Haidar's Corner

December 27, 2012 at 9:39am      This write-up is instructive on account of the realities of today. First there is the issue of a seeming stagnation of the majority of Northern Nigerian Muslims in a quintessential saturated ideal that was the ‘Dan-Fodio’ legacy. There has hardly been any attempt to build on the fundamental and universal precepts upon which the Shehu’s revolution were built. Values like scholarship, equitable justice, adherence to ethics and morality seemed to have been over-taken & overshadowed by selfish, egotistical and tyrannical self-servience. For me I see this no more glaringly than in the way that ‘royalty’ across the Hausaland have expropriated ‘resources’ and sources of livelihood without any commensurate conversion of such into tangible benefits for the populace. No wonder that many ‘outside observers’ will look at the society as being lazy, lacking in imagination and having a weird sense of subservience to hegemony...

October 7, 2012 at 3:02pm But why should a lady pursue her dreams? I hear talk of a female becoming a Doctor! What has the world turned into? For goodness sake she’s supposed to be a baby-making machine! You see what reading too many books causes...And a Awusa-Nomad for that matter. How many Doctors do you see who are female amongst your folks? Is that what the society expects from you? You are bringing shame to us! It is a taboo for a lady not to get married...why didn’t you just hitch someone and do the right thing by tradition. You don’t have to be happy...just miserably accept any Tom, Dick and Harry that tries to make you his wife...the most important thing is ‘what they will say’ and what they will say now is already flying around and causing so much havoc. And it is not your place to complain thereafter because no matter what, you are supposed to STAY married. GET married as early as possible...no dreams...and if you must dream stay within the realm of Soya...

Many a times we partake in activities knowing fully well that what we are doing is wrong and we try to 'deceive' ourselves that Allah is Gafururrahim(The Forgiving & Merciful) This is a very grave thing and a wrong perception of Allah's attribute as The Forgiving & Merciful. It behooves a person to look into his/her heart and honestly answer tha question of whether he/she really believes in the Day of Accountability and Reckoning... However, the worst thing to happen to a believer is to surrender to the deception of Satan that he/she has reached a point of no return and thus should simply continue committing whatever atrocity. In this context, this negates the attribute of Allah as the Most Merciful and the All-Forgiving. It is at the point where a person's conscience pricks him that he/she should accept that he/she has sinned and remember that all deeds are being compiled as we are committing them and the records being kept by Allah the Most High. We shal...

Once upon a time... This begins the journey There was... Events are like in a tourney ...and the end. Some are taken away on a gurney. I'd say life is a gift But I wouldn’t want to sound phoney TBC… Haidar Wali 201206091310hrs

April 9, 2012 at 10:58am The degrading and inhuman living conditions that many women are forced to go through can never be justified under whatever guise. The worst part is that such living conditions aren't shared by many men who rarely go through these things being outside the home-front most of their time. And what is in need of being reformed transcends a woman going to work. It encompasses empowerment in the form of a woman knowing how to take care of her hygiene and that of her siblings/children. A woman having the enabling environment to make local spaghetti, sell it, and over time one day turn this into a mini factory that sells packaged spaghetti. A woman being able to stitch and weave cloths in her bedroom and use the proceeds to help her brothers and sisters and parents to make ends meet and perhaps her siblings can gain the educational resources that she couldn't get. And it is these sort of activities that need to be documented so that when...

There's so such much literature about women in general that one sometimes wonders whether it has not gradually become cliche-like to write about them. Yet with all the innumerable 'texts' that flood everywhere I stand to be corrected when I posit that 'The Woman' remains largely misunderstood both in the context of the male-dominated worldview as well as from the prism of many women's self-perception. For instance how else would you explain the endless abuse that women continue to endure.  Anyway, let me not digress from the crux of this writeup which I put up in an attempt to discuss Womanhood from the standpoint of Islam. To start with let us begin with 'Genesis'. As is common knowledge the first Woman - Hauwa'u(AS) - was created from the rib of Adam (AS). In the Holy Quran Allah (SWT) said:  .وَمِنْ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ خَلَقْنَا زَوْجَيْنِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَذَكَّرُونَ. [Wamin kulli shay-in khalaqn[a] zawjayni laAAallakum ta[th]...

If a person cannot dispose of a wrapper of sweet in the dustbin...then he is undisciplined and should not be considered for leadership. See why things don't work in Naija.... Today if a person was to start a tour from the early morning hours uptil bedtime...one would come to understand that the so-called corruption that we daily complain about has it's roots from our personal lives. Most people do not appreciate the value of doing many trivialities and it is these that grow into monsters that are uncontrollable. Many do not care about maintenance culture because they cannot 'afford it'!  Many do not ever think about their garbage once it leaves their gate (for those who are meticulous enough to dispose it outside).  Many do not care to suppress their brother or sister's property (some as little as N5) once we have a chance....tell me how there will not be embezzlement of billions when they reach 'there'... Many lie as a matter...

