ADAMU ADAMU, SAUDI ARABIA AND THE MANAGEMENT OF HAJJ

Just wanna Share this article with you, written By Ibrahim M. Attahir, have time to read it all.
In the name of Allah; gratitude be to Allah and peace and blessings of Allah be upon His Messenger.
An Arabic adage, originally

ascribed to Imam al-Shafi’i, says that: “Your love for a thing makes you blind and deaf”. It simply means that if you love something, there is, usually, the tendency that you would not see or hear anything bad in/from it. Conversely, if you hate something, there is the tendency that you would never see or hear anything good in/from it. Probably, that adage explains Adamu Adamu’s recent article on the two unfortunate incidents in this year’s Hajj. Any person that is familiar with Adamu Adamu’s writings will bear witness that he, mostly, has pathological hatred towards Saudi Arabia, its leaders, scholars and anything associated with it just like he, mostly, has blind love and loyalty to Iran, its leaders, scholars and anything associated with it. He also extends the same attitude to persons he feels are, one way or the other, associated with the said two countries. I read many of Adamu Adamu’s articles in the last more than 35 years. His sense of fairness and objectivity is evident when he writes on anything but the said two countries. His two-series article with the caption “Tears for Haramayn (I)” and “Tears for Haramayn (II)” is another testimony of his attitude to the said two countries and persons related to them. The first of the series appeared on the Friday Column of Daily Trust of 25th September, 2015 while the second appeared on 2nd October, 2015.
There are, generally, three schools of thought on Adamu Adamu’s writings in which he castigates or makes insinuations about Saudi Arabia, its leaders, scholars and whatever is related to them. The first school of thought is that of persons that support whatever he says hook, line and sinker. The second school of thought is of those who see many things wrong with his writings, but are of the view that any discerning mind can understand the fallacy of some of his allegations. Therefore, according to this school of thought, the best approach is to ignore him. The third school of thought is of the view that if such fallacies are allowed to be repeated to unsuspecting and gullible readers, they may accept them as true. The Prophet (SAW) said: “Verily there is some (elements of) magic in (power of speech).” I belong to the third school of thought and that is what informed my writing of this rejoinder. My intention is to identify the major issues raised by Adamu Adamu and subject them to scrutiny. Let me add that by writing this rejoinder I am not in any way among those who are of the view that everything done by Saudi authorities should be accepted hook, line and sinker. But I am of the view that the Saudi authorities, like any other person and authority, should be treated fairly.
Adamu Adamu’s article is on handling of Hajj by the Saudi authorities generally but with particular reference to the incident of Haram crane of 11th September, 2015 and Mina stampede of 24th September, 2015. It is, therefore, relevant to put Hajj in proper historical and Shari’ah perspective before identifying the specific issues he raised and responding to them. Even non-Muslims, at least in Nigeria, know that Hajj is one of the pillars of Islam. It is the will of Allah (SWT) that the people of Makkah are given the custodianship of the Holy sites associated with Hajj. Even during the period of Jahiliyyah the entire Arabs recognized the custodianship of the Quraish tribe over the Ka’abah and other sites. That is why the Almighty Allah draws their attention to it among His bounties to them as the reason why they should worship Him alone. He stated in Quraish (106): 1 – 4 of the Quran that: “For the accustomed security of the Quraysh – Their accustomed security (in) the caravan of winter and summer – Let them worship the Lord of this House, Who has fed them, (saving them) from hunger and made them safe (saving them) from fear.” The Glorious Quran, 14: 37 reports that Prophet Ibrahim (AS) prayed for the inhabitants of Makkah in connection with Hajj when he said: “Our Lord! I have settled some of my descendants in an uncultivated valley near Your sacred House, our Lord, that they may establish prayer. So make hearts among the people incline toward them and provide for them from the fruits that they might be grateful.” In the advent of Islam, various rulers have had custodianship of the Ka’abah and other Hajj sites. Their custodianship has always been recognized. As we will see later the Prophet (SAW) recognized the Quaraish tribe custodianship of the Ka’abah even though they were still wallowing in their disbelief. Some scholars are of the view that Quran, 4:58 was revealed in recognition of a family’s custodianship of key of the Ka’abah. Therefore, historically, customarily and legally the custodianship of Ka’abah by rulers of Makkah has never been in dispute.
