Eight years ago exactly, on this very space, following the first
election of Obama as US President, we had said: “With God, nothing is
impossible! The Arabs have a saying: ‘Iza aradal Lahu shai’an, hayya’a
asbabahu’ (if God intends to do something, He causes the causes that
would cause the something to happen).” Only God could have made what
happened in America to happen. Analysts would give several reasons why
Donald Trump (as Obama did in 2008) won the elections but, ultimately,
who caused all the reasons to happen? None but God - He had intended
what He intended and
caused the causes that made it come to pass, and compound all the pollsters! Exalted be His Name!
SEEMS WE ALL LOST: Not that I am happy. No! Far from it! Almost all people of good conscience are not happy. In fact, this very newspaper (Daily Trust) has been defeated - after all we endorsed Hillary Clinton in an Editorial a few days ago (although a good friend of this Column, Kawu Bala, rebuked us for poking our noses in another country’s business, and punching above our weight).
“YOUR EXCELLENCY MADAM PRESIDENT”: Have you heard about a certain country’s leader who was well-coached by his advisers on what to say when congratulating the President-Elect? Well, they forgot to change the heading of his telephone address - so when he spoke to Trump he addressed him as “Your Excellency Madam President!” Or the story of a certain famous internationally-syndicated columnist who had written his column for last Wednesday entitled “Madam President!” The editor held the column until the first few results were in. The columnist was so confident Hillary would win that he gave, in anger, the editor a piece of his mind. The editor still held. Now the columnist has the editor to thank for ever.
AS BREXIT AS TRUMP: The loud liberal lobby in the US is on the streets, protesting against the election. Alas! Unless something happens from, yes, God, nothing can change the fate of the US for the next four years. They have Trump to contend with. We shouldn’t forget so soon that British politicians were similarly so confident and smug that the electorate would vote to keep the country within the European Union. In the event, the silent majority - mostly around rural England - voted to leave, and won. The Scottish and the loud Londoners protested - too late, the deed had been done! The Brexit vote cost the Prime Minister his job.
BLAME THE ABSENTEE VOTERS: Only about 54% of registered US voters came out to vote. What happened to the other 46%? They were probably so over-confident in the polls (‘unlikely Trump would win’) that they stayed home. To be fair, in most elections globally, only about half of potential voters, or less, turn out to vote. But in an enlightened country such as the US, with the potential fear that a divisive figure such as Trump could win, it says a lot about individual human decisions. Polls naturally can never predict silent voters. The ‘undecided’ who refused to be polled, who kept their opinions to themselves, ultimately decided the vote for everyone else. And usually, those types of voters would almost certainly come out to vote. Meanwhile, the loud minority would be busy pre-celebrating a phantom win. Like Brexit!
BROKEN SYSTEM THREW UP TRUMP: Like all things human, Western style democracy is faulty. And I never pretended to like it. In several pieces on this page, we lamented how this system of governance, though better than dictatorship (except benevolent dictatorship) deliberately keeps off potentially good people from political leadership because they did not have money, or they had no influence, or they did not belong to a political party. We had railed and wailed that one day such a system could throw up an undesirable element; a recent WhatsApp message making the cyberspace rounds exactly sums up this feeling - said to be a quote from a certain H. L. Mencken in “The Baltimore Evening Sun” of June 26, 1920, it says: “…On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their hearts desire at last, and the White House will be occupied by a downright fool and a complete narcissistic moron.” Prescient!
CHINESE SYSTEM APPROXIMATES ISLAM: I believe, totally and absolutely, that Islam is a system that has ever-ready solutions for religion, culture, politics, economics, society, et al. The political succession method of Islam was perfected by Second Caliph Umar (may Allah be pleased with him). He had selected an Electoral College of the best the community could offer, and tasked them to select the best from among them. In this Column’s opinion, the Chinese system approximates that. At the time Americans were voting for a second-term Obama, the Communist Party of China (CPC) was holding its 18th Congress to usher in a ten-yearly political transition; then President Hu Jintao handed over to current President Xi Jinping, who is now also grooming his successors. CPC delegates, all 2,000 of them (call them an Electoral College) met in Beijing for two weeks in a once-in-five-years Congress to usher in a fifth generation of leaders. In 2017, the delegates will converge again in a non-elective Congress, and convene again in 2022 for another transition. This writer would rather have the rule of the ‘best’ (as in China), and not the rule of the ‘most eloquent’ (or the most garrulous, or the richest, as in the United States).