Many atimes we talk about various problems in our society and we seek to identify the causal factors behind them. In this piece, we intend to look at the root of most if not all the societal malaise that encumbers all and sundry in this modern day. This root is none other than the family institution. The institution of the family is being destroyed today by the ravages of modern agents of socialization and being that it (the family) is the bedrock of all communities, society is daily slipping into a chasm of chaos and moral degradation. I will go straight and say that at the centre of these happenings is the father-figure who is expected to be the guardian and leading light for his household guiding them towards value-driven and morally-upright up-bringing. Alas, today you find that such a fundamental role and responsibility has been abandoned by many and the duties incumbent upon men is no longer seen as a sacred trust that needs full commitment and continuous sacrifice ...

Abuja can & should be Africa's political influence capital but for the current security situation in the country which seems out of hand & raises the risk-level for high-powered delegations/personalities to travel & hold meetings there. Essentially, Abuja already started gaining such relevance in a regional sense & it would have easily fitted into the role of Africa's Political capital with the right combination of lobbying/packaging plus economic & institutional viability/infrastructural development. In terms of location, & existing infrastructure...Abuja is indeed well primed for such a role almost perfectly especially aesthetically being a convener's paradise! Again, looking at the wealth of politicians/statesmen and diplomats Nigeria has...with the right conditions in place I feel Nigeria's 'numbers' would still play a great part in making Abuja, Africa's Brussels...albeit with less historical significance bein...

Today more than ever Muslims are faced with unabated attacks on the fundamentals that provide protection against the erosion of the moral fabric of our society. And no where is this more evident than in the area of the media that is used to gradually erase & reshape the thoughts of many towards sexuality and the permissiveness that permeates the global village. From the condom ads, to the promotion of free-mixing of male & female and the glorification of the woman's body in almost every advert, it is hard to avoid the nudge & trudging along people are sub-consciously resigning & consigning to immorality as a normal part of life. I wish to say that the reality is that we will never return back to a situation where, modesty and utmost morality is the order of the day and on a daily basis our societies' moral defenses are being eroded by the proliferation of uncountable ploys which keep pushing us away from the true path. This is in exact ali...

'Islamic Banking' is a concept that suffers from a nomenclature debate which stems from Islamophobia. Even with all the hullabaloo about Islamic Banking I assure you that it would not matter if it is called Christian Banking in so far as the precepts which are found in the Old & New Testament will be faithfully implemented, then let us have it please! For I know very well that they would not be any different than what is on offer in the so-called Islamic Banking.  Yet unfortunately for the whole existence of this country no Christian authority has deemed it right to advocate for this despite the clarity of prohibition of interest in the Holy Bible. Is it then a problem that Muslims who have been requesting for such to be denied this constitutional right? Perhaps, many would invoke the principle of secularism as what would nullify Islamic banking. Yet I would say that nowhere does it preclude any person from practicing his/her religion which as far as ...

Caveat Emptor: Surrealism Yesterday my 'home' was invaded and I'm still trembling and cowered from the 'events'. I knew the 'attack' would happen but I did not know the when, the where, & the how...and as I stand shell-shocked I cannot make out what was nor what is... It's like a painting  left in the rain, that you come to meet after a shower, still dripping a blur of colors...the canvass dully showing the faintest of signs of having hosted something  just so recently which cannot be fathomed and what existed beforehand which can never be retrieved. I write these words first to express my mourning of the member(s) of the household, cut down, disintegrated, wiped away. Still some lie disfigured, either agonizing and reliving the horror in utter pain and unending torture and/or silently slipping away to join the list of the departed. Someone sent this to me: "...let's plant trees brother; let's have groves of fr...

I have been getting incessant complaints about you and the thing is so disturbing! You used to be the pride of the pack... Alas the following are the accusations leveled against you. I didn't want to pass sentence on you - so as not to be unjust - until I heard your side of the story. But let me go ahead and recite the 10-count charges as follows: 1. Hausaman, you have been charged as the person with the highest number of divorces both singly and severally (sometimes you used to say: I divorce you one hundred times thus even exceeding the maximum allowable three-3 times). 2. Hausaman, you are also said to be the person with the highest frequency of producing divorcees. In fact it has become a case study and you are being considered for the Nobel Divorce Prize! 3. Hausaman, you are also said to be the person with the highest number of packs & armies of little children with runny noses, bare-feet, and torn/disheveled clothes on their bodies. They even c...