Also before going into specifics, I disagree with Adamu Adamu with regards to his generalization of his accusations and allegations. For example, he mentioned Saudis generally several times. By referring to Saudis without any qualification, his readers may understand him as including men and women, old and young, government and people, educated and uneducated, government and opposition, Sunni and Shiite, Islamic scholars, businessmen, civil servants, Bedouins, those at home and in Diaspora and may include both living and dead! Such generalization and stereotyping is wrong and unfair.
The major specific issues raised by Adamu Adamu against the Saudis are so many and disjointed. But in my humble understanding they can be summarized as follows. One, the tragedies leading to loss of hundreds of lives during Hajj seasons happen year-in, year-out or annually. Two, the incidents of loss of lives this year more particularly the crane crash is not an Act of God and Bin Ladin Group is just held as a scapegoat. Three, showing human sympathy and Islamic Hospitality to pilgrims are never among the priority of the Saudis. Four, in the 70s and 80s the symbolic Stoning of the Devil was synonymous with day of mass death and criticism of this conduct was ignored by the kingdom but later reluctantly accepted. Five, the Saudis have within 40 years succeeded in telling the world that they are unwilling, incapable or unable to protect the lives of Muslims and that their negligence and incompetence seem to be proved in the last 25 years. Six, The Saudis, resorted to the Gulf attitude and disease of imagining that money is the solution of any Islamic or Muslim problem by giving USD 174, 000 to the heirs of each deceased victim. Seven, Muslims will never accept that the Haram is the ownership of any nation-state and that the Saudis are the least qualified to organize and manage Hajj even if they are competent, friendly to pilgrims and attentive to their heavy responsibilities. Eight, since there is Maqaam Ibrahim (AS), there should also be Maqaam Muhammad (SAW), which according to Adamu Adamu, should be all over Makkah and the Prophet’s grave in Madinah.
I will respond to issue one and issue five together. Issue one is the allegation that tragedies leading to loss of hundreds of lives during Hajj seasons happen year-in, year-out or annually. Issue five is the allegation that the Saudis have within 40 years succeeded in telling the world that they are unwilling, incapable or unable to protect the lives of Muslims and that their negligence and incompetence seem to be proved in the last 25 years. It is not true that hundreds of lives are lost every year as alleged. Adamu Adamu was only able to give example of loss of lives that happened in 1990, 1997, 2004, 2006 and 2015. In my finding I discover that there were other incidents in 1979, 1994, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2005. That is to say, there are 12 incidents within 25, 40 or 83 years as the case may be. The House of Saud started organizing and managing Hajj, at least, since 1932 when they conquered Hijaz. It is now 83 years. He has, however, limited his assessment to two periods. He mentioned 25 years and 40 years as the periods which according to him the Saudis mismanaged Hajj. If in 25 years we recorded loss of lives in 12 years, then 13 years are excluded. That is to say in more than half of the period the Hajj was free from the incidents of loss of lives in which case they may be scored up to, at least, 52%. If it is in 40 years that we have problem in 12 years, then 28 years are excluded and the Saudi authorities may be scored up to 70 %. But if we really want to assess the present Saudi government properly, we must cover all the 83 years and in that case if we take away the 12 years, we will be left with 61 years that are incident-free. That is 73%! That is clear excellent. Perfection is hard to come by in any human endeavor.