SO BACK TO TRUMP: A Hillary Clinton Presidency would just have smoothly continued with the Obama/Democratic Party agenda; probably no one would have noticed any difference. But with this earthquake of an election, there are just so many questions - starting with me, Muslim, Black, African, Nigerian, what do I think Trump would think of me? The honest answer: Nothing, Zero, Zilch! Other questions: The Republican Establishment. The Washington Establishment. The US Economy (and Especially the Tax System Which He Didn’t Like, and Didn’t Pay Into). The Great Wall of Mexico. The ‘Muslims-Stay-Out’ Plan. The Middle East of ISIS and Palestine. The Putative Putin of Russia.
AND NOW THE EPILOGUE: Friday morning, on BBC World, a newscaster said he spoke to a CEO of a top firm in City of London’s financial district who confided in him that he had spoken to Trump seven months ago and Trump had confided in the CEO, amidst laughter, that he, Trump, surprised himself by coming so far in the primaries! Donald The Unready?
ALSO DURING THE WEEK: May the soul of military hero Lt. Col. Mohammed Abu-Ali and his colleagues rest in peace. Most touched by the picture, on the front page of Daily Trust Tuesday showing the hero’s widow holding ever so tightly to her daughter, hiding her tremendous grief behind the little girl; Also, we thank Allah for the safe return of one of ours - Muhammad Lawal Maidoki - who was in the kidnappers’ den for almost a week; Also, two very important academic conferences took place in Kano - “Islam, Muslims and the Fight Against Corruption in Nigeria” by Islamic Welfare Foundation, Ilorin and International Institute of Islamic Thought at Bayero University; and “The Dynamics of Democratic Practice in Nigeria 1999-2015” by Mambayya House Aminu Kano Centre for Democratic Research and Training, also of Bayero University. We hope to discuss resolutions from these important meetings in later columns, in sha Allah.
caused the causes that made it come to pass, and compound all the pollsters! Exalted be His Name!
SEEMS WE ALL LOST: Not that I am happy. No! Far from it! Almost all people of good conscience are not happy. In fact, this very newspaper (Daily Trust) has been defeated - after all we endorsed Hillary Clinton in an Editorial a few days ago (although a good friend of this Column, Kawu Bala, rebuked us for poking our noses in another country’s business, and punching above our weight).
“YOUR EXCELLENCY MADAM PRESIDENT”: Have you heard about a certain country’s leader who was well-coached by his advisers on what to say when congratulating the President-Elect? Well, they forgot to change the heading of his telephone address - so when he spoke to Trump he addressed him as “Your Excellency Madam President!” Or the story of a certain famous internationally-syndicated columnist who had written his column for last Wednesday entitled “Madam President!” The editor held the column until the first few results were in. The columnist was so confident Hillary would win that he gave, in anger, the editor a piece of his mind. The editor still held. Now the columnist has the editor to thank for ever.
AS BREXIT AS TRUMP: The loud liberal lobby in the US is on the streets, protesting against the election. Alas! Unless something happens from, yes, God, nothing can change the fate of the US for the next four years. They have Trump to contend with. We shouldn’t forget so soon that British politicians were similarly so confident and smug that the electorate would vote to keep the country within the European Union. In the event, the silent majority - mostly around rural England - voted to leave, and won. The Scottish and the loud Londoners protested - too late, the deed had been done! The Brexit vote cost the Prime Minister his job.
