ATTEMPTING A POLITICAL VISION FOR THE NIGERIAN
MUSLIM COMMUNITY - 5

[ Abstract & Preamble ]    [Our Responsibility]   [Our Record ]    [Attempting A Vision ]   [ The Process & Conclusion ]  The Process So much about the vision, we should be able to look at, if briefly, the process of realising this dream. While the vision, like an objective remains the same, the process, like a strategy could change. Only five elements of the process are being mentioned here. The will — a lot will appear to depend on the will of the community to implement whatever vision it develops for itself True the community does not appear to have effective leadership now, but this is no excuse. Members of the community have to find a way of making a start and one of the best ways is not to wait for the big and the great, let the small start and grow. After all a lot of the big and great do not obey the law of optics, the closer you come to them the smaller they become. The mind set — our siege mentality is perhaps the next thing to address. Many members of the Muslim community have developed phobia and paranoia of all manners of things, especially of the fears of some Jews somewhere planning against them or one adversary or the other lurking in some corner waiting for some ambush. In a game of wits such infantile fears, or as some aptly called them, primitive fears, can be delibitating. We must first liberate our already frail minds from such fears and face our future with the confidence and determination that was the hallmark of a Muslim. The Almighty Has assured in several ways at several places in the Qur’an, one wonders how a Muslim worth his name will just give up on himself. Scholarship — our greatest hope after having the will and liberating our minds, would appear to be education. No human society, past, present and future, can ever progress an inch without education. If God Himself the Almighty would start with knowledge as a foundation for faith as well as action how can we ever hope to succeed without giving it the priority it deserved. But we ought to now know what we mean by knowledge lest we get trapped into our ignorance again. The Political Process — we need to restore our faith in the political process. We may not be happy with the way democracy is being operated today, but we must by now known that military dictatorship is certainly worse. In any case democracy is wrongly operated precisely because we have allowed it so by staying aloof As Edmund Burke would say, "the only thing necessary for the spread of evil is for good men to do nothing". This, as many Muslims would quickly recognise, is a paraphrasing of the famous hadith of the prophet on Amr bil ma'aruf. We must take our politics seriously and ensure that the scum of the society do not take it over. - The Role of NGOs - Ultimately the job of the articulation of whatever vision the Muslim community come up with is more likely to be done by Muslim NonGovernmental Orgnisations rather than the conventional Islamic societies we have been used to. The difference between the two is certainly not one of name but of attitude. The conventional Islamic organisations tend to he xenophobic and overwhelmed by some imaginary adversary or security services and tend to confrontational rather than persuasive. The NGOs on the other hand tend to be more confident, persuasive, subtle and practical. Islamic organisations tend to led by shaykhs. who by conventional wisdom are always right and therefore run the outfit with little or no consultation. The NGOs are usually led by ordinary people who make mistakes and are willing to make amends, tend to do more con.sultation and often survive their leaders. They also tend to make themselves amenable to resources from non-Muslim sources. The NGOs provide a meeting point of various groups for the service of humanity They are clearly the Islamic fronts of the future, and are bound to play a key role in the realisation of the vision of the Muslim community. Conclusion The paper, as can be seen, is only sketchy. The areas covered are far from being exhaustive. The idea is to provoke thoughts and stimulate discussions. The message is that until the Muslim community appreciates the need, nay necessity to develop a vision and plan to implement it over time, it is bound to perish as a community. The hope is that the paper will generate similar and better efforts leading eventually to the development of a vision which Muslims, without waiting for a leadership that is not there, could find ways to implement.