“The number of months with the Almighty is twelve… (Q9:36)
Thus, we came to the end of the story- the story of 2025; and thus, we arrive at the beginning of another story- the story of 2026. The beginning and ending of a calendar, be it the Islamic or the Gregorian, usually occasion some sense of anxiety in men and women of intellect and understanding. To begin a new year is to begin a journey one is not sure of completing and to end a year is to enter into some psycho-spiritual trepidation. This is exemplified in the saying of Prophet Muhammad (SAW): “A Muslim is torn between the two stations: between the past in which he is ignorant of what has been his record with the Almighty and a future about which he is oblivious of what shall be the decisions of Almighty in it.”

Thus, the beginning and ending of a year, instead of being a source of infantile indulgence in celebration and perfidious revelry, should be occasions for sober reflection. It should awaken in us the necessity to take stock of our failings, the necessity to reconnect with our creator, the necessity to repair what we have unwittingly destroyed in our spiritual capitals such that we may thereby rescue ourselves from the imminent retributions of our iniquitous predilections.

Put differently, dear Brethren, each time the year “dies” either in Dhul Hijjah or December, it feels as if something in us as humans is fated to die with it. Each time it is December 31 or Dhul-Hijjah 30, I become attentive to the imminence of the expiration of the cosmos; I address myself to the possibility that this world can implode at the next moment. One day, the Prophet asked his companions: “Where are the believers in this city?” The companions all chorused: “Here we are O! Prophet.” But the Prophet was not contented. He asked again:

“What is the evidence of your faith?” Then Abu Dhar responded: “Each time I take a step, I’m usually not sure I would be alive to take another one!”

Brethren, each time the year comes to an end like this, some among our brethren would congregate in the mosque.

They would embark on litanies and spiritual exercises the like of which they never engaged in before. Some of us do not know that in reality, the Islamic calendar is presently in its third quarter as Rajab, the 7th month is Day 13 today.

Some of us do not know that every day we wake up in His presence and do His bidding in the mosque or the cathedral is actually a new year. But then how do we make a success of the new day, the New Year? Simple: be a mystic at night and a ‘warrior’ in search of the good life during the day. To be a mystic is not to trifle with your prayers (salat) and to establish midnight prayers (tahajjud). In other words, in order to succeed and overcome the turbulence of 2026 you need to cultivate the habit of waking up at night when everyone else is asleep in order to connect with your Creator. Tahajjud is a very important spiritual formula, which Islam established centuries ago but which has now been adopted by followers of other religions. It is quite ironic that Muslims who neglect this virtue often become easy preys in the hands of evil forces. They sometimes end up living the religion of Islam in order to observe such ‘prayers’ in places where such has become fashionable.

Dear brethren, to be successful in 2026, you must, by all means possible, avoid all frivolities. You must shun vain talk. To shun vain talks implies pitching your tenth with the truthful. This, no doubt, would be a very difficult virtue to imbibe particularly in this clime and time. Today, the truthful is seen as an enemy of earthly principalities. He is usually a loner, the wretched. He usually finds the doors of the rich and powerful ever unattractive and loathsome. He is seen as an enigma if not someone suffering from dementia. The truthful amongst human beings would most likely not be found in the circle of the politicians; he would most likely not be a comrade to the moral Lilliputians who luxuriate on a daily basis in the vanities of the temporality of earthly positions and the illusions of bodily enchantments.

To be successful in 2026 you need to guard your loins. You need to be faithful to your partner. One of the greatest sins and in fact the major source of human perdition is the sin of the loins – the incontinence of the phallus, the infidelity of the bearers of the womb.

Dear brethren, your success in 2026 would also be determined in part by your ability to wait on and be patient with your creator. The position of patience (sabr) in Islam, according to the fourth Khalifah is like the position of the head in the human body. Lack of patience is responsible for the way Nigerians change their places of worship as often as they do their clothes. Our prophet reminds us thus: “know that whatever has been decreed for you is searching for you more than you are searching for it; that which has been decreed against you would never come your way no matter how hard you strive for it.”

Kindly ponder the following story:
A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could, and it could go no further. So, the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time. Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly. What the man, in his kindness and haste, did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were Allah’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

Sometimes, struggles are exactly what we need in our lives. If Allah allowed us to go through our lives without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been. We would never “fly”!

Brethren, each time I eat beans cooked in a pressure cooker, I always marvel at how sumptuous it is. The trick- the more the pressure, the tastier the food becomes; the more the challenges of life we face, the higher our stations in the celestial world.