In the name of Allah, the beneficent the merciful

“Indeed successful are the believers; those who are humble in their Salat (prayers); those who avoid vain talk…these are the heirs who will inherit Paradise and live therein forever”- (Quran23:1-11)

BRETHREN when I proposed in our sermon of last week that, among others, you should not expect an end to the incidence of corruption in high quarters in this country, I wrote, not as a Prophet, who had insights into the unknown. I am not and could not have pretended to be one.

While putting that sermon together, I was sufficiently informed that all human pretenses to know the future, all proclamations about events of tomorrow are, as far as Islam is concerned, transactions in sophistry, and indulgences in self-delusion and mercantilism. They are plots and ploys to deceive the ignoramus, to court the delusional. I could not have pretended to be one of the “prophets” of today because a cardinal article of faith in Islam is the belief in the finality of the prophetic enterprise in the person of Muhammad (may the peace and blessings of Allah be on his soul).

Brethren, the sermon of last week was hinged, in part, on the popular axiom in Arabo-Islamic culture which says “he who weighs what he knows not with what he knows ends up knowing what he desires to know.” I wanted to know whether 2013 would be better than 2012 as far as Nigeria is concerned. I then pondered the past pensively and deeply. Thus the verdict became a categorical imperative, in sofar as our affairs continue to be superintended by the same political class, insofar as the machinery of state in Nigeria continues to be run by some individuals, who glory in superabundance of foulness, individuals, who constantly remind us it is their duty to keep Nigeria in the abyss, individuals, who are not ashamed of parading mediocrity as prosperity, then it becomes easy not to expect any positive change in the polity.

In other words, dear Brethren, each time I contemplate characters and conducts of some of those at the helm of affairs of this country, I come away with the feeling that they are drunken apple-men and women, indecently held hostage in the slush and garbage of the gutter and amid the rotten refuse of their overturned fruit-stall.

Or how else do you describe the news that 48 mansions have been reportedly seized from the former Governor of a state in the South-South, even as he is being prosecuted for misappropriating over N6 billion?

This has happened to ‘His Excellency” of yesterday, who could have returned for a second term in office were it not for his failure to play the right politics with his boss. Brethren, is the orgish and roguish pandemic of kidnappings in the South-South not just an effect, the cause of which lies in extreme profanity and the triumph of hedonism? Brethren, when shall Bayelsa State stop churning out chief executives with a seemingly insatiable lust for lucre?

Brethren, it was as if the above was not odious enough when news came out that the Ministry of Agriculture plans to spend N60 billion to buy hand-phones for farmers in the country. Brethren, since when did the provision of phones for farmers become an alternative to facilitating access to cheap and quality fertilisers, quality seedlings, farm clearing equipment, food storage and food processing facilities, good roads and transportation for conveyance of farm produce?

How will those farmers, including the forgotten ones in the backwaters of my village where electricity is a rarity, go about charging the phone batteries? To say our leaders do not think when they come up with ‘projects’ like this would be an under-statement.

Brethren, that Nigerians should be prepared for a lot of chicanery and tomfoolery like this in 2013 was further accentuated with the celebration of the train service, which began in Lagos the other day only to arrive Kano 30 hours later. On that train were those who mattered in the transport ministry. The train arrived Kano at a time China had already launched the fastest train yet in the world, a train that can travel over 200km per hour.

The print and electronic media were there to witness the fanfare when the train departed Lagos. Images they brought home to us included that of coaches Malaysians would wonder what type of people could ride in such rickety and wobbly machine. But I would argue this is the best Nigerians are being offered by those governing them today. It is the best that proceed from the best those leaders could offer. At least it is what you have that you can give. Those who govern my village believe in one solution for all problems- buy them hand-phones; that would solve the problems of lack of good roads and inadequate water supply!

Face to face with the above inanities, face-to-face with a situation which is reminiscent of the experience of Prophet Nuh (upon him be peace and blessings of the Almighty) whose remonstrations and ministrations to his people only increased them in disbelief and rebellion against their Creator, it becomes imperative that we seek our pathway to success in 1434/2013 from the same fountain which guaranteed the terrestrial and celestial success of those who trod the planet earth before us.

In other words, it becomes increasingly difficult for men and women of understanding to expect a miracle or a positive change in the way the affairs of this country are being run at least for now. So if you want to make a success of this year, endeavour to benchmark your activities against the following, then success would be yours.

The first quality you need to possess in order to make a success out of the current year is that of (Q2:257). Yes. You need to be a disbeliever in everything that runs contrary to the fundamental principles of Islam. You must affirm and constantly re-affirm your faith in the Almighty as the sole Creator and Cherisher of the world.  By affirming your faith in the indivisibility and unity of the Almighty, you would be negating all tendencies and transactions, which seek to confer on your fellow human beings attributes that belong to your Creator.

For example, when you say you believe in the power of the Almighty to give and take life, it means you are and should be a disbeliever in all earthly principalities which pretend, while hiding under the canopy of ethereal powers, to do what the Almighty alone does.

Hassan al-Basri, the famous Muslim scholar says as follows: “Son of Adam, never please anybody if this entails the wrath of the Almighty. Never obey anybody if this entails disobedience to the Almighty. Never thank anybody for something, which the Almighty granted you. Never blame anybody for something, which the Almighty did not grant you. The Almighty created people and they steer the course pre-determined for them. Whoever thinks that extra care and interest will increase his provisions, let him try such extra care and interest in increasing his life span, changing his colour, or increasing the size of his limbs and build.”

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