PRAYER

This bloodshed is beyond comprehension, beyond reason, beyond explanation. Meanwhile, hundreds of Chibok maidens continue to languish in captivity, despite the promise, but slow action, of foreign powers intent on helping us rescue them.Hundreds of thousands of Nigerian citizens are at this very moment on their way to (in)security exile in neighbouring Cameroon, Chad and […]

This bloodshed is beyond comprehension, beyond reason, beyond explanation. Meanwhile, hundreds of Chibok maidens continue to languish in captivity, despite the promise, but slow action, of foreign powers intent on helping us rescue them.
Hundreds of thousands of Nigerian citizens are at this very moment on their way to (in)security exile in neighbouring Cameroon, Chad and Niger Republic. Thousands are stranded on the borders, in virtual no-man’s-lands, with no food or water, and are at the mercy of the elements – wind, sun, rain. And exposure is the most dangerous of all afflictions. The emergency agencies claim it is too dangerous to help, despite the fact that they have access to aircraft that can make airdrops of food and water.
And it is a real scorched-earth crisis. Farmers in the region who harvested their crops last year lost same to marauding militants who confiscated all food available in the area to feed the multitudes of mouths in the Sambisa Forest. Therefore, many farmers in the region can’t go to their farms this year, though the rains have set in. First, it is too dangerous to venture out from village fastnesses (which are not even safe in themselves as we have seen); and second, it does not make any economic sense to harvest and lose food to the militants. Many farmers say they were lucky to escape with their lives.
It seems only Maiduguri can be protected by the country’s security apparatus – just. Even that city was not spared when, in the not too distant past, the insurgents brutally and successfully attacked the Air Force Base, and later the Giwa Barracks. Meaning, if the ‘armed forces’ of the federal republic can be so brazenly ‘disarmed’ and are not safe, then who could be? No government can therefore convince desperate citizens not to run for their lives to other countries, to save what remains of their miserable situation.
If an exalted traditional ruler such as the Emir of Gwoza can be killed so callously in broad daylight, if the Shehu of Borno and the Emirs of Kano and Fika could only escape assassination attempts by the literal skin of their teeth, no one is safe in this country. No one. If these militants can come up to Nyanya and Jos and Kano again and again, no one should be complacent.
It is quite unbelievable that a rag-tag army of seemingly untrained militants can unleash so much mayhem. What is really happening? Something will have to give, and soon, in sha Allah. For all these, we say Inna lilLahi wa inna ilaiHi raji’un! (From Allah we come, and to Him shall we return!).
And then they tell you they won’t negotiate with terrorists? After these thorough murderous beatings we are taking every day? Short of surrender, weren’t the Americans seen only the other day shaking hands with Taliban militants exchanging one soldier with five alleged Taliban commanders held at Guantanamo. If the Americans can bow to accept the inevitability of negotiating out of a seemingly unwinnable war, we have no reason not to seek the release of Chibok girls and the cessation of these murders by any means necessary.
And so yes, to prayer! Recently, Muslims prayed at the National Mosque and the Christians at the National Ecumenical Centre. Apart from our ‘innocent’ prayers, we hear billions have been budgeted to pray to Allah, God, to salvage us, and prayer warriors have been dispatched to Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem and Rome. Meanwhile, senior “prayerers” have started arriving the country – the Secretary General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) was here, followed a few days later by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Who next? The Imam of Mecca? The Pope? But will Allah, God, listen?
How many years have we been praying on this Boko Haram calamity? Why aren’t our prayers apparently being answered? And this is Allah who can and does listen to the prayer of a tiny black ant in a very dark night. Perhaps the problem is that our prayers are too ‘organised’. Perhaps Allah doesn’t need ‘organised’ prayers. Perhaps He wants sincere prayers from sincere people. There are many reasons why Allah does not apparently answer prayers, but the principal reason is contained in the famous innal Laha Ta’ala Tayyibun Hadith that simply says “No prayer of a thief is accepted by Allah.”
In this Hadith, narrated by Muslim, the Prophet of Islam Muhammad (upon whom be peace) was quoted as saying: “O people, Allah is Good and He, therefore, accepts only that which is good. And Allah commanded the believers as He commanded the Messengers by saying, ‘O Messengers, eat of the good things, and do good deeds; verily I am aware of what you do,’ (Qur’an 23:51) and He [also] said: ‘O those who believe, eat of the good things that We gave you’.” (Qur’an 2:172).
“The Prophet (upon whom be peace) then [in addition] made mention of a person who travels widely; his hair disheveled; and covered with dust. He [the person] lifts his hands and makes supplication [du’a, prayer], ‘O Lord, O Lord,’ but his [the person’s] food is unlawful [haram], his drink is unlawful, and his clothes are unlawful, and his nourishment is unlawful. How then can his supplication be accepted?“
Simply explained, the Prophet (upon whom be peace) says that this person, despite apparently being in a desperate state needing divine intervention (dusty, dishevelled, helter-skelter like Nigeria), cannot have his prayer answered by Allah because his food, drink, clothing and provision were all obtained in an unlawful manner; stolen. Haram. So any thief’s prayer does not lift higher than his shoulders, and if such a thief is among you as you pray, the same result is assured: your prayers rise not higher than the roof of your mosque or church.
Have you not heard that of your One Trillion Naira defence and security budget (which, it is argued, is the principal reason why this war cannot be won – for fear of its diminishing) many wives and concubines and relatives of your ExecuThieves and the uniformed are frequenting Abuja’s Wuse Zone 4 Bureaux de Change Market to change your Naira into Euros, Pounds and Dollars?
Have you not heard that some National Deputies, on behalf of the rest, have demanded and received gratification from a certain Sleek Lady, so as not to investigate some corruption allegations of missing funds and unidentified flying objects?
Have you not heard that many judges have been disrobed and disgraced for taking bribes to sell their consciences and throw their judgements?
For this is an intensely religious country bereft of any fear of God. How then can the prayers of such thieves ever be lifted to heaven? And if such thieves are among you as you pray, the same result is assured: your prayers rise not higher than the roof of your mosque or church. Worse if these thieves are the ones who paid for, or procured, the prayer.
How can Allah, the Good, accept the supplication, du’a, prayer of such a bunch of Ali Barbaric thieves who claim to be our leaders? So if you come to pray to God, about Borno, or Chibok, or the general Nigerian malaise, look right and left. If you see any of these people among you, ask them to excuse you. Tell them God is Good, and accepts only that which is good.
Innal Laha Ta’ala Tayyibun!