What My Shaykh Taught Me
Sometimes around 2002, I took initiation into the Tijāniyyah Ṭarīqah under the tutelage of Shaykh Sharīf Ḥabībullāh ibn Sharīf ʿAbdul-Majīd (RA), at the popular Mosalasi Alhaja, Agege, immediately after the Ẓuhr prayer.
He read the basic rules and obligations of the Ṭarīqah to me. Among the very first things he taught me were:
1. Never neglect your Ṣalāh.
2. Never neglect your Awrād.
3. Never go against the Sharīʿah of Allah established through the Qurʾān and Sunnah.
4. Never smoke or drink.
5. Never disrespect your parents or your Shaykh.
6. Never fall into Zinā, no matter how enticing it may appear.
7. Observe the Nawāfil like you observe the Fard
He then taught me how to stand properly and fold my arms in Ṣalāh. For several years, I had the privilege of observing Ṣalāh behind him, and I never saw him deliberately miss a Ṣalāh in Jamāʿah unless he was ill or away.
Throughout the years I spent with him, (may Allah be pleased with him), he never taught me a supplication whose meaning I did not understand. He never deliberately spoke in obscure parables that left ordinary people struggling to understand what he meant. He never claimed knowledge of the unseen. Rather, he consistently warned us, and me personally, against soothsaying and every form of claiming access to the unseen.
He expressly warned that whoever engages in soothsaying would be raised blind on the Day of Qiyāmah.
And despite his noble lineage as a descendant of Rasūlullāh ﷺ, you would hardly know it merely from watching him walk. He was extraordinarily quiet, gentle and humble. He did not speak harshly, nor did he raise his voice against people. He was a teacher and he was known as "Ustadh" by many.
Out of love and contentment, he also slept in the same room in which Shaykh al-Islām Ibrāhīm Inyās (RA) would sleep whenever he visited Sharīf ʿAbdul-Majīd (RA), and that remained so throughout his lifetime.
Looking back today, I realise that I have never lived up fully to the teachings he gave me. Perhaps that is one reason I have never considered myself a Ṣūfī.
Yet I remain deeply grateful for what Allah allowed me to learn from him.
My memory of him is not merely of a Shaykh who initiated me into a Ṭarīqah. It is of a man who taught me that Ṣalāh must never be abandoned, Dhikr must never be neglected, the Sharīʿah must never be violated, parents and teachers must be honoured, immorality must be avoided, and claims to the unseen must never be entertained.
May Allah be pleased with Shaykh Sharīf Ḥabībullāh ibn Sharīf ʿAbdul-Majīd (RA), forgive his shortcomings, illuminate his grave, elevate his station, reward him abundantly for what he taught us, and admit him into Jannatul-Firdaws.
May Allah unite us with him, with our beloved Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ, and with the righteous servants of Allah in the highest abode of Jannah. Āmīn.
DON'T BLAME TINUBU — YOU ARE THE PROBLEM.
Every Nigerian Is Corrupt Or Potentially Corrupt
Let us tell ourselves the bitter truth we have been running from.
We love to shout: "The President is the problem! Governors are thieves! Senators are corrupt!"
That is a convenient lie. A sweet excuse to sleep well at night.
The harder truth is this: Government House did not fall from the sky. The men inside it came from YOUR street, YOUR church, YOUR mosque, YOUR family meeting. They are not aliens. They are your brothers, your uncles, your classmates, your former school prefects. They are not different from us — they ARE us.
We are not angry that there is corruption. We are only angry that the corruption is not yet favouring us.
I. WE ARE ALL GUILTY — IN OUR OWN SMALL CORNER
The politician who steals N10 Billion is corrupt, yes.
But YOU, the policeman who collects N2,000 at the checkpoint to let a trailer of smuggled goods pass — you are corrupt.
YOU, the driver who happily pays it to avoid 5 minutes delay — you are corrupt.
YOU, the civil servant who will not move a single file without "something for the boys" — you are corrupt.
YOU, the youth who abuses leaders on X but defends a known criminal because he speaks your language and comes from your tribe — you are corrupt.
YOU, the voter who sold his children's future for N5,000 and a bag of rice on election day, then wails for four years — you are corrupt.
The only difference between you and the man in power is OPPORTUNITY AND SCALE. He steals billions because he has access to billions. You steal thousands because you only have access to thousands. Put you on that same chair tomorrow, you will do worse.
II. HOW WE MURDER OUR OWN CHILDREN IN MIRACLE CENTERS
Our worst crime is not in government. It is in what we do to our own blood.
Every June, a strange miracle happens in Nigeria. A child who could not spell "because" in April suddenly has 9 A's in WAEC in July. A child who failed every class test scores 350 in JAMB.
It is not a miracle. It is fraud. Organized fraud. And we, the parents, are the financiers.
We save, we borrow N150,000, N300,000, N500,000 to pay the Miracle Centre merchant. We drive our children there ourselves. We sit in the car park, praying, fasting, speaking in tongues, while inside, a hired mercenary writes the exam for our child. The invigilator is paid. The supervisor is paid. Answers are on the blackboard.
When the result comes out, we dance. We testify in church. "My child is brilliant!" No, Sir. Your child is not brilliant. You just enrolled him in your school of corruption.
In that one satanic act, you have taught that 16-year-old that honesty is foolishness, that hard work does not pay, that cheating is intelligence, and that everything has a price.
You think you have helped him? You have destroyed him forever. A child who learns to cheat at 15 will rig elections at 30. A child whose mother can buy WAEC will believe his father can buy a Judge, buy the Police, buy EFCC tomorrow. This is where Yahoo Yahoo, drug abuse, cultism and ritual killing begin — not on the street, but in our homes.
III. HOW YOUR SMALL CORRUPTION IS KILLING NIGERIA
That is how your small sin in your small corner moves to kill the whole country.
That boy you helped to cheat in WAEC will graduate as a fake doctor who cannot diagnose malaria. That is why our hospitals have become mortuaries.
He will become the engineer whose 3-storey building collapses in Lagos and kills 20 people. That is why we have no good roads, no good bridges.
He will become the teacher who cannot teach. That is why our children are half-baked.
He will become the pharmacist who imports chalk as Paracetamol and starch as antibiotics and sells it to you. That is why fake drugs, fake drinks, fake engine oil, fake cement, fake spare parts are everywhere. That mother who died after childbirth, that child who died after drinking cough syrup — your Miracle Centre graduate killed them.
GOOD NEWS: President Tinubu’s government has announced plans to build a high-speed train that could travel up to 360 km per hour.
The planned railway would connect Lagos to Maiduguri, making travel between the two cities much faster.
Thank you, Tinubu!