@Nuruddeen
I enjoy the debate – but try to stick to the point. The point, in case you have forgotten, is that Muhsin describes this forum as “miserable” and “lifeless” (his words). In explaining further, he accuses northerners (not just the owners of the forum – which includes the posters) of being “dispassionate” about anything they do. Instead of sticking to the arguments about whether he is right or not, you shifted to general, and I would say anarchic condemnation of northern Nigeria.
In my dictionary (Merriam-Webster’s 11th Collegiate Dictionary), “banal” translates as: “lacking originality, freshness, or novelty”. In other words, useless. I doubt very much if you have read more than 1% of the banal papers I have written since 1985. I doubt very much if you have read the country reports I have written for World Bank, Unicef, USAID, DFID and the Kano State Government – banal reports that were dovetailed into Nigerian cultural and educational policies over the years. I think it’d be pointless to draw attention to banal meetings I had attended across the globe aimed at finding solutions to real-life problems affecting our youth. I doubt very much if you have read the banal rubbish we discussed at Arewa House on Education in Northern Nigeria, and how northern governments are quietly implementing the recommendations of the committees on this. I doubt if you have seen the syllabi produced for Almajirai in Arewa House, or the experimental Tsangayu that emerged out of these syllabi. I could go on, but it would only further expose your desire to see the black, rather than the white or even the gray. A typical nihilist strategy.
It is good to be an armchair critic. You are safe. You don’t have to do anything. For instance, you lambast others for discussing Zawarawa, but they did nothing. What do you want them to do? Marry every single Bazawara? How many have you married yourself to demonstrate your concern for their welfare? In short, enlighten us on the specific strategies YOU have taken to “move north forward”. Maybe we are not on the same page – so bring us back to your page of enlightenment and insight. In any battles, there are generals who strategize and foot soldiers who implement. Just as we can’t all be generals, neither can we all be foot soldiers. You are welcome to belong to where ever you want to be – but it is your choice; don’t force it on other, for you do not hold the keys to Enlightenment.
You can only accuse other people of being useless, banal, and trite – if you have passed these labels yourself; in which case then you are judging from high moral ground. Why would you expect someone to lead the way – what is preventing YOU from taking the lead? Why are you waiting for me to call you (plural) so that you can give me ideas to give to the people you believe are my contemporaries? Why don’t you give it to them YOURSELF? In short, what is your prescription for the diagnosis? Am I right in deducting that you have been trying to pass on your ideas of great social revolution – and you have been rejected, and that is why you are now annoyed at everyone? Just like Muhsin is annoyed because no one seems to be giving him accolades on this forum (no praises, no awards for being the most prolific poster – else why draw our attention to the fact that Naijerians have given him an award, so they are more lively, etc).
Now is the time to outline an implementation plan according to Nuruddeen – for instance, close all universities because they churn out useless research, make the minimum wage in northern states ten thousand dollars a month, give every individual a free laptop to be changed every three weeks plus a generator and gasoline allowance for it, kill any husband who divorces his wife, or kill any wife whose husband dies (e.g. bury them together; violent, but what you could see as a more pragmatic solution to zawarawa – they did that in ancient Egypt, and parts of modern India, you know). As I said, it is easy to point accusing fingers at useless intellectuals that have not developed the north (forgetting that the north of NOW is different from the north of the year we were all born). You presented the same accusations at our last Get Together at Alliance Francais in Kano – and we asked you the SAME questions which you did not answer: what is the actionable plan in terms of specific changes of behavior? Who will be responsible for this action plan? Who agrees to the action plan? What consultation exists to ensure equity? And finally, what gives you the moral right to impose your vision on others? Or have you been appointed a new visionary?
I think you are passing through a Visionary Phase of your life – for suddenly, you invoke Islam to justify your actions. You are not the first. There are other, far more erudite, who have tried to use Islam to project their narrow understanding of both Islam and the world. This is not the forum for such discussion – nor do I engage in such discussions, otherwise it’d have been quite interesting to go into that arena. But briefly, there is nowhere in Islam that says you should dissolve your traditional identity. Islam prohibits any behavior that clashes with fundamentals of faith – and these fundamentals are well known. What Islam abhors is mixing Un-Islamic traditional identities with Islamic faith. If you chose not to engage in any “gargajiya”, that is your choice, but don’t force it on others, and claim a Messianic role, for you are not mandated. Oh, and by the way, if you are cutting and pasting from an online source, you need to ensure you do it right. Your pedantic quotation of Ayat 208 of Al-Baqara, you wrote:
Ya ayyuhal lazina amanudkulu fissilmi kaffatan. Wala tattabi'u kuduwatishshaytan
This is the proper syntax of the Ayat you quoted:
Ya ayyuha allatheena amanoo odkhuloo fee alssilmi kaffatan wala tattabiAAoo khutuwati alshshaytani innahu lakum AAaduwwun mubeenun
The syntax and grammar of your pasting distorts the meaning, which is:
O ye who believe! Enter into Islam whole-heartedly; and follow not the footsteps of the evil one; for he is to you an avowed enemy. (Al-Baqara 2:208; Yusuf Ali Translation).
http://www.sacred-texts.com/isl/quran/00225.htm Note that Islamic scholars, when quoting from the Qur’an, usually translate (not paraphrase) the Ayat; or in many cases, they provide the direct translations, for they don’t need to prove that they know Arabic. So what is devilish about culture and gargajiya in this passage? For some reason – having met me quite late in my evolutionary development – you seem to be relegating me to an entertainment mogul. From your posting, and the sermon, one would assume I run a bar, disco or hotel where we engage in orgies and all night dance parties. Or are we seeing a newer version of Boko Haram?
I do not owe any apologies for what I am or what I have been doing. I believe that in my modest way I have achieved the targets I set out to achieve in my life, and I am quite contented with that. Revolutionizing the society – no matter what meaning you give to revolution – is not a one-person affair. Nor does it mean undertaking violent change. The banal (read, useless) talks, conferences and so on are another route. We are sticking to it.
Abdalla
