Wars cancel out aid spending, warn MPs

[hetty ter haar]

Wars cancel out aid spending, warn MPs
Tania Branigan, political correspondent

Wednesday October 25, 2006

Guardian Unlimited
The cost of a single war in the developing world is equal to two-thirds of the total global aid budget, according to a report by MPs published today.

It warns that any increase in hostilities could wipe out the impact of the aid commitments pledged at Gleneagles in 2005 and that violent conflict in Africa "severely challenges" the achievement of the United Nations' millennium development goals.

"Preventing and ending conflicts will do more to create a climate for poverty reduction than any amount of costly aid programmes," the Commons international development committee said.

It praised the Department for International Development's pledge to develop a conflict policy, but warned that the government had not taken sufficient action to deter British companies from participation in trading resources such as diamonds or oil from war zones.

It argued that hostilities are intensified and prolonged because combatants see war as an opportunity to make money and urged ministers to work with the United Nations to develop an international agreement on the definition of "conflict resources".

The MPs, who visited Sierra Leone, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo during their inquiry, added: "One of the lessons common to all three is that conflicts are not always contained within state boundaries. If this fact is ignored, aid given to one country may end up fuelling conflict in a neighbouring country.

"How a country deals with its neighbours and its role in regional tensions must form part of DfID's consideration about how much and what type of aid is suitable."

The report cites an estimate putting the average cost of a civil war for a low-income country at around £29bn, against the total global aid budget in 2004 of £42bn.

Malcolm Bruce, the committee chairman, said: "Poor states tend to be weak states and so they need economic aid to reduce the risk of descending into conflict.

"However, some conflict-prone states are rich in resources which can sustain warlords, encourage foreign adventurism and lead to the failure of the state and increased poverty for the many as the few get rich.

"If the government prioritised the link between conflict and development it would do more to create a climate for poverty reduction in these countries than any amount of costly aid programmes."

Mr Bruce added: "We believe that the Department of Trade and Industry should work harder to ensure that UK companies working in Africa follow the OECD guidelines for multinational enterprises.

"We intend to take evidence from DTI on its role in monitoring the actions of such companies working in conflict-prone and conflict-affected states."

Claire Hickson, head of advocacy at Saferworld - which works to prevent armed violence, said: "Next year marks the halfway point for the millennium development goals. They will not be reached unless more effort is made to prevent and resolve violent conflict.

"If the UK government is to play its part in ensuring they are achieved, it needs to act fast on these recommendations and concentrate more effort on conflict-afflicted countries."

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2006

[Abdul Bangura]

The Debate on Arab Racism against Africans Revisited

Indeed, some scientists have been questioning the validity of racial classifications based on biological characteristics. They posit that placing people in various racial categories is often arbitrary and perpetuates inaccurate and damaging stereotypes. Yet, others have disagreed, arguing that racial differences are facts of nature that can be studied objectively. This latter group, however, concedes that the number of races identified—estimates range from three to over 30—is a matter of convenience for a researcher.

Despite this debate, racial differences do exist. It is generally believed that many of these differences have evolved as a result of physical adaptation to the environment in a particular geographic area. Thus, racism (an ideology which links a group's physical characteristics with its psychological or intellectual superiority or inferiority) and racists such as Count de Gobineau, Adolf Hitler, Thomas Jefferson (racist by day, hypocrite by night), etc. have been around for centuries.

Thus, given the many racist acts that some Arabs have perpetrated against Africans over the centuries because the former believe that they are superior and Africans are inferior, I was disappointed by Mwalimu Ilya Harik's bold assertion that Arabs are not "anti-African on any basis." It was particularly disappointing for me because Mwalimu Ilya Harik is one of my revered Mwalimus whose works I have reviewed and are published in reputable journals, and I have quoted in my own writings, especially those in the fields of economics and political science dealing with United States' foreign aid and other relations with Egypt.

I would hope that Mwalimu Harik is quite familiar with the many works that have documented the history of Arabs in Africa which has included a number of contradictions. As the great African and Islamic Mwalimu Ali Mazrui provides extensive empirical evidence in his Africa's International Relations and The Africans, Arabs have been both conquerors and liberators, both traders in slaves and purveyors of new ideas. And just as Islam was compromised on the eastern seaboard because many who professed it were enslaving others (an act completely forbidden in Islam), Christianity was compromised when Christian churches themselves, right into the 19th Century, ranging from Roman Catholics to Dutch Calvinists, approved and sanctioned slavery as an institution and the slave trade as a commercial activity. Therefore, even if one discounts the many present day racist acts by some Arabs against Africans, which we must not do, Mwalimu Moses Ochonu is quite correct in asserting that Mwalimu Harik is wrong in his claim. Nonetheless, there are at least three issues raised by Mwalimu Ochonu in his rebuttal to Mwalimu Harik's posting that merit scrutiny.

First, Mwalimu Ochonu states that "Arab racism is so deep it is inscribed in the fundamental semantic structure of the Arabic language. Till this day, the generic word or (sic) for a black person is the preface "abd," which translates as "slave," as in "Abd"-allah (slave or servant of God)." Besides the fact that all Muslims—Black, White, and others—cherish the blessing of being Allah's slaves/servant, the prefix "abd" does not denote the assertion made by Mwalimu Ochonu.

In the field of Linguistics, we say that every word consists of at least one morpheme: a minimal unit that contributes in some way to the meaning of the whole word. If we compare the words "honest," "dishonest," "honestly," and "honesty," we will have to agree that they all share some meaning. We will also agree that the first word, "honest," has only this meaning and cannot be divided into smaller meaningful units. In contrast, "dishonest" is obviously "dis-" + "honest;" "honestly" is "honest" + "ly:" and "honesty" is made up of the same "honest" + "-y," or perhaps "honest" + "ty," analogous to "certainty" and "loyalty." Each of these meaningful units is a morpheme: "honest," "dis-," "-ly," "-ty." The last three of these examples are affixes, morphemes which only exist in combination with a base morpheme like "honest." Affixes which precede the base, like "dis-," are called prefixes; those which follow, like "-ly" and "-ty," are suffixes.

For the preceding examples, it may seem that the ways in which morphemes go together to form words is simple and straightforward. Unfortunately, morphological analysis is not always simple. In fact, if we take another look at "honest," we might ask the question which we did not consider
before: Does "honest" share some meaning with the word "honor"? If we answer "Yes," we are suggesting that "hon-" is a morpheme itself. Furthermore, we would have to say that the "-or" of "honor" is a morpheme (a suffix)—perhaps the same that occurs in "ardor," "rigor," "terror," "vigor, " and other words—and the "-est" of "honest" is a suffix, possibly occurring also in "modest." It would be hard to decide whether or not this is the true analysis of these words, or best analysis, but problems like these keep coming up. They get even more complex when we consider infixes and reduplications.

In Islam, Allah (SWT) has 99 names, all describing His goodness and majesty. These are attributes that appear in the Qur'an and Hadith. Many Arabic names are constructed by merging the word "Abd," meaning "slave or servant of," with one of Allah's (SWT) 99 names. Therefore "Abd Allah" (often written in English as Abdallah, or Abdullah) means Slave/Servant of God. The following are other examples.

