The best introduction to this paper is an invitation to reflect on an image that is all too familiar on the streets of this country. From Lagos to Maiduguri, Sokoto to Port- Harcourt our streets and pavements are lined with men and boys, girls and women, sometimes with a bowl in hand, begging passersby for money to buy food. The vast majority of these beggars, known in Hausa as almajirai, are northerners and Muslim. This spectacle, shameful as it is, is only half of the story. There are thousands more of the kinsmen of these street beggars, moving from house to house and office to office, begging for some contract, or commission, or just cash and easy money. It is the sad story of a people that has lost its bearing, a nation or community that has failed its members, a great civilization that has been laid waste.

I have in my writings been known for my scathing criticism of the northern Muslim elite, whom I believe are largely to blame for this situation. Northern Nigeria is, according to most indices of human development, one of the poorest parts of the globe. My interventions have been received with not a little discomfort, but truthful discourse is no respecter of sensibilities. Today, however, it is not the elite, but the poor, to whom this paper is addressed. It is a reminder to all of us, as Muslims, of the teachings of Islam with regard to the question of economic empowerment. This is necessary in an environment in which people are prone to expose themselves to the humiliation of being beggars, rather than work and earn a living. Some pretend that it is the search for religious knowledge that denies them the opportunity to seek a means of livelihood other than begging. Others adopt a fatalistic attitude in which poverty is taken as divinely decreed, thus providing the excuse for unseemly parasitism. Still others simply find it easier to beg from those who work for their earnings than to work. Their personal dignity, which apparently has no value, is sold for the pittance they collect from passersby.

As individuals, and as a community, we are viewed with contempt by our fellow country-men. We are, in their books, a community of lazy beggars and parasites, no more. Our governments have no revenue generating capacity and rely on resources from the oil rich (and non-Muslim) south. Our upper classes have not built any industries that generate employment and productivity and contribute nothing to the Gross National Product. On the contrary, they have amassed wealth from government patronage, which they proceed to devour through conspicuous consumption thus precipitating the disintegration of our economic edifice. Our heroes are crooks and criminals whose ill-gotten wealth has not been of benefit to our masses. Our best minds are dedicated to the continuation of this conspiracy of criminality, the perpetuation of the obsequious culture of subservience. To be true, we build fashionable houses and beautiful mosques, in which we teach the poor to persevere and accept their fate. The poor should not allow envy or jealousy to lead them into inquiry about the source of stupendous wealth, for to do so is to question divine decree. Our poor are too lazy to do hard work and prefer to line the street in their rags, sometimes displaying ghastly wounds and sores to attract pity from the working populace.

This stereotype, to be fair, is a crude and cruel caricature of the northern Muslim. But it is a caricature that finds credibility in the abundance of evidence. It is all the more sad, for those who know what Islam teaches, that this is the image of a Muslim people. This is why I consider it appropriate that the organizers of this roundtable have asked me to speak on the role of the Ulama in mobilizing the citizens towards economic empowerment. I will try to speak briefly on the teachings of the Qur’an and Hadith on this subject. It is to me a matter of personal regret that, due to earlier commitments, I may not be able to participate in person.

In Muslim jurisprudence and legal theory, it is taught that the Islamic Law (Shari’ah) has objectives (or Maqasid), which it seeks to attain and preserve. Prime among these are the necessities (or dharuriyyat). These are the deen (religion), nafs (life), ‘aql (sanity or intellect), nasab (genealogy) and mal (wealth or property). The jurists differ over a sixth category, usually ranked above wealth, called ‘irdh (or dignity).

Although wealth or property (or money) is ranked lowest among the necessities, Islam is a religion that recognizes the need for preserving a balance between man’s spiritual and material needs. As the Companion Hudhaifa was wont to say, " the best among you is not he who abandons this world (in search of) the hereafter; nor he who abandons the hereafter (in his quest for) this world. But the best among you is he who takes from both." Indeed the lack of money or wealth often leads to a loss of the higher necessities. We are all witnesses to how it leads to a compromise in honour and dignity through begging. In some cases it leads to fornication, particularly in poor and weak women who are exploited for their sexuality as a means of earning money thus threatening genealogy. Poverty leads to loss of life in many ways. It condemns the poor to a hard life with no medical care, the risk of contracting and spreading contagious life-threatening diseases like cholera and tuberculosis, death due to hunger and malnutrition, etc. In the extreme, poverty can threaten faith and lead to a denial of truth. The Prophet used to pray thus: "O God! I seek refuge in Thee from poverty and disbelief." And he said also, "poverty is close to becoming disbelief."

It is therefore to be expected that the Qur’an and Sunnah would stress the importance of earning a living and of seeking economic empowerment and independence at the level of the individual Muslim and of the community at large.

