Northern Muslim Summit, by Hakeem Baba-Ahmed

  “One who causes others misfortune, teaches them sense”–  African proverb.

Last week, an event involving lead ers, organizations and leading Ulama from the North held in Kaduna. The last time clerics and leaders of Muslim communities in the North showed such unity  was during the scramble for reinforcing the Sharia legal system in states with Muslim majorities in the North. In one day, leaders of virtually all sects, tendencies and groups that would not pray together walked up the podium to pledge support for unity of the Muslim community and the initiative which brought them together. Some Muslims from the South witnessed the event. A sprinkling of politicians expressed support and asked for involvement on matters that required their support.

 Given the distances that have grown between these immensely powerful clergy in the last few decades, it is safe to assume that most had not shared the same room or a mosque for many years. They had fought each other, often labelling each other as unbelievers on widely-shared social media and television. Their followers and foot soldiers have carried the fights to ballot boxes, the courts and trenches which had widened, literally by the day. Muslims who had power sources and television sets must have watched in awe as commitments were made to strengthen Muslim unity across the country, to address sources of division and share perspectives on many pressing issues involving Muslims.

 It was obvious a lot of work had gone into organizing the event, beyond getting the top layer of the Ulama and leaders to accept to sit  in one meeting with each other. Presentations were made on the values of negotiations and the primacy of justice with  respect to the current debates on approaching escalating strengths of banditry with many Muslim communities as its victims.

An informed presentation dwelt on the impact of social media on unity of the Muslim community; the burden of the fate of Palestinians on Nigerian Muslims; attempts to create hostility against Nigeria through sophisticated campaigns of genocide against Nigerian Christians;  current efforts  to erect artificial distinctions between Hausa and Fulani people, and current controversies around the relationship between the Holy Qur’an and traditions(Hadith). For a one day event, these issues captured the heart of basic concerns of the Northern Muslim. Students of contemporary Nigerian politics though would have noticed the loud silence over Muslims and 2027, particularly since it is a burning issue among Muslim voters who were convinced the Muslim-Muslim ticket which brought President Tinubu to power is now up for interrogation. Still, it was difficult not to assume some seismic shift by Northern Muslims was afoot.

 The Summit’s communique affirmed the primacy of unity of Muslims and the negative impact of social media on that unity; the imperatives of reconciliation as the driving element in all peace efforts, subject to the requirement that negotiations and resolution must be contingent on government acquiring superior position of strength and guarantees of  justice for all parties. The Summit condemned the levels of insecurity to which communities are exposed, and pledged to work with government and security agencies to restore security and stability. It invited attention to severe economic challenges affecting citizens and urged governments to implement measures to reduce them and ensure equity in public spending. It condemned the genocide against the Palestinian people and rejected claims that there has been a systemic genocide against Nigerian Christians. Looking inwards, the Summit condemned ‘deviant’ ideologies and committed those present to intensify efforts to educate Muslims on the dangers of misleading ideologies and adherence to mainstream Islamic scholarship.

 It will be uncharitable to impute any but the best motives behind this effort to engineer unity among leadership of the Muslim community, particularly among  its leadership. There are many Muslims who have given up on improving quality of leadership and cohesion among those who exercise enormous powers over perceptions and actions of well over one hundred million Muslims in Nigeria. Leadership in Islam bestows huge influence, powers and responsibilities. It also demands unquestioning commitment to the highest values and traditions of leaders. Not even the leaders and the leading Ulama themselves will dispute the accusation that they have contributed to the damaging divisions and hostility among and between Muslims.

 Perhaps it is inevitable that the quality in leadership of the Muslim community, like everything else, will decline to its current pathetic state in Nigeria. Traditional institutions which had strong influence on faith matters have gradually lost their influence to a predatory political culture over a long period, starting with military rule. The successor political elite consolidated power around itself, while running a Godless system over a deeply religious people. Faith matters became fractured and privatized, and clerics exploited a booming  population seeking answers to the complexities and challenges of modern life by turning faithfuls into power blocs.

 As populations grew and the State abandoned its responsibility to young citizens and the weak, social regulatory mechanisms and systems lost their powers. Increasing decline in qualities of secular and religious leadership created entrance points for corrupting values and compromised regulatory mechanisms. A deeply religious  citizenry of Muslims and Christians prayed as they should, then did everything in the manner God forbids. Once in a while, we turned on each other, blaming each other for precisely what we both do. Our leaders swear by the Quran and the Bible after stealing elections, and then spend four or eight years stealing the commonwealth.

 Chickens are now coming home to roost. Bandits and insugents kill people in mosques while praying, shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’. Millions of  Muslim children roam the streets begging for food without Islamic or Western education. Clerics blaspheme on social media to gain followers. Holy month of Ramadan is smeared with pointed, hostile broadcast  targeted at fellow clerics and prominent Ulama. In the run-up to the 2023 elections, Muslims were told to vote for the Muslim-Muslim ticket because it will improve the lot of Muslims and protect their faith in a multi religious country that operates a perverted secular political ststem. Today, Muslims are at the receiving end of the worst outcome of a failing state that cannot protect them, safeguard their commonwealth or even hide its failure. The challenges of intimate relations involving power and faith should now serve as a guide to the position of Muslims as we move towards 2027.

 The Kaduna Summit has raised much hope that religious leadership of Nigeria, not just for Northern Muslims, will improve on its record. Its biggest contribution, if it wants to be taken seriously, is to be more circumspect in terms of its engagement with the political process. At this stage, millions of Muslims feel let down after the promise that Tinubu’s Muslim-Muslim ticket will better their lives.

The distance between the Ulama and followers has increased, and the rampant use of the Ulama at many levels of the Nigerian state by a corrupt leadership has robbed it of its integrity and standing. Islamic education, which is the foundation of the faith, has also been privatized. Children of the rich attend expensive Islamic schools. Children of the poor are the Almajir left at the mercy of a thoroughly corrupting society. And we wonder what produced the thousands of bandits and terrorists who  make our lives living hell. The Ulama does not have all the time in the world. It must avoid a rebellion by followers who will rise to chart their own courses.

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