By Abdulwahab Abdullah

AS Muslims around the world awaits the arrival of the holy month of Ramadan, a University lecturer and Islamic preacher, Dr. Tajudeen Yusuf has urged Muslims to regard all their actions as an act of Ibadah (worship) during and after the 30-day of the Muslim fasting.

Dr. Yusuf who presented what is expected of a Muslim during the month of Ramadan at the well attended monthly lecture of ‘The Companion’, an association of Muslim professionals in Alausa, Ikeja, said, Muslim who intends to gain the bounties prepare by Allah for the month of Ramadan should pounder a while and “regard all his activities through out the month and after as an act of worship.”

The lecture, was part of the activities of The Companion to educate and broaden the knowledge of its members and general public about Islam. It has the theme: “ Maximizing  the Gains of Ramadan.”

In his lecture, Dr Yusuf said as Ramadan approaches, there are  two categories of Muslims who are expecting the arrival of the holy month. He classified them as  those who are happy to receive the month, “they are used to fasting, believe that self-deprivation of worldly passion will guarantee that of the hereafter and could grasp the boundless opportunities in the month. The second category is those who are not happy, they are weak spiritually and are used to worldly delicacies.”

Muslim pilgrims gather to pray at Mount Arafat near the holy city of Mecca during the annual pilgrimage. AFP PHOTO/FAYEZ

He said the foundation for the month can be made through intellectual preparation for the month, which he said is very crucial. He added this can be achieved by attending intellectual fora where beneficial knowledge is shared, especially in the masjid, understanding the verses on fasting, listening to audio and video tapes delivered by high ranking scholars on fasting and Ramadan.

Raising questions on our preparedness, Dr Yusuf said, “The significance of Ramadan includes the fact that it is the month when the Qur’an was revealed. (2: 185), it is the month of patience and perseverance, the month in which all the gates of Paradise are opened, all gates of hell-fire are closed and devils put to chains, the month in which Laylatul Qadr (Night of Power) falls, the month of acceptance of dua, the month of Jihad and the month of spending.”

Speaking on the topic, the lecturer said, the importance of maximising the gains in the holy month lies in the fact that none of us (Muslims) knows when we are breathing the last, hence “the need to be spiritually prepared through sincere repentance from sins and iniquities, fervent supplication to meet Ramadan.”

He said, moment after the month of  Sha’aban, Muslims must be in readiness for Ramadan by maintaining deep closeness with Allah by reading the Qur;an, engage in night prayers, remembrance and getting attuned to the psychological mood.

He listed the psychological preparations to include ; “resolving to package the intention that this deed shall be solely for Allah’s pleasure, sincere repentance to Allah, opening a new page of total obedience to the Creator, moral rectification and conduct readjustment, observing the fast of the special ones, completion of recitation of the Qur’an more than once.

He also said we can  increase in knowledge of Islam through tafsir, hadith, fiqh, seerah etc, by “enjoining what is good and forbidding what is evil, inviting at least 10 people to Islam, making the days of Ramadan not like any other days, desiring to observe the obligatory prayers in the mosque, standing in the right side of the Imam in the first row, remaining in the masjid after fajr till day break with the intention of I’tikaaf , keeping an open mind devoid of grudge and rancour among others.”

Poverty, illiteracy breed terrorism in Nigeria  –  Islamic group

AN Islamic group,Jama’atu Ta’awunil Muslimeen of  Nigeria has described the  poverty and illiteracy as part of  the major factors that breed terrorism in the country,saying that corrupt government failed to give peace and adequate security to his people.

They also observed that proper and equal provision of rights to employment and human rights will definitely reduce the problem.

Speaking recently as a guest speaker at the Symposium entitled:”Corruption and Democracy in Nigeria,Any Hope?” which was organized by the Committee for Democracy and Rights of the People (CDRP) to mark this year 2012, June 12,1993 presidential election, held at Osogbo City Hall, Osogbo, the capital of Osun State, the  National President of the group, ACn Molaasan maintained that the gravity of corruption lead to Dana Airline crash Dana aircraft  where over 170 people lost their precious life  at a time,adding  that the Dana plane engine had been discovered to be  faulty, but still manage it until it caught fire on air.

His words:”There is need for us to fight corruption that has deep-rooted in our politics and public life.The blame  for corruption lies in the lack of transparency  in the rules of governance,extremely cumbersome official procedures,bureaucrats and a lax judiciary and worsened by paucity of Godlessness”.

“ Corrupt Leaders demand for bribes at every step of the development.If they fail to enunciate the essentially humane part of politics ,the deprived  will be chosen to forget the humanness of politics but will use it for violence and even become terrorists. If politics does not become part of the solution, it will motivate hatred and backwardness.

“The principal obstacle to  the country’s growth is the corruption among leaders in general and among politicians.bribery and corruption in all its forms is now a major cause of poverty,backwardness and major threat to a sound economic and social development that increasing terrorism”, Molaasan added.

He then urged the religion organizations in the country to wake up from their slumber and play their own role in combating the menace of the endemic called corruption,stressing that the fight against corruption should not be left into the hands of anti graft bodies alone.