IMAM ALI BN. ABI TALIB[AS]

A son born to Abi Talib

A believer and uncle to my Rasul

A protector and defender to my Islam

An Imam to all was Ali

An Imam to all Imams

Allah made his mother His guest

At Ka’aba-the House of Allah

And Ali was born

As a guest of Allah

At the House of Allah

At the House of Prophethood

An abode he lived

Always a Companion to my Rasul

And an eternal companion to my Rasul

Ali smelled fragrance of Prophethood day and nite

At a time only three were Muslims

And Ali was a Muslim then

Allah commanded my Rasul to invite his family

At the banquet only Ali answered

And three times was it he answered

At Hijra he replaced my Rasul waiting for Quraishi swords

‘And among men is he who sells his NAFS for the pleasure of Allah’

Allah said that in the Qur’an

A sword called Dhul-Fiqar was his

An only sword in history

At Badr bn. Utba died by Dhul-Fiqar

At Uhud it was a shield to my Rasul

At Khandaq Amr bn. Abduwad ceased to ridicule my Rasul forever

At Khaybar Marhab was divided into two by it

A day the gate of Khaybar became a bridge

At Ghader Khum

Ali was presented as the Wali of my Rasul

Allah’s order it was

Ali’s friends are Allah’s friends

Ali’s enemies are Allah’s enemies

Ali -brother to my Rasul

Ali- husband to al-Zahra

Ali- father to Hasanain

Ali- friend to Ammar, Abu Dhar

Ali- just ruler and knowledge gate

At 19^th Ramadan

A son of Muradi

Ali’s head was opened by this cursed son

Alas! Mountain of faith and piety tumbled and crumbled down

And making the world of Islam mournful

And Ali said

And ‘By the God of Ka’aba I have succeeded’

And the pillars of guidance are demolished

And martyred was he three days latter

And at Najaf he was buried

These verses was for the celebration of the Moulud of Imam Ali[as].It was written by an incapable composer who made this attempt because of his love for  AhlulBayti Rasul. Peace be upon Muhammad al-Mustapha[S] and his Immaculate Progeny.

HARUNA ELBINAWI

KADUNA-NIGERIA

elbinawi@yahoo.com

IN PRAISE OF ALLAH AND HIS RASUL

Praise be to Allah

Whose worth cannot be described by speakers

Whose bounties cannot be counted by calculating instruments

Whose claim (to obedience) cannot be satisfied by those who attempt to do so

Whom the height of intellectual courage cannot appreciate

Whom the diving’s of understanding cannot reach

He for whose description

No limit has been laid down

No eulogy exist

No time is ordained

And no duration is fixed

He brought forth creation through His Omnipotence

He dispersed winds through His Compassion

And made firm the shaking earth with rocks

He sees even when there is non to be looked at from among His creations

He is only One, such that there is none with whom He may keep company

The foremost in religion is the acknowledgment of Him

The perfection of acknowledging Him is to testify Him

The perfection of testifying Him is to believe in His Oneness

The perfection of believing in His Oneness is to regard Him pure

The perfection of His purity is to deny Him attribute

Whoever attaches attribute to Allah recognizes His like

Whoever recognizes His like regards Him two

Whoever regards Him two recognizes part of Him

Whoever recognizes parts of Him mistook Him

Whoever mistook Him pointed at Him

He is a Being but not through phenomenon of coming into being

He exist but not from non-existence

He is with everything but not in physical nearness

He is different from everything but not in physical separation

He acts but without connotation of movements and instruments.

He initiated creation most initially and commenced it originally

Without undergoing reflection

Without making use of any experiment

Without innovating any movement

And without experiencing any aspiration of mind

He allotted all things their times

He put together their variations

He gave them their properties

He determined their features knowing them before creating them

And He realized fully their limits and confines

Ages passed by

And times rolled on

Fathers passed away

While sons took their places

Till Allah deputized Muhammad[s] as His Prophet

In fulfilment of His promise

In completion of His Prophethood

His pledge had been taken from the Prophets

Muhammad[s] traits of character were well reputed

His birth was honourable

Then Allah chose for Muhammad[s]

To meet Him and selected him for His own nearness

Regards him too dignified to remain in this world

Decided to remove him from this place of trial

So He drew him towards Himself with honor.

