A Ban on Begging Will Destroy Northern Nigeria

A beggar

Nigeria was declared the poverty capital of the world by World Data Lab in June 2018 taking over India. Nigeria ranks 152 out of 157 countries on the World Bank’s Human Capital Index. 

It has been a long time notion that poverty in Nigeria is largely a northern issue; this was confirmed in a publication by the World Bank in February 2020. The publication disclosed that 87% of Nigeria’s poverty load is in northern Nigeria.

Instability in the north resulting from the activities of Boko Haram and unknown gunmen has further bleakened the future of northern Nigeria. 

Businesses have been forced to close and there are hardly any foreign investors who will have the north in their books.

The welfare and livelihood of the populace is a major concern for every sane leadership, it does not look like Nigeria is in that ilk of countries. 

Government and the elite feel no urgency towards providing employment opportunities for the populace neither do they see the need to annihilate the phenomena fueling the hardship being faced by the masses.

Northern Nigeria, where most of the beggars and almajiris come from, has the lowest crime rate in the country. These crimes include armed robbery, human trafficking, prostitution, ritual killing, drug trafficking, internet fraud, counterfeiting and a host of others.

A major reason for this is that northern society does not frown at indigent people coming out in the open to seek help.

Those northerners calling for the criminalization of begging who also include members of the middle and plebian class are doing so majorly to avoid denigrating remarks from southerners and non Muslims. They never take time to consider the repercussions on the northern/Muslim community.

This is in no way an attempt to encourage begging as clarification on the issue can be gotten in the article MISCONCEPTION 4: Islam Encourages Begging

No doubt, the sight of children, the elderly and the disabled begging on the streets is never pleasant however; rapt attention should be paid to the manner with which it is eradicated. Do we fight poverty or do we fight the poor. 

Forcing poor people into hiding creates the perfect opportunity for crime to thrive. If northern states successfully force beggars off the streets (taking away their means of livelihood) then we should expect to see an astronomical surge in the activities that characterize communities where beggars are scorned. 

These activities include prostitution, armed robbery, drug trafficking and many other vices that are currently rare in northern Muslim communities.

The new and trending slogan ‘Government cannot do it alone’ has opened a portal through which Nigerian politicians are escaping their constitutional duties. 

If the building of schools, hospitals, roads, provision of electricity and other amenities are declared ‘everybody’s job’ then, the leadership will feel no urgency in providing them; underdevelopment and poverty will become companions of the people.

The issue is simple, what do you do with a community where 33.5% are unemployed and 60.9% are living in abject poverty?

How Secular Communities Eradicated Poverty

Europe was devastated after the Second World War. A great portion of the population depended on daily alms and charity to survive. European governments did not force beggars into hiding; they eradicated poverty by creating jobs and establishing robust welfare systems.

Muammar Ghaddafi became the leader of Libya in 1969 when it was one of the poorest countries in the world. With the development and standardization of the various sectors that make up the economy coupled with a robust welfare system, Libya was transformed from being one of the most beggared countries in the 20^th century to one of the richest countries in the 21^st century.

In several non Muslim nations with better economies than Nigeria, begging is legal.

• U. S. Courts have repeatedly ruled that begging is protected by the First Amendment's free speech provisions.
• In Finland, begging has been legal in Finland since 1987 when the poor law was invalidated. In 2003, the Public Order Act replaced local government rules and decriminalized begging.
• In Romania, Law 61 of 1991 forbids the persistent call for the mercy of the public, by a person who is able to work.
• In France, law against begging ended in 1994.
• In Poland it is illegal to beg under the Code of petty offences, if they are able to hold a job.

Other western nations where begging is permissible are: Italy, Luxembourg, Austria.

Like was said in the book, ‘The Richest Man In Babylon’ “Life is hard and there will always be some who cannot adjust themselves to it.”

How Islamic Communities Eradicated Poverty

Muslims are credited with establishing the first welfare state, the foundation was laid by Prophet Muhammad (SAW) but the full impact of the system was felt in the reign of the second caliph, Umar Ibn Khattab. 

Islam greatly emphasizes the payment of taxes, Muslims pay the Zakat and non Muslims pay the Jizya. The main essence of these taxes is to cater for the needs of the most vulnerable members of the community. 

The second caliph, Umar, would periodically request the names of the poorest people in the different provinces after which stipends were sent to them for financial upliftment. 

Caliph Umar was also in the habit of going on surveillance walks under the cover of night offering assistance to those he met in need. It is reported that on one of those nights, caliph Umar returned home with all the goodies he went out to distribute because he found no one in need. 

The lesson from this is that Islamic communities eradicated poverty not poor people.

Islamic authorities were known to defend the most vulnerable members of the community by challenging the leadership to uphold their duties to their followers, the current crop of Muslim clerics in Nigeria seems to have broken with precedent in that regard. 

It has become a norm in northern Nigeria to hear imams preaching against giving alms to beggars. They allege that some of the beggars are millionaires and do not deserve alms.

I once asked a prominent cleric in my city who peddled that assertion if he had ever seen a millionaire beggar; of course he hadn’t.

For those who ignorantly argue that Islam has no place for beggars.  

Qabisah ibn Mukhariq reported: I was under debt so I came to the Messenger of Allah (SAW) and I asked him about it. The Prophet said, “Wait until we receive charity, then we will order it to be given to you.” Then the Prophet said, 

"O! Qabisa, begging is not permissible but for one of the three (classes) of persons:

one who gives a guarantee to a large amount to settle the dispute of people, for him begging is permissible till he pays that off, after which he must stop it;

a man whose property has been destroyed by a calamity which has smitten him, for him begging is permissible till he gets what will support life, or will provide him reasonable subsistence; and

a person who has been smitten by poverty, the genuineness of which is confirmed by three members of his peoples, for him begging is permissible till he gets what will support him, or will provide him subsistence.

O! Qabisa, besides these three (every other reason) for begging is forbidden, and one who engages in such consumes what is forbidden".

Hadith No. 2404 (1044), Book of Zakat, Sahih Muslim, Vol. 3; Hadith No. 1640, Book of Zakat, Sunan Abu Dawud, Vol. 2.

Do we have these category of people in northern Nigeria? Yes, we do.

Was Muhammad (SAW) talking nonsense when he permitted this set of people to beg? Only an infidel will answer in the affirmative.

Why then are Muslims, the knowledgeable and the ignorant alike, turning their backs on the Prophet (SAW) to escape responsibility?

Northern Nigeria used to host one of the most Islamically alive communities in the world; it is not certain if that assumption still holds. 

The ever rising rate of poverty resulting from decades of government corruption has pushed many away from Islamic principles. This is chiefly due to the fact that virtually all the bad Muslim leaders have continued to draw strength from Muslim clerics. Nigeria Muslim clerics get rich whenever election campaigns kick-off, the burst of wealth comes from ’gifts’ they receive from politicians for positive portrayals from the pulpit. The poor northern masses are observing this very closely. 

If the beggars are forced back to their houses, it will expose the true magnitude of physical and spiritual poverty that has been napping in the north. 

The knowledge that this was done in league with the Islamic authorities who they trusted will make the masses develop a carapace against religious edicts coming from the clergy. The Islamic institutions will fade into insignificance, the populace will begin to chant ‘separation of mosque and state’ and we just might descend to the level of DR Congo.