Wednesday, February 27, 2008
BOOKS I HAVE READ
A review of this excellent book will soon be made available in a different site. pls bear with me.You can now view my reviewed books here.
NEW PRAYER FROM MSO
Muslim Sisters Orgnisation (MSO) has joined the battle against corruption by teaching its members a brand new prayer. MSO is a kind of sorority or salon made up of married women who meet on sundays in cities across the nation. Its not a highbrow organisation like Rotary club with its dress code and weekly takings and is not based on tribe. In fact its open to all women but the beauty of it is that messages can be passed along to several men and husbands. Which makes the organisation to have a huge potential in areas like mobilizing for a cause.
Now the prayer in question is very simple but members are asked to utter it in the mornings when their husbands are leaving the house for work. It goes like this: Please bring back to us things that are halal". Pretty simple eh? But already reactions have been reported where some husbands frowned at the practice.
If you dont get my drift then imagine how these set of Nigerians would react to such a prayer; Customs officers, local government chairmen, and politicians. We can expand the list to include all others but the bottom line is that many husbands will be sore at their wives for saying this prayer and will demand an immediate stop to it.
Now the prayer in question is very simple but members are asked to utter it in the mornings when their husbands are leaving the house for work. It goes like this: Please bring back to us things that are halal". Pretty simple eh? But already reactions have been reported where some husbands frowned at the practice.
If you dont get my drift then imagine how these set of Nigerians would react to such a prayer; Customs officers, local government chairmen, and politicians. We can expand the list to include all others but the bottom line is that many husbands will be sore at their wives for saying this prayer and will demand an immediate stop to it.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
VALENTINE OR LARABGANA DAY
I was pretty amazed to learn that KSA has banned red flowers with the hope of stopping Saudi youths from using them for valentine. The story is sure to make headlines around the world with comments of all shades attached. The Saudi Imams naturally preach against clebrating all un-Islamic festivals but the fact of the matter is virtually all muslim youths, the world over, do aknowledge and "celebrate" valentine. And its not so much because it is a christian celeb but rather because it gives them an opportunity to engage in some romantic activity. I did look forward to februarys and valentine in my youthful days but stopped on my accord many years ago. So its like a fad with most muslim youths and this points to the futility in using draconian measures to stop it. But I do partake in celebrations with my christian friends, as they do with me in mine, and dont see anything particularly wrong with that.
But lest we forget, there are indeed some christian sects that frown at festivals devoid of christian roots, like halloween, and could equally ban them if given the chance.
The most intelligent thing to do is to go back into history and find an event or person or day that could epitomize the youthful hunger for love. Something that could be seized to give the youth the same opportunity they get during valentine. I dont know what the purists will say about this but I want to believe that doing this is far better than fighting a losing battle with the ban on valentine.
I have actually searched back and recalled an event in my part of the world that could serve as a valentine equavalent. Its called Larabgana. I remember when I was a kid how, on that day, small girls used to take rubutu with onion leaves inside to their boy friends. The ones they really loved who in turn gave them small coins. It was not a big deal then and it was never institutionalized. But I know it happened in those days and it can be revived and made to replace valentine in my part of the world.
I will continue my research on this and when I am satisfied will take it to local media houses for publicity. First though I may have to consult the liberal Imams in my community.
Update: So the first wednesday of the new year is our Larabgana, i.e. in the month of Al Muharram. Now instead of taking rubutu around why not use cards and sms messages. Also why not encourage evrybody to partake in the activity on that day? Both males and females, young and old.
Sounds simple? Many of my friends liked the idea. But wait for the difficult part. I discussed the idea with a few local people: one Ustaz, one Imam and a lay person. The first two were dead against it, saying it tantamounts to an invention in the religion. While the third was all for it. The stiff opposition has scared me and I have shelved the idea for now.
But lest we forget, there are indeed some christian sects that frown at festivals devoid of christian roots, like halloween, and could equally ban them if given the chance.
The most intelligent thing to do is to go back into history and find an event or person or day that could epitomize the youthful hunger for love. Something that could be seized to give the youth the same opportunity they get during valentine. I dont know what the purists will say about this but I want to believe that doing this is far better than fighting a losing battle with the ban on valentine.
I have actually searched back and recalled an event in my part of the world that could serve as a valentine equavalent. Its called Larabgana. I remember when I was a kid how, on that day, small girls used to take rubutu with onion leaves inside to their boy friends. The ones they really loved who in turn gave them small coins. It was not a big deal then and it was never institutionalized. But I know it happened in those days and it can be revived and made to replace valentine in my part of the world.