Peace be upon Muhammad[s], his Progeny and his chosen Companions.

Compilation:

Haruna el-Binawi

elbinawi@yahoo.com

KADUNA-NIGERIA.

These are the words of the Amirul Muminin, Ali bn.Abi Talib [as], in his description of Allah and the Prophethood of Muhammad[s].I only rendered them into verses for outline. [Nahjul Balagha-Sermon 1]

The letter of Amirul Muminin, Ali bn.Abi Talib, to Malik al-Ashtar when he appointed him the Governor of Egypt after the death of Muhammad bn. Abubakar [ra] is another masterpiece. That letter is the most encompassing, accurate and complete guide to political authority and good governance ever written.Even non-muslims had attested to this. When you read that letter you will fully grasps the greatness of Islam’s greatest mind.

THAT EVIL OLDMAN OF OTTA

‘The poverty of the people is the actual cause of the devastation and ruination of a country and the main cause of the poverty of the people is the desire of its ruler and officers to amass wealth and possessions whether by fair or foul means.’

                                                                                                                                               Ali bn. Abi Talib.

 During the 1999 elections, I was in Kebbi state for my National Youth Service. I acted as a polling clerk in one of the polling booths at Kalgo Local Government Area of Kebbi State. The police officer attached to the polling unit and I arrived the village as early as 8.00am in the morning. We arraigned the furnitures, pasted the posters of the two presidential aspirants and settled down to wait for voters to come and exercise their franchise. Since the two presidential aspirants were all from the Southern part of the country, the turnout of voters was low and there was no excitement or competition. The village head was among the first callers, he greeted us in Hausa and we answered with respect. He asked me who among the aspirants is a Northerner; I told him they are all Southerners. He asked me who among the aspirants is a Muslim; I answered him that they are all Christians. He asked me who among the aspirants is a farmer; I pointed to Olusegun Obasanjo, and he said that is the person they will vote for.

The old village sage was right in his judgement because since Obasanjo is a farmer then they have something in common and by extension his government will implement policies and programmes that will advance and enhance farming in Nigeria. But that was not to be because after eight years in power Olusegun Obasanjo did practically nothing to advance farming in the country despite mountain of promises. Olusegen Obasanjo assumed power in 1999 with a lot of goodwill from Nigerians and with great expectations after successive Military dictatorships. The annulment of June 12 election by the Babangida regime had placed a big crack in the heart of unity of the country and the ruthless crackdown of pro-june 12 activist by the Abacha regime worsened the already dicey situation. The Nigerian Nation looked forward to its leader to heal these wounds and place the Nation back to the track of development and progress so that Nigeria can take its rightful place among comity of Nations.

After eight years of Obasanjo’s government all the indices of development and progress were reversed backward. Power generation was at its lowest ebb since the country’s independence despite colossal sum of money spent. Billions of dollars were alleged to have been spent in that sector but the whole of Nigeria was in darkness. Power availability is the foundation of industrialisation because all modern industries depends on power and in its absence even the industries that existed collapsed resulting in the retrenchment of tens of thousands of workers therefore increasing the poverty index of the country. Until this day not a single person was arrested for bringing misery and discomfort to Nigerians. If Babangida’s regime institutionalised corruption in Nigeria the Obasanjo’s government perfected it to the extend that corruption became a norm in government circles. The bribery scandals involving Halliburton and Shell are tips of the iceberg and the fifty million-Naira-per-Legislator bribe during the aborted third term saga was just an introduction. Obasanjo’s government is the most corrupt government this country has ever seen and it conferred sainthood to Babangida’s government that held the record before now.