BLAME THE ABSENTEE VOTERS: Only about 54% of registered US voters came out to vote. What happened to the other 46%? They were probably so over-confident in the polls (‘unlikely Trump would win’) that they stayed home. To be fair, in most elections globally, only about half of potential voters, or less, turn out to vote. But in an enlightened country such as the US, with the potential fear that a divisive figure such as Trump could win, it says a lot about individual human decisions. Polls naturally can never predict silent voters. The ‘undecided’ who refused to be polled, who kept their opinions to themselves, ultimately decided the vote for everyone else. And usually, those types of voters would almost certainly come out to vote. Meanwhile, the loud minority would be busy pre-celebrating a phantom win. Like Brexit!
BROKEN SYSTEM THREW UP TRUMP: Like all things human, Western style democracy is faulty. And I never pretended to like it. In several pieces on this page, we lamented how this system of governance, though better than dictatorship (except benevolent dictatorship) deliberately keeps off potentially good people from political leadership because they did not have money, or they had no influence, or they did not belong to a political party. We had railed and wailed that one day such a system could throw up an undesirable element; a recent WhatsApp message making the cyberspace rounds exactly sums up this feeling - said to be a quote from a certain H. L. Mencken in “The Baltimore Evening Sun” of June 26, 1920, it says: “…On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their hearts desire at last, and the White House will be occupied by a downright fool and a complete narcissistic moron.” Prescient!
CHINESE SYSTEM APPROXIMATES ISLAM: I believe, totally and absolutely, that Islam is a system that has ever-ready solutions for religion, culture, politics, economics, society, et al. The political succession method of Islam was perfected by Second Caliph Umar (may Allah be pleased with him). He had selected an Electoral College of the best the community could offer, and tasked them to select the best from among them. In this Column’s opinion, the Chinese system approximates that. At the time Americans were voting for a second-term Obama, the Communist Party of China (CPC) was holding its 18th Congress to usher in a ten-yearly political transition; then President Hu Jintao handed over to current President Xi Jinping, who is now also grooming his successors. CPC delegates, all 2,000 of them (call them an Electoral College) met in Beijing for two weeks in a once-in-five-years Congress to usher in a fifth generation of leaders. In 2017, the delegates will converge again in a non-elective Congress, and convene again in 2022 for another transition. This writer would rather have the rule of the ‘best’ (as in China), and not the rule of the ‘most eloquent’ (or the most garrulous, or the richest, as in the United States).
SO BACK TO TRUMP: A Hillary Clinton Presidency would just have smoothly continued with the Obama/Democratic Party agenda; probably no one would have noticed any difference. But with this earthquake of an election, there are just so many questions - starting with me, Muslim, Black, African, Nigerian, what do I think Trump would think of me? The honest answer: Nothing, Zero, Zilch! Other questions: The Republican Establishment. The Washington Establishment. The US Economy (and Especially the Tax System Which He Didn’t Like, and Didn’t Pay Into). The Great Wall of Mexico. The ‘Muslims-Stay-Out’ Plan. The Middle East of ISIS and Palestine. The Putative Putin of Russia.
AND NOW THE EPILOGUE: Friday morning, on BBC World, a newscaster said he spoke to a CEO of a top firm in City of London’s financial district who confided in him that he had spoken to Trump seven months ago and Trump had confided in the CEO, amidst laughter, that he, Trump, surprised himself by coming so far in the primaries! Donald The Unready?
ALSO DURING THE WEEK: May the soul of military hero Lt. Col. Mohammed Abu-Ali and his colleagues rest in peace. Most touched by the picture, on the front page of Daily Trust Tuesday showing the hero’s widow holding ever so tightly to her daughter, hiding her tremendous grief behind the little girl; Also, we thank Allah for the safe return of one of ours - Muhammad Lawal Maidoki - who was in the kidnappers’ den for almost a week; Also, two very important academic conferences took place in Kano - “Islam, Muslims and the Fight Against Corruption in Nigeria” by Islamic Welfare Foundation, Ilorin and International Institute of Islamic Thought at Bayero University; and “The Dynamics of Democratic Practice in Nigeria 1999-2015” by Mambayya House Aminu Kano Centre for Democratic Research and Training, also of Bayero University. We hope to discuss resolutions from these important meetings in later columns, in sha Allah.
ref: http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/columns/trump-only-god-knows-tomorrow/171345.html#3Yly8ERuqPp02DQs.99
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