I now take issue two which relates to the allegation that the accidents of loss of lives this year more particularly the crane crash is not an Act of God and Bin Ladin Group is just held as a scapegoat. I never know Adamu Adamu to be an Islamic jurist or a lawyer. If may use his word, he is the least qualified to define what an Act of God is. Under both Shari’ah and Common Law, the issue of determining what amounts to Act of God is a judicial function reserved for a judge based on evidence before him. Now assuming, but not conceding, that the crane crash is not an Act of God, who is to be liable for the “negligence” apart from the contractor, Bin Ladin group? Government may be vicariously liable for the acts of its servants but not for the acts of an independent contractor. Bin Ladin group is, therefore, the actual “goat” and not a scapegoat! The only ground that Adamu Adamu has for shifting the blame to Saudi authorities is that the Bin Ladin group is not supposed to supervise itself. That is where he wants to rope in the Saudi authorities that they did not supervise Bin Ladin group properly which failure led to the accident. He ought to know that self-supervision is a virtue in Islam. That is the concept of An-Nafsul Lawwamah as per Quran, 75: 2. Allah (SWT) says: “I swear by the reproaching soul”. That is not to say that the Saudi authorities have no responsibility of supervising the contractor. But supervision cannot not be 24/7; it must be periodic. If we are to apply his logic where a motorcyclist or motorist disobeys traffic light and knocks down a pedestrian (as it is common in Nigeria), the blame should go to the government for not supervising the reckless motorcyclist or the motorist.
It is rather magnanimous on the part of the Saudi King to direct payment of a sum of One Million Saudi Riyal to the family of each deceased victim of the crane crash. It is a magnanimity because the preliminary investigation, even by Adamu Adamu’s account, faulted Bin Ladin group, the construction firm handling the work at Haram. That seems contradictory. In one breath he said that the Bin Ladin group is a scapegoat and in another he said preliminary investigation faulted the Bin Ladin group. If it were in Nigeria that government awarded a contract to an independent contractor and the latter is negligent resulting to deaths, the government will not bother. The victim’s relations will be left to face the construction giant in a court of law to claim damages if they can afford the fees for legal services.
If Adamu Adamu is in doubt, he can find out from any lawyer in the Federal Ministry of Justice. He may also check archives of PTF under which he served whether he can find a case in which the PTF magnanimously paid anything to victims of negligence of its independent contractors and sub-contractors. I recall that sometime in 1998 my law firm assisted a young man whose mud wall fence was damaged as a result of road contract which PTF awarded to Impresit Bakolori Plc in Bolari Quarters, Gombe. We wrote a letter of demand to both PTF and Impresit Bakolori Plc to compensate the young man. The PTF just ignored our letter of demand. It was Impresit Bakolori that responded by asking the sub-contractor to meet our demands. We eventually had to institute a legal action against the contractor and the case was eventually settled out of court. There are even cases where agents of government (not independent contractors) directly violated the rights of individuals in Nigeria. The cases of Odi, Zaki Biam, Apo Six, etc are still fresh in our mind. I am not personally aware of a single case where the government on its own paid a single Kobo to the families of the victims, except may be, where there is a court order. But I am told that recently Kano State Government paid compensation to families of the persons that died as a result of collapsing of a pedestrian bridge. That is an exception not the general practice. In 2004 a Mobile Policeman shot and killed a lawyer, Mado Yaro Sulai, Esq. here in Gombe State after the latter’s car accidentally hit a child coming out from the Police Barrack. The police authorities arrested the Mobile Policeman and investigated the case/incident. The Mobile Policeman was eventually charged to court where he was tried, convicted and sentenced to death. But I am not aware that federal, state or local government paid any compensation to the family of the deceased victim. If there was any such payment, I should know because I served as Chairman of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Gombe Branch some months after the incident and I have remained in touch with NBA affairs in the Branch till date.