(a) Abd al-Karim = Slave/Servant of the Generous
(b) Abd al-Rahman = Slave/Servant of the Merciful
(c) Abd al-Jabbar = Slave/Servant of the Almighty
(d) Abd al-Hakeem = Slave/Servant of the Wise One

When these names are Anglicized, often they are written as Abdul Karim, Abdul Rahman, Abdul Jabbar, and Andul Hakim. There is no right or wrong way to transliterate these names, as long as it is understood that "Abdul" by itself is not a name. Rather, it means "Slave/Servant of the" and should be followed by one of the 99 names of Allah (SWT).

Second, Mwalimu Ochonu claims that "the [Arab] racism which propels these practices was increasingly authored (and rationalized) by the discourse of the distinction, within Islam, between dar-al Islam (the abode of Islam) and dar-al-harb (the abode of war and unbelief)." Mwalimu Ochonu’s characterization of Islam here is incomplete. Indeed, the initial keystone of international law, or siyar, was a division of the world into two categories: (1) dar-al-Islam (the Abode of Islam) and (2) dar al-harb (the Abode of War). The Abode of Islam is the Muslim world as a whole, the lands where Islam is supreme as a way of life if not as a system of law. The Abode of War is the rest of the world, but only in the sense of a situation where there is no centralized authority. The medieval Muslim theorists who first laid the groundwork for siyar perceived the Muslim community to be a separate entity from the rest of the world. While most scholars agree that the Muslim world should "form a distinct multinational society within international society," current day academics also recognize that there is a decreased advantage to viewing the non-Muslim world through a hostile lens.

Between the two preexisting divarications of the world, a third category was eventually developed: that is, dar al-sulh, or the Abode of Truce. Initiated by the Shafi'i school of jurisprudence, this subdivision describes non-Muslim communities which generate treaties with a Muslim state. A truce was established if a ruling imam felt it was in the best interest of his community to enter into agreement with a non-Muslim community. According to Shari'ah Law, however, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) set the exemplar for revisiting truces with pagans after a period of ten years.

Traditional siyar was developed using a variety of sources. Primary sources included the Qur'an, Hadith and Sunnah, as well as the actions and ruling of Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali, the first four "rightly guided caliphs." The practices of these caliphs were and are considered a primary source for siyar because they were companions of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and were best able to exercise authority according to their intimate and first-hand knowledge of the Prophet's (PBUH) actions. Treaties, instructions, and practices of later caliphs and prominent Muslim jurists comprise the remaining contributory sources for siyar.

In essence, racist acts by some Arabs are not because of Islam. Besides the fact that not all Arabs are Muslim and not all Muslims are Arab, Islam vehemently abhors racism. Unlike, for example, the Mormon Christian Bible which categorically states that all Blacks will go to Hell when they die, piety, not racism, is preached throughout the Qur'an, Hadith and Sunnah. An oft recited verse in the Qur'an is the following:

"Oh' mankind! We created you from male and female and made you into Nations and tribes, that you may know each other. Verily the most honored of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you, and Allah has full knowledge and is well acquainted" (Qur'an 49:13).

Lest we forget, one of the closest partners of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and the first muezzin he chose to call the first and many subsequent prayers in Mecca was the African Bilal ibn Ribah, who was among the former slaves freed by Abu Bakr. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) married Maria Qabtiyya, an African Coptic Christian who gave him the son Ibrahim. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was a descendant of Ishmael, the son of the African Matriarch Hagar or Hajar who made the Abrahamic connections among Judaism, Christianity and Islam possible. The list goes on.

Third, Mwalimu Ochonu posits that "black African leaders like Mbeki and Obasanjo are bending over backwards to accommodate and protect the interests of Arab Noth African nations." And he asks the following poignant question: "[W]hat price has the Arab world paid and what sacrifice and concessions has it made in the service of this [African-Arab] alliance?" The answer to this query requires volumes. For the sake of brevity and simplicity, I provide a very small sample of "what price the Arab world has paid and what concessions it has made in the service of this alliance" in bullet-point format.

●At the height of the anti-apartheid struggle when some African countries and Western Christian nations (excluding the Scandinavian countries) were doing business with the racist South African government and undermining international sanctions against that repulsive regime, the Arabs were not only funding anti-Apartheid movements, they adhered to the embargo. In fact, the Arabs' anti-apartheid vote in the United Nations was a whopping 100 percent. (Compare that with those of most Western Christian nations, excluding the Scandinavian states!)

●The radicalization of Gamal Abdul Nasser increased apprehension among white settlers in Kenya, the Rhodesias, South Africa, and the Portuguese colonies. Nasser's support for African nationalist groups included providing them with offices and money for their activities in Cairo, and material and propaganda support for their activities in their countries. In the words of Nasser,

"We cannot, in any way, stand aside, even if we wish to, from the sanguinary and dreadful struggle now raging in the heart of the continent between five million whites and two hundred million Africans. We cannot do so for one principal and clear reason—we ourselves are in Africa."

●When nationalist opinion in much of Africa was aroused against Moise Tshombe's bid to pull Katanga out of the Congo, and protect Western mineral interests in Katanga, the West and Israel sided with Tshombe in a large number of votes at the United Nations connected with the issue. The Arabs stood by the Africans through thick and thin.

●For almost 50 years now, Egypt and Saudi Arabia have opened educational doors to African students, providing scholarships in subjects ranging from engineering to theology.

●In terms of the economic partnership between the two entities, as Mwalimu Mazrui puts it, the Arabs have been more "the giver" and Black Africa more "the receiver."

●Algeria has been more Pan-African than Pan-Islamic. It has been more responsive to African solidarity regardless of religion. In fact, the Algerian women who served as combatants in the war for independence, such as Jamilah Buhrayd, became role models for women combatants in the war for independence in Southern Africa.

●During the 1974 oil embargo, in order to soften the impact on the African states, the Arabs established the special Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa which, initially with the recommended a capital of $200 million, it later multiplied eightfold.

●President Muammar Qadaffi of Libya not only ardently supported the anti-apartheid forces financially and militarily, he continued to provide financial support to Black South Africans even after the racist White Christian regime was ousted from power. For example, when President Nelson Mandela wanted his ex-wife, Winnie, to have the best possible defense against charges of kidnap and assault of Stompie Seipei and five others in December of 1988, it was Qadaffi and the Swedes that paid the heavy cost of the trial in 1991.

●While our American Christian President George W. Bush promised billions of dollars to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa during his drumbeat for his war in Iraq, most of the money which has still not been seen, and the amount promised he has now cut, Arabs have for many years been funding anti-HIV/AIDS projects in Africa without fanfare.

Indeed, that the Arabs have paid and sacrificed in the service of the African-Arab alliance is hardly a matter of dispute. May this debate continue in its true Afrikan spirit, Insha-Allah!