Honesty and integrity are words not found in the dictionary of that government. Public trust and accountability are words that are alien to that government. Public institutions and corporations were auctioned off to cronies at a give away prices and custom duties were exempted for the richest men in the land .Elections were conducted to a large extent as a formality and those Nigerians who tried to protect their votes were butchered .Maurice Iwu, known to friends and foes as a criminal and a gangster, was the election umpire. Elected positions were arraigned without elections and people ‘win’ elections in accordance to the wimps and caprices of the despot. Votes casted were more than the registered voters and even dead men were ‘resurrected’ to cast their votes. Criminals win elections from prison without campaigning and prostitutes were shamly voted into high elective positions.

As for morality and family values you can only find it in the dustbin of history .Obasanjo’s son sworn an affidavit in a court of law that his father had illicit affair with his wife. Non of the accusers denied this allegation to this day. What do you expect from a man with such a reputation? The immorality and debasement of this man was so glaring that he recently declared that ‘even Jesus Christ [as] cannot conduct free and fair election in Nigeria’. A blasphemy and in my religion [Islam] the life of this man is not suppose to have value .But General Babangida conducted a free and fair elections in this country on June 12,1993.That elections was adjudged to be free and fair by all parties and the losers congratulated the winners. Obasanjo intends to corrupt the name of one of the greatest men in history, a personality whose birth was miraculous and Allah attested to that in the Qur’an .Jesus Christ [as] did things of which science will never have answers to and metaphysical laws became hypothesis.

After his third term bid failed, he anointed two unknown and incapable politicians as his successors and one of them was on the pangs of death .In his short sojourn as President of Nigeria, Umaru Musa spent more time on his sick bed than at his seat of power. This is the reward of a despot to a Nation that was united in rejecting his third term bid. Umaru Musa was succeeded by Jonathan Goodluck-a man of contradictory personality. He said he wanted free and fair election but he also wanted his unelected Aids as delegates to his party’s primaries. What a contradiction? Everybody in this world knows that there was a zoning arrangement in PDP but Obasanjo insisted that it has never existed! This has splited the PDP into two and PDP will never be the same again.

The opposition will be the greatest beneficiary of this feud and they should exploit it to their maximum advantage. Majority of Nigerians want change because the party that is ruling them for the past eleven years had failed woefully .The great people of Nigeria should bury their sentiments and unite to rest power from this evil cabal that had impoverished them and stalled their progress and development. That evil oldman of Otta is part and parcel of this cabal.

Haruna Elbinawi

KADUNA-NIGERIA

elbinawi@yahoo.com.

WHY I CHOOSED BUHARI?

On a bright Saturday morning of 1981, I escorted my late father to the famous Kasuwan barchi market in Kaduna metropolis for shopping. After parking our vehicle, we advanced towards the market and all of a sudden we were accosted by a man I had never seen and he jerked my father’s shirt and removed his cap. To my astonishment my father was smiling and been conciliatory. I was vividly angry and urged my father in our language [Nupe] to repel the strange man’s attack. My father ignored me and was pleading with the man to release him. They latter reached a compromise and my father ‘bailed’ his cap with a token sum of money. When the confrontation was over they exchange pleasantries like old friends and asked after each others family. I was baffled and had lots of questions for my father. After the man had left, my father looked at me in the eyes and said ‘our people [Nupes of North-central Nigeria] and Kastinawa [Kastina people of North-western Nigeria] have a special relationship and it is this relationship that binds the devised people of Northern Nigeria together’. But this is not enough reason for me to have chosen Buhari as my Presidential candidate for the 2011 elections.

After the military handed power to the civilians in 1999, Nigerians had hoped that it will usher in a period of prosperity, unity and stability after years of political uncertainties. But that was not to be because after 12 years of civilian rule, the Nigerian dream is fading in a cascading speed as years goes by and the country is drifting towards becoming a failed state. Corruption and maladministration are at its peak, insecurity and communal strife are increasing at an alarming rate, infrastructures are collapsing with no hope of reconstruction, the standard of education is at its lowest ebb and the unity of the country is threatened. It is obvious that the PDP-led central government for the last 12 years had failed woefully. The 2011 elections is therefore a crossroad that either Nigerians take their destiny into their hands, elect credible leaders and arrest this drift or allow the present gang to continue the journey towards abysmal abode of a failed state.