Allah the Almighty opens the door to the legitimate quest for economic empowerment in several verses of the Qur’an. He says:

"Then when the Jumu’ah prayer is ended, you may disperse through the land, and seek the bounty of Allah…." That is, through trading and similar activity.

Also: "He it is Who made the earth subservient to you (ie easy for you to walk on, to live in and to cultivate); so walk in the path thereof and eat of His provision."

And also: "Allah has made trading lawful, and prohibited usury." And many similar verses.

It is therefore clear that Allah permits and exhorts us to seek of his wealth and bounty through trading, farming and the like rather than rely on the charity of others. The Prophet said in a hadith:

"For one of you to take his rope and bring a bundle of wood on his back and sell it, such that Allah protects his personal dignity thereby, is better for him than to ask men, whether or not they give him!"

He also said: "The purest (or the best) earning is that from a man’s own handiwork, and all permissible trading."

He also said :"A man will not eat any food at all that is better than what he eats from the work of his hands (ie his legitimate reward for his own work). And the Prophet Dawood used to eat from the work of his own hand."

Allah and His prophet also encourage us to seek economic empowerment through their praise and good tidings for those who spend of their wealth for the sake of Allah. We read in the Qur’an, for example, the following verses:

"The similitude of those who spend their wealth in the way of Allah, is as the similitude of a grain (of corn); it grows seven ears, and each ear has a hundred grains. Allah gives manifold increase to whom He wills. And Allah is All-Sufficient, All-Knowing."

And: " Who is it that will lend to Allah a goodly loan so that He may multiply it to him many times?" Also: "And the God-fearing will be far removed from it (ie Hell-fire); He who spends his wealth for increase in self-purification"

Among the many traditions on this are: "No one gives a sadaqah from what is good (and Allah only accepts what is good) except that Allah collects it by His right hand and even if it is a date it grows in Allah’s palm until it becomes larger than a mountain…" The Prophet also said: "Much bounty is good wealth to a good man!"

The companions of the Prophet all earned their own living. They traded on land and sea and tilled their date plantations. "Not one of the companions is known to have refused to work and earn a living, sitting in his house" or relying on others. On the contrary they tended to criticize that. ‘Umar used to say : "Let not one of you sit down and refuse to work for his sustenance and say ‘O God provide for me!’ For you all know that the skies do not rain gold or silver…"

Similarly the Ulama who came after the companions and who trod their path and followed the example of the Prophet stressed the need to work and exhorted people to try and earn a living and seek economic empowerment. Sa’id b. Musayyib said: "There is no good in one who does not build resources with which he protects his honour, delivers what is entrusted to him and strengthens family ties." When he died he left some money and he used to say before his death: "O God! You know that I would not leave it except to protect my religion and standing."

Sufyan al-Thauri said: "In the past wealth was abhorred. But now it is the shield of the believer." He also said: "Were it not for these dinars these kings would have turned us into rags." (ie they would have trampled us underfoot and humiliated us.) Ibrahim was asked about a man who left trading and concentrated on salat and another who did not, who was the better? "The trustworthy merchant", he replied. Ahmad was asked about a group who did not work, saying "we rely on God". He said: "These are innovators."

According to Ibn Hazm, the ‘ulama "are unanimous in the view that seeking livelihood from legitimate sources to maintain one’s self and one’s family is obligatory on the able." Another jurist says: "It is sunnah to seek wealth and know its rules even when basic needs have been met."

It is clear from the above that the sacred texts of Islam and the teachings of early scholars all point to the imperative of mobilizing Muslims, as individuals and a community, to seek economic empowerment. We have already discussed the necessity for this in protecting honour and dignity and in enabling the Muslim meet his worldly and spiritual obligations.

The ‘ulama have the historic role of ventilating these texts, preaching against the culture of begging and parasitism, as well as the misguided fatalism and innovation of those who associate joblessness with piety.

Of course the ‘ulama also have the task of reminding those in power that economic empowerment requires an enabling environment, in addition to investment in human beings with the aim of providing citizens with education and requisite skills.

At a time when the Muslim parts of northern Nigeria, despite the resources with which they are endowed, keep lagging behind the rest of the country; when the citizens of those areas constitute the critical mass of the population of beggars; when they lack the resources and the facilities to protect themselves from the vagaries of sickness and diseases; Where security is threatened and poverty leads to anger and violence; At such a time the ‘ulama must speak up and mobilize the people for economic empowerment. Only then will the Muslim north find an antidote to its own retarded condition, which is due to what I refer to as the new consensus of idiocy that has been foisted upon us under the dubious guise of revival.

I wish you successful deliberations.

Nov 2002

Being text of a paper presented at The National Roundtable on Poverty Reduction in Nigeria organized by The Gamji Forum at Arewa House, Kaduna. Date: October 24 & 25,2002