To every USA-Africa Dialogue Family Member, here is wishing you Shawwal Karim--a Generous Month of Shawwal whereby fasting six days is rewarded as if you have fasted for an entire year.

Ashkurukum shukran jazeelan (thank all of you very much). Barak Allah feekum (God bless all of you).

In Peace Always,
Abdul Karim Bangura
African Studies and Research Forum of the Association of Third World Studies
URL:  http://www.american.edu/sis/faculty/facultybiographies/bangura.htm

[Moses Ebe Ochonu]

Mwalimu Bangura,

Thank you very much for resurrecting this important
debate and for bringing your linguistic and religious
expertise to bear on it. Being no expert on Arabic or
Islam, I truly appreciate your very sound and informed
commentary. I defer completely to your expertise, and
I accept your illuminating insights in the spirit in
which they have been offered: that of intellectual
enlightenment.

I do, however, have a few points of disagreement with
your list of sacrifices and prices incurred by Arabs
in the service of the Afro-Arab alliance. Let me point
out that I agree with most of the items on the list
and I thank you for drawing our attention to the ways
in which Arab persons and states have supported and
continue to support African causes. Sometimes these
facts can get lost in the heat of debate.

I am not entirely sure that Africa and Africans should
forget about past and ongoing Arab atrocities against
black Africans because of the good deeds done by Arabs
in support of African causes. To do that would be to
be seduced or bought over by Arab generosity.
Relationships are strengthened not by ignoring or
looking past unpalatable pasts and present injustices
but by resolving them through open, unfettered
discussion. Fortunately, most Africans, including
yourself, recognize this necessity even when most
Arabs tend to resist this and to deny that Arab racism
against Africans is a reality.

This said, let me point out my few disagreements: You
wrote:

"For almost 50 years now, Egypt and Saudi Arabia have
opened educational doors to African students,
providing scholarships in subjects ranging from
engineering to theology."

This is true, but the religious selectivity of these
educational recruitments and the religious-diplomatic
calculations which underlay such gestures indicate
that these are far from altruistic undertakings in the
service of Afro-Arab alliance.

You wrote:

"In terms of the economic partnership between the two
entities, as Mwalimu Mazrui puts it, the Arabs have
been more "the giver" and Black Africa more "the
receiver."

I humbly disagree with this. To subscribe to this
would require one to exercise a convenient amnesia
regarding the millions of Africans who were taken from
the continent by Arabs and deposited in Middle Eastern
domains as slaves, and on whose backs the great
medieval Islamic civilizations of the Arab world were
built. It would also erase the reality of almost a
thousand years of MUTUALLY BENEFITTING trade and
exchange between Africans and Arabs--a trade in which
Africans gave as much as they received.

You wrote:

"President Muammar Qadaffi of Libya not only ardently
supported the anti-apartheid forces financially and
militarily, he continued to provide financial support
to Black South Africans even after the racist White
Christian regime was ousted from power. For example,
when President Nelson Mandela wanted his ex-wife,
Winnie, to have the best possible defense against
charges of kidnap and assault of Stompie Seipei and
five others in December of 1988, it was Qadaffi and
the Swedes that paid the heavy cost of the trial in
1991."

Qadaffi's support for African nationalist causes
should be recognized and praised. But his more recent
involvements in West Africa have been more destructive
than constructive. The destabilization of the
Sierra-Leone-Liberal--Ivory Coast-Burkina Faso-Guinea
axis is a legacy of some of Mr. Qaddaffi's recent
imperialist engagements in West Africa. In these
engagements, Africans have featured only as expendable
tools and pawns to be used, discarded, and sacrificed
on the alter of Qaddaffi's fleeting imperial
fantasies. Let's also not forget his misadventure in
Chad in the 1980s, in which he cared very little for
innocent black African lives.

Thank you again for a very rich and educative
contribution.

--- Abdul Bangura <ban...@american.edu> wrote:

> *The Debate on Arab Racism against Africans
> Revisited*

>
> Indeed, some scientists have been questioning the
> validity of racial
> classifications based on biological characteristics.
> They posit that
> placing people in various racial categories is often
> arbitrary and
> perpetuates inaccurate and damaging stereotypes.
> Yet, others have
> disagreed, arguing that racial differences are facts
> of nature that can
> be studied objectively. This latter group, however,
> concedes that the

> number of races identified--estimates range from
> three to over 30--is a

> Muslims--Black, White, and
> others--cherish the blessing of being Allah's

> morpheme (a suffix)--perhaps the same that occurs in
> "ardor," "rigor,"
> "terror," "vigor, " and other words--and the "-est"

> /siyar/, was a division of
> the world into two categories: (1) /dar-al-Islam/
> (the Abode of Islam)
> and (2) /dar al-harb/ (the Abode of War). The Abode
> of Islam is the
>
=== message truncated ===

__________________________________________________
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[Mbogoni, Lawrence]

Mwalimu Bangura

 

I beg to differ about the tensions between dar-al-Islam, dar-al-harb and dar-al-sulh. To my understanding, the tension between dar-al-Islam and dar-al-harb is perpetually hostile. Until the abode of war is turned into the abode of Islam this tension will continue to exist and its solution is the objective of Dawat al-Islamiya. As long as the forces in dar-al-harb are insurmountable it makes sense to maintain dar-al-sulh, i.e. to sue for peace until conditions are conducive for the realization of the main objective of dawat-al-Islamiya, that is to make the entire world dar-al-Islam or the abode of peace. Of course, I stand to be corrected and further enlightened.

 

The reference to the Prophet Muhammad being descended from Ishamel, the son of Hagar, an African woman, is problematic to me. I would be glad if you can explain the genealogical connection more clearly. What I have read in the Bible is that not only was Hagar Egyptian (hence African) – which makes Ishmael a half caste (for lack of a better term). But when Ishmael wanted a wife, the Bible says his mother got him a woman from Egypt (an African), so Ishamel’s immediate descendants were also half caste but two-thirds African. What makes the Prophet’s connection with Ishmael problematic to me is my understanding that he was a Qureysh Arab who are Semitic rather than African. Can you enlighten me on this? Sincerely it is something I have grappled for quite some time.

 

Best,

 

Lawrence Mbogoni

Wayne, New Jersey

 

---

[Abdul Bangura]

The Debate on Arab Racism against Africans Revisited

My Final Take

Good Greetings Mwalimu Lawrence Mbogoni:

Thank you very much for your response to my posting. There are many USA‑Africa Family Members on this forum who are better qualified to enlighten us about dar al‑Islaam, dar al‑harb and dar al‑suhl, and Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) being descended from Prophet Ishmael (PBUH). The following is my humble attempt to add to the statements on these two aspects in my previous posting on the debate.

