing the mandatory fasting during Ramadan; but the end of the month is also an occasion for serious reflection on the life of individual Muslims and the entire Muslim community. Those whose business it is to take stock of the place of Muslims in Nigeria and the world would be disturbed by the appearances of worrying tendencies and developments among the Muslim community. The holy month of Ramadan, during which the Quran was sent to all Muslims, is one in which Muslims are required to exhibit the highest standards of conduct and devotion which is required of all Muslims; and to show the highest levels of restraint and discipline at both individual and social levels. The month is supposed to reinforce the natural unity among all Muslims, and strengthen their bonds through acts of worship and submission to the will of Allah.
For Nigerian Muslims, the muted controversies over the sighting of the moon which signalled the beginning and the end of the month of Ramadan are symptoms of a very serious problem which must be tackled. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala has decreed that Muslims should start and conclude the in the month of Ramadan on sighting the moon; and in His wisdom, He made the process of a simple one, requiring two things. The first is that a reliable Muslim or Muslims must actually sight the moon. The second is that the Muslim community should have a credible leadership which will verify and inform them of the sighting, and advise them to commence or conclude the fast. Although there have always been pockets of disagreements and resistance around the sighting of the moon in Nigeria, the level of dissent and arguments, particularly in the north this year is a major cause for worry. In spite of strenuous efforts made to discourage the Ulama from expressing strong opinions on the manner the Ramadan fasting started, most Muslims were made aware through Tafsir and other avenues that the dissent this year represents a very serious breach which must be addressed. The manner in which major segments of the Muslim community also reacted to the end of the Ramadan compounded the problem, and this year, perhaps more than any other, more Muslims in the north prayed separately than was ever the case in recent memory. The uncomfortable truth is that there is a lot wrong at the highest levels of Nigeria’s Muslim leadership. The clergy and the traditional rulers are part of the problem. Yet these are the very leaders who have to find a solution to the disunity, and the increasing tendency to question the integrity and authority of leaders whose words a few years ago went unchallenged.
The emerging evidence of a weakening leadership for Nigerian Muslims could explain the emergence of fringe sects and groups such as Bako Haram. In the last week of the Ramadan, a group claiming to be acting on behalf of Nigerian and world Muslims bombed the United Nations Office in Abuja, killing more than 20 people. The group said it is fighting for Islam. The leadership of Nigerian Muslims has not advised Muslims on the perspectives to adopt towards that action, on the basis of the correct interpretation of the Quran and Sunna. Perhaps they are afraid; or perhaps they cannot agree on the correct interpretation of this act. Perhaps, as is the worst fears of Nigerian Muslims, there really is no credible leadership for Muslims in Nigeria. Could the sects have divided Muslims so deeply that millions of Muslims would rather follow sect leaders than those leaders who had commanded their respect for many decades on vital issues such as violence, or sighting of the moon? Could the ranks of the traditional rulers have been so severely breached by the erosion of personal integrity and the hallowed position of those who occupy them that even high ranking Emirs will go against the Sultan? Could fringe groups and sects have detected the serious weaknesses at the leadership level to decide to chart their own course? Or has partisan politics eaten so deeply into the ranks of the religious and traditional elite, such that it will be difficult for these leaders to find a solution to the problems of Nigerian Muslims?
There are many disturbing trends and developments in the manner Nigerian Muslims relate to each other, and with their leaders. These trends are responsible for the weaknesses and the reasons why many people lost their lives in Jos on the Monday Sallah day. They are responsible for the tension that arose over a fire at Kafanchan market on the night before Sallah. They are the reasons why millions of Muslims prayed under barrels of guns and boots of security personnel who were deployed in the rain to keep them safe while they prayed at Eid grounds in many towns and cities. They are the reasons why Muslims in the same town prayed on two different days; and why subsequent Eids may take the same pattern unless measures are taken to address their causes.
At the international level, the fortunes of Muslims in a world growing weary and worried over them are not getting better. Many Arab Muslims have thrown off dictators, but it is uncertain whether the Western powers who helped them in this endeavour will not gain firmer control over their lives. The war in Afghanistan, and killings in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Pakistan, all with strong religious undertones are still claiming many lives. Entire regimes are tenuously clinging to power, and the next few months will show whether the West will prop up some of them, while they let others sink. The fate of Islam and Muslims the world over is strategically linked with the many battles and skirmishes in which it is involved with its leaders, and the disposition of the West. What is certain is that the Western world wants to see a Muslim world which poses less threat to it, but is not willing to address irritants such as the fate of Palestinians, or its support for corrupt dictators.
Nigerian Muslims have many problems. Some of these are problems they have with a Nigerian State which many think has little respect for their basic rights and privileges. These problems can be solved, but they require, first, a committed and courageous leadership which transcends sect and political divides. If Nigerian Muslims cannot unite behind a strong and committed leadership, they will be vulnerable to stronger divisive tendencies. A divided Muslim Umma is a threat to itself; and a threat to Nigeria and the world. Those upon those shoulders the task of leading the Nigerian Muslim community rest should own up to the fact that there is a very serious problem, and although they are part of it, they must work to solve it.
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