MUSLIM SECULARISTS’ RATIONALISATIONS AGAINST SHARI’AH

A BOOK REVIEW
(of The Living Conditions of the Talakawa and Shari’ah in Contemporary Nigeria)

by
Ibrahim Ado-Kurawa B. Sc (HONS) M. Sc Zoology (Applied Entomology) ^[1]
Acting Director Research, Institute for Contemporary Research (ICR) Kano and General Editor Weekly Pyramid The Magazine
(ibrahimado@hotmail.com)
Kano, Nigeria
© 2001

PUBLISHED BY
NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR THE DEFENCE AND PROPAGATION OF SHARI’AH
NATIONAL SECRETARIAT, Kano

Printed by
PYRAMID MEDIA LIMITED.,
524 Aminu Kano Way, Goron Dutse., Kano

T his pamphlet is one of the many Muslim secularists’ responses against the return to Shari’ah by Nigerian Muslims. Like in most other Muslim countries in Nigeria too Muslim secularists always align themselves with anti-Islamic forces, such forces even try to violently suppress Muslims whenever they get the chance. In Nigeria the struggle against the Shari’ah is both violent and peaceful. The “peaceful” response has been in the form of media propaganda and so-called academic works. This pamphlet falls within the academic category. It is one of the few anti-Shari’ah academic works in Nigeria and in fact the only academic on the Shari’ah published of recent from its “supposed home”. On the other hand the only pro-Shari’ah academic treatise in recent times is from Ijebu-Ode in Yoruba land.

The pamphlet contains a flood of statistics that show that Muslims of Northern Nigeria are generally poor and that the provision of social amenities should be a greater priority than the implementation of the Shari’ah. The pamphleteers accuse the “Shari’ah avant garde” of ignoring the living conditions of the Talakawa. As “learned” social scientists committed to “scientific research and training” they should have gone beyond Marxist rhetoric.

The authors’ interpretation of the data on industries and energy is to say the least wishy-washy for academics of their standing. It is true as they pointed out that all the northern states are “industrial deserts”, but they could not give any acceptable and scientific reason for the pervasiveness of this underdevelopment. Neither could they proffer any ideas on how to redeem the situation. It is common knowledge that most of the Nigerian industries are import substitution industries located in the south especially the southwest because of proximity to the ports given the industries reliance on imported raw materials. These industries only began to utilize local raw materials following the institution of policies of the Buhari administration and the subsequent devaluation of the naira during Babangida’s period. It must be noted that even simple poultry businesses during the oil boom years relied on the importation of corn likewise breweries, the largest beverage industry in Nigeria. To dispose of the Zaria dons’ ill-conceived hare brained thesis that the North is an industrial desert due to the people’s way of life, it is worthwhile to remind them that Gwammaja Textile in Kano was “Nigeria’s first ever textile mill” established by the Kano Citizens Trading Company^[1]. And this was set up years ago, only for industrialization to turn to the South West, to the Ports! Many textile companies were established in Kaduna and Kano but their fortunes began to dwindle with the importation of cheaper better crafted items while those in Lagos flourished largely because of their reliance on imported cotton and other raw materials. Moreover they prospered during the Babangida regime when the West African Clearing House was used in facilitating the importation of cotton from neighboring West African countries, especially Benin Republic. In the same period giving expression to the Nigerian factor the owners of those factories (not the “desert” Northerners) used the clearinghouse facility to siphon Nigeria’s scarce foreign exchange. That criminal trend and its profits were another major attraction to industrialization in the South West.

Today the Northern States are becoming more and more impoverished with the implementation of policies, which are not favorable to agriculture by the present Government. One of such policies is the lifting of the ban on importation of corn at the instance of the US government. It is alleged that Sani Zangon Daura lost the Agriculture portfolio^[2]because he refused to agree to this “agriculture death warrant”. Nigeria’s products cannot compete with US products because of the high agriculture subsidy in the US and moreover Nigeria has no efficient and cheap transport system. For example transport from Brazil to Lagos is cheaper than from Kano to Lagos. Because in Nigeria there is effectively no railway. This is also not a fault of the Northern States’ or their governments. Though State governments do not control of macro-economic policies we must not forget secularists might in future blame the Shari’ah for this.

Lagos has more import substitution industries hence Egbin thermal power plant was built by the Shagari administration. The southern states are closer to the areas where gas is produced thus more thermal power stations will be built within their areas as we are now witnessing. For example it has been reported that:

The “scientific” researchers should have advised Northern State governments to press the federal government to extend the earlier planned gas pipeline project, which is now stalled, as observed thus:

Ironically the Nigerian government signed agreements with Benin, Togo and Ghana for the supply of gas but the Northern project is delayed because of less than $35 million. The Federal and the Northern States’ governments could make contributions to extend this gas pipeline, which is a cheap source of energy and raw material for the fertilizer industry. Northern States will forever remain industrial deserts as long as there is no adequate supply of energy to the North. Already many factories are closing down in Kano because of high cost of energy. The Federal Government is not willing to complete the gas pipeline project. Kano State government is not helping matters either by embarking on a hydropower project, which is financially and environmentally costly. Yet, again secularists may after all these bunglings tell us that factories closed down because of Shari’ah implementation.

