BEWARE! LEST YOU BECOME YOUR ENEMY.

Enemies are ever present in our lives, they drive some to success and the unfortunate ones to failure. They're always there, lurking in your shadows, eagle-eyeing you and forever interested in your every deed. What they never do is introduce themselves.

They appear as everything but enemies; friends, family, colleagues, neighbours, bosses, even parents. They sit with you, eat, party, smile, sleep and also make important decisions with you.

Some even rejoice with you, appear happy for you, congratulate you, present you with gifts and charge you to do more. But what they never do is introduce themselves as an enemy. The one who does that has become an adversary, a foe, someone to contend against.

Alice Hubbard wrote "the imagination is a power which is developed with intellect and fine feeling. The imagination can create a world and people it, in this way ideals are perpetually made..."

I've come to realize that what we do is create our world, and in that world we envisage people coming at us, not wishing us well, longing for our downfall. We create our enemies, seeing them in our friends, neighbors, colleagues etc. , we even believe some are after our lives, even though in reality everyone is after his own.

I hear people talk about their enemies, I watch humans running from nothingness, I see friends turning against friends, I read posts online, of some who believe their lives are in danger from some, and I marvel at the way some pray against their enemies. They fail to realize that to each is his quota.

The supposed enemy is like you, battling with his own share of life's very own adversity, having little or no time to actually relish in any good fortune that comes his way because he has also built a world around himself, a world where only enemies exist and are after him.

We end up wasting precious little time brooding over this "Enemy" whom we have so punctiliously created, we become unfocused and some loose their marbles, becoming insane with enemy thoughts all the time.

I'm not saying enemies don't exist, of course they do. But they largely reside in our precarious minds, handicapping us from reaching beyond our imaginations and dreams for our success. And turning us into our very own enemies.

Therefore beware, of you becoming your enemy, face reality, have faith and know that everyone is ultimately to his own.

THE FOURTEEN YEAR-OLD GIRL EXPERIENCE

They were promised good lives, assured they would attend the best schools, eat and dine with the whites and that they would be well taken care of, little did they know what awaited them in the overseas is nothing short of slavery; the modern slavery, to be sold into prostitution, drug dealing, being handed over to a PIMP. and made to work odd hours and some may never even set eyes on their fatherland again.

  April is a 16 year old girl who had experienced child trafficking, she narrated the story of her ordeal with tears in her eyes, it all started when she was 14 years old. Her original name was Nye and she’s from Edo state. Although, she was living with her aunt in Lagos state before fate played a wrong card on her, and it appeared in disguise, like it was a blessing.

BEHIND THE MAWLIDUN NABIY CELEBRATION.

 

For about forty-five minutes or more, I stood and watched fascinated yet bewildered at what is considered by some as a huge transgression, a bid’ah (innovation) while others regard it as a worthy celebration, the remembrance of an extraordinary icon, celebrating the seal of the prophet hood. 

  Fixed on the spot, I fed my eyes, bemused, as myriad of heterogeneous “Muhammadans” flocked the entire length of the old Ogba road at Agege local government area of Lagos state, singing songs of praises and what they otherwise call “zikri” of the prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). They thronged on in groups; students of Arabic schools known as “makaranta” in the Agege area, Tijaniyyah and the Quadriyyah Islamic sects, the Hausa elites of the Agege area of the state and some other “Muhammadans”.

  They were extolling the prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) to the best of their aptitude and understanding, some on camels, few on horses, many in buses, lorries, SUVs and private cars and about a thousand others on foot; dancing, singing, rejoicing and full of mirth; the young and the old, the females of marriageable ages and the married, the leaders of clans and those of a whole society all converged to exalt the Noble of the Nobles, Prophet of all prophets, Messenger to all mankind, Muhammad (sallalaahu alayhi wa salaam) today being the 12^th of Rabiul Awwal of the Islamic year 1436AH.

  Amidst all these gaiety, in my non-participant observational mode, I couldn’t help but wonder the “what” behind “THE MAWLIDUN NABIY CELEBRATION”.

 Mawlidun Nabiy is the birth of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) and history has it that he was born on a Monday, 12^th of Rabiul Awwal (islamic calendar) in the year 570 AD. But history does not have it that the prophet (peace be upon him) ever celebrated his Birthday.

 However, history has it that the prophet acknowledged his birthday with proof from this quoted Hadeeth: “"…He was then asked about fasting on Monday, whereupon he said: It was the day on which I was born. on which I was commissioned with prophethood or revelation was sent to me…” (Muslim)

  With the above mentioned hadeeth, it is to be perceived that although the prophet never celebrated his birthday but he indeed attached importance to the day he was born. And this served as a basis (no matter how meager it may seem), reason enough for those who believe he should be celebrated, coupled with the understanding of the qur'anic verse that said “Truly, Allaah and His Angels shower blessings

on the Prophet. O ye believers Ask

blessings on him and salute him with a worthy

salutation.” (33:56) and their acclaimed love for the prophet (peace be upon him), hence the celebration of the prophet’s birth began…