Issue three is related to the assertion that showing human sympathy and Islamic Hospitality to pilgrims are never among the priority of the Saudis. Any fair-minded person that performs pilgrimage even once cannot accept this assertion. Contrary to that assertion, Arabs are renowned for their hospitality and generosity right from the Jahiliyyah period. Quran, 9: 20 attested to that fact thus: “Have you made providing of water for the pilgrim and maintenance of al-Masjid al-Haram equal to (the deeds of) one who believes in Allah and the Last Day and strives in the cause of Allah? They are not equal in the sight of Allah. Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people.” Allah (SWT) did not fault their hospitality; He rather faulted their disbelief. Any fair-minded person will not expect even the most callous host to deliberately hurt his guests. We have seen images of Hajj sites in 1902 and 1953 being shared in social media. I saw a video clip on Iqraa Satellite Channel on 1st October, 2015 showing pilgrims in the past performing Tawaf after a downpour with water around their waist. In 2012 one pilgrim from Adamawa told me in our tent at Arafat that he first performed Hajj in 1967 while he was 13 years old. He said then the Mataf (the space around Ka’abah where Tawaf is performed) was very dusty and dust could cover up to the knee of a pilgrim while performing Tawaf.
From the time Saud family came to power onward provision of infrastructure, public utilities and management of Hajj have undergone many improvements. If the Saudi authorities like the pilgrim to suffer and die, as Adamu Adamu will like his readers to believe, it will be very simple. They should have just folded their hands and watch the pilgrims. Why will they bother themselves to establish a whole ministry of Hajj Affairs? Why will they involve about 10 other ministries and many agencies in the organization and management of Hajj? Why will they be spending huge sums of money to provide road network, water, accommodation, security, sanitation, electricity and even food for the pilgrims? The Saudi authorities would not have spent huge sums of money to keep on improving the Haramain and Hajj sites. They would have left the holy sites in ramshackle condition. Muhammad Qaddam Sidq Isa’s piece (Saudis’ real sins) has addressed this issue of infrastructure and services very well in Daily Trust, 2nd October, 2015. According to Dr ‘Akeel Ibrahim al-Ken in his Ph.D thesis, “The Hajj: Past, Present and Future – “The Communication Aspect”, by 1993 cleaners alone employed by Ministry of Municipality and Rural Affairs in the Municipality of Makkah, Madinah and Jeddah were up to 23, 000. Apart from government even the Saudi people show of hospitality to the pilgrims is remarkable. Our pilgrims are aware of how Saudis provide food and drink to pilgrims free of charge.
Issue four is the allegation that in the 70s and 80s the symbolic Stoning of the Devil was synonymous with mass death and criticism of the conduct was ignored by the kingdom but later reluctantly accepted. Saudi Kingdom has never ignored honest suggestions on how to improve Hajj. If they ignored anything, it might be the type of Adamu Adamu’s criticism which is not constructive. Any person that desires a genuine change in anything should be constructive in his approach by appreciating where there are successes and achievements before suggesting where there are shortcomings that need to be addressed. How can Adamu Adamu expect criticism like his own to be regarded? He has not appreciated one single good thing (and there are many such good things) the Saudi authorities do in relation to Hajj. He even went to the extent of saying that the Saudi leaders have nothing to do with Islam! If I am to say he has nothing to do with Islam, will he clap for me? The Saudi authorities, in my opinion, were just being careful not to be accused of distorting the Hajj sites by people like Adamu Adamu who is looking for every opportunity to accuse them of destroying historical monuments. I think it was after the incident of 1990 prominent Islamic scholars from various parts of the Muslim world were asked by BBC Arabic in a phone-in programme aired live about making changes that would forestall the mass death at the stoning of Jamraat. The scholars were almost unanimous that preservation of lives and property is a fundamental principle of Shari’ah. I think, that and other suggestions by scholars prompted the gigantic project that expanded the Jamraat site and roads leading to them whereby tunnels, flyovers and other roads including the holy sites train were provided. I don’t know whether he is not aware that contract has been awarded to link Makkah and Madinah with railway when he accused the Saudi authorities of not doing that or he just suppressed the information to his readers.
