TITLE: PRISONS of OUR REALM
AUTHOR: Rahmer Mustapha Goni
GENRE: Non-fiction, Religious Motivational
PUBLISHER: Words Rhymes & Rhythm Publishers
YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 2017
NUMBER OF PAGES: 84
ISBN: 978-978-54741-9-0
REVIEWER: Joseph Omotayo
This is a very religious book that approaches multi issues of life. With Prisons of Our Realm, Rahmer Mustapha Goni approaches, dissects, and offers remedies to significant matters that bother.
This book is a gift to Islam. But not only so, it is essential to every open-minded reader. There is something in it for everyone.
Rahmer Mustapha Goni backs conclusions with meticulous details from the Qur’an. This book digs deeply to achieve spiritual depth. Prisons of Our Realm makes a laudable attempt at probing and providing answers to enslaving issues. This book tends towards liberating. Isn’t that what all religious books do? Prisons of Our Realm is different in the way it engages us. Relatable stories are used to flesh out lessons in the book.
The book is divided into sections tagged ‘Check-In’, where every Check-In has a title. There are six Checks-In in all. They all cover pivotal themes in religious teaching. They are on spirituality, character, modernity, brotherhood, firmness and awakening. Reading this was an exposure.
Rahmer Mustapha Goni intelligently provides Islamic references that aptly support every conclusion she draws. Tenets are sacrosanct in any religion. This book does a careful enumeration of each Islamic tenet in a way that offers light on shaded ignorance.
The first section of this book seeks to consecrate the reader in the way it is titled and what it approaches. Spirituality on things like the qualification of a true Muslim, how well to observe Sallah and hypocrisy of self while we castigate others of wrongdoing, among other things are treated in that section.
In Best Qualification, Rahmer Mustapher Goni provides a template for religious qualification. In My Heart Bleeds, the writer laments the lazy disposition of Muslims to Islam. To highlight this tepid disposition, she draws in an instance that shows the consequence of such: a society where everybody fails when their religious leaders hit a cul-de-sac.
“It was Fajr when you can clearly hear every nearby recitation. The iqaamah was started and the imam stood to pray. He recited Fatihah, and picked up a portion from a particular chapter of the Qur’an, lo and behold! He got stuck. He continued repeating the same verse and could not proceed. The most disappointing part was that none could correct him. No one could mention to him the next phrase or the full verse. So he left this particular place and started a new recitation from another chapter.”
In Amusement of Speech, there is a look on how people could be so carried away at condemning others, that they soon forget themselves. There is a call to strip the mind of filth before we look to correct other. Interestingly though, Rahmer Mustpher Goni cites a scholar to show how the secular contradicts the religious.
“Loving music and loving the Qur’an can never meet together in the heart of a man.”
A Priceless Narration is a perfect continuum of My Heart Bleeds. There, we see the bejewelled significance of a close relationship with God. Nothing gives infinite peace like being in tune with your maker. The story of the boy in this section will shock you and make you appreciate the Supernatural.
In The Help of Allah, the writer touches on traumas, and especially deftly deals with the topic of polygamy in Islam, divesting its popular hypocrisy. This book goes on to talk on sundry issues affecting humanity and the body of Islam. There are lessons bordering on character, modesty and treating others well.
About the best thing I picked in this book was this:
“Dependence is like a disease. It has the power to cause problems. Too much staying on the receiving end can create hatred.”
Prisons of Realm is such book that demands a dedicatedly close reading. This book is a well of wisdom.