On the Last Day of 2018
Yesterday was no different. As we sip the hot tea my wife prepared for us, we dwelt into different topics of importance. My friend did his Youth Service in Gombe state. He told me how he wished Kano state gov’t copied and implement what he called “technical skills empowerment” Gombe state government did in recent past. He seems not quite okay with some of Kwankwaso’s policies when he was governor the second time. I was convinced with some of his points and vicariously impressed with what he said he saw in Gombe state.
In discussing the international affairs; my friend took me into the history of Anwar Sadat of Egypt with Israel. (I very much love this part of our discussion because I was told things I never imagine). We talked about BRICS, the future of the US dollar, MBS, the killing of Jamal Khashoggi and what’s happening in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa). We took ourselves back to many book including John Parkins’ “The Confession of an Economic Hit Man” and I recommended that he read Tariq Ramadan’s 255pg book “Islam and The Arab Awakening”. Here’s one thing Tariq had to tell us in the beginning of his analysis:
“like people around the world, I rejoiced at the fall of the dictators (like Tunisia’s Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Saddam Hussain, Hussnie Mubarak, Ghaddafi, etc.) and their regimes. But after a close analysis of the facts and the objective data available, I prefer to take a position of cautious, lucid optimism.”
Unlike Professor Tariq, I never celebrate the fall of any of those dictators. As a matter of fact, I pity them and what they left behind – their countries.
But then, we talked about ourselves. He told me how 2018 was unproductive to him after carefully assessing himself. [It’s good we carefully examine ourselves before we’ll be accounted for, as Umar bn Khattab (ra) would say]. Like most friends would do, I asked him what he meant. ‘I mean, look at how you added weight, you look so clean and in fact, you’ve got your new job in 2018. So, what are you saying, brother?’ He corrected me that he’s almost two years now with his new job. But his assessment of himself, was how poor he finds his relationship with his Lord; not much reciting the Qur’an etc., spending considerable amount of time online chatting with girlfriends and making video calls. I barely read (books) these days Misbahu, he added. Worried as he sounded, I gave him a warm smile and said, I think I know the solution to your problems!
The truth is, 2018 happened to be one of my productive of all, if not the most productive. All that he said about him happened to me in the past. But Alhamdulillah after I got married, things changed significantly. Arguably, the internet, social media in particular is our biggest challenge (means of distraction) in the 21st century. Yet, 2018 is when I, for the first time in my life gave the internet less attention and learnt to focus the energy on other things meaningful.
I read books (including the Qur’an masha’Allah) and write more than I could ever imagine. Those time I spent making phone calls and chatting hiding under the blanket is now over; the woman on the other side of the phone is finally here with me. We saved our data and airtime by agreeing to live under the same roof. Like magic, all those girlfriends disappeared. These and other things said, made my friend smile and said “so, you mean I should get married?” I know, he then said, and in Sha Allah, we’ll tight the knot soon. Marriage, is one solution most of us needed. Then the choice and commitment of both parties involved to our ‘divine responsibilities’. Not forgetting prayers.
My last day of December, 2018 ended with this fruitful discussion with this wonderful friend. Of course, there’s something he questioned me to be careful to when it comes to revealing our private lives on the SM platforms but, that’s a topic of its own I shall write other time. For now, He promises me to find the book of Mitch Albom “Tuesdays with Morrie” like a crash course on ‘living’. That I’d thank him latter.
This is the few I wanted to share from my diary. If you read this, I hope you find even a sentence worthy of your time. And I pray your 2019 be better than previous years. Amin. Wishing you a happy and healthy new year.
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