No matter how much you whinge about leaving the country, only a few eventually leaves ergo, the onus is on us to change ourselves (do a Jihad on our souls) regarding how we have contributed to the mess bedevilling our country.
A lot of people who need to clean the Augean stables in their various abodes bloviate about how unfair our leaders are; makes you wonder whether our leaders are Martians.
Whether we like it or not, most of us will never leave Nigeria until our deaths.
Rather than curse every time, do your bit while saying a prayer for our leaders (yes, a lot of people are sceptical about the power of prayers but it doesn't hurt to say them).
As Muslims, we all know the Prophet's mandate on how to foster a healthy society.
Y'all can't keep engaging in perfidy yet, expect the country to be in pristine condition.
You can't give what we don't have and this applies to every Nigerian.
I don't have the solution but little and consistent acts would make a marked difference.
When Allah wants good for His slave, He will make him forget his acts of obedience and remove it from his heart and tongue.
And when he is trialed with a sin, it will always be on his mind and He will make him forget his acts of obedience and all of his concern will be directed towards his sin. So his sin will always be on his mind in all circumstances. And this is the epitome of mercy.
As some of the Salaf have said: Indeed an individual will commit a sin that will cause him to go to Paradise while one will perform a righteous deed that will cause him to go to the Hell fire.
1/ We’ve normalized overconsumption, not of food, but of stimulation.
Podcasts while walking. Music while cooking. Netflix while eating. Reels in the bathroom. Every quiet moment is now content time. And then we wonder why we’re anxious, foggy, and tired.
2/ We’ve forgotten what it's like to just be. No noise. No screen. No external voice shaping your internal world.
Stillness now feels like boredom. Silence feels like something’s wrong.
But maybe silence is the sound of your soul calling you back.
3/ We’re not just filling time. We’re fleeing from it. And in doing so, we’re also running from:
– our thoughts
– our grief
– our exhaustion
– our restlessness
So we keep layering more noise, hoping distraction will drown discomfort. But it only delays healing.
It is reported that Ya’lā b. ‘Ubayd said, “We entered upon Ibn Sūqah, who said: ‘O nephew, let me relate to you something that will hopefully benefit you; for it benefited me. ‘Atā b. Abī Rabāh once said to us:'”
Those before you used to consider idle talk to be anything other than the Book of Allāh, or the enjoining of good, or the forbidding of evil, or speaking for the sake of your basic living needs. Do you deny that there are recording angels appointed over you?
Sitting on your right and your left? Never is a word said except there is an observer prepared to record? Are you not afraid (ashamed) that your record of words and deeds be spread open only to discover that there is nothing of the hereafter in it?
1. The Qur’an is not just a book you recite to feel blessed. It’s a trust. A guide. A mercy. Sent down not just to beautify your tongue but to shape your heart. To challenge your ego. To pull you from illusion back to Allah.
2. Many today treat the Qur’an like background noise.
Recited, posted, admired, but rarely internalized. But Allah didn’t reveal His words for display. He revealed them for transformation. “This is the Book, in which there is no doubt, a guidance for those who are mindful of Allah.” (Qur’an 2:2)
3. The Qur’an is not just preserved in its words. Its meanings must be preserved too. Today’s distortion often comes not by ink but by ego. By speaking without knowledge. By bending the meanings to fit ideologies, not truth. This is a heavy trust, not a personal project.
1/ Shaytan doesn’t drag you into sin. He whispers. He doesn’t scream. He suggests. He doesn’t push. He invites. Gently, strategically, patiently.
2/ He doesn’t say: “Disobey Allah.” He says: “Don’t you want something more?” And then he decorates sin, making it look… good.
Justified. Harmless.
3/Let us look at the life of Prophet Adam. Shaytan didn’t say, "Disobey Allah."
Instead he whispered, "‘O Adam, shall I show you the Tree of Immortality and a kingdom that never decays?’” (Qur’an 20:120)
4/ Shaytan sold him a dream: Immortality. Power. Two ancient desires. And if you look around. We’re still chasing the same things today.