Nigeria has more than fifty [50] registered political parties but only three candidates are favourites. Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP, Nuhu Ribadu of the ACN and Muhammad Buhari of CPC. I believe that one of them will be Nigeria’s president after the elections. The PDP is the government in power and it has the incumbency factor to its advantage. It has the widest spread not because of its popularity but because it is the government in power and its takes care of the various needs of its members. It has considerable resources at its disposal as its recent presidential primaries shows and if money can buy votes then the Presidential contest is over. Its presidential candidate is a young man who has tasted poverty and is amiable. I consider the condition of an intending candidate who has tasted poverty as a high point because only those who have tasted hunger knows who is hungry and what hunger is. And all will agree that Nigerians are hungry. Then the low points of the PDP and its candidates includes, the PDP is a divided party today due to the breach of its zoning arrangement to accommodate the aspiration of the President. The PDP is considerably weakened in the Northern part of the country due to this breach and it will adversely affect its fortunes in the upcoming elections. The PDP is the party in power in the last 12 years and its symbolises corruption, looting and dishonesty. If Jonathan’s wins the 2011 elections, the same cabal  that had impoverished Nigerians and stalled their progress will still be in charge because those people are still influential in the PDP .People like Tony Anenih and Olusegun Obasango who are symbols of failure and corruption will still be relevant in the next dispensation. PDP politics is all about money and settlement as their last presidential primaries had shown .It was alleged that a presidential candidate of the party gave each delegate $10,000 to vote for him. The primary priority of this candidate will be to recoup his investment with interest if elected into office and provision of good governance and improving the living condition of Nigerians will be a secondary priority. Goodluck Jonathan will win the South-south and South-east regions of Nigeria in any Presidential contest. The two regions have the lowest number of registered voters compared to other regions of the country.

The ACN presidential candidate, Nuhu Ribadu, is an anti-corruption crusader. He became famous when he turned down a bribe of fifteen million dollars given to him by James Ibori, the former governor of oil-rich Delta State. He was the Chairman of the EFCC, an anti-corruption body, during the Obasanjo’s government and he displayed unusual courage and tenacity in the fight against corruption in Nigeria. The ACN has the South-west region of Nigeria as its base thought it is strong in some Southern states. Nuhu Ribadu is principled and disciplined and might be the answer to Nigerian’s problems especially the corruption scourge that has eaten deep into the soul of the country. The limited spread of the party is a low point and his inability to communicate with the downtrodden is another disadvantage to him. Nuhu Ribadu is looked with suspicion in the Northern part of the country as people dismissed him as Obasanjo’s stooge. He has not done anything to dispel this libel especially his inability to denounce Obasanjo as a corrupt leader per excellence. He will win the South-west in any Presidential contest but is it enough for him to win the Presidential election? Only time will tell.

Muhammad Buhari has a cult-like following in the Northern part of the country. He is an embodiment of honesty, integrity, discipline, accountability and respect for the rule of law. The downtrodden masses of Nigeria, especially in the North, see him as a natural emancipator from the shackles of poverty and degradation. The peasant farmer, shoe shiner, petty labourer, local vulcaniser and the teeming masses of unemployed consider him a definite solution to their numerous problems. He is loved by the masses and hated by a large section of the elites as the elites sees him as a threat to the status quo which unjustly favours them. His strongest base is the North and after the Sardauna no politician from the north attracts unconditional support and unalloyed loyalty than him. Muhammad Buhari has zero-tolerance on corruption and he is a champion of accountability and probity.

Today the Nigerian nation needs a leader that will not condone or abet corruption and should have accountability as a watch word and which of the candidates is better qualified than Buhari? He has chosen a civil-right crusader, Pastor Tuned Bakare, as his running mate, a man who became famous for turning down a $50,000 bribe from Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. If Nigeria can get this combination as its leaders then Nigerians can safely say goodbye to the era of wanton looting and maladministration. The cascading drift to a failed state will be duly arrested and Nigerians will have a better hope for the future.

Haruna Elbinawi.

KADUNA-NIGERIA.

elbinawi@yahoo.com.