CHARITY IN ISLAM: My Gambia Family

We have become like sheep without a shepherd, we have decided to live life without acknowledging that there is God, we go out and we come in and feel fulfilled that the day is accomplished and we individual have decided to pursue our individual dreams and goal hoping to find happiness one day, hoping to live a better life one day, hoping to reach our destiny tomorrow. This is a common error prevelent in our today's soceiity. I have seen life i both bitter and sweet way

LIFE IN THE DESERT

After 48 hours, our vehicle broke down twice deep in the desert. We also used up all of our drinking water and ate all our food. When I tried to drink from the can, I found out that the gallon can was empty. It was the worst moment in the journey. It is as a result of this kind of situation that Owen and Owen (1984), claimed that the dilemma they could compare to the hostile situation of the Cry of the Kalahari, when there were no nearby place to get water and food, no dwellings, no contact with the humans, and no one to rescue us in an emergency. In fact, he added that “if we died, it was unlikely that anyone would realize it for months”. However, after two days, we found an Oasis (water reservoir), where we fetched the water that we would drink for the rest our journey.

This experience in the desert was a very interesting story that changed my perception of life. I actually learned much about the importance of drinking water, after my perilous journey across the Sahara desert to Morocco by land in the month of December 2012. I am from Nigerian. Nigeria, a country located in the Sub-Sahara Africa within the western axis, while Morocco is located in the northern part of Africa. Nigeria has a border with Spain and Algeria. The desert is an area that has high temperature and less than 10 inches of rain annually, 14 percent of the earth’s 56 millions square miles of land (Cloudsley and Thomas, 1975).  The Sahara desert is situated between Niger and Algeria. It is the most fierce, dangerous, and largest desert in the world, and it is third largest desert overall after Antarctica and the Arctic, which are cold deserts. There are so many characteristics of a desert. Cloudsley and Thomas (1975) claimed that winds, a constant feature of deserts, tend to be strongest in spring and early summer and to blow hardest during the day, whereas the nights are relatively calm. The speeds of the winds covered 50 miles an hour, and average only about 10 miles an hour, which is also their annual average. At one point in the desert, after my drinking water was depleted, it took us two days to find a water reservoir in the desert. That was when I learned that Sahara desert is the fiercest, dangerous and horrible place I have ever visited.

On December, 14, 2012, I travelled with two of my friends, Osas and Fred to Morocco by land. We anticipated arriving Morocco after crossing the Sahara desert in two weeks. We had designed our route to cross the Sahara desert after arriving Niger Republic. The journey from Benin City (my home city) to the border took two days because my bus had to stop in Abuja due to a curfew that started from 10 pm to 6 am daily during that period.

On the following day, my bus arrived at the border between Niger and Nigeria. The village we arrived is known as Zidane, a small village located at the border between Nigeria and Niger Republic. The border has a small office where the immigration officers search passengers to make sure they are not carrying illegal items or things that are dangerous or prohibited. They also stamp passports for entry or exit. When we were done with them, a man collected some money to pay for our transportation from this village to the last village in the desert.

The last village before the direct journey across the desert is called Arlit. It is a small village, where virtually everybody is a Moslem. The men are always on their way to and from, either to work or mosque. We stayed a day in this village until we were able to pay for an available vehicle that could transport us across the desert to the first village in Algeria called Tamarasset. The payment was a little bit higher than what we expected, but the worst was the fear of what was waiting ahead of us in the desert. There was so much to confront in the desert. Tooby and Cosmides (1990) claimed that the desert has a dark side because its natural environments contain many dangers, such as predators, venomous animals, and lightning, that can strike quickly and without warning. Other scholars have observed that, the evaluations of wilderness programs have also documented numerous positive responses to wilderness, including an increase in psychological energy, a greater self-confidence, and a sense of awe and wonder (Ewert, 1986; Kaplan & Kaplan, 1989). Nevertheless, our response was not in favor of an increase in psychological energy.