I am not sure whether by "Dawat al‑Islamiya" you mean Al Dawaa al Islamiya (the Islamic Call or Mission), which was an attempt by Muslim societies to establish Islamic political and economic hegemony after having inherited political and economic power from the European colonialists. Also, I am not sure why you find the reference to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) being descended from Ishmael problematic. One would not get the full story by simply reading the Bible. One must read the revealed texts in the Torah, the Bible, the Qur'an, and classical and contemporary scholarly works. As I stated in one of my earlier postings on this forum, as a Muslim, I was fortunate to have attended a Roman Catholic school and served as an Altar Boy in Sierra Leone and studied under the tutelage of great Rabbis in Italy. And as the Qur'an, Hadith and Sunna command all Muslims, I read my Torah, Bible and Qur'an religiously and revere the teachings of all the Prophets (PBUT) in these revealed texts. I hope that the following discussion, which is broken down into two sections, do justice to my Mwalimus’ efforts.
 

Why Dar al‑Suhl?

Although a majority of Muslim nations are not ruled entirely by Islamic law, most of them do have shari’ah as a spiritual or inspired base in their constitutional frameworks. Consequently, Muslim societies are not entirely secular, with Turkey as the only obvious exception. Hasan Moinuddin, author of The Charter of the Islamic Conference, categorizes the post-World War I era and the period following the fall of the Ottoman Empire as the time during which the world entered the modern era. During this time, shari’ah was applied differently than during Muslim primacy. He divides this modern era into two phases: the first phase lasted until the 1970s during which time Muslim countries were in the process of westernizing their laws, and the second phase began before the Iranian Revolution in 1979 until the present—this is the time of “Islamic re-assertion.”

Examples of this re-assertion include the fall of the Shah of Iran in 1979, the nascence of fundamentalism in South Asian countries such as Pakistan and the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan and the emergence of non-state terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda or Al Ansari al Sunna toting an anti-Western banner. Muslim re-assertion can also be witnessed in the increasingly conservative legal policies adopted by nations of the Islamic world in Moinuddin’s second phase.
According to Moinuddin, Muslim states can be categorized into four groupings according to religio-political orientation—from secularized to traditionalist. Turkey falls in the first category, as the only completely secularized state which has rejected “Islamic law openly.” A number of Middle Eastern states comprise a second category, modernist Islamic states, which have built shari’ah into the substructure of their constitutions. A third category comprise of African and Asian states that, after acquiring independence from their colonial rulers, adopted some variety of European and shari’ah law as the basis for their governments. Finally, traditionalist states such as Saudi Arabia and Iran have strictly applied shari’ah as the supreme law, and administrative laws not covered by the shari’ah are created in full adherence to Islamic law.

Since a majority of Muslim states adopt Islamic law as an operational tool within their legal frameworks, albeit the degree to which they implement it may differ, they resultantly have a built-in basis for international cooperation within the overarching shari’ah, as siyar is a branch of shari’ah. But the question remains as to whether international relations in the form of economic cooperation is permissible or even encouraged in Islam between Muslim and non-Muslim states.
 
Increased international relations in a new globalized world order calls for a reassessment of siyar in a modern context. Because an overwhelming majority of Muslim countries chose to retain a westernized system of governance as a logical consequence of their colonial pasts, the scope of shari’ah mostly extends to family law and inheritance within the constitutional legal framework. Because of a rise in Islamic fundamentalism and reassertion of Muslim collective identity, however, Islamic countries do not necessarily have to choose one mode of governance over another. Shari’ah and, more specifically, siyar, can be incorporated within a modern context to include economic relations with non-Muslim countries as a mechanism for peace building. The academic world is already a strong advocate of related measures, since many Muslim scholars recognize that a return to Muslim identity has, according to Abdullahi Ahmed An-Naim,
 
“…to be reconciled with the realities of the nation-state and the international order of the late twentieth century and with the expectations of the Muslims themselves to enjoy the benefits of modern notions of constitutionalism and human rights. The initial attempts to contain and reconcile these conflicting demands and expectations with the historical conception and formulation of Shari’ah have failed. A new version of public law of Shari’ah has to be developed … which is capable of achieving the necessary balance between modernism and Islamic legitimacy.”
 
The issue then becomes how to reconcile existing Islamic shari’ah laws with modernity. As An-Na’im mentions, a “balance” must exist in order for Muslims throughout the world to accept that international relations, specifically economic cooperation, with non-Muslim countries is not only allowed within a new, modernized Islamic law, but encouraged, since the new Islamic laws will exist to promote the increased welfare of Muslim citizens and peaceful dealings with non-Muslims.
 
In the types of social dealings, or mu’amalat, that Muslims can have with non-Muslims, one allows Muslims to enter into trade agreements with people of other faiths. Using this as a permissible basis for economic cooperation with non-Muslims on a state level, could it be possible then that (1) if economic cooperation with non-Muslim countries provides a stable atmosphere of peace and harmony with those nations, and (2) a Muslim country in turn benefits from that economic pact with a non-Muslim country, that trade could in fact be encouraged within an Islamic context?
 
To discuss answers to the preceding question, one must first explore the issue of tawhid. In Islam, tawhid refers to the idea of oneness. In order to define oneself as a Muslim, he or she must only attest to God’s singularity by reciting the shahadah, or testimony. Within the idea of God’s singularity exists the plurality of all beings and things: since God has created all, He embodies all. Muslims, according to Moussalli, refer to tawhid as
 
“… the thread that stitches together all disciplines of knowledge and walks of life. Without this doctrine the pursuit of politics, economics, ethics, theology, and all other aspects of life is defective. God, as the fountain of every material and spiritual thing, is the ultimate authority and requires people’s theoretical, theological, economic, and political submission.”
 
Tawhid is the foremost concept in Islam, as it emphasizes the unity of God. This notion of unity can also be applied to humans and their companionship with one another. The Qur’an is full of verses that emphasize brotherhood and regard for one’s fellow being. In  the Qur’an, the first verse of Surah An Nisaa reads:
 
“O mankind! Be careful of your duty to your Lord Who created you from a single soul and from it created its mate and from them twain hath spread abroad a multitude of men and women. Be careful of your duty toward Allah in Whom ye claim (your rights) of one another, and toward the wombs (that bare you). Lo! Allah hath been a watcher over you” (Qur’an 4:1).
 
In the Qur’an, Allah (SWT) does not differentiate between Muslims and non-Muslims in perpetuum and intermittently addresses humanity as “O mankind” or “O, children of Adam.” If the Qur’an compels Muslims to believe that unity encompasses diversity, then that plurality, according to Choudhury, “…is further constructed and evolved through a knowledge-centered order of interaction, integration and creative evolution (IIE).” Muslims can, thus, exercise the idea of tawhid as the basis of cooperation between members of humanity not only on an individual basis, but also within the broader context of state behavior.
 
To wholly accept the spirit of oneness, Muslims must employ all resources in their power to make peace with their fellow beings, as all humans are a part of Allah’s (SWT) creation. Unity cannot exist at its most idyllic level when the diverse parts within the unified whole do not coexist. The Qur’an’s injunctions in regard to cooperation are, therefore, a logical derivative of tawhid. The importance of honoring oaths is emphasized on many occasions in the Qur’an:
 
“Fulfil the Covenant of God when ye have entered into it, and break not your oaths after ye have confirmed them; indeed ye have made God your surety; for God knoweth all that ye do/ And be not like a woman who breaks into untwisted strands the yarn which she has spun, after it has become strong. Nor take your oaths to practise deception between yourselves, lest one party should be more numerous than another: for God will test you by this; and on the Day of Judgment He will certainly make clear to you (the truth of) that wherein ye disagree” (Qur’an 16:91-92).
 
