The Etsu Nupe and chairman, Niger State Council of Traditional Rulers, Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar, has urged Muslims to emulate Prophet Ibrahim’s virtues of sacrifice, obedience, and submissiveness to the will of Allah to be successful in life.
Abubakar made the appeal in a Sallah message to the Muslim Ummah at the Usman Zaki Juma’at Mosque on Friday.
He said, “Today’s celebration is a commemoration of total submissiveness and obedience to the will of Allah, as exemplified by Prophets Ibrahim and Ismail.
“It is also a lesson on the virtue of keeping our promises to Allah and to our fellow man. Prophet Ibrahim made a vow to sacrifice his son to Allah, and when it was time to fulfil the promise, he didn’t back out. That is a strong virtue worthy of emulation.
“It was in appreciation of that gesture that Allah converted what would have been a human sacrifice to that of a sheep.”
The monarch noted that without piety, sacrifice and love, no state or society could advance, saying, “The significance of the season should be beyond the festivities but the real essence is to encourage piety, total commitment to Allah, self-discipline and sacrifice.”
On Covid-19, he urged Nigerians to continue to pray fervently for divine solution, as well as strictly observe all the laid down protocols.
“We should also continue to be our brothers’ keepers, to collectively bolster peace, unity and even socioeconomic development of the country. The Almighty Allah has created us in different ways, with varying potentials and faiths, cultures and ethnicities, but our rich diversities should serve as our formidable unifying factors and not dividing ones. The Almighty Allah has not made a mistake by creating us together in Nigeria.”