Every passenger on the bus, was scared, praying, and seeking divine protection throughout the journey. In the past, we had heard of so many horrible and terrifying stories and myths, on how vehicles missed their way in the desert and all the passengers would die of starvation and thirst, how the evil spirits could kill someone mysteriously, and how someone can develop psychological problem as a result of fear. As a result, these terrifying stories implied threatening aspects of nature that could evoke strong fears and other negative emotions (Ulrich, 1993). This is why we were all enslaved in this circumstance.

Consequently, we were advised to have a gallon of water and enough snacks for the journey. Fred, Osas and I bought a very big gallon container that we used to carry. We expected that it sustained us for the entire journey across the desert. When the truck arrived at the departure point, we were crowded in the vehicle. This truck, which normally transported three passengers, was made to carry 33 passengers. During the journey, many passengers fell from the truck, but the driver refused to stop to pick them, until the passengers shouted and hit the truck so that it would finally come to a halt. At a point, I lost a friend who saved me from falling from the truck. He was left behind during one of the resting points. At one point in the journey, the driver stopped the truck and asked us look for a safe place to have our lunch, dinner or breakfast. Thereafter, our ugly experiences continued in the Sahara.

The Sahara is like a grave yard because of its quietness. The only sound I could hear was the noise of the wind. The desert was almost completely lifeless. I barely found trees, shrubs, grasses, birds or other kinds of animal. However, at point, we saw an antelope. Our driver tried to hit it, but it escaped. Other significant things that were visible in the deserts were mountains, dunes, valley, hills and few plants that have no leaves but thorns. The weather was so hot that my drinking water burnt my tongue.

On the second day, when our vehicle broke down twice deep in the desert, we used up all of our drinking water and ate all our food. When I tried to drink from the can, I found out that the gallon was empty. It was the worst moment in the journey. However, on the following day, we found an Oasis (water reservoir), where we fetched the water that we would drink for the rest our journey.

Finally, after four days, we said good bye to the Sahara desert. The Sahara desert is the fiercest, dangerous, and most horrible place that I have ever visited. The journey that we had anticipated would take three days later took a day longer. The loss of my friend, the thirst in the desert, the hotness of the weather during the day, the frustration and fear that accompany the journey, made me swear that never I will never travel across the Sahara desert again.

References

Cloudsley, J. & Thomas, E. (1975). Deserts and grasslands: The world’s open spaces. Harrington: London: Aldus Books.

Ewert, A. (1986). Fear and anxiety in environmental education programs. Journal of Environmental Education. 11 (3): 31-37

Kaplan, S. & Kaplan, R. (1989). The experience of nature: a psychological perspective. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Owen, M. & Owen, D. (1984). Cry of the Kalahari. Boston, MA: Hougton Mufflin.

Tooby, J. & Cosmides, L. (1990). The past explains the present: Emotional adaptations and the structure of ancestral environment. Ethology and Sociobiology. 11 (4-5): 375–424.

Ulrich, S. R. (1993). Biophilia, biophobia and natural landscapes. In S. R. Kellert, and E. O. Wilson (Eds.), The Biophilia Hypothesis. Washington, DC: Island Press.

CHARITY IN ISLAM

It was 3p.m Nigeria time, after lunch, when Fatou Badjie called me on my mobile phone, saying that my landlady had given all the tenants in my house a quit notice to leave the house. I had only been a tenant in her house for four months before I received a sad news from Nigeria that my Dad had died. Just after three days that I had laid the remains of my Dad to rest, I received another shocking news that I have lost my apartment in Gambia, a place that I have lived and cherished. Gambia is a country located in Africa. I lived there for three years before I relocated to Italy in 2009. It is a Muslim country with good hospitality for foreigners. Fatou Badjie was a Gambian. She was 55years old and had a great respect for her religion, Islam. The devastating phone call that I had lost my home never affected on me because the love Fatou Badjie extended to me as a good Muslim and the beauty of her Islamic faith made me comfortable in those terrible times.

