Madiba, Welcome back from your hibernation which is necessary at times. As always you've made my night with this article. I wish I can read Ali Mazrui's response to this article, if any. Personal regards. OB. ----- Original Message ----- From: Madiba K. Saidy <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: 21 July 2000 2:14 AM Subject: ALI MAZRUI IN CONTRADICTION > Quite interesting. Enjoy. > > Madiba. > ------- > > POST EXPRESS > > Category: Editorial > Date of Article: 07/02/2000 > Topic: Ali Mazrui in Contradiction > > Author: Aja Agwu > Full Text of Article: > Kenyan-born Ali Al'Amin Mazrui is a grand intellectual. He is a Ph.D. in > political science, and an academic with works of great erudition and > originality to his credit. But above all these, he is a professor. It is a > testimony to his sparkling learning that he was made an Albert Schweitzer > professor of humanities; and now, the Director of the Institute of Global > Cultural Studies, Binghamton University, New York, the United States. As a > professor, Ali Mazrui has a unique calling. This is because, a professorial > calling is a philosophical calling. And it is in the nature of philosophy to > transcend the emotional. For the philosopher, as Douglas Lackey would say, > emotionalism in whatever guise possible (whether in patriotism, > partisanship, or religious sentiments), "has its place, but like everything > else, it must be subjected to philosophical criticism." The implication of > this is that an intellectual of a professorial standing, like the > philosopher that he implicitly is, must be above board as far as > emotionalism is concerned. And to the credit of Lackey once more, he must be > a citizen of the world, an international statesman. His approach to issues > must be statesmanlike, for the rules of statesmanship abhor partisanship. > Over the years, professor Ali Mazrui has been known to be a distinguished > personage in this philosophical calling, but I doubt that his outing in > Nigeria last Monday has not heralded his descent from this hallowed > standard. Professor Mazrui was in Lagos for the public lectures organised by > the Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilisation (CBAAC) which took > place at the National Theatre, Iganmu. In his post-lecture chat with the > press, professor Mazrui was reported to have said that he supports the > introduction of sharia law in the northern states of Nigeria, for "it is a > promise of great developments for Nigeria." After reading that newspaper > report, I puckered up my brow, wiped my face and starred unbelievably at the > name - Ali Mazrui - to reassure myself that it was actually this revered > professor that was being quoted and credited with a statement so obnoxious > and subversive as that making a case for sharia law in Nigeria (northern > Nigeria). > What has come upon professor Ali Mazrui?, I asked myself in disbelieve. I > have read many of Mazrui's works, but have particularly found his BBC Reith > Lectures - The African Condition - intriguing because of its bold and > unambiguous flagellation of the lack of aboriginal identity for Africans, > which has caused enormous ambivalence and confusion for the continent. How > come that at a time Africans should be talking about generating this > autochthonous identity that would give them some uniqueness and reduce the > ambivalence and confusion that have impeded them for so long, professor > Mazrui of all people, is advocating sharia for a strategic African country > like Nigeria, an Islamization and Arabization project that would only > intensify the ambivalence and confusion for Nigeria - Africa? Professor > Mazrui was said to have argued that the introduction of the sharia would be > promising because "westernization has gone too far," thus, compelling the > need "to brake on it," for the introduction of the sharia would be a > "commendable form of indigenization." I find Mazrui's argument here wholly > disagreeable because the paradox of substituting westernization with > Arabization is an explicit contradiction. His reported verdict that the > introduction of the sharia would have the imprimatur of an indigenization > because the Hausa Islam is a combination of Hausa indigenous values is not > convincing enough. No Hausa value prescribes the amputation of limbs as a > form of Justice. > I shudder with disbelief that an emiretus professor like Mazrui could, > because of religious sentiments (he is a moslem) permit a chink in his > intellectual armour by allowing himself to descend into the contradiction of > disavowing all that is foreign, especially westernism, and at the same time, > approving of islamization. Is Islam not foreign, an Arab culture and, thus, > an Arabization? I remember that the late Kwame Nkurumah proclaimed being > both Christian and Marxist, and that Mazuri is one of those that frown at > that contradiction. > The late Nkurumah was more of a politician than an intellectual comparable > to Mazuri's standing. That was why he could be permitted for permitting > himself many more contradictions, as in his "Consciencism ", for which Dr. > Chuba Okadigbo has since posted him a scathing rejoinder . But for whatever > it is worth, Professor Ali Mazuri should not have allowed himself this > costly contradiction in his advocate of the sharia for Nigeria. > In advocating the sharia for northern Nigeria, I marvel at the fact that > professor Mazuri did not realise that the Nigeria of today is not > reminiscent of his Africa of the past that hadn't a " high religious > culture", but only "folk or tribal religions" without zealots, and which > could be challenged with impunity without backlash from zealots. On the > contrary, Africa, Nigeria, has a glut of Mazrui's "high religious culture," > which has incubated and hatched varied militants on both sides (Islam and > Christianity). The Kaduna Mayhem is illustrative. What then is professor > Mazuri prescribing for Nigeria in his Sharia in the north if not total > anarchy? What with the fact that Mazuri himself is also cognisant that the > Christianity of today has undergone a "re-masculation . a readiness to > invoke the macho values of militant combat in defence of justice". This > "re-masculated" Christianity is opposed to "the submissive version, the > version of obedience and turning the other Cheek" of Mazuri's ancient past. > What does professor Ali Mazuri wish Nigeria in championing the introduction > of the Sharia when it is obvious to him that Christianity has come to don > the toga of combat (like Islam has been over the ages) and can violently > resist it? Mazuri's prescription of Sharia for Nigeria even nullifies the > logic of his paper in those lectures, reportedly entitled "The African > Renaissance ." for there is no how Nigeria, with a crisis-prone policy of > Sharia, can partake in the renaissance. Also of great curiosity is that > professor Mazuri was reported to have said in his paper that African women > must be allowed to have a shot at leadership. The northern Nigerian woman > need not be told here that she is not within Mazuri's calculation because > the Sharia we know cages her in pudah. Why for goodness sake should our > venerable professor Mazuri be this so unkind to the northern Nigerian woman? > I'm yet to come to term with this reality that despite professor Mazuri's > dizzy intellectual height, he is yet to appreciate the fact that religion is > not worth dying for. Think of it, despite the pretensions of religion to > being of spiritual relevance, it is still colluding with temporal powers it > even sometimes appears to be denouncing. Islam and Christianity condemn the > state for its "oppressive" ways; yet, when an individual rebels against the > state by breaking some of its "oppressive" laws, these religions stigmatise > him or her as a sinner and connive with the same state they denounce to seek > for a pound of flesh. Islam will amputate limbs and sometimes behead, while > ecclesiastical authorities will administer the last sacrament to the "rebel" > at the stake before the agents of the state snuff life out of him with their > volley. What would the Almighty these two religions subscribe to, and who > ostensibly does not endorse the oppressive laws of the state, say about all > of this? Has professor Mazuri ever given thought to this irony before laying > down his credibility for religion? Why is the mighty falling? Tell it not in > Gath!! > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- > > To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L > Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- > _____NetZero Free Internet Access and Email______ http://www.netzero.net/download/index.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------