1446 Hijrah: Reflection, not celebration 

By The Muslim Congress

Today as always, we remember with deep reverence and unalloyed humility the historic migration of the holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW) from Macca to Madina.

As Muslims worldwide commemorate the 1446th anniversary of the Hijrah, The Muslim Congress (TMC), Oyo State, sends greetings of peace and blessing to all followers of guidance around the globe in general and to Muslims across Oyo State in particular. May the year 1446AH herald the ascension of greater mundane and spiritual heights.

We, however, must be reminded that the commencement of a new year is no cause for celebration. Rather, it is a call for thoughtful, sober reflection. Let us all recall that the Arabic word “hijrah” itself connotes some fundamental changes in attitude, disposition and outlook on some significant aspects of life.

Historically, the Hijrah was a strategic repositioning effort at attaining certain worthwhile goals which changed the cause of human history irreversibly. Nothing but a pitiable loss of a sense of history led Muslims to expressing new year mood by celebration and merrymaking!

But if times and trends robbed us of the reality of a new year, shouldn’t the sinking ship of global social order jolt us awake to reality? From the unending genocide against our defenceless brethren in Gaza to the forbidding cost of pilgrimage to Macca, from the successive collapse of elements of priceless Islamic heritage (Saudi Arabia in particular) to the shrinking land mass of the Muslim world threatening extinction, are we not supposed to be on red alert?

Staring us more pathetically in the face are the local dimensions of the Muslim tale of woes of which Oyo State has proved a pilot project. The case of a pastor’s attack on a Muslim family in Iseyin on a Muslim festival day is particularly maddening. How the slaughtering of a sacrificial animal could seem so offensive to deserve smashing the head of a woman in purdah, breaking the leg of another, heavily pregnant, and soaking their husband in a pool of his own blood remains a mystery.

Even though we are aware the matter is already being legally handled, we nonetheless urge the government to ensure justice in good time for justice delayed is justice denied. We would also appeal to all Muslim stakeholders to pursue the matter to a conclusion that ensures an end to such audacious insult to our collective Muslim pysche.

There also exists the nagging conflict over the Chief Imamship of Ogbomosoland. For quite some time now, there has been an intra-family tussle as to the rightful heir to the office of the Chief Imam of Ogbomosoland. The protracted life of the issue has regrettably proved a breeding ground for unholy intrusions by vested interests. Certain important factors make a quick resolution of the issue a sole option.

The peace, unity and stability of the prestigious Ayilara family; the need to sustain the honour and respect for the sanctity of the exalted office of the Chief Imam; and the necessity to protect Islam and the collective interests of Muslims in Ogbomosoland are reasons pressing enough to command immediate resolution.

The Muslim Congress therefore appeals to members of the Ayilara family to concur with the efforts of eminent Muslim elders across Yorubaland who have been mediating to resolve the crisis. If this got done, social tension would fizzle out, restive youths would calm down, vested interests would cease, and peace would return.

We would, at this point, like to advise the League of Imams and Alfas (Oyo State chapter), the Muslim Community of Oyo State, and other relevant stakeholders to commence in earnest a conscientious process that should lead to the end of all unwholesome traditional influences on Islam or any symbol thereof.

The cause of the delay in the appointment of a new Chief Imam for Oyo town, for example, must be probed and all alien accretions neutralized. The same must be effected down the ladder of the Islamic institutional hierarchy.

To further entrench social justice and ensure that Oyo State Muslims enjoy as much opportunity for self-actualization as members of other faiths, government needs to ensure a fair distribution of appointments across state institutions and cadres.

In view of recent history of Oyo State job offers, the ongoing recruitment of teachers (SUBEB and TESCOM) is the most obvious test in this regard and therefore of kin interest to Muslims.

On the whole, the Muslims of Oyo State and beyond must take lessons from the prophet’s history. When the Muslim community of the prophet’s era was strained, he conducted Hijrah to engender strength. We must therefore conduct a Hijrah from our spiritual slumber and social decay. When his community feared injustice, he introduced a constitutional approach to governance. We must also resort to relating with our non-Muslim neighbours by thoughtful legal frameworks.

The most important lesson, however, is the entrenchment of Muslim unity. The first two social fortification steps the prophet took in Madina alongside Hijrah bothered upon and underscored the non-negotiable primacy of Muslim unity. He built a mosque as a Muslim assembly and paired up his followers in a bond of brotherhood for social capital development. Unless we diligently imbibe this great lesson of unity, Muslim social conditions might further nosedive into an abyss.

On the sidelines, as no review of the outgoing year is ever complete without it, we cannot but remark with a heavy heart the recent death of Shaykh Abdul Wahab Bayo Ahmad. Shaykh Bayo Ahmad was the eldest surviving student of the renowned founder of the world-famous Arabic Institute of Nigeria (Ma’dul Arabiy an-Naijiriy), Ibadan, Shaykh Mur’tadho Abdu Salam. He was, up to his last breath four days before the new Hijrah year, a colossal promoter of pristine Islam across Yorubaland and an unparalleled champion of the enviable Ma’dul Arabiy legacy.

The Muslim Congress (Oyo State) joins his family, his students all over the world, and the countless multitude of beneficiaries of his scholarly life in mourning the rare breed mentor. May Allah consider him blameless, worthy of endless bliss.

Finally, we urge all Muslims across Oyo State, even though the year 1445AH had been dauntingly challenging, to keep hopes alive as there shall be light at the end of the tunnel. We wish all Muslims a fulfilling year 1446AH. May all be well with us year in year out.

Alh (Engr) Dawud Oladosu
Waali (Coordinator)
TMC, Oyo State
1st Muharram, 1446AH
(7th July, 2024)