Prior to this period, I never knew much about Islam as a religion of charity that is, until I met Fatou. She was a true and practical Muslim woman who believed in the teachings of the Koran and the Hadith, the recorded deeds and sayings of the prophet (Mernissi, 1996). That was why she said daily prayers, fasted during the period of Ramadan, and always extended her love to everyone, including strangers and Christians. When I arrived Gambia the following week, she encouraged me to live with her in the house. She was only living in a single bedroom apartment; of her six girls, four were living with her despite her financial status, which was that she was a poor lady with little to care for everyone.

Still, Fatou was ready to extend her kindness to me. She was ready to give me what was scriptural in Islam: charity. She kept me among her daughters without fear of rape or other forms of harassment. At night, I slept alone in the bedroom, Fatou and her daughters slept in the sitting-room. She tried to make me comfortable, eat well, and have a moment to pray as a Christian. She also assisted me in searching for an apartment I would rent. She never cared or worried about what her extended family would say, what her husband would say, or the possible scandal that people might conceived in their minds. As a very good Muslim, she believed that every good thing she did had its reward in Heaven. This was in accordance with the assertion of Cleary (1993), when he stated that Muslims, Jews, Christians or Sabians, those who believe in God, on the Last Day would have their reward from the Lord. In addition, they would not have nothing to fear, and would not have sorrow. Actually, Muslims are supposed to live according to the teachings of the Koran. A true Muslim should believe in the Islamic moral code: love. Love, according to the religion is sharing with the poor and needy. Stewart (1996) claimed that, in this world, each soul is bound by the chain of love’s mad passion. I knew more of these, when I started travelling around Muslim countries: Niger, Senegal, Gambia, Algeria, Morocco, Togo and Mali.

Among these countries I visited, Gambia is an exception because of my encounter with Fatou. Throughout the three weeks I spent in her house, Fatou tried to satisfy all my needs, which include: food, water and clothes. She was able to help me find an apartment, a single-bedroom apartment which was beautiful and not very far from her house. The next day, Fatou accompanied me to pay the rent to Mohammed, the landlord, who was a dedicated Muslim and an Alhaji (a popular title for those Muslims who had been on a pilgrimage to Mecca). Before I moved into the house, Fatou spoke well of me to him and pleaded with him to treat me like one of his sons. It was a beautiful moment I cannot forget. Fatou and her kids never wanted me to end my stay, but to remain as long as I wanted. They were good and wonderful hosts. Their kind of charity is in consonance with the assertion of Miller and Bowen (1993), when they stated that a good Muslim host must personally satisfies all guests’ needs, rendering him helpless to serve himself and to choose when to terminate the visit. The attitude of Fatou, whom I called Mama, is also similar to my biological mother in Nigeria, who would always care for the poor, bring strangers to our home and dedicate her life to the Christians religion. This similarity is not coincidence because both Islam and Christianity have charity as the bedrock of both religion. The golden rule of Islam says “Do not do to others what you do not want others do unto you,” the Christians rule says “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Finally, the devastating phone call from Fatou that I had lost my home never affected me because of the love and charity that she extended to me, even though I was a stranger and a Christian. After I returned to Gambia, the accommodation and help she provided in renting my own apartment made me to know the extent of the Islamic charity. This form of charity, confirms the kind of relationship Prophet Mohammed had with an ex-slave, a Christian adopted son, Zayd (Hitti, 1970). Moreover, Islam is a friendly, loving and caring religion despite the act of terrorism perpetuated by some Muslim extremists all over the world including the Boko Haram in Nigeria, who claim to be fighting jihad against the infidels in Nigeria. Jihad according to according Rudolph (1996), is the penalty that sharia has introduced for those who disobey God and His messenger. However, this aspect of Islam does not make me hate what I already love and cherish in Islam, which is charity.

References

Cleary, T. (1993). The essential Koran: the heart of Islam. New York: Harper Collins

Hihi, P.K. (1970). Islam: A way of life. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

Mernissi, F. (1996). The veil and the male elite: a feminist interpretation of women’s rights in Islam. Great Britain: Addison-Westley

Miller, J. A., & Bowen, D. L. (1993). The Nasiriyya Brotherhood of Southern Morocco. In Bowen, D. L & Early, E. A. (Eds). Everyday life in the Muslim Middle East. Indianapolis, IN: Indiana University.

