By Khalid Idris Doya
“Through Maulud we express and appreciate Allah’s abundant blessings and bounties on us for sending down to us the best of all His creatures as salvation to humanity”. These were the opening words of renowned scholar from Niger Republic, Sheikh Ahmad Saleh Lazare, at a Maulud celebration in Bauchi.
The Maulud was organized by Engineer Rabi’u at his residence located in Unguwar Dumi, Bauchi recently.
Sheikh Lazare said, while Muslims celebrate this period as a thanks-giving, enemies of Islam use the period to portray the Noble Prophet in a negative image, citing the case of a blasphemous cartoon by a France-based magazine, Charlie Hebdo.
He said such sad instance were tests and challenges to the Muslim by Allah to ascertain whether their spoken love and loyalty to the Holy Prophet was genuine or just lip service.
He called on Muslim scholars to use the period of Maulud to create awareness on the actual divine status of Prophet Muhammad and his centrality in the lives of Muslims. “Such occasions are true manifestation of our true and unambiguous love for the Allah’s Messenger’, he added.
Reverend Shu’aibu Byell, head of the ECWA Church in Railway, who also spoke expressed gratitude for given the opportunity to share the joyous moment.
He lamented the so-called religious crises among religious faithful, saying such forum like the Maulud can unite both Muslims and Christians if sustained.
“There is nothing like religious crisis, but crises created and given religious coloration to achieve a selfish interest. The media played significant role in trying to propagate that these crises are actually religious. This had brought disaffection among Muslims and Christians, when in the actual sense they had been living peacefully together as brothers’ keepers. We believe that a true Muslim can never kill anyone for the sake of shedding blood”, he further explained.
The Reverend finally called for collective prayers from both Muslims and Christians to salvage the country from the anarchy it found itself.
Malam Abdulhamid Bello from Zaria earlier introduced the guest speaker, while the Ameer of Bauchi Malam Ahmad Yashi made the closing prayer.
The host, Engineer Rabi’u distributed gifts to needy in the community as a mark of respect and appreciation for the day.