Issue six is related to the allegation that the Saudis, resorted to the Gulf attitude and disease of imagining that money is the solution of any Islamic or Muslim problem by giving USD 174, 000 to the heirs of each of the deceased victim’s family as compensation. Their magnanimous decision to assist the families of the victims without demand or being dragged to court is seen by Adamu Adamu as an offence. No. It is not a Gulf mentality. It is a Shari’ah compliance mentality and it cannot be a disease (whatever he means by calling it a disease)! Quran, 4: 93 provides thus: “And whoever kills a believer by mistake – then the freeing of a slave and a compensation payment presented to the deceased’s family (is required) unless they give (up their right as) charity….”.
Issue seven relates to the assertion that Muslims will never accept that the Haram is the ownership of any nation-state and that the Saudis are the least qualified to organize and manage Hajj even if they are competent, friendly to pilgrims and attentive to their heavy responsibilities. The Saudis never claim that they are the owners of the Haram. May be Adamu Adamu forgot that elsewhere in his article he mentioned custodianship in relation to them. Ownership and custodianship are not synonymous. But in law possession constitutes about 90 % of ownership. It is well-known that there are people that have the custodianship of the Haram and Hajj sites and issues related to them right from Jahiliyyah period. For example, even after Conquest of Makkah, Ibn Kathir narrated in his famous Tafsir that the Prophet (SAW) collected the key of the Ka’abah from its custodian, Uthman bin Talhah bin Abi Talhah but later returned it to him after the revelation of Quran, 4: 58. Even by tradition the Ka’abah was a common ownership of all the Arabs. But we all know what happened during the Treaty of Hudaibiyyah. The Prophet (SAW) recognized the custodianship of the Quraish and entered into a treaty with them accepting not to enter Makkah for the Lesser Hajj that year.
I don’t know how Adamu Adamu and his co-travellers intend to take away organization and management of Hajj from the Saudi government bearing in mind that Saudi Arabia is a sovereign nation. I hope they will not adopt the style of the Carmathians in 930 C.E. The 10 ministries involved in management of Hajj include internal affairs, external affairs, defence, health, commerce, education, higher education, municipal and rural affairs. How can Saudi government take back seat in relation to these vital areas of governance or even involve rival countries without compromising its sovereignty? If I may ask, how many countries are involved in organizing and managing the Shiite pilgrimage to Karbala? But Adamu Adamu went out of his way to even compare Hajj with football. He asked why it is that Brazil as the best country in football is not the one organizing world cup tournament or why is it that England as the place where football was invented is not reserved the right of organizing the tournament. Well, football tournament is not related to a fixed place. It can, therefore, be easily rotated and its organization be undertaken by FIFA. Moreover, how can sport be compared to one of the pillars of Islam?
After stating that Saudis are the least qualified, Adamu Adamu did not give the most qualified country/countries (Nigeria?). But in the second part of the series he mentioned Egypt, Turkey, Iran, Malaysia and Indonesia and what qualified them is that according to him they have most well-organized Hajj schemes, with the highest number of pilgrims and with capacity to do what is needed. I concede that they have well-organized Hajj schemes. But sending one hundred million pilgrims to Hajj cannot be equated with hosting over two million pilgrims. He did not include Nigeria. May be he knows that it is the least qualified. Consequently, I doubt if he or any Nigerian, for that matter, is qualified to insist on who should and who should not manage Hajj when we cannot manage our country well. If we are physicians, we should cure our own ailments first (Idan Kura ta na maganin zawo…, as the Hausas will say). Saudi Arabia is far ahead of Nigeria in peace and security, provision of portable drinking water, good roads, aviation, electricity, energy, housing, education, healthcare, food security, etc.
Some people give example of other “pilgrimages” where they claim over 40 million pilgrims gather annually and they do not record any stampede. Hajj is different from all the so-called pilgrimages that some people just innovated. In Islam there are textual provisions (Nusus) on the holy sites and everything related to Hajj. The holy sites have their boundaries and limits. No one can extend and expand those limits set by Shari’ah. It is not like something that some people sat down and decided to innovate. They can design it in such a way that it can accommodate even 100 million pilgrims. It is out of place, therefore, to compare Hajj and those so-called pilgrimages.