Rudolph, P. (1996). Jihad: in classical and modern Islam. Princeton, NJ: Marcus Wiener.

Stewart, D.J. (1996). Taqiyyah as performance. In Issawi, C, & Lewis, B. Special Issue: law and society in Islam. Interdisciplinary Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. 6 (96): 19-20

Our missing girls

Those engaged in the search for the kidnapped Nigerian school girls should look beyond Nigeria territory . If the 'buzu-man' , 'tranquil' them in Niger or Chad. It would be a difficult mission because these people are also desert warriors and can hide them in the desert too. I am talking from personal experience 

THE LIFE: A TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE

THE LIFE: A TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE

LOVE

                                                                                                           

According to Merriam Webster’s dictionary and Thesaurus , '' love is a strong affection warm attachment , unselfish, loyal and benevolent concern for other''. I think every otherdictionaries would present the same definition for love. It is a word that carries strong feelings.

However, love has two 'faces'.It can be fake or real.  Let’s not forget that has different types:sanguine love(love among family members), agape love(love among friends that have desiresto share), charity (love among religious people) and erotic love emotional love  relating to ordealing with sexual love). 

 Sometimes we mix up or get confused on how to differentiate these loves . it could beso confusing when someone who u think has agape love begins to think in the area of erotic .Or sometimes family members begin to have erotic love for each other. When all thesehappens we begin to think that love doesn’t actually exist. What of when the other person who has been in love feels that he or she has been cheated after a longtime of relationship.

The same conclusion applies. In other part, those who have really experienced the true lovewould accuse others that the reasons why theirs don’t work is because , either they weren’tpatience enough in their relationships or they rushed into . The later happens frequently inmany peoples love life. They call it “ love at first sight’’.  I don’t doubt this confession whichis common among lovers. Actually it is affection that arose as a result of attraction andattraction in other part came as result of what the sight presented to the mind.

Actually I have a colleague that easily fall in love with any handsome guy, whether married or single , she doesn’t care. She doesn’t care even if he is a patient or a delivery guy.I tell you , she is ready to go out with this guy if the he consents to it. Is that not crazy? Bythe very definition of love, she is not. Remember that the dictionary defines it as a ‘ strongaffection.’ But what baffles me is this. When such a girl is disappointed after some short timeof friendship with this guy. Her first statement would be ''I hate him; I don’t love him anymore; he is a pig''. Then the lover may probably say that “ she is hor, I never loved her, sheforced her way into my life”.

This why I tell my friends that the result of affection is sex. But the 
result of sex is not alwaysaffection. The reason is this. When a man 
chase a girl, he probably does it just to savourwhat is between the 
two legs. Like Al Pacino’s film (scent of a woman) , he would say “ what is between the two legs... passport to haven”. If the affection rate is 100% before sex,the percentage would reduce even up to 20% after. It is just like when you dream of buying very beautiful car. At the time you finally get it, it becomes a normal thing andaren’t special any more. In another way round, the desire to continue and build up therelationships can make the percentage of affection increase from time to time.

Finally , I would say that true affection is the base for true love. You mustn’t love aguy or girl because he or she is rich, handsome, from a notable family, star, well educated,from a particular race or religion. All these are elements of attractions that can easily fadeaway and sometimes easily wear out of the mind, when the realness in that person begins tomatter. This also applies to love between same sex. It is a serious matter indeed. Many havedied as result of love. That is why we should see love in its positive form, so that we treat oneanother with true love and affection.

  

A TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE

                                                                                               

The common slogan  “ see Morocco see Spain”  was reigning among those who wanted to travel from Nigeria to Europe, in the 80s, during the terrible austerity that plagued Nigeria. Then high school leavers who could not make it to college thought that the only way to survive was to travel to western world, where prosperity and education are sure. I wasn’t left out of this ambition. Then after my high school I got admission in to the University of Benin. That was 1992. My parents were unable to assist me. They too weren’t finding life easy too. Daddy lost his job and mum couldn’t manage her petit restaurant. It wasn’t that she wasn’t a good business woman, but being the only breadwinner of the family all her profits went into the stomach of her 8 children and her unemployed husband. That was how I decided to join about 35% of my peers whose desires were to reach the shore of Europe by land.