It is worth recalling that in the heart of the “desert” of the North, the Kano Native Authority from its own internally generated revenue built the first thermal power plant in Kano. Throughout its existence the Kano NA was self-sustaining as its revenue was 95% internally generated ^[5]. In fact, the remaining 5% it received from the common pool was less than its contribution to it. In other words it was a major contributor subsidizing others. As at 1963 it had 5,000 employees on its payroll. Today almost forty years later its successor the Kano State government cannot pay its employees from internally generated revenue. This is because of the macro-economic policies pursued by the Federal Government. Now Lagos State is clamoring for VAT revenue to be shared according to derivation. This is fraud orchestrated to deprive other Nigerians, which needless to say the Lagosians may even get away with. The bulk of this VAT revenue is derived from VAT charged on import duties. Does any importer have any option other than the ports of Apapa and Tin Can? Does any trader have any choice of buying goods other than from industries in Lagos sited there because of favorable federal policies? These questions should have been addressed by our “scientific researchers” instead of bombarding the supporters of the Shari’ah with statistics that were not of their creation. At best the “learned” scientific researchers should have proffered solutions rather than merely accusing elected officials of manipulating religion, unless of course they have a hidden agenda.

The Zaria Muslim secularist academics also alleged that the Shari’ah avant-garde forgets about the living conditions of the talakawa immediately they assume office and begin to enjoy its spoils. In other words the politicians manipulate religion for political gain. The Muslim secularists for their part believe that improving the living conditions is the primary responsibility of government and is a higher priority than of legal reforms more especially since according to them “the Penal Code is substantially derived from the Shari’ah, while the civil law for Muslims is wholly derived from the same source”. Even if the penal code is substantially Shari’ah that does not make it Shari’ah. The problem of the secularists is that Ahmed Sani was able to effectively mobilize the Muslims of Nigeria. At the launching of the Shari’ah in Zamfara more than two million Muslims were assembled. In a democracy, military fiat cannot be applied to stop the Shari’ah. Therefore these types of studies ^[6]are sponsored for the sake of cheap propaganda. Secularists all over the Muslim world have lost touch with the people. That is why whenever the masses are given a choice they choose Islam while the secularists rationalize that Islamically conscious politicians are, for selfish ends, manipulating religion. They then call on their Western patrons to help them against the Islamists. A tragic example is Algeria. In Nigeria one of their potent tools is this type of propaganda. Take this statement:

This is obviously a deliberate misrepresentation because there is no correlation between the case of Shari’ah implementation in Nigeria and that of Pakistan. The only similarity is that they are both Muslim societies but with different histories, therefore any comparison must take this into consideration. The secularists’ comparison is a misinterpretation of history for the sake of propaganda. This is because secularists such as Ali Jinnah, a Shi’ite, led the movement for the creation of Pakistan and among his most influential and longest serving successors were General Ayub Khan and the corrupt politician Ali Bhutto- both of them diehard secularists. It is observed in the Cambridge Illustrated History of the Islamic World that:

The Muslims of India supported the creation of Pakistan because they were second-class citizens in India. When Pakistan was created many opted for it, but there are still over one hundred million Muslims in India one of the largest concentrations of Muslims to be found anywhere. In terms of corruption, India is no better than Pakistan despite the fact that it has always been “democratic”. Hindu secularists control the country. Everybody knows that the Hindu society is one of the most stratified in the world. Hindus segregate among themselves, what more of against others? Pakistan was created to provide a homeland for the Muslims. Muslims believe that the creation of Pakistan on the whole was generally in the interest of the Muslim world ^[8]despite the shortcomings of the polity, which is dominated by secularists.

  If anybody is guilty of manipulation of religion in Pakistan then it is the secularists who connived with the British to implement the penal code instead of the Shari’ah. The secularists have been ruling Pakistan through their control of the army, the bureaucracy and the judiciary. Nawaz Shariff was not removed because of corruption but because of his nuclear power program. All Pakistani politicians have always faced corruption charges. Benazir, the daughter of the diehard secularist Bhutto, is still facing corruption charges. To refer to Nawaz Shariff’s party as a purely Islamic Party is like referring to Europe’s Christian Democratic Parties as monastic orders. The US was so happy with General Parvez Musharraf who toppled a democratic government that the US President Clinton paid a personal call to meet him even though he is a dictator. When European Muslims advised Musharraf against the policies of Jewish controlled banks he promptly informed them that he was afraid of the banks ^[9]. So what is the relevance of Pakistan’s politicians to Shari’ah in Nigeria?

The ABU secularists quoted Bello and Usman Dan Fodio to buttress their points against the implementation of the Shari’ah in Nigeria. Because Islam is the balance of the sacred and profane, they may find something in common with these learned leaders. Islam emphasizes godliness at the same time as the provision of the material aspects of life. Secularism on the other hand is to subject the sacred to the authority of the profane and to elevate material fulfillment over spiritual needs. In Islam the balance must be maintained. Hence Bello and Shehu Usman Dan Fodio implored the umara (governors) to make provisions for amenities. But they did not postpone the Shari’ah until all material needs had been satisfied. They never elevated the provision of material needs over spiritual needs. Those who do that will be guilty of contravening the following Qur’anic verse:

Those who prefer the life

Of this world to

The Hereafter, who hinder (men)

From the Path of Allah

And seek to make it crooked:

They are astray

By a long distance. (14:3)

The secularists should therefore come out openly and say what they are, quoting their own secularist authorities. They should not quote our revered Sokoto leaders out of context. They should not bury the “Islamists” before they die. To do otherwise is for the secularist themselves to be guilty of manipulation of religion and unwarranted pessimism. To all intents and purposes their intellectual energies would be better directed at the specific contributions of the governors who, if found wanting could then be legitimately flushed out by the electorate, who are free to choose others, perhaps even from the ABU collectives’ NEPU/PRP or MDJ, who knows, after all we are in a democracy. Or are we?

Brought to you by Kano Online 2001