I will continue my research on this and when I am satisfied will take it to local media houses for publicity. First though I may have to consult the liberal Imams in my community.
Update: So the first wednesday of the new year is our Larabgana, i.e. in the month of Al Muharram. Now instead of taking rubutu around why not use cards and sms messages. Also why not encourage evrybody to partake in the activity on that day? Both males and females, young and old.
Sounds simple? Many of my friends liked the idea. But wait for the difficult part. I discussed the idea with a few local people: one Ustaz, one Imam and a lay person. The first two were dead against it, saying it tantamounts to an invention in the religion. While the third was all for it. The stiff opposition has scared me and I have shelved the idea for now.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
KT LG POLLS RUMPUS
Chairmanship elections for the 34 local government councils in KT are round the corner but with daggers drawn for the primaries. Contestants from various parties are jostling to clinch their parties' nominations. In the PDP (the ruling party), the bad blood created in selecting the candidates to contest is threatening to split the party. Three caretaker chairmen were jettisoned while the rest were given the party ticket to contest. These decisions were critisized as undemocratic and reported by Daily Trust newspaper here.
Here is what appears to be at stake: an elected chairman would be at liberty to use an average of about 40 million Naira every month the way he wants. Naturally this kind of money comes in handy and ready to be pilfered for personal instead of peoples' oriented projects.
Here is what appears to be at stake: an elected chairman would be at liberty to use an average of about 40 million Naira every month the way he wants. Naturally this kind of money comes in handy and ready to be pilfered for personal instead of peoples' oriented projects.
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
OBAMA RULES OK
The international media is bombarding all of us with stories of the US elections. The coverage is so thick that you feel some fatigue every time you watch the news. It reminds me of how CNN covered O. J. Simpson's case a few years ago.My main concern in the US elections is Barack Obama. Somehow I want him to clinch the Democratic ticket not so much because he is black, but because of what he says he will do about Nigeria's number one enemy: the anopheles mosquito. He said he will spare no effort to eradicate malaria, the killer of children and adults in Nigeria. I have already reached the conclusion that it is only with US assistance that we here can combat malaria successfully. Remember how they came in heavily on the Polio issue. It is this that endeared me to him.
Senator Hilary Clinton on the other hand chose Alzheimer or cancer disease and this does not bother me at all. Besides no matter how many times she cries I remain opposed to her candidature. Not that it matters anyway but I hated the foxy little tears she sheds whenever the going gets tough for her. I don't know much about the other hopefuls still in the race.
So Obama I say good luck to you.
RESOLUTIONS? WHAT RESOLUTIONS?
A friend asked me last week about my new year resolutions. When she noticed my incredulous look she quickly yanked out a piece of paper that contained her own. I went through it quickly and it was the usual stuff I used to write down and forget. She confessed that she had broken some already.
Well to me resolutions are supposed to be alive throughout the year and to be revised every now and then. For the past two years I have kept a list of such resolutions handy and added to it when the need arose. Perhaps this should be called a "To Do List" because they are written with achieving a goal in mind. Whenever one is achieved then an annotation is made. This gives you a nice feeling whenever you go through the list again.
Here is a part of my list for this year which really contain some items that were carried forward from last year. They are in no particular order:
1. Perform Hajj.
2. Perform the Umra.
3. Say all my 5 daily prayers on time.
4. Read 50 books. Update; Finished three, 47 to go.
5. Complete the first draft of my book on KT history 1905-1950.
6. Write the draft of a book of short stories
7. Switch to vegetarian diet once a week.
8. Travel to Lagos for a feel of the ocean. Its been long since I smelled it.
9. Visit members of my family in Kano, Kaduna, Kwara and Lagos states.
10. Read the Qur'an from cover to cover every month.
11. Wake up for Tuhajjud during the last ten days of Ramadan.
12. Make the rounds to my relations in KT once every month. Done in Feb
13. Donate 5% of my total income to motherless children and other institutional charities.
14. Keep my desk free from the usual clutter. Done
15. Visit Dubai and see what all those people going there see.
16. Subscribe to the electronic version of Readers Digest. Done
17. Give more attention to car maintenance ie check engine oil and water every morning.
18. Write a review of all the books I have read on another blog site.
19. Do simple exercise every morning within the house.
20. Switch to brown sugar.
21. Buy a Mac Laptop.
22. Clear my wardrobe of all clothes not worn for more than six months.
23. Buy new clothes for myself every quarter. two sets will be fine and must be the latest fashion.
The original list is much longer than this and I would be lucky to accomplish half of what is in there.
