{UAH} The lion life of Sheikh Nuhu Muzaata Batte

Sheikh Nuhu Muzaata's body

The lion goes to sleep, read one of the headlines on a story upon the death of Sheikh Nuhu Muzaata Batte. It was accurate. His was a lion's life in a country where many otherwise well-placed individuals have chosen to live like dogs: eating crumbs o the dinner tables of their power-blessed masters.

Tough-talking, articulate, eloquent, proud, brave, and un inching are some of the traits that defined Muzaata Batte. While many preferred to hide their convictions, and only speak in whispers, Muzaata would rather die than be silenced. Indeed, in the absence of a concrete postmortem report, the suspicion of being 'biologically assassinated' for his old and recent utterances and actions, in the midst of a volatile election, is not o the table.

But I come to these pages not to cry over the cause of his death but, rather, celebrate the fallen cleric, activist and public intellectual. [I am content, he could never have died, were it not his time].Oh Sheikh Muzaata fell! O, what a fall was there, my countrymen! Then I, and you, and all of us fell down. Muzaata was us – and us, not just his Muslim constituency, but all of us wretches of the earth. The tears that rolled at Kibuli during his funeral, and the crowds that thronged his family burial grounds, were testimony of the reach of his greatness.

Men who would rather hide their softer sides in public failed to subdue their tears. Even those watching the funeral on screens could not hold back their grief. Short video clips of Muzaata's difficult but timeless pronouncements were dusted off and returned to the public domain of social media.

The more we watched them, the harder the pain of loss hit us. What a man he was – in body and character! There can never be a comprehensive memoir of this erudite theologian. For now, we will have to chasten ourselves with excerpts and random memories.

Everyone has a personal story of this man: a first-time encounter or a virtual connection through an audio or video recording. As with all men of great genius, public opinion is often divided. Those on the receiving end of Muzaata's fire, especially the rich and regime-blessed honchos, there is no loss for them.

But for the wretches of this earth, we lost a brave soldier. The political cleric: The death of Sheikh Muzaata marks the fall of the single-most vocal and fearless cleric of our time. While his utterances might have been internal to the Muslim leadership in Uganda, Muzaata had acutely understood the connection between state power and governance of smaller institutions.

Muzaata understood that you could not build, nor unite the Muslim community without democratising, and secularizing the state more. He thus targeted his criticism to both the small units and, mostly, Museveni's megalomaniacal state.

As all so-called seculars states continue to push religious leaders out of politics, Sheikh Muzaata embodied the opposition to this stupid construction of religious institutions as apolitical entities [the other is Bishop Zac Niringiye, who Museveni continues to push out of the public domain for his democratising views].

The religious leader is a politician with deep interests in the ways in which their sheep are governed. Any cleric who shies away from this God-ordained duty is wrong. Not once, not twice, Muzaata publicly reminded Museveni, his ragtag generals and scrawny surrogates that they will fall – they were mere mortals, like everybody else.

There were no untouchables for Sheikh Muzaata: Buganda Katikkiro Charles Peter Mayiga was called out over the absence of accountability with his Ettofaali project. Former police chief Gen Kale Kayihura, Mufti Shaban Ramadhan Mubajje must have kept extensive notes of his tough criticisms.

Other recipients of his ire included former KCCA executive director, Jennifer Musisi, Buganda Land Board, Abdallah Kitatta, Mubaraka Munyagwa, etc. There is a story about his rise, which is a combination of his education, natural talents, and growing up on the margins of society.

Muzaata would emerge on the national scene as an educationist who managed to use his knowledge of the Islamic tradition – a graduate of the prestigious Islamic University of Medina – for advocacy and general life skills. To this end, Muzaata managed to secularise Islam, making its tenets on life – marriage, society and politics – appreciable to a general non-religious public.

To do this, his precarity- cultivated life-skills came in handy. Slums, or lives of precarity tend to cultivate deep notions of surviving on the margins, street smartness, which, once educated, form a brave and daring personality suited for the demands of the life in banana republics.

Muzaata grew up in the slums of Bwaise and Kawempe – places of precarity. Combined with a deeply cultivated Muslim identity and personhood, he had conquered the fear of death and poverty – a fear, which has left many otherwise worthy individuals living like dogs – eating vomit and crumbs – instead of standing up for their legitimate place. [The other individual to have conquered the fears of death and poverty in our time is the late Muhammad Kirumira, to whose bravery Muzaata once likened his own].

Education, the slums and natural talents combined and gave us this Muzaata – a one of his kind. We need to pay tribute to Muzaata's knowledge of the Luganda language, which combined with his eloquence and a deep roaring voice to give him Hollywood stardom in Buganda.

His voice would be described as a light baritone. Once Muzaata caught the microphone and started roaring the Muqaddimah into it, he was simply captivating. Whatever the occasion (weddings, funeral, radio shows, get-togethers, prayer sessions, sermons), Muzaata often kept his audiences both entertained and educated.

For his occasional Friday sermons, which were occasions for him to make political commentary, he crafted himself as a fearless tough-talking leader. Besides, or alongside his eloquence, Muzaata was good at the di cult art of insult. Insult being a coveted skill of protest, Muzaata's accomplishment was admirable [only second to the legend in the game, Tamale Mirundi].

The ugliness of the images he deployed depended on how angry or deeply touching the subject was. On the sale of Muslim properties, or the murder of Muslim clerics, his anger was simply explosive. The images were surgically precise in inverting the sensibilities of the alleged perpetrators of the crimes.

Sometimes, his voice was light but clearly wrought with emotion and honesty. For this, he won many enemies, but also attracted a wide following that often found his anger justified.

Passing at a time when our country is bereft of knowledgeable and fearless persons of national stature – whose pronouncements move hearts and minds – and coming at a time of great political-religious struggle, it is not just the Muslim community that has lost a giant, but the entire country. Inallilahi waa ina ilayihi rajōōn.

yusufkajura@gmail.com

The author is a political theorist based at Makerere University.

--

"When a man is stung by a bee, he doesn't set off to destroy all beehives"

--
Disclaimer:Everyone posting to this Forum bears the sole responsibility for any legal consequences of his or her postings, and hence statements and facts must be presented responsibly. Your continued membership signifies that you agree to this disclaimer and pledge to abide by our Rules and Guidelines.To unsubscribe from this group, send email to: ugandans-at-heart+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ugandans at Heart (UAH) Community" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to ugandans-at-heart+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ugandans-at-heart/CAFxDTfqV-J%3DU9yKYbrYmt4JkibGbfPV6cqqX9sEur2crcxLMTg%40mail.gmail.com.