{"id":406,"date":"2025-04-11T21:19:55","date_gmt":"2025-04-11T21:19:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theifpad.org\/?p=406"},"modified":"2025-12-11T10:02:44","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T10:02:44","slug":"the-shadow-of-the-zango","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theifpad.org\/index.php\/2025\/04\/11\/the-shadow-of-the-zango\/","title":{"rendered":"The Shadows of The Zango"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Picture this: a dusty street in Shukura, where the ‘laadans<\/strong><\/em>‘ call to prayer battles it out with the blaring horn of an ‘okada<\/strong><\/em>‘ and thundering sounds from ‘ashad<\/strong><\/em>‘ speakers. In the middle of it all stands Musa, once the guy who had memorized and could recite Suratu-Yasin<\/strong> faster than you could say \u201cAllahu Akbar.\u201d Now! He\u2019s the community tramadol champion, staggering around like he\u2019s auditioning for a zombie movie. \u201cBaa namiji, Wallahi!\u201d<\/em><\/strong> he slurs, clutching a bottle of codeine syrup like it\u2019s his new best friend. Haba Aboki!, even the chickens crossing the road are laughing at you!<\/p>\n\n\n

It\u2019s not just Musa, from Shukura to Sabon Zango, Maamobi to Fadama, Ashaiman to New town, the youth are turning Zango into a pharmacy gone wrong. Wee smoke hangs in the air like a bad perfume, and kids barely old enough to tie their own shoes are popping pills ‘kaman anaa chin gujiya’<\/em><\/strong>. The aunties at the “ashad” cluck their tongues, ‘Ei, mey muke ganin ga?’<\/em><\/strong> Our boys are fighting their own brains with tablets?\u201d The imams shake their heads, muttering, \u201cAstaghfirullah<\/strong>,\u201d while the drug peddlers count their cedis and grin.<\/p>\n\n\n

But hold up, enter Hajia Hafsa, the hijab-wearing hurricane who\u2019s had enough looking like she\u2019s about to drop a sermon for Jumu\u2019ah. Listen up! she booms. Allah didn\u2019t create you to be a walking chemistry experiment! Suratul-Isra says, “Do not kill yourselves<\/em>” and no, Musa, that doesn\u2019t mean test how many pills you can swallow before Isha! The crowd chuckles, Musa scratches his head.<\/p>\n\n\n

She\u2019s not done. The Prophet, peace be upon him, said, \u2018The strong believer is better than the weak one.\u2019 So tell me, how strong are you when you\u2019re drooling on the pavement, calling codeine your \u2018hustle juice\u2019? Ei, we can do better than this! The laughter fades, replaced by nods and murmurs. <\/p>\n\n\n

Hafsa\u2019s got fire in her eyes now. This is our clarion call, people! Rise up! Drug abuse isn\u2019t just a problem, it\u2019s a thief stealing our sons, our daughters, our dignity. Allah gave us bodies as a trust, not a trash bin. Suratul-Baqarah cautions us to enjoin good and forbid evil so let\u2019s forbid this nonsense! No more hiding in shame, no more whispering behind closed doors. We\u2019re kicking this devil out of our community, one prayer, one step, one loud \u2018NO\u2019 at a time! <\/p>\n\n\n

Musa stumbles forward, looking sheepish. “Hafsa, I want out, but it\u2019s hard.\u201d She softens and puts a hand on his shoulder. \u201cBro, Allah is the Turner of Hearts. Do you think He can\u2019t flip your story? The hadith says whoever helps a believer in distress gets relief from Allah. We\u2019ve got your back as the crowd erupts \u201cIn sha Allah”.<\/p>\n\n\n

People, hear me, this is our jihad against drugs! No Ministry, no NGO can save us if we don\u2019t save ourselves. Let\u2019s turn our \u2018bases\u2019 into classrooms, our dealers into dust. Let’s pray for strength, fight for our youth, and show these drugs who\u2019s boss. With Allah\u2019s mercy, we\u2019ll win because the Zango doesn\u2019t bow to anything but the Almighty Allah!<\/p>\n\n\n

She ended with a dua, \u201cOh Allah, Turner of Hearts, guide our children back to You. Break their chains, make us a people of mercy and might. Ameen!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

That night, Musa tossed his last pills into the gutter. \u201cDaga yawu, baani baa kwaayaa\u201d<\/strong><\/em> he muttered, trembling but determined, and walked to the mosque for Isha. <\/p>\n\n\n

Musa’s struggles could be anyone’s reality; our brother, sister, father, or uncle might be fighting a similar battle. Let’s follow Hajia Hafsa’s lead and tackle drug abuse with determination and compassion. By lending a helping hand and offering support, we can make a difference. The fight against substance abuse is just beginning, but with kindness, dua, and perseverance, we’ll overcome. Insha Allah.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Picture this: a dusty street in Shukura, where the ‘laadans‘ call to prayer battles it out with the blaring horn of an ‘okada‘ and thundering sounds from ‘ashad‘ speakers. In the middle of it all stands Musa, once the guy who had memorized and could recite Suratu-Yasin faster than you could say \u201cAllahu Akbar.\u201d Now! He\u2019s the community tramadol champion, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":385,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[16,8,12,23,22],"class_list":["post-406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-accountability","tag-community-support","tag-drug-misuse","tag-health-awareness","tag-substance-abuse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theifpad.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theifpad.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theifpad.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theifpad.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theifpad.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/theifpad.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":410,"href":"https:\/\/theifpad.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406\/revisions\/410"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theifpad.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theifpad.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theifpad.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theifpad.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}