The Secretary General Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Prof, Is-haq Olanrewaju Oloyede advised the Muslims in Nigeria to always do things right in all ramifications, and at all levels, because everything has been thought through the Quran and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah. There should not be any excuse of doing things anyhow when there is lay down principles of our religion. It is very possible to retain the legacy of Islam in this manner. He said this would help to build more on the existing structures of the leadership of the entire Muslims in Nigeria.
He said this during his good will message at the fund raising dinner of movement for Islamic culture and Awareness MICA for the Islamic Culture & Awareness Centre, a project which kicked started since 2006 in Abuja when there was no Islamic organization that bought land in Abuja except those with free allocation from government.
He said his objective of attending the dinner was not to donate because of the fact that there so many of such donations, which he may not be able to attends to, but there is a needs to address the central problems and challenges facing the Nigerian Muslims, if that is collectively done, it would take care of the major problems of the Muslims in
Nigeria, and he prayed that by Allah’s grace this project would be completed soon.
He used the opportunity to call on Muslims in Nigeria to support these great initiatives because it would be another great legacy for the future generations. He said his main reason of attending the dinner was to seek for the assistance of MICA leadership and the members in the area of social communication for the entire Muslim in Nigeria, because he used to know MICA as one of the Islamic bodies that usually get it right on Islamic propagations. More so, the dire consequences of the absence of Islam in our governing system of today’s society are manifesting themselves in all aspects of our lives. The detrimental effects of not having the Islamic social system can be felt regardless of whether we live in the Muslim lands or elsewhere. There is nothing more painful than seeing our youth grow up amidst a non-Islamic atmosphere leading, in some cases, to Muslim youth losing their Islamic identity, their values and even their Deen.
He said he love the presentation of what is expected at the Centre when it’s finally built, he said he would have been disappointed if it’s not well packaged such as it has been displayed here today. This should be another lesson for us all, when you do things right and correct, you have the advantage of getting more intellectuals to be attracted to you.
That is why we all need to reeducate our members, family, and the general public on the need to be the best in our entire Islamic activities and be a professional on our duty post and services, that is when we would speak well of our religion.
The guest speaker at the fund raising dinner, Ust. Nurudeen Lemu related Muslims today viewing the companions of the Prophet SAW the sahaba, as a generation of people who were very “religious”. The sahaba are rightly viewed as the best generation of the Ummah. We learn about their etiquettes and manners in regards to eating, dressing and walking etc. However, we often lack a holistic understanding about their lives.
Yet, one critical question arises: how could it be that all of their lives were only linked to personal acts of ritual ‘ibadaat? If they were meant to leave us with a complete way of life, then they must have left us with examples concerning all the affairs of life. Indeed, to insinuate otherwise is clearly nonsensical! The sahaba were not just individualized devotees in ritual ‘ibadaat; but most of them were Islamic activists, many of whom gave their lives to establish Islam at a state level and they subsequently became statesmen, politicians, military leaders and businessmen. Hence, the need for us to build a structural legacy for the coming generations.
The Prophet SAW said that if we followed a single sahabi, we would be guided like a star in the night sky and would not be lost. The da’wah carriers must seriously contemplate over the issue of sacrifice. Life in the generally can be deceptively comfortable. Yet, we cannot claim to serve the Deen of Allah unless we are prepared to make sacrifices within our own realities. We must remember that the sahaba were not born with these attributes. Rather, they had to acquire them. We too can acquire these qualities within our own realities if we actively work to attain these qualities as da’wah carriers. He cited many verses from the Quran to back his advice.
He concluded with a short but comprehensive story of the dying king who prepare no successors, he noted the danger of this, this led him to make a new law that every citizen of the village can be king, but he will only spend five years and at the completion of the fifth year, he should be thrown into a deep forest where wild animals would kill in no time.
Many aspires and became the king but misused the opportunities without preparing for what would happen after the five years and ended up been killed at the forest. Until the last unexpected king, who invested in transformation of the deadly forest that consumed his predecessors who failed to invest in their future into school, zoo guarding and the animal were caged, bridge were built across the river and school and house were also build there in less than five year of the wise king. And when his tenure finished, he was happy to be moved to his newly build city and leaves there for more years happily and conductively.
The lesson he derived from the story was on our commitment to the cause of our deen. He enjoined every Muslims, the well to do, politicians, business men, cooperate bodies to determine in their heart that they will be part of this dream coming true, no matter how little or much, it will go long way, to help the projects.
Bro. Mufadil, also spoke passionately, believing that this project is achievable, and his believe was based on the history of the project itself. When there was no private own landed property of the king of intended project in Abuja, MICA members stated this project and today the sum of N26m had been committed on the project. He said in few month or a year, this project would be at the final level, then it will be too late to regret not be part of the process. In view of this, we don’t know when and what contribution to what project will fulfill our getting into paradise, and there may be no time to waste any more.
Engr. Tawheed Amusan, advised that we only needs 250 Muslims with N1m each to get the project done. And some numbers of Muslims with N5m to meet up the expectation. He enjoined the organizers to reach out to the well-meaning Muslim who are committed but may not want their profile quoted for their contributions.
The pledges were in different forms, some well-paid individual pledge to bring what they referred to as ten percent of their salaries on monthly bases, while some doubled theirs, and some pledge their professional services while some donated cash.
The programme, in my view, was one of the best methods of bringing together the highly profile but committed Muslim who are busy together to contribute to their religion. The programme was well organized and the goals, hopefully met.