            The first border we arrived at was called Zidane. It is a small village, located at the border between Nigeria and Niger republic. The border has a small office where the immigration searches and stamps passports.  When we were done with them, a connection man collected our money to pay for our transportation. His job ends there. But at every point in the journey, we had middleman that connected us for the next trip. The most terrible part of the journey was crossing the Sahara desert.

The journey through the Sahara desert to Algeria (the country before Morocco) took 3 days. The
life in the desert was like life in the grave yard. It was almost a lifeless place. You hardly see
plants or animals. Your only companion or nature around you is sands and mountains. At a point
we ran out of water. But we were lucky, that our driver was able to locate a well. The well is met
for camels. The water is very dirty and brownish. We had no choice than to draw from it. We had
no choice because we were at a point of no turning back.  On several occasions many guys fell
from the van but we shouted  at the driver and even hit the van to make sure he stopped to carry
the passenger. 
At point I lost a friend who saved me at one occasion from falling from the van.He was left behind. I am sure. But nobody could actually say what happened to him, because ourvehicle broke down twice in the middle of the desert. Even after such a incident, we were sent away to hide behind the mountain from being located by the border police. When the vehicle wasready the driver shouted ‘’ yala ! yala ! “ meaning “ let’s go! Let’s go”. Everyone rushed and jumped into the truck. Sometimes you could still be struggling to enter the truck while thedriver is already in motion.
Arriving Algeria was another big challenge in the journey. Here the connection men arelike lions. They are ready to kill and destroy, if you refused to be their passengers. We were heldhostage here for 2 months after our connection man took our money and kept on procrastinatingour journey. It was in this country someone was flogged 2000 stroke of wire for 2 days, with his body turned upside down. The guy fainted several times until the number was completed. I almost suffered this same punishment when I wanted to defend a friend who was to suffer such.Anyway this was a heaven compare to what we were to meet in Morocco. Morocco are full of
mafians or you can call them gangster or even kidnappers. As long as you don’t fall into the hand
of a dangerous guild man.
A guild man is someone whose primary business is to assist any new immigrants to Morocco. You could be lucky to have good one or bad one, but mine was a dangerous one. He started by giving us hope and was actually friendly with a lot of promises that he would take us to Morocco and even help us to  get into Spain. But when we got to Morocco he sold us to an occult group who kidnapped us, took all we have and asked our parents back home to pay a ransom for us to be freed. They kept us in a small room that normally could take only 3 to 4 people. Behold we were between 23 and 27 in that room. When I got in there I thought they were mad people. I met very skinny men,  dirty , hungry, smelling and living in great fear. There were women among them too. I stayed with those guys for 3 months. We were given no food to eat, except their left over food. We drank water , salt and sugar solution in order to keep life in us.
We slept on the floor like a loaded sardine can. I didn’t go to toilet for 3 months and rarely brush my teeth. We were beaten like thieves when our families didn’t comply to their demand. A  part from these, the young girls were taken out for sex every evening by any of the guys. 
On one particular occasion a young girl that became  pregnant died after they tried to abort the baby. On another occasion a young pregnant woman was raped to death because she was stubborn.Heartlessly they buried her with the pregnancy. Then there was an occasion when young boy was buried alive when he was about to escape. In fact a lot happened here.
Finally, the journey we anticipated would take 6 weeks became an endless journey. The slogan “ see Morocco see Spain” became see “ see Morocco no Spain”. The only prayer was how to be saved from the kidnappers and be alive again. But one fateful day our liberty came. The Immigration police broke into the house and arrested the kidnappersco and Algeria to return back to our country. It is an experience that remains in my memory forever.  
 and deported us to the border between Moroc