Issue eight relates to the assertion that since there is Maqaam Ibrahim (AS), there should also be Maqaam Muhammad (SAW), which according to Adamu Adamu should be every place in Makkah and the Prophet’s grave in Madinah. He went out of his way to give a very funny analogical reasoning to arrive at his proposition. He said that prayer/supplication is recommended at Station of Abraham (Maqaam Ibrahim) because the place is where Prophet Abraham (AS) stood while building the Ka’abah. He even referred to the Quranic verse on the issue. He now said that if a place where Prophet Abraham (AS) stood is good for prayer and supplication, what more of where the leader of Prophets stood which is all over Makkah or where not only the foot but his whole body is lying? According to Shifa’ul Gharaam Fi Akhbaaril Balad Al-Haraam, there are a number of places in Makkah where supplication is accepted. They are by the Multazam (that is between corner of Hajrul Aswad and the door of Ka’abah), under the Mizab (the gutter bringing water down from the roof of Ka’abah, at the Al-Ruknul Yamani (at the southern corner of Ka’abah facing the direction of Yemen, on the Mount Safa, on the Mount Marwah, between Safa and Marwah, between Corner of Al-Hajar Al-Aswad and Maqaam Ibrahim, inside the Ka’abah, at Mina, at Muzdalifah, at Arafah, at the Jamraat (3 places of stoning), behind Maqaam Ibrahim and during Tawaaf. There are Nusus on all those places.
By Adamu Adamu’s reasoning and analogy, Maqaam Muhammad (which he said is found all over Makkah and the Prophet’s grave in Madinah) is just like Maqaam Ibrahim and should be added to the list of such places where prayer and supplication are recommended. But he forgot that he cited a Quranic verse in case of Maqaam Ibrahim and he had none to cite on what he called Maqaam Muhammad. He only went on to say that the Wahhabis prevent Muslims from praying at the Prophet’s grave. He should know that analogical deduction cannot be used to bring about a religious rite unknown to Shari’ah. Adamu Adamu ought to know that Maqaam Ibrahim is not a grave of Prophet Abraham (AS). The Prophet (SAW) prohibited celebrating his grave as reported by Bukhari. Another Hadith faulted People of the Book for making the graves of their Prophets places of worship. It is not true that Saudis prevent pilgrims from supplication as such. What they do is part of the measures to prevent over-crowding in the place and engaging in actions not known to Shari’ah which can lead to stampede. There are always guides telling people the proper thing to do there and the time to spend so as to give room for others. That is what is also done at the Raudah.
Since the Mina stampede happened on Sallah day I have heard different versions from eye witnesses. I also watched different satellite television channels and listened to radio stations that covered the Hajj season. I understand that the contradictory accounts are like the proverbial blind men describing an elephant whereby every one of them gives explanation of the side he touched. There is an account that says that the Saudi securities blocked procession of pilgrims to give way to a Saudi prince. A video that went viral on social media even showed the alleged prince throwing stones at the Jamraat. But the funny thing about that video is that the man shown as the prince might not be a pilgrim; he was not wearing Ihram. He was in his traditional dress with a head cover. Even other people around the area captured by camera where not wearing Ihram. If the man was a pilgrim, then the clip must be for a past Hajj when pilgrims already finished the major rites and wore their traditional clothes. But, most likely, mischief makers shared it to mislead people that it was taken on that day. Another account had it that it was pilgrims from African countries that refused to comply with the procedure for the stoning at the Jamraat and decided to go in the opposite direction facing the approaching pilgrims leading to the stampede. Another version said it was Egyptian pilgrims that disobeyed the procedure. There is also a version that said that street No 223 was not blocked but it terminated at a T – Junction leading to either street 204 by the left or street 206 by the right. Those that diverted to street 204 met a crowd coming in the opposite direction leading to the stampede. Of all the versions I heard, I am more convinced with what a brother said that the incident might be an act of sabotage. Well, as the Hausas will say, “laifi ba shi da uba” (meaning that offence is always an illegitimate child that nobody accepts). It is only an investigation that can unravel the actual cause or causes of the stampede. But those eager to blame Saudi authorities cannot wait for investigation and its findings. Assuming (and by assuming, I am not conceding) the Saudi security agencies made error or were negligent or wanting either deliberately or due to human factor in any respect, can that be equated with a government policy? Misconduct, error, negligence of government workers happen once in a while in any part of the world.