The Qur’an underscores the necessity of holding true to one’s oath, regardless to whom they are made, and some ayats specifically mention treaties with non-Muslims, for even non-believers are “children of Adam.” The ninth surah in particular, At Tauba, authorizes Muslims to remain loyal adherents of any treaties signed with non-Muslims:
 
“(But the treaties are) not dissolved with those Pagans with whom ye have entered into alliance and who have not subsequently failed you in aught, nor aided any one against you. So fulfil your engagements with them to the end of their term: for God loveth the righteous” (Qur’an 9:4);
 
and a few verses later:
 
“How can there be a league, before God and His Apostle, with the Pagans, except those with whom ye made a treaty near the sacred Mosque? As long as these stand true to you, stand ye true to them: for God doth love the righteous” (Qur’an 9:7);
 
followed closely by:
 
“But if they violate their oaths after their covenant, and taunt you for your Faith, fight ye the chiefs of Unfaith: for their oaths are nothing to them: that thus they may be restrained” (Qur’an 9:12).
 
These verses illustrate the importance in Islam of allegiance to a binding treaty over preferential treatment based on another party’s religion.
 
The Prophet’s (PBUH) view of treaties and joint agreements is apparent in the Constitution of Medina in which Jews are considered an ummah in their own right. And the Prophet’s (PBUH) actions mirror the Qur’an’s teachings in that he partook in treaties with non-believers, as demonstrated in the case of Hilf al-Fudul, which was a pact during the period of jahiliyaa in which all prominent parties in Mecca agreed to help the poor and weak.
 
If, by extension, the emphasis on honoring treaties in Islam was expanded to meet the requirements of modern day states, and further combined with the significance of tawhid, one could conclude that economic cooperation is in fact encouraged in Islam. Even the Qur’an states that “but God hath permitted trade and forbidden usury” (Qur’an 2:275). It is important to note here that in this ayah, no restrictions are given to Muslims in regard to whom they may accept as commercial partners.
 
 
Prophets Ishmael/Ismail-Muhammad (PBUT) Connection
 
To get the full story of the connection between Prophets Ishmael and Muhammad (PBUT), it behooves us to retell the stories of Hagar/Hajar and Prophets Abraham and Ishmael (PBUT).
 
Hagar/Hajar. Hagar’s story in the Torah is found in Genesis 16 and 21. The narrative states that Hagar, an Egyptian servant, belonged to Sarah, who, being barren, gave Hagar to Prophet Abraham (PBUH) for a wife, that by her, as a substitute, might bear him children. Since Sarah treated her badly, Hagar fled from the dwelling of Abraham (PBUH). While Hagar was in the wilderness, God sent Archangel Gabriel to command her to return. Hagar obeyed and submitted to Sarah, and Hagar gave birth to a son, whom she named Ishmael (PBUH).
 
Approximately 14 years later, Sarah gave birth to Isaac (PBUH). When the child was weaned, Sarah observed Ishmael (PBUH), who was then 17 years of age, teasing Isaac (PBUH); consequently, Sarah urged Abraham (PBUH) to expel Hagar and her son. This proposal upset Abraham (PBUH), but God commanded him to comply with Sarah's request. Getting up early the next morning, Abraham (PBUH) took bread and a bottle of water and sent away Hagar and Ishmael. Hagar intended to return to Egypt, but lost her way, and wandered in the desert of Beersheba. With an empty water bottle in her hand, Hagar left Ishmael (PBUH) under one of the trees in the wilderness to cry a small distance away from him. God rescued them by showing Hagar a well. She eventually settled in the Desert of Paran.
 
According to the midrash (Rabbinic folklore), Hagar was a "stranger" whose real name was Keturah as stated in the Talmud. By this, a pun on Hagar with Hageir, meaning "the stranger," is implied, both being spelled the same way in plain Hebrew. In the New Testament, Apostle Paul states that Hagar symbolizes the synagogue (Galatians 4:24).
 
The origins and genealogy of Arabs are traced back to Noah’s (PBUH) son, Shem. The Qur’an mentions a powerful ancient Arabic kingdom of a tribe called ‘Ad, which existed in ancient Oman and part of Saudi Arabia that can be traced to the days of the Islamic messenger Hud (PBUH) (believed to be the Hebrew Eber).The Qur’an also mentions another tribe called Thamud. The ancient Arabs inhabited all the Arabian Peninsula to the borders of Iraq and Syria. Other ancient Arabic ethnic groups included Tasm, Gadeth, 'Aemlak, Umayem, Jorhom, Hador, Wabar, Gasem, 'Abel, and Hadramawt. These are now all extinct; nonetheless, some remains of their very old kingdoms in Hadramawt and Sheba (in today’s Yemen, Eritrea and Ethiopia) still exist. Recent archaeological discoveries revealed the capital city of ‘Ad (E'rum) buried under the sand in Saudi Arabia. These ethnic groups used to navigate the lands in continuous nomadic activities and it was the "Jorhom the second" from Yemen that first located Hagar and settled around her and Ishmael (PBUH).
 
Hagar founded the community that is now called Mecca (Makkah). Ishmael (PBUH), as the son of Abraham (PBUH), was from Canaan; through intermarriage with Arab ethnic groups, however, an Arabic group called "The Arabized Arabs/Adnani Arabs or the Ishmaelites of north Arabia were established and are traced to Adnan, a descendant of Ishmael through his son, Kedar. These are different from another group of Arabs who existed in South Arabia known as "The Arabian Arabs/Qahtani Arabs" that are traced to Joktan (Arabic Qahtan, Hebrew Yoqtan), the second of the two sons of Hud (Eber) (PBUH), who is mentioned in the Torah (Gen. 10:25; 1 Chr. 1:19) as a great-grandson of Noah’s son, Shem and the ancestor of Hadramawt (Hazarmaveth) and Sheba (Makeda), and also an old messenger Hud in Islam.
 
Mecca in the days of Hagar was influenced by the religion of Abraham (PBUH), as he frequently visited Hagar and her son. As time went by, however, the religion was lost through many misconceptions, and the inhabitants turned towards paganism and forgot about the God of Abraham (PBUH). This community would serve as the earliest foundation of Islam, a restoration to the religion of Abraham (PBUH). According to Islamic traditions, Ishmael (PBUH) was a fully legitimate son of Abraham (PBUH) and inherited equally from his father the legacy of prophethood and religion of Allah (SWT). From Ishmael descended Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), 600 years after the end of the last Israelite mission of Prophets with the "messenger" Jesus (PBUH). In short, Muhammad is traced to Adnan, a descendant of Ishmael through his son, Kedar.
 
