There are diseases that are worse than cancer. They’re although not biological in nature. These are the banes of Yoruba Muslims. I wonder how a Muslim who suffers from anyone of those diseases can meet his Lord with ease. Something is certainly wrong with our sincerity and that’s exactly the cause of those dangerous diseases.
The Yoruba Muslims of the Southwest Nigeria live with and suffer the diseases of the heart, such as tenbelekun, Kenimani, ilara, ote, rikishi, abosi and other similar ailments, so much that the future of Islam in the region is greatly endangered. The situation is so bad that If one group comes up with a beneficial idea, another group would immediately speak against it, or might not publicly identify with it, even if that beautiful idea had emanated from the Book of Allah and His Messenger.
The most recent example is the public condemnation expressed by Mudir Markaz against the idea of Islamic market initiated by Ustaadh Daud Molaasan in Iwo land. Everybody, including Christians and even heathens, could testify to the economic value of that market, where people buy and sell quality goods and items at cheap prices. It only takes an envious mind to publicly criticize the relevance of that market, especially now that the prices of goods and services are exorbitant in the country.
But just because someone hates to see someone’s face or hear his voice, he arrogantly came to the public to discredit his sublime effort; an effort that is widely beneficial to humanity. This is called tenbelekun in Yoruba language. There are times too when Mudir Markaz had suffered a similar thing in the hands of his adversaries. I remembered fighting a disgruntled Salafi man to standstill when he started campaigning against the beneficial idea of the Markaz Islamic University college founded by Mudir Markaz. It only takes a deranged mind to be opposed to the spread of knowledge.
Why do we allow our inherent diseases to eat so deep into our sense of sincerity. Even among Islamic groups that claimed to be identified with Sunnah, you’ll witness some shenanigans engendered by these cancerous diseases. I was alarmed the other time to see on social media a brother who plays a significant role of leadership in a reputable Ikhwaani-oriented organization coming to the public to justify the celebration of Maulud Nabiyy and validity of music and lyrics.
Aside from being a University teacher in management studies, I can’t identify him with the smallest quantity of Islamic scholarship, yet he came to the public to pronounce a religious verdict. But nay, he only came to the public to display his ignorance with an expression and spit of venom against the Salafi brothers’ opinions on Maulud Nabiyy and music.
Thus, even where the Salafi brothers are right, with evidence from the Quran and Sunnah, does it mean that a haraki fellow must be publicly antagonistic to them? Is that not a mental health issue? Why do we bring our madness to bear on the law of Allah and His Messenger? I am not here to affirm the validity or otherwise of Maulud Nabiyy, I am only writing to call our attention to the diseases of our heart.
However, the worst manifestation of these diseases can be easily found in the Yoruba Sufi and the so called Salafi brothers. As for the Yoruba Sufis, those ones are hardly concerned about guidance. They can only defend Islam with the nod and body language of their Shaykh. Did you hear anyone of them caution Jamiu Adegunwa when he spoke ignorantly against the Messenger of Allah? No one would dare to do that, because Jamiu was a friend of Mudir Markaz. But the Mufti of Ilorin could recently threaten Oriyomi Hamzat and one stupid heathen when Oriyomi was compared with the holy Prophet Muhammad by the heathen.
The Yoruba salafists are the fault-finding people of the ego. Like other Yoruba Muslims, they’re also victims of the same diseases; but their own situation seems worse with the garment of pride and holier than thou attitude flaunted by the youthful gulaat (غلاة) amongst them. It’s so sad that a righteous Muslim, and even a teacher of Sunnah in their circle, would be instantly excommunicated, with a series of blackmail, on account of a minor error.
To further illustrate the effects of the disease in their mindsets, one would have expected to find the Salafists of the Southwest Nigeria around Oba Oluwo of Iwoland when he started his campaign for Tawheed (and against the practice of shirk) or perhaps, around Imam Taliat of Ogbomoso as he strives to uphold the Sunnah, but the Southwest Salafists would rather prefer to be the ones speaking the truth; or worse still, they’ll firstly watch out for the personalities around the vanguard of truth before deciding whether to support him or not.
Thus, to those of us in the enclave of dawah and Islamic work in the Southwest Nigeria, it’s not usually about the truth or the good deed itself; but unfortunately, it’s about the one who speaks the truth and does the deed. This is indeed a big challenge to sincerity. It also constitutes a big danger to the future of Islam in the region. I expect only few people to appreciate this opinion, because it touches all. I would rather expect to be insulted for the truth. I don’t care! May Allah rectify our collective affairs.
