The Leader of the Islamic Movement Sayyid Zakzaky delivered a public lecture to thousands of people at Emir’s Palace as part of the activities of the 3-day National conference organized by Sisters and Academic Forums of the Islamic Movement taking place in Keffi, Nasarawa state.
After normal salutation Sayyid Zakzaky started by expressing gratitude to Allah on the bounty being human; then the bounty of being a Muslim and among the Followers of the Best of Creatures Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) who brought Islamic message to humanity- Religion practiced by Musa, Isa and all the Prophets..
Muslims have greater responsibility.
The Leader expressed that the blessing and bounty of being a Muslim, is the highest of status one can ever think of, and is not without responsibility. Being a Muslim is far greater than being a human as only one who professes Islam shall enter paradise. The unbeliever, on the Day of Judgment, will wish to be turned into sand when he noticed the animals are turned to sand after qisas(retribution). A Muslim is given a key to Paradise in this world; he either enters paradise by following the holy Prophet or enter hell by disobedience.
The Ummah of the Prophet, Sayyid Expressed, has relatively greater responsibility compared to the previous nations, for the fact that Islam brought by the last Messenger extends to the Day of Judgment as no Prophet will be sent again, and therefore the responsibilities upon the ummah includes”
a. Practicing the Religion b. Passing or extending the Message of Islam to others.
He added that the above has three stages: the first stage is Itiqad (believe and conviction); the second is proclamation of the Kalimah ‘La’ilah ilLah’ and the third is about practicing the message by limbs of its commandments.
Islam is a complete way of life and as such no aspect of human life or society is not guided by it. Islam is not about being born in it or having Muslim parents as this does not suffice. One has to have a strong conviction and understanding of Islam. Should one be asked ‘ why are you Muslim?’ and he answers ‘ because my parents are Muslim or I was born by Muslims’ . This is not correct. What of the parents were Christians or Jews ..
Therefore after being Muslim, the greatest responsibility is abiding by the teachings of Islam and extending the message to others.
Muslims in Nigeria.
Most people claimed that ‘we are all Nigerians, no difference in religion- Muslims, Christians and Traditionalists are one nation’. This is unfortunate; this statement is also uttered by Muslims alike. Proclaiming that we are all the same is a deception as we Muslims each know that the only accepted way of worship in the sight of Allah is Islam. Islam has nothing to do with different in color or tribe as these are one of the signs of Allah. But Islam is the only accepted religion with Allah. A Muslim must truly extend the message of Islam to non-Muslims so that he will not cheat them in claiming that we all the same. And in calling others one has to practice its teachings so that his calling of other will be effective.
Our Problem
During the time of holy prophet)SAWA) a new convert will be asked to go to Madina to practically learn Islam, while nowadays where shall a new convert go to get its teachings practically. This is because people now choose an aspect of the religion and abandons another. Eg. Quran says ’ fasting is made incumbent upon you all in a similar manner it says qisas has been made incumbent upon you or qital. We all observe fasting but the rest of the commandments are abandoned. This made the Ummah to go far away from its root.
The question is can we be excused for not practicing the message because we are into tribes in the country?! No excuse. Even if someone opined that the current system was imposed by the colonialists, then I shall say where they are now?! If he further says he fear of their return, then we shall say when they come back we will fight them.
We have the quran which is better than Torah but we left many portion of it and the consequence is humiliation in life as we see every day. Muslims in Nigeria are facing disgrace by the day despite being majority. Though, it is now claimed by some that Muslims and others are equal in number which is totally untrue; to the extent that they choose a leader for Muslims and when they do they choose the worse as Muslim Leader.
So, we have to go back to the book of Allah to regain our izzah and strength.
Look at what they did in Maiduguri where all forms of humiliation and disgrace were meted on Muslims in the name of searching of book haram members. Are we waiting till all this come to us. At check points when they see a sign Islam in car like sticker, they checked a person and when they noticed it is not a Muslim they allow him to pass immediately without checking. This is disgrace to Muslims who supposed to lead others for having the holy Qur’an.
On the final words, we have to go back to Islam through learning with full understanding and practicing it. We shall avoid anything that can divide us or cause a fight among ourselves. We have to accommodate ourselves and we shall know that difference in opinion or understanding exist even among former generations, but the most important is that we are all Muslims. Our internal difference shall not give a way for our enemies.
We have to know that in Islam the rights of non-Muslims is protected- this include his right to practice his religion, protection of his life and wealth while other religions cannot protect Islam.
For a simple reason that our county is made of Muslims and non Muslims does not mean that we shall abandon our rights.