In the Qur’an, we learn that Ishmael/Ismail (PBUH) filled Abraham (Ibrahim) (PBUH) with joy. Sara, however, was tormented by jealousy. She soon reached the point that she could no longer tolerate seeing Hagar (Hajar) and the child, so she asked Abraham (PBUH) to send them to a place so remote that there would be no news of them.
 
Following Allah’s (SWT) command, Abraham (PBUH) acquiesced to Sara's request. He took Hagar and Ishmael (PBUH) with him and began journeying until, under the guidance of Allah (PBUH), they entered the land of Mecca. He left them there and returned to Sara. Abraham (PBUH) had prayed to Allah (SWT), saying "Lord, I have settled some of my offspring in a barren valley near your sacred house, so that they could be steadfast in prayer. Lord, fill the hearts of the people with love for them and produce fruits for their sustenance, so that they may give thanks."
 
A helpless Hagar was left alone with her suckling baby in the bare desert far from any city or town. But Hagar had learned the way of trust in and reliance on Allah (SWT) from Abraham (PBUH): so with faith in Allah (SWT), she followed the path of patience and tolerance. She lived on the provisions that she had until they were used up, and hunger and thirst overcame them. Her milk dried up, leaving her baby hungry and thirsty.
 
Worried that her baby might die from thirst, Hagar began to search in the desert but found nothing. Hopelessly, she returned to Ishmael and found him crying restlessly. Seeing her baby in this condition, she, too, began weeping, as she did not know what to do.
 
The baby became quite weak and appeared that he was passing the last moments of life. Hagar ran seven times back and forth in the scorching heat between the two hills of Safa and Marwa, trying to mount a higher ground to spot any water in the area, until, completely disappointed and with tear-filled eyes, she returned to her baby. Hagar’s agony in her search for water is remembered by Muslims by imposing an act of ritual walking (sa`i) that would signify her journey between the two hills during the annual pilgrimate at Mecca.
 
Standing beside her baby, weeping and wailing, Allah (SWT) sent Archangel Gabriel who scraped the ground with his wing. From that spot, a clear spring gushed out from the ground and began to flow under Ishmael's (PBUH) feet. Hagar was delighted; but also anxious about the water flowing away, she confined the pool of water with sand and stones, remarking at the same time: Zam Zam ("Stop, Stop!"). She then sat on the ground next to her baby, wet his lips and poured some of the water into his parched mouth, refreshing him. Hagar also drank some water, recovered her strength, and praised Allah (SWT).
 
Birds began coming to use the water of the spring. The Jorhom, who inhabited the area, discovered the spring because of the birds flying overhead and they then settled beside it. They asked Hagar’s permission to use the spring and she agreed. She became acquainted with them, and her fear and loneliness were removed. In this way, the prayer of Abraham (PBUH) was answered. From time to time, Abraham (PBUH) would go to see Hagar and his child. Visiting them made him happy and reinvigorated him. The spring that burst forth when Archangel Gabriel struck the ground on the orders of Allah (SWT) still exists today and is called the Zamzam Well.
 
Prophet Abraham/Ibrahim (PBUH). S.A. Nigosian directs our attention to three narratives which inform the beginnings of Islam. In one way, all Muslims understand Islam to begin with Adam (PBUH), that is, with the creation of humanity.  Adam’s (PBUH) descendants are traced through Noah (PBUH), to Noah’s son, Shem (from whom we get the term Semite referring to his descendants, including both Jews and Arabs), on through the generations to Abraham (PBUH), and then on to Abraham’s (PBUH) sons, Ishmael and Isaac (PBUT).  It is at this point that we find two narratives which become cornerstones of Islam.  The first begins in the Qur’an with the story of the birth of Abraham’s (Ibrahim’s) two sons, Ishmael (Ismai’il) and Isaac (Ishaq) (PBUT), which tells the expulsion of Ishmael (PBUH) and his mother Hagar from Abraham’s (PBUH) home and their subsequent residence in Mecca.  It continues with Muhammad’s (PBUH) descent from Ishmael’s (PBUH) biological line.
 
The second involves the Qur’anic story of Abraham’s (PBUH) attempted holy sacrifice of his son, which demonstrated Abraham’s (PBUH) submission to Allah’s (SWT) will, from which we get the word Islam.
 
In every prayer, Muslims remember Abraham (PBUH) and his descendants. One sees Abraham’s (PBUH) name all over the Qur’an. The names of Abraham and Moses (PBUT) are those most often cited in the Muslim Holy Book. For two examples, Sura 9:70 reads:
 
“Has not the story reached them of those before them?  – The people of Nuh (Noah), Ad, and Thamud, the people of Ibrahim (Abraham), the dwellers of Madyan (Midian) and the cities overthrown: i.e. the people to whom Lut (Lot) preached; to them came their Messengers with clear proofs....”
 
Sura 33:7 reads:
 
“And (remember) when We took from the Prophets their covenant, and from you (O Muhammad) and from Nuh (Noah), Ibrahim (Abraham), Musa (Moses), and Isa (Jesus) son of Maryam (Mary)....”
 
In some areas, the Qur’an has more detail than the Torah and the Bible. The Genesis narrative spends little time on Abraham’s (PBUH) relationship with his father, saying only that he left his father’s home. Sura 19 in the Qur’an details Abraham’s (PBUH) severe conflicts with his father concerning his father’s paganism and Abraham’s (PBUH) own monotheistic belief. Abraham (PBUH) tried to convince his father to have faith only in Allah (SWT) and, failing that, warned his father of damnation if he did not believe.  After being sent away, Abraham (PBUH) prayed for his father: “Ibrahim (Abraham) said: ‘Peace be on you!’  I will ask Forgiveness of my Lord for you.  Verily He is unto me Ever Most Gracious” (Sura 19:47).
 
Abraham (PBUH) is promised children and a multitude of descendants several times in the Genesis story (Genesis 12, 13, 15, and 17.). The Qur’an discusses the covenant in Sura 2:124: “...He (Allah) said (to him), ‘Verily, I am going to make you an Imam (a leader) for mankind (to follow you).’  Ibrahim (Abraham) said, ‘And of my offspring (to make leaders)’” (Sura 2:124).
 
Prophet Ishmael/Ismail. In the Torah and the Bible, God made promises to Abraham (PBUH) on behalf of his decedents, including Ishmael (PBUH) (Genesis 16 and 17).  The promise for Ishmael (PBUH) says that God would make him the father of many, including twelve chieftains; from Ishmael would come a great nation.  The promises to Abraham (PBUH) concerning his sons were sealed with circumcision.  Although circumcision is not required by the Qur’an, it is considered a sunna, a practice approved by Muhammad (PBUH). Most Muslims link the practice back to this biblical promise to Abraham (PBUH) and Allah’s (SWT) commandment to Abraham (PBUH) to circumcise his sons, which he began immediately with Ishmael.  Moreover, the Qur’an does command Muslims to follow Abraham’s (PBUH) ways (Sura 16:23).
 