Issue number nine is related to the allegation on racism. I did not personally see or experience racism in Saudi Arabia during Hajj either at the airport or in the buses or in the hotel or in the Haramain or other Mosques or at the historical sites or in the shops or along the streets or in the offices. The people are rather friendly. Their security agents are not harsh to people like ours. I asked so many people that performed Hajj about their experiences and none told me that he saw or experienced racism. I also asked a brother who worked in Saudi Arabia about his experience and he told me that it is only the Bedouin that may show elements of racial discrimination but not the educated Saudis. I am also reliably informed that the Saudi security agents may sometime be strict with our pilgrims because of their past experiences with unruly nature of our people. Somebody confessed to me that he once participated in violating the procedure at the Jamraat. He told me that after they finished the stoning they felt that they did not want to go round to return to their tents as arranged. So they decided to turn and go in the opposite direction of the on oncoming pilgrims. The security agents prevented them and blocked their way. They remained there pleading (neman alfarma) with the Saudi security agents who ignored them. When the unruly pilgrims that wanted to violate the procedure realised that they became many they started chanting Allahu Akbar and confronted the Saudi security agents who were forced to give way looking at the unruly pilgrims and laughing.
This desire of our people to disobey due process is well-known to us. They are very unruly, lawless, undisciplined, disorderly and impatient. They seem to go with these misconducts anywhere they go in the world and will want to be tolerated. A good example is how we drive and use roads. Traffic rules and regulations are mostly universal. Some of the basic rules are: drive with care always; consider other road users; obey all speed limits and traffic signs. If we will be fair to ourselves, we know that most of our people have thrown all these rules to the dogs. It is here in Nigeria that a driver can see that speed limit when entering a village is 80 kmph but he will pass speeding at 140 kmph. If he is considerate, he will be blowing horn of his car. If the people of the village get fed up with knocking down and killing of their children, they either construct very crude illegal bumps, or dig ditches, or cross tree trunks on the highway. I don’t know how foreigners feel when they see such ugly sights on our roads. But that is Nigeria for you; everything goes! It is here that Zebra Crossings are found in all our cities. But I have never seen anybody obeying them or anybody enforcing compliance with them. Even our law enforcement agencies seem to be used to our lawlessness. So we want any country we go to tolerate the animalistic behavior or else we accuse that country of racial discrimination. Adamu Adamu should have shed his (sincere, crocodile or even “lizard”) tears for Nigeria not the Haramayn. The Haramayn enjoy the prayer of Prophet Abraham (AS).
As for those who lost their lives, while we mourn their departure and console their relations and all the Muslim Ummah and Nigerians generally, we pray that Allah (SWT) forgives their sins and shortcomings. They were there in search of His forgiveness and mercy. They left this world on a blessed day, in a blessed place and in a blessed condition whereby any good Muslim will not even think of any wrongdoing in his mind. In that regard, we will be happy for them. If they meet Allah’s mercy they have nothing to lose by departing Nigeria and its confusion. As for those that sustained injuries, we pray for their quick recovery. We pray that we will not see a repeat of such tragedies. The incident should not provoke Muslim Worldwide outrage as Adamu Adamu wants.
24th Dhul Hijjah.

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