A NOTE TO MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN POLITICS

Ustaz Najimudeen Jimoh

All of us who are concerned for peace and triumph of reason and justice must be keenly aware how small an influence reason and honest good will exert upon events in the political field.  ~Albert Einstein

This was the crux of the inspirational and enlightening discourse led by Ustaz Nojeem Jimoh, Executive Director at Taurus Oil & Gas Ltd, Lagos who recently relocated back home from the UK, as he explored the cautious participation of Muslims in politics.

The controversies surrounding present day politics, and indeed the weaknesses of this man-made system of governance-democracy- definitely puts a hesitation to pursuing a  career in politics for most honest Muslims, and has, in fact scared a few of them; for fear of losing their high Islamic standards.

However, according to Ustaz Nojeem Jimoh (who would rather be referred to simply as a Da’i-), the fact remains; we are, first and foremost, Muslims and we will be accountable to Allah Who has made us His vicegerents on Earth. Hence, it beholds every believer to ensure that his primary obligation is to Allah and thus ensuring that his duty as Allah's vicegerent is fulfilled.

Of these duties, the Rasul (SAW) explained the value of a believer as '...one who is so peaceful for others that he is known to be trustworthy as far as their lives, holdings and properties are concerned. He should be a peaceful and trustworthy man among the society. Only he deserves to be declared as a Muslim.'

He also expounds the importance of communal participation with this saying: 'By God, he is not a believer, he is not a believer, he is not a believer, the one who could not provide peace and security to his neighbours.'  He repeated three times for emphasis.

Thus, with the understanding of this duty comes the responsibility to ensure that it is fulfilled totally and adequately. But when and how we draw the line between our political obligations as Muslims and the societal expectations and/or definitions of politicians is another ball game entirely.

We must first acknowledge that being a Muslim politician is no different from being a Muslim. The point is that Islam and our being Muslim should, and must encapsulate our entire life. It is concerned with the whole entire conduct of life; whether spiritual or temporal, religious or secular, domestic or societal, moral or material, social or cultural, economic or political, individual or collective, national or international. Islam needs the establishment of a proper and just socio-economic and political order in the society so that a complete environment is provided for the upbringing of a balanced personality in the society.

And who better than the one described by the Creator of all that exists as the Best of mankind, is capable of providing this worthy socio-political system of justice and peace.

Ustaz Nojeem observed that, from his experience of having lived in the UK for a while, in most of the developed countries, at least judging by their level of governance, there was a lot more Islam than there were Muslims in those countries. Ironically, in Nigeria & indeed most Muslim-majority countries, although there were a lot of Muslims, but very little Islam was evident in their way of living.

Ustaz Jimoh explained that every position is a Trust and every one will be held accountable. And though, a true Muslim might be in a position of leadership but might be surrounded by selfish and insincere people. According to him, it is virtually impossible to combine politics with the fear of Allah in this country. However, there have been people like Ustaz Abd'Lateef Abd'Hakeem who have, Alhamdulillah, been able to maintain their identity as Muslims before and even during their appointments. Sadly, many more  have gone into the political arena and have not only let it consume their entire personality, but have lost their Islamic identity too!

Many Muslims in politics forget that their positions of authority and whatever it is they loot from the treasury can be a hindrance to their attaining al-Jannah. Although our leaders have been mostly people who are only concerned about what they can selfishly acquire for themselves, looting our communal funds as best as they can, we have also been fortunate to have leaders who have shown us the good side of leadership. In the past, such leaders included late Sir Ahmadu Bello, Murtala Muhammed, Alhaji Lateef Jakande, Buhari/Idiagbon, etc.

The bottomline is that our Muslim brothers and sisters, and indeed all of us, will do well to remember the ultimate Day of Judgement, when everyone will be made to account for even an atom’s weight of whatever he has earned or possessed in this life.

We pray that whatever positions we find ourselves in will not be a barrier to the attainment of the pleasure of Allah, in this world and in the hereafter.