As demonstrated earlier, Ishmael (PBUH) is associated with the Arab population, and particularly with Arab Muslims. Historical records do link ancient northern Arabians to Ishmael.
 
According to Genesis, Ishmael’s wife was an Egyptian (21:21).  However, Jewish midrash expands on this story. It says that Ishmael chose his own first wife, a Moabite.  Abraham (PBUH) disapproved. So Hagar sent for a wife from Egypt, of whom Abraham (PBUH) approved on his next visit. This is the wife represented in Genesis 21:21. Islamic legend explains that Ishmael (PBUH) married into a pre-Islamic Arab tribe associated with the holy city of Mecca.
 
In other ancient texts, we find additional relevant references which link Ishmael to Arabs, written by the Assyrians, Greeks, and Romans. Assyrians of the 8^th Century BCE recorded the submission of the Hagar Tribe in Arabia. Ancient Greek and Latin writers sometimes described an Arabian tribal federation as Hagarenes.
 
In the Torah and the Bible, we find not only Ishmael (PBUH) and Hagar sent eastward.  The off-spring of Abraham (PBUH) and his third wife (Keturah) were given Arabic names and also sent eastward (Genesis 25:1-6).  This connects with the later unknown 2^nd Century BCE writer of the Jewish Book of Jubilees (20:11-13). That writer reports that the children of Ishmael (PBUH) and those of Keturah were sent away by Abraham (PBUH), but endowed with gifts.  (After that, Abraham gave all that he had remaining to Isaac.)  The families of Ishmael (PBUH) and Keturah went to a desert area stretching from Paran to Babylon (northern Arabia), intermarried, and were called Arabs and Ishmaelites. Thus, the author of the Book of Jubilees considered them together, as one people.
 
Diodorus of Sicily (1^st Century BCE) wrote that northern Arabs were the same as the Arabs of Assyrian time and were associated with the Ishmaelite tribes. Later Jewish midrash says that Abraham (PBUH) went into Arabia by camel for occasional visits with Hagar and Ishmael.
 
At the time of Jesus, there also were significant attestations of the relationship of Ishmael and Arabs. In the 1st Century CE, Josephus, the Jewish historian, referred to the Nabataeans (then-contemporary Arabs) as children of Ishmael (PBUH).  He also wrote of desert Arab boys who were circumcised at puberty, like their founder Ishmael.
 
Tony Maalouf summarizes a study of the entire first millennium BCE and concludes the following concerning the descendants of Ishmael (PBUH). First, these nomadic people multiplied beyond numbering, which was promised by divine blessing (Genesis 17:20).  They became a great nation, not only populating the Syro-Arabian desert and its many oases, but controlling the northern Arabian incense roads and trade, through which they accumulated extensive wealth.  Second, Ishmael’s descendants became a mighty nomadic power, such a powerful force that the Assyrians, Chaldeans, Medo-Persians, nor Macedonians were unable to subdue them (Genesis 16:12). Both Assyrian and Babylonian documents report them as formidable enemies. The Ishmaelites reached the height of their political and economic power as the Nabataean kingdom, which fulfilled God’s biblical promise to Hagar.
 
In Sura 19:54-55, Ishmael (PBUH) is named a Messenger and a Prophet, and the Lord announces that the Lord is pleased with him.           Later in his life, Muhammad (PBUH) received what are known as the Medina revelations. Here we find references to Ishmael and Abraham (PBUT) building and purifying the Ka’bah for worship (2:125- 129). In addition, there is reference to Ishmael (PBUH) as a monotheist, along with Abraham (PBUH) (2:133) and as one who has received revelation from Allah (SWT) (2:136 and 4:163).
 
Concerning Ishmael’s (PBUH) familial relationship to Abraham (PBUH), Surah 14:39 points to Abraham’s (PBUH) gratitude to Allah (SWT) for giving him two sons—Ishmael and Isaac (PBUT) (14:39). Sura 2:129-129 points out how Abraham and Ishmael (PBUT) plead with Allah (SWT) to make them submissive, to accept their repentance, and to teach them the ceremonies of the Hajj. In part, it reads: “And make us submissive unto You and of our offspring a nation submissive unto You....Send amongst them a Messenger of their own...,” which refers to Muhammad (PBUH). Thus, Heribert Busse concludes: “It followed that the Meccans were descendants of Abraham since he asked that a prophet be raised from the midst of his descendants, which of course referred to Muhammad.”
 
Additional evidence of this biological connection can be found in the Muslim tradition of crediting a man named Qusayy with the care of the Ka’bah and the creation of the city of Mecca. Qusayy, a descendent of Ishmael (PBUH), along with his descendants became guardian of the Ka’bah in about 400 CE.  As guardians of the Ka’bah, this ethnic group the Quraysh controlled the annual pilgrimage there, the forerunner of the Hajj. This is the family of Muhammad (PBUH).
 
Now a tantalizing question: Which one of the sons of Abraham (PBUH) was nearly sacrificed? The answer to this question calls for a careful reading of the Torah, the Bible and the Qur’an.
 
In Peace Always,
Karim/.

African Studies and Research Forum of the Association of Third World Studies
URL:  http://www.american.edu/sis/faculty/facultybiographies/bangura.htm
 

[Abdul Bangura]

The 2005-2006 Toyin Falola Africa Book Award

It is with great enthusiasm that I announce the first Toyin Falola Africa Book Award for the best book on Africa published in 2005-2006. The winner is Adam Ashforth, whose book, Witchcraft, Violence, and Democracy in South Africa, was unanimously selected by the committee for the award. We did receive many fine books for the competition.

The Toyin Falola Africa Book Award was instituted by the Association of Third World Studies (ATWS) and the African Studies and Research Forum (ASRF) in honor of Mwalimu Falola's outstanding teaching and service and prolific writing on African history. The award will be presented at the Twenty-Fourth Annual ATWS Meeting at Winston-Salem State University, November 2-4, 2006. Adam Ashforth will receive a plaque, citation, and a $500 cash award.

The award will not automatically be given each year, but only whenever the committee decides that a book of considerable merit has been submitted. Authors with books on Africa are encouraged to enter their publications into the competition.

Qualifications are:

1. Only monographs and studies will be considered. Please do not submit anthologies or edited works.
2. An individual who wishes to be considered must send a letter of application to the committee chair, Abdul Karim Bangura, School of International Service, American University, Washington, D.C. 20016-8071. E-mail:ban...@american.edu
3. Publishers are permitted to nominate an author’s book as long as the above rules are observed.
4. An individual seeking the award is responsible for sending a copy of his/her book to each member of the committee.

Committee members are:

*Abdul Karim Bangura, committee chair, School of International Service, American University, Washington, D.C. 20016-8071. E-mail:ban...@american.edu
*Mwalimu James T. Gire, Department of Psychology, Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, VA 24450. E-mail: Gir...@vmi.edu
*Mwalimu Jose Arimateia da Cruz, Department of Criminal Justice, Social and Political Science, Armstrong Atlantic State University, Savannah, GA 31419-1997. E-mail: dacr...@mail.armstrong.edu
*Mwalimu Ishmael Munene, Center for Education Excellence, Northern Arizona  University, Flagg Staff, AZ 86011-5774. E-mail: Mun...@nau.edu

The Association of Third World Studies is the largest such organization in the world, with affiliate organizations in many countries; the only scholarly organization with United Nations membership; and its African Studies and Research Forum comprises the most prolific group of authors in academia.

