FROM THE MINBAR- BY MUSTAPHA BELLO

In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent the Most Merciful. May the Peace and Blessing of Allah continue to abide with the Noble Prophet, his household, his companions and all Muslims till the Day of Resurrection (aamin)

So all praise and thanks are Allah’s, the Lord of the heavens and the Lord of the earth and the Lord of the worlds. And His (Alone) is the Majesty in the heavens and the earth, and He is the All-Mighty, the All-Wise. Qur’an 45:36-37

I bear witness that none deserves to be worshipped except Allah. To Him belongs all authority and offer of gratitude and He has capability over all things. I also bear witness that our Prophet Muhammad (SAW) is His chosen and beloved Servant and Messenger. He was sent by Allah with True Guidance and True Religion to prevail over all other creeds and Allah is sufficient as a witness. 

O Allah, Bestow Your Boundless Blessings and Mercy on our Prophet Muhammad, His household, his companions and the generality of Muslims, male and female till the Day of Judgement (aamin).

Brethren in faith, today is the first Friday in Jumada-l-Awwal 1446 AH and our sermon today is a reminder on who we are as Muslims in the midst of the resurgence of idolatry in our midst as a people. Truly, the history of Islam in Yorubaland is intertwined with the checkered receptiveness of its peoples and institutions which occasioned its growth particularly in the over three centuries before the arrival of Christianity in the late 18th century. No one who is familiar with the history of Islam in our lands would forget the exploits of Obas Lamoye of Iwo, Kosoko of Lagos, Habibu Lagunju of Ede, Momodu Laatosa of Ibadan and other prominent personalities like Balogun Kuku of Ijebu-Ode whose conversion led to the entrance of multitude into Islam in their different towns leading to its efflorescence from then up till this present time. In spite of this tainted background, our great grandparents through the purest indoctrination and education received from their religious teachers knew the minimum demands of Islam in its perforce non-accommodative of any religious mixture of elements of other religions in faith and worship so that their efforts would not be lost: 

But it has already been revealed to you, as it was to those before, “If you were to join others (gods) with Allah, truly fruitless will be your work (in this life), and you will surely be in the ranks of those who lose (of all spiritual good). Qur’an 39 verse 65

Shirk (association of partners with Allah in faith and worship) therefore becomes an intolerable virus to the pristine values of Islam which must be expunged without any room for accommodation. This is because it is a sin which renders all acts of worship worthless and lead the sinner into Hellfire. Allah says:

Allah forgives not that partners should be set up with Him, but He forgives anything else, to whom He pleases, to set up partners with Allah is to devise a sin Most heinous indeed. Qur’an 4:48 

It is therefore based on the understanding of these verses and similar others in the Qur’an that made them to constantly struggle against polytheism and idol worshipping right from the first day Islam was preached and practiced in Yorubaland up till the present time. It was for this reason that they often prayed “Olohun pana adebo re, gbe Sunna Anabi ga” meaning “O Allah extinguish the fire of polytheism and idol worshipping and uplift the traditions of the Prophet”. However, in spite of their resentment for polytheism and idol worshipping, they maintained peaceful coexistence with the adherents of this Yoruba religion yet jealously guarding their faith from any form of theological infiltration hearkening to Allah’s clear instruction:

Say: O you unbelievers. I worship not that which you worship. Nor will you worship that which I worship. Nor will you worship that which I worship. To you be your religion and to me mine. Qur’an 109:1-6

Perhaps except for a few recorded cases of skirmishes and clashes, Muslims in Yorubaland have always lived in harmony and mutual respect with adherents of other religions sharing both good and bad times together as citizens of the same country. They hearkened to Allah’s words:

Do not abuse those whom they call upon besides Allah, lest they out of spite abuse Allah in their ignorance. Thus have We made alluring to each people its own doings. In the end will they return to their Lord, and We shall then tell them the truth of all that they did. Qur’an 6:109

The morality of the above verse is in the following tradition where the Prophet equated abusing other people’s parents as a major sin:

Abdullah ibn Amr ibn As reported: The Messenger of Allah said: It is one of the major sins when a man abuse his parents. It was asked: Would a man ever abuse his parents? He replied: “Yes. He abuses the father of another man, who in return abuses his father, and he abuses his mother, and so the latter abuses the former’s mother. 

Over the centuries since Islam had arrived in Yorubaland, there has always been conscientious Muslims who practiced pristine Islam even though their rank and file has been corrupted by their syncretic brethren who still strayed into idolatry practices in spite of their affirmation of the Kalimah. These syncretic Muslims are the sore thumb in an healthy hand requiring constant treatment which their conscientious brethren offer through preaching and indoctrination. 

However, the seeming equilibrium is being shattered by the growing excessiveness and extremism on the part of some adherents of virtually all religions in the region. To us as Muslims, there are now amongst us those who out of genuine resentment has jettisoned Qur’anic and Prophetic guidelines for religious interaction spelt above by lampooning their gods with reckless abandon in public preaching especially on line. This has emboldened irrational persons amongst them to in retaliation publicly cast aspersions on Allah and the sanctified personality of our Prophet Muhammad (SAW). Another evil of this perilous time is the resurgence of idol worshipping in Yorubaland euphemistically referred to as “Isese”. This is accentuated by the official recognition accorded it by most of the states in the region with a public holiday on August 20 of every year. Some of the syncretic Muslims who are often criticized by their conscientious brethren are now suddenly finding sanctuaries in the shrines of worshippers of Yoruba gods out of ignorance. Others are motivated by the quest for illicit wealth, power, authority, position and influence to stray into the consulting rooms of the diviners of the Yoruba religions and even regrettably becoming initiates.

