Every institution established by an individual or an organization will be run or managed by a human being or some human beings. Even digitised companies and automated offices need one or two human beings to stop and start the technological devices and machines that they use for their operations. No machine runs independently of one or two human beings. An Automated Teller Machine cannot reload money into itself when it runs out of money. A human being has to come and replenish it. If a machine runs out of lubricant, a human being has to come and refill it. If a car runs out of fuel, a human being is needed to refuel it.
Building human beings is the most important of all tasks. When human beings are built, they will build lasting institutions and contribute to the growth of the generations next to them.
There is hardly any Muslim community you go to in South-West Nigeria where you will not see one or two mosques. Today, rather than focus on building more mosques, we should begin to maintain the existing mosques and accelerate the completion of the ongoing ones, and then focus our attention on building and empowering people. Great individuals make a nation. If Islam must be great in Nigeria and any part of the world, Muslims must begin to focus on building people. The Muslim Ummah in Nigeria lost some great Muslim men and women recently and in the distant past. We have been unable to replace them to date.
Have we replaced Alhaji Abdul Azeez Arisekola Alao, Chief MKO Abiola, Prince Abdul Jabbar Bola Ajibola, Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, Alhaji Tafa Balewa, Sheikh Hafeez Abou of Lagos, Alhaji Wahab Iyanda Folawiyo, Alhaji Sakariyau Olayiwola Babalola, Alhaji (Chief) Abdul Fattah Idowu Sofola, Sheikh Ahmad Lemu, and others like them who contributed greatly to Islam and humanity? We still have a few great Muslim men around, but the majority of them are already aging.
Have we also replaced many Muslim women of substance who have returned to Allah in our country? What are we doing to replace those great Muslim women who are aging today? We see them in our communities, mosques, and families. They are aging and incapable of doing what they used to do. What are we doing to fill the gap that their advancing years are creating in the Ummah?
Let’s check the Islamic scholarship ecosystem in Nigeria. Have replaced Sheikh Adam Al-Iloory, Sheikh Kamaludeen Al-Adaby, Sheikh Bāqī of Iwo, Sheikh Abdus Salam of Mahd, Sheikh Ahmad Tijani Awelenje of Saki, Sheikh Abubakr Gumi, Sheikh Mustapha Zulool and other great scholars of Islam like them?
The Muslim Ummah in Nigeria is suffering from donor fatigue today. Do you know why? The few rich Muslims receive so many requests for financial support from many Muslim organisations that they are now getting tired. It is only Allah who does not get tired. Muslims should begin to deliberately create millionaires and people of substance. We cannot continue to depend on the same set of people for every project that requires money. We need a pool of financiers and donors such that we do not have to face donor fatigue at any point in time.
The current Nisāb (i.e., minimum threshold of wealth for Zakāt) of Zakāt, using the gold method, is above N12,000,000 (Twenve Million Naira). How many Muslims in Southwest Nigeria can afford this amount? If we are not intentional about building people, those who can conveniently pay Zakāt with the gold method rather than the silver method will keep decreasing year in and year out.
We need to shift our attention to skills acquisition, quality education, mentorship, financial empowerment, and capacity building such that our people are not only taught how to observe Salāt and Hajj but are also taught how to fish, make money legitimately, and give back to the Ummah.
The Muslim Ummah is fast losing its committed donors and bankrollers. I mean donors who do not have to be begged before giving for the sake of Allah. Where are they today? They are very few.
We need to build people, empower people, and invest in people. A nation that invests in its people is a nation that is respected by other nations. A religion that also invests in its adherents is a religion that is respected and admired. We need to be deliberate in building people and empowering them.
Building people is not something that Muslims in Nigeria, and the Southwest in particular, should delay. It should start as soon as today. Let’s have short-term, medium-term, and long-term plans for creating wealthy Muslims. While it is acknowledged that it is Allah Who truly makes people rich, Allah does not stop us from planning or investing in people to make them wealthy. Allah supports those who plan and commit their plan to Him. Let’s change our way.
Rather than compete in building mosques, Muslims should begin to compete in building people.
If we want to build more mosques, we should focus more on areas that do not have mosques in the southeastern and south-southern regions of the country.
Muslims in Nigeria need to have a retreat where the subject matter of this write-up is thoroughly discussed. We need to build great Muslims. We need wealthy Muslims. We need to circulate wealth among Muslims.
Abdul-Ganiyy Raji
NASFAT National Da’wah Officer/National Mission Board Secretary
Muslim News Nigeria
