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

By Ishola Balogun

There is no other time to purify your soul than now. Almighty Allah has offered us another opportunity to be alive to witness another glorious month, Ramadan. Alhamdullilah. Not all those who prayed for it got it. Within the last twelve months, innumerable souls have gone to the great beyound, so many who had wished and prepared for the month even some hours ago could not have the grace to witness it.

Some though not dead but in critical conditions without the consciousness of observing the first Ramadan. We, of course are not better than them, we are rather specially blessed by Allah (SWT).  Allahuma, Laka lihamdu-Shukran.

At this point, the purity of one’s soul is very essential in achieving the best of this month. It is better we plan and work in such a way that our personality and whole lives will be better for it at the end of the month. The beauty is that if we are able to achieve it, it will ultimately help to regulate what we do for the rest of the year.

Yes! We want to abstain from food and drink for 29 or 30 days as Allah commanded, but the inner dimension of the fast is necessary so as to reap fully the benefits of the blessed month.

Some of the ways to keep it away from contamination is to forgive those who have wronged you, be good to others. Seek forgiveness from Allah, show kindness and compassion to others, shun bad acts and free your soul from the grip of Shaytan, cleanse the soul of iniquities, evil thoughts, malice, backbiting, hatred and other bad acts.

Naturally, the two forces that usually inhibit us from doing good, are Shaytan and our nafs. (our inner self) The Prophet (s.a.w) said that Shaytan is chained during the month of Ramadan; that leaves us with our souls. Therefore, we need to work on purifying our souls so that it will be in concert with the activities of the month.

Evaluate your nafs, or inner self, discover those things you have done wrong and repent never to do them again. This is important because, fasting without the purification of the inner soul will not produce the fully reward.

Let us for once reminds ourselves that there is more to life than physical and material joy; there is a deeper fulfillment than eating, sleeping, and drinking. There is the need to take away focus from the worldly things we have been doing since the last 11 months, let us turn a new leaf, let us see one another as brothers, let us share from what we have and build better spirituality.

You must have a pure life, pure personality and a pure you. You must not only purify your ways of thinking and feeling, but must also purify your living.

We know it is not an easy task combating one’s soul on what is bad, but the opportunity is here now.

Begin the month on a good note. It cannot be as usual, you’ve got to be a changed person this Ramadan. The Qur’an says “Indeed who succeeds, who purifies his own self, and indeed he fails who corrupts his own self” (91:9-10).

Prayer: Allahumma ati nafsi taqwaha wa zakkiha anta khayru man zakkiha anta waliyyuha wa mawlaha

“O Allah grant my soul its piety and purify it, you are the best to purify it, you are its guardian and master”

Sheikh Zuglool queries conferment of Asiwaju on Adebayo

Muslim cleric and Proprietor of Daru-Dawah Wal-Irshad Arabic and Islamic Studies Centre, Isolo, Sheikh Mustapha Zuglool has expressed dissatisfaction on the conferment of the title Asiwaju (leader) of Yoruba on the former Military governor of defunct Western Region, Major-General Adeyinka Adebayo (rtd) saying “the conferment is wrong and does not represent the entire Yoruba who are Muslims and Christians”

The cleric in his reaction stated that although without any ill-feeling against the person of Gen. Adebayo, the Elders’ Council should have considered more qualified Muslim for the position.

“I wondered if there are no Muslims who have made their marks in the region. Why is it that they make it appear as if it was exclusive preserve of Christians?  No doubt Gen Adebayo made his own mark, he was one of those who stood firmly for the Yorubas during the Military era.

I don’t have anything against his person, but to those who again took part in the decision to appoint him without considering others who are more qualified. Don’t they reasoned that it is time we have a leader among the Muslims who have distinguished themselves and even contributed to the unity of Yoruba?”, he queried.

The Sheikh in an interview with Vanguard in his office, Isolo, Lagos, said: “Chief Obafemi Awolowo was chosen as the leader because of the good works. It was a honour well deserved and nobody objected let alone talking about whether he was a christian or Muslim.

When Pa Adekunle Ajasin was also chosen, it did not spark any controversy because Ajasin worked tirelessly for political development of the Yorubas. But when they appointed Abraham Adesanya, we did not know how they came about it; there were more qualified persons but for the sake of unity, we accepted the error. It was then we said there must be a change in the nomination and appointment of Yoruba leaders”, he added.

“Each time there is a need to request for anything for the benefits of the region, there is always a religious under-currents to it. We have counted the first, second and third of leaders who were Christians, yet, Gen Adebayo was chosen. Let there be fairness in  whatever we do for God’s sake.”

“Before the creation of states, we saw how Military Administrator, Popoola appointed 12 commissioners without one being a Muslim. The Muslims rose up and he later appointed one and another half Muslim. Why the other was half Muslim was not the question now.

When Obasanjo was there, he ruled for eight years, he did not appoint a Muslim from the South West as Minister, he defended himself by saying there was no qualified Muslim from the region. Fairness is necessary if we want to move forward. I therefore, call on the Elders’ Council to reverse this trend and thread the path of fairness.”

“They cannot say there is no one among the Muslim elders that is deserving of that position. We have people like Lateef Jakande whose political records cannot be pushed aside; we have Senator Fasinro, who has distinguished himself both in politics and in our socio-cultural lives; Abdul Hafeez Abuo and Alh Abdul-Azeez Arisekola, Femi Okunnu among several others.”

“The late Chief Obafemi Awolowo knew this and he fraternised very well with the then Chief Imam of Ibadan, Alfa Oke Are, Baba Popo, the then Chief Imam of Lagos, Alfa Eko, Alhaji Awelenje, among others. He held them in high esteem simply because of the large followership they commanded,” he said.

Anwar-ul-Islam holds Ramadan lecture

As part of the Ramadan activities, the Anwar-ul-Islam Movement of Nigeria will hold its national Ramadan Lecture on Sunday, July 22, 2012, at the main auditorium of Anwar-ul-Islam Model College, Agege, Lagos.

According to a release sent to Vanguard, the guest lecturer is Professor Musilihu Tayo Yahya of Department of Religious Studies and Philosophy, University of Jos.  Theme of the lecture is “The Last Messages of Holy Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) and the Present Day”

Speaking on the event, the National Secretary of the movement, Alhaji Dr. L Jokomba stated that adequate preparations have been put in place to welcome  Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos who will be the eminent guest, the Oba of Lagos, HRM Oba rilwan Aremu Akiolu 1 (the Royal Father of the Day) and others from far and near including members from various missions to the annual Ramadan lecture. The event starts by 10am.

Chief Imams meet in Alausa today

Chief Imams from various areas in the state will today meet at the Lagos secretariat, Alausa to offer prayers for the ace Presenter, Alhaji Razaq Aremu Gawat declared missing ten days ago.  The monthly meeting which will be chaired by the Chief Imam of the state, Alhaji Muhammad Garuba Akinola Ibrahim, OON will also discuss issues affecting the Muslim Ummah in the state.

Vanguard gathered that the leaders were rattled by the unknown whereabouts of the ace presenter in spite of measure put in place by the security agents in the sate.

One of them who spoke to us on the issue said: “All of us were inundated with calls by Muslims from various quarters desirous of getting update on him and you know we have directed that prayers be offered for him in all the mosques and we have also not relented. We will still pray for him at our meeting and I know he will return safely,” he said.