By Ishola Balogun

Bismillahi Rahamani Raheem.  Wasalatu wasalam ala seyidina Muhammad, wa ala alihi, wa ashabihi, wasselim.

“Allah said: “Soon will show them our signs in farthest part of the earth and among their own people until it become manifest to them that it is truth. It is not enough that the Lord is witness over all things.” Holy Qur’an (Q41;53)

In our immediate  environment and surroundings, signs and wonders of the message of the Holy Qur’an abound. It is not sufficient to see signs but as Muslims, we have to go a little further to be able to decipher it and praise Allah for his wonderful works.

To make His signs more clearer, God sent His Messengers on earth to preach His message, to give guidance to the existing signs and other  to come.  He appeals to us to study them closely in order that we may know that He is the Most Powerful, Most High.

Glory and adoration be unto Him.  “So blessed be Allah, the Best of creators.” Q23:14. He gave mankind the intellect and the freedom to explore His signs so as to get benefits from them and also choose whether to believe it or not. That is why the Quran is described as Guidance and Blessings to mankind. (Hudahn wa Rahmatan li ilalameen)

Another of His signs now coming at a time when Islamic popularity is waning in Nigeria as a result of orchestrated violence by some group of people which is erroneously linked with Islam. Just like some will not believe the violence has nothing to do with Islam, they will still not believe in any story to prove that Islam is divinely ordained.

On Monday May 7, 20212, one of such signs came again. A boy named last Monday as Abdul-Wahab Babatunde was said to have been born with a copy of miniature Holy Qur’an. The most stunning episode was that the delivery came from a non-muslim mother and in a church.

Since the incidence, I have been inundated with comments and remarks on the authenticity or otherwise of the story. While some believe it is a rare miracle, some Muslims say it is not possible.  Those who subscribed to the idea that it should be investigated must have reasoned with the verse of the Holy Qur’an thus: “O you who have believed, if there comes to you a disobedient one with information, investigate, lest you harm a people out of ignorance and become, over what you have done, regretful.”(Q49: 6)

Perhaps, they believe that more stunning episodes will be unraveled in the course of investigation.  Again, following what scholars have said on it, especially after the said Quran was viewed by the league of Imams at the residence of Chief Imam of Lagos, who are believed to have scrutinized the story from the religious perspective and resolved that it is indeed a sign from God. Truly, “it is only Allah that chooses where His signs will appear.”

Those who don’t believe it however, described it as fabricated myth, hinging their arguments on the premise that the Quran cannot be so desecrated passing through that form of impurity.  This will not be the first time when signs and wonders will be disputed by some people.

We have heard of a snail that had inscription of Lailaha ila Llahu, we have heard of a tree that carried that same inscription in Ilorin in the recent past. A rock was also said to have broken into two having the inscription of ALLAh is one on it. All these are signs which in other words we call miracles from Allah.

In Russia some few years back, a 9-month old baby boy, Ali Yakubo was seen with phrases from the holy Qur’an appearing on his skin. People still said it was surreptitiously written on Yakubo’s back, arms, legs and stomach despite the fact that these verses of the Qur’an were reported to have appeared and after a while, faded away and replaced with new ones.

Another miracle was the 5-year-old boy, Sheikh Sharifudeen who was also born into a christian family in Tanzania. He speaks five languages – English, French, Italian, Swahili (Tanzania) and Arabic – although he is completely uneducated. At one-year -old, he was able to recite the Quran and went on to preach in Arabic, Swahili and French without any learning. He had no formal education, but teaches people with a great number of converts. He knew the Qu’ran by heart and started praying five times daily when he was eighteen months.

One of the qualities of true believers and worshipers of Allah listed in the Holy Qur’an is “… Those who, when they are reminded of the signs of their Lord, fall not deaf and blind thereat”. …

“Does not man see that it is We Who created Him from sperm? Yet behold! He (stands forth) as an open adversary! And he makes comparisons for us and forgets his own (Origin and) Creation: He says “Who can give life to (dry) bones and decomposed ones (at that)?” Say “He will give them life Who created them for the first time! For He is well-versed in every kind of creation!

“The same Who produces for you fire out of the green tree when behold! Ye kindle therewith (your own fires)! “Is not He Who created the heavens and the earth able to create the like thereof?” Yea indeed! For He is the Creator Supreme of skill and knowledge (infinite)! Verily when He intends a thing His command is “Be” and it is! So glory to Him in Whose Hands is the dominion of all things; and to Him will ye be all brought back.” Q36:77-83. May Allah guide us aright.

Alamu Shitta-Bey installed new Seriki Musulumi of Lagos
Alhaji Nurudeen Alamu Shitta-Bey has been installed as the new Seriki-Musulumi of Lagos, at the Lagos Central Mosque.
Some of the personalities at the event held last weekend, included: former governor of Lagos State, Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande, Oba Adedapo Tejuohso, the Osile of Oke-Ona Egbaland and the representatives of Turkish government amongst others.

Tejuosho, in his comment said the choice of Alhaji Alamu Shitta-Bey as the new Seriki-Musulumi of Lagos was divine and in line with the desire and yearnings of the Lagos Muslim community and other natives.

According to them, the installation of Alhaji Alamu Shitta-Bey was accepted by all and in line with the tradition since the time when Islamic religion was entrenched in the 19th Century in Lagos.

The Chairman of Shitta-Bey’s Family Affairs Committee, Chief Rasheed Adewale Shitta-Bey in an interview said it was a collective decision of the entire family members who presented him to the Muslim community in Lagos, under the leadership of the Chief Imam of Lagos, Sheikh Garuba Akinola Ibrahim who performed the turbanning ceremony and Baba Adinni of Lagos, Sheikh Alhaji Hafeez Abdou.

The new Seriki-Musulumi of Lagos, Alhaji Alamu-Shitta-Bey succeeded Senator Sikiru Ayodeji Shitta-Bey who passed on in 2010.