CHAPTER ONE

1.1         BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

In the name of Allah most beneficial most merciful may the blessing and peace of Allah be upon our master Muhammad, his relations6 his companions and those who follow to the day of judgment.

The informal section in Nigeria refer to economic activities in all sector of the economy that are operated outside the purview of government resolution. This sector may be invisible, irregular parallel. Nonstructural backward, underground subterranean, unobserved or residual according to one scholar says informal economic activities a large which ranges from small scale large self-employment activities most of them are traditional occupation and method of production, others include such financial and economic endeavors of subsistence nature as: retail trade ,transports, restaurant repair services, financial intermediation and household or other personal activities, Adamu (1996) activities of informal sector in Nigeria are difficult to measure. They are highly dynamic and contribute substantially to general growth of economy and personal house hold income.

Therefore Islam is a religion and it` scomplete way of life, its teaching comprises every aspects of human endeavors being a spiritual or mundane, thus Islam is not only concerned with Religious rituals but also deal with all aspects of human life, be a social political economical or religious.

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Economically Islam encouraged self-reliance and exhort dependency. Hence Islam encourages its adherents to move everywhere on earth seeking for their daily break, but in a decent and legal manner approach by shari’ah.

In the Glorious Qur’an for example Allah (SWT) permitted business transaction and prohibited usury. These are other rules and regulation governing to Business and commercial activities, include debt which are clearly spelt out in the Glorious Qur’an.

In addition the prophet Muhammad (peace be upon Him) as messenger of Allah (SWT) was not only a messenger whose duty was to deliver the message but also a teacher and interpreter of the message i.e Glorious Qur’an because due to the limitation of human reasoning and intellect man cannot comprehend and understand the message direct from Allah (SWT). Thus, the need to explain more of the message so that the man can put it into practice.According to the spirit and essence of Islam.

The interpretation (explanation) of the Glorious Qur’an by the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) was done verbally or through His action. In the history of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) he was known to be a Business man (merchant) who engaged into commercial transaction even before his prophet hood.

There are various a hadith of the prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) which enjoined Muslims to self-reliant and exhort them from being dependent or liability to others. Also, during the life time of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) and after his death His companions (may Allah be pleased with them) engaged into various commercial activities in order to become self-reliant.

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For example, companions such as Uthman bin Affan (may Allah be pleased with him) were popular in Business entrepreneur man at the early period of Islam when Muslims are being persecuted some other companions (may Allah be pleased with them) engaged into farming, weaving, outing firewood, hunting and many other forms of labour to earn a living.

However, this research tries to study the concept of self-reliance in Islam. The means of the attitude of Muslim youth in the economic self-reliance in Gummi local Government of Zamfara state. This is with a view to understanding how Muslims youth in the area of study apply the concept in their daily life. Considering that Gummi local Government was developed since during Jihad of Sheik Uthman bin Fodiyo (May Allah cover him with his mercy), Therefore it`s, not an exaggeration to say that Gummi local government is an area which was established and govern under shade of Islamic Principle.

But due to the globalization scientific and technological development as well as contemporary civilization the town is a cosmopolitan, comprising many people from all aspects of life with different historical culture and religious background.

Despite the fact that the town is dominated by Muslims hence the need to investigate the attitude of Muslim youth toward the economic self-reliance in-order to see whether these youth know or understand the position of Islam on this important aspect or not. Also to create awareness and encouragement to these youth in order to become more productive and avoid redundancy and idleness for their own benefit and the society at large.

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In recent times begging has become one of the fundamental problems that rooted deep into our society this could be clearly understood in the way some able bodied men and women gathered at the houses of the rich men and politicians waiting for these wealthy individuals to give them some little penny after they have wasted much of their time waiting, and of course after they have downgraded themselves and destroyed their dignity of human person4. Furthermore some of these people resort to begging in order to add their richness, not because, they are desperately in need of assistance due to the fact that they are lacking what they are begging.

It should be understood that Islam is against begging and only allowed to beg a Muslim when there is necessary to do so, and immediately after the beggar meet his need, it is prohibited for him to beg again.

The worst part of it is that the teaming youth of Gummi especially those regarded as political thug portray themselves as beggars not only going from one house to another but also roaming the various offices of the local government officers where they are begging them.

It was said that one error lead to another the system of begging has changed pattern in recent years, where one could see an able bodied men in their good appearance going from one house to another from one office to another or even in the mosque, market severe or in the road side creating lies to themselves or their families e.g someone will say his wife or children are sick or his wife has given birth to a new born baby and he does not have the means to cater for their medical expenses or what to feed his families. 5

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Indeed this situation is very annoying and shameful because the acts of begging as well as economic dependency in this part of the country is largely attributed to Muslimssdue to the fact that you hardly see any person from other religion engaged in this activities.

However despite all these problems here is a way and a solution to it, because Islam totally condemned economic dependence and idleness Islam also encourage self-reliance. Therefore Gummi local government Zamfara state in general and particular is blessed with abundant human and material resources, which is utilized could be sufficient enough to make the people of the area to became economically self-reliant but also benefit to the entire society.

This and many issue are what the researcher will dwell into in order to encourage Muslims youth in the area and awaken them from their slumber. So that they should harness the limited resource available to them for the economic development and progress of the people of the area and Islam in general.

1.2         SCOPE AND LIMITATION

This research work is to evaluate how self-reliance is reducing the problem of unemployment in Gummi local Government Zamfara State. However, this research work is likely going to face number of limitations, this include time and financial constrain the research work is confined a period of some month to one year.

Also the researcher is going on course work.The indeed affect the time required for the research work adversely to alleviate, this problem the researchers decides to use lecture free period and semester break for the study work.

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Therefore, the scope of this research will be the centers on the attitude of the Muslims youth in the economic self-reliance in Gummi local government, Zamfara state. Therefore the project is going to cover issue regarding self-reliance and its applications in Islam and consider Muslims youth in Gummi local Government and how they apply this concept.