In Peace Always,
Karim/.

[Abdul Bangura]

The 2006 Udogu Award Winners

It is with great enthusiasm that I share the wonderful news with you that this year's Udogu Award winners are Mwalimu John Mukum Mbaku, Willard L. Eccles Professor of Economics and John S. Hinkley Fellow at Weber State University, and Mwalimu Toyin Falola, the Frances Higginbotham Nalle Centennial Professor in History at the University of Texas at Austin and a Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Letters, for their excellent teaching, prolific scholarship and humanitarian service in Africa and its Diaspora. The Awards were announced at the 2006 meeting of the African Studies and Research Forum (ASRF), an affiliate organization of the Association of Third World Studies (ATWS), in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, November 2-4. Both Mwalimus received cash prizes and elegantly designed plaques.

The Udogu Award was established by Mwalimu E. Ike Udogu, Professor of Political Science and an excellent teacher, prolific scholar and humanitarian himself, in honor of his father.

Please join me in congratulating Mwalimus Mbaku and Falola for this well-deserved award and thanking Mwalimu Udogu for his humanitarian spirit and dedication to the Afrikan Cause.

In Peace Always,
Karim/.
African Studies and Research Forum of the Association of Third World Studies

[afrs...@aol.com]

 

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From: Mbab...@aol.com
To: Afrs...@aol.com
Cc: Mbab...@aol.com
Sent: Mon, 6 Nov 2006 8:08 PM
Subject: (no subject)

Review of The Broederbond Conspiracy

 

The Broederbond Conspiracy

by Chika Onyeani. Published in New York by Timbuktu Publishers 

Published 2006 with 377 pages.

Reviewed by Olivia Ebube Akueme, Esq.

 

I grew up partly in Nigeria and novelist Chika Onyeani in The Broederbond Conspiracy has made me see another side of Nigeria I never thought could exist, set in the early 1980s where one man named Chima Amadi better known as Agent Double 99 almost single handedly thwarts the plans and success of apartheid in South Africa by his actions and loyalty to Nigeria. The story is told of many attempts to take his life by the Broederbond agents from South Africa, yet on each occasion Chima not only survives but reduces them in number and ability.

 

Chima Amadi is the reason why I enjoy reading this book. Every move he makes is interesting and intriguing. He is smart and truly helps me see the character an NSO (National Security Organisation) agent should possess. In his character he reveals the sort of standard lacking in many Nigerian government agents and officials such as patriotism, contentment, anti-corruption, honesty, uprightness, integrity and so on of which the list of virtues is endless.

 

A top Broederbond agent, Ernst Voerster who, is very ruthless and yet not so competent nor respected amoung his peers is the number one enemy after Chima Amadi’s life and Chima is also out to eliminate Mr. Voerster so as to protect the good name of Nigeria and the African continent. The mystery about this enmity and conspiracy and who eliminates who and how is one of the reasons that keep you turning the pages to the very end in The Broederbond Conspiracy.

 

The Broederbond agents are foreigners and mainly white South Africans. It is obvious they cannot carry out their mission alone in Nigeria. At this point they recruit some Nigerians. These disloyal Nigerians working against their country and continent have to satisfy their greed for money but in few instances they are blackmailed into doing so.

 

Madam Gloria Essien is a South African who has adopted Nigeria as her country, but who has been blackmailed into committing any sort of atrocity just to get her son who is stuck in South Africa. Of course there is a price to pay although the Broederbond agents have made her rich but to her and as a mother of an only child, time is of the essence.

 

Chima, Madam Gloria, Ernst Voerster and many more are all fascinating but one of the most fascinating of them all is the Inspector General of Police, Rafiu Adenusi who like Esau in the Bible has for one plate of porridge sold his birthright. This man instead of protecting Nigeria decides to sell her for money. It is a shame he has to stoop too low to join the conspiracy with the likes of Madam Essien. In his desperation for money, he tells Madam Essien “… It will not be good to cross me…And finding out might cost you more money."

The height of this conspiracy is to assassinate the President of Ivory Coast who is visiting Nigeria. The president’s nieceYvettte works as his Chief Security Officer and she is in love with Chima Amadi whom she met once in a flight from the USA. Chima Amadi is also assigned to protect the president from Ivory Coast once he steps on Nigerian soil.

 

The Broederbond Conspiracy is very easy to read with very good presentation and style but not necessarily the language. The chapters run beautifully one after the other and gives a good flow of the story and how the characters link up to one another.

 

There are few typographical errors in the novel and a lack of introduction at the beginning makes it a little bit difficult to know the mind of the author, Chika Onyeani, although from the story everyone reading this novel would arrive at the same theme(s) like corruption, white supremacists and the evil of apartheid.

 

Chima Amadi, Africa’s No 1 agent dubbed Agent Double 99 seems to be the black James Bond and has to battle this evil and its agents. However some of the scenes in the novel are not realistic in happening in a very crowdie place like Lagos, Nigeria the setting of this novel especially at the time the story was in 1980s where the Nigerian populace was docile, unassuming and ignorant.

 

What is disturbing about The Broederbond Conspiracy is the treatment of all the African female characters. Starting from Modupe at the beginning to Yvette, Madam Essien, Nena, Princess Koko and others. They are raped, spat upon and sometimes killed. Not one of these female characters end up a good story. This is questionable as Nigeria has many beautiful and well behaved women. Madam Gloria Essien might have died because she chose to blackmail Nigeria for her son’s sake but what about the innocent Nena or Yvette? There is not much justice there.

 

Another disturbing presentation about this novel is the number of men that have their male genitals cut off both in South Africa and Nigeria as if it were a norm and something easy to do which is not necessarily the case.

 

Novelist Chika Onyeani does not write much about the Broederbond agents in South Africa. Perhaps he wants the reader to stay focused on the happenings in Nigeria but more story on the Broederbond itself and its activities in South Africa could have added a better colour to the whole picture.

 

As much as I love the lead character Chima Amadi and many times he is told the good of Nigeria and Africa lie on his shoulder, in reality a tree can never make a forest. Perhaps there could have been a good and trustworthy team that worked with him. Maybe Babalola would have been part of this team.

 

Notwithstanding, the larger theme of the story on the evil of apartheid, white supremacists and corruption in Nigeria and Africa as a whole is a reality in history and presently and it is simply part of the world novelist Chika Onyeani describes. That is why The Broederbond Conspiracy rings true and it almost all seems so real. 

Although the story is set in the early 1980s you get the idea that parts of it happened after that time and could happen today in any African nation where people are greedy and fear each other’s differences.

Mrs. Olivia Ebube Akueme is an Attorney based in London

 

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