My brethren in faith, the import of this sermon is to implore us to respect the plurality of our society. For us to live in peace and harmony with peoples of other faiths, we must learn to respect them in their religious practices and not intentionally insult their sensibilities. Respect they say begets respect. However, we must equally demand respect from them particularly the adherents of the Yoruba religion now that they have been officially recognized as a distinct religious group by government. We must demand an end to molestation of Muslims in public spaces by their masquerades and restriction of movement in the day time for the purpose of worshipping their gods. To those amongst our brethren who are hobnobbing with them because of their quest for wealth, power, authority, position and influence listen to what Allah says in Qur’an 17 verse 18:

Whoever desires the quick-passing (transitory enjoyment of this world), We readily grant him what We will for whom We like. Then, afterwards, We have appointed for him hell; he will burn therein disgraced and rejected

In Qur’an 92 verses 8 to 10, Allah described the pitiable and ignoble end of such Muslims who seek for means to every end outside the fold of Islam

But he who is a greedy miser and thinks himself self sufficient and gives the lie to the truth, We will indeed make smooth for him the path to Misery. 

This is because in Islam there is no half measure in matters of faith and worship. It is either you are fully inside or you are outside. Allah says:

O you who believe! Enter into the religion of Islam wholeheartedly and follow not the footsteps of Shaytan, verily he is to you a plain enemy. Qur’an 2:208

To those who are still deluded about the reality of Islam and still nurse a doubt in their minds by saying “we and them worship the same God but different means”. This sentiment is a blatant lie far from the truth. Our God is Allah, the One, Unique Being, One Indivisible Entity. No one doubts the compelling majesty of Allah-the Giver of Life and the Causer of Death-except one with a deluded mind. Can there be another god besides Allah is the question the Qur’an employed consistently to engage every perceptible mind in the following five verses (60-64) of Surat-ul-Naml (Qur’an 27) on the reality of the Existence, Oneness and Omnipotence of Super Controlling Being Who has no resemblance whatever amongst His creatures: 

Or, Who has created the heavens and earth, and Who sends you down rain from the sky? Yea, with it We cause to grow well-planted orchards full of beauty of delight: it is not in your power to cause the growth of the trees in them. CAN THERE BE ANOTHER GOD BESIDES ALLAH? Nay, they are a people who swerve from justice.

Or, Who has made the earth firm to live in; made rivers in its midst; set thereon mountains immovable; and made a separating bar between the two bodies of flowing waters? CAN THERE BE ANOTHER GOD BESIDES ALLAH? Nay, most of them know not.

Or, Who listens to the soul distressed when it calls on Him, and Who relieves its suffering, and makes you (mankind) inheritors of the earth? CAN THERE BE ANOTHER GOD BESIDES ALLAH? Little it is that ye heed!

Or, Who guides you through the depths of darkness on land and sea, and Who sends the winds as heralds of glad tidings, going before His Mercy? CAN THERE BE ANOTHER GOD BESIDES ALLAH?- High is Allah above what they associate with Him!

Or, Who originates creation, then repeats it, and Who gives you sustenance from heaven and earth?CAN THERE BE ANOTHER GOD BESIDES ALLAH? Say, “Bring forth your argument, if you are telling the truth!

As for me THERE CAN NEVER BE ANY OTHER GOD EXCEPT ALLAH, He is our God and He is my God, Who in the words of Prophet Ibrahim (AS) is He….

Who created me, and it is He Who guides me, Who gives me food and drink; and when I am ill, it is He Who cures me; Who will cause me to die, and then to life (again); and who, I hope, will forgive me my faults on the Day of Judgement; Qur’an 26: 78-80

As we are navigating this perilous time of resurgence of idolatry in our lands, let us all continue raise our voice in faith and worship to hallow His praise, acknowledge our nothingness and renew our faith in His Omnipotence in the following edifying words “Fa li Llahi-l-Hamd, Rabbi-s-Samaawaati wa Rabbi-l-Ardi Rabbi-l-‘Aalamiin. Wa lahu-l-Kibriyaa’ fii-s-Samaawaati wa-l-Ardi, wa Huwa-l-‘Aziizu-l-Hakiim” Qur’an 45: 36-37. We pray in the lyrics of one of our Forebears in faith that Allah insulates us from the evil of the contemporary time:

Rabbana Rabba – I – Alaakhqi

Najinaa min Sharri – Zamaani

Wa ‘a tina minka Salamata

Wa ‘atina minka Sa ‘aadata

Wa ridah ma ‘a naniI-l-amaani

O our Lord, the Lord of creatures

Save us from the calamities of the Present Time

Grant us from Yourself Abiding Peace

Grant us from Yourself Abiding Success

Because in it is in Your Pleasure that the accomplishment of our desires lies

May Almighty Allah purify our thoughts, cleanse our deeds of inequities, blot out our sins and accept our sincere repentance. May He expand our breast and grant us the receptiveness to understand this message better than the way it has been presented. May His Choicest Blessing and Salutation continue to abide with noblest of mankind, Prophet Muhammad (SAW), his companions and his household (aamin).

IMAM MUSTAPHA ADEBAYO BELLO (PhD)

Director, Center for Theology and Spiritual Intelligence