THE ONLY SOLUTION TO THE SICK MUSLIM SOCIETY

TURN ALL ASSALATU GROUPS TO HALQOOT (GATHERINGS OF KNOWLEDGE OF THE FUNDAMENTALS OF THE DEEN) FOR A BETTER SOCIETY 

In the Name of Allah, the Beneficient, the Merciful Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. I bear witness that there is no one worthy of worship except Him. I testify that Muhammad, sollaLohu alaihi wasallam is His

Messenger and Apostle. May Allah shower his blessings upon him, his household, the Companions and the Taabi'een. Indeed, the best of speeches is that of Allah.
The best of guidance is the one provided by the Prophet, sollaLohu 'alaihi wasallam. The worst acts are the ones innovated in the deen. All innovations are misguidance and all misguidance is Hell-fire. May Allah save us from this. At the last halqoh I attended, I had a thought in my mind that if what we do there (learning the books of hadith and matters of aqeedah) is what is being done in all the NASFAT, QUAREEB and other Assalatu groups in Nigeria, no one would condemn the groups and our society would have changed for better. We criticize them because they are misleading vast majority of Muslim, especially our women. They leave the Islamic matters of priority for innovations and blind imitation of those who know not. 

In the first place, most of the Assalatu groups are established for the purpose of deceiving our women and extort money from them. What benefit have they really brought to Islam? How many of their communique have we seen on critical matters affecting Islam and Nigerian Muslim in recent time? While I wish to strongly applaud NASFAT's initiative on the establish an "Islamic University" (Fountain University, Osogbo, Osun State), there is still much to be done in ensuring the upliftment of the knowledge of fiqh and aqeedah among Muslim Students of the institution and Nigeria at large? This is the only criteria that would portray the University as a true Islamic University. Fountain University must therefore, rise to the challenges facing Islamic training, education and orientation in Nigeria and the world in general. We shouldn't be surprised to find out that most of our women who attend Sunday Assalatu do not know what and what amounts to shirk. The so-called missioners in the organizations wouldn't take their precious time to explain this to them. The biggest problem is that even the so-called missioners themselves do not know the fundamentals of Islamic 'aqeedah.

You would understand what I mean better when you listen to some of their programmes on Radio and Television. There is a legal maxim that says "Nemo dat quod non habet" (you can't give what you do not have). The missioners who do not have knowledge of 'aqeedah would not be able to educate our women in the proper manner. Apart from QUAREEB and NASFAT that are widely known all over Nigeria, there is a new one called JAQMAL in Ilorin that fix Assalatu for every morning, including working days. The founder does not only misdirect his followers towards wrong 'aqeedah, he instruct them to always bring water for prayers to be said therein. What is the basis for this in the manhaj of the Prophet sollaLohu alaihi wasallam?

With my little experience and interaction with women who attend those Sunday Sunday Assalatu regularly, I was able to detect that most women who attend NASFAT and many other Assalatu groups do not know anything about the 'aqeedah. Brothers and Sisters in Islam, 'aqeedah is the foundation of our religion. It is beyond saying "Lailaha illaLoh, Muhammad RosuuluLoh" with our mouth. It must reflect in our day to day

activities. If this first pillar of Islam is faulty, all other works would be rendered useless. That is why we must be careful with it. We must intensify our efforts on how Muslims would understand what is really meant by "Tauhid" and its several vitiating elements in our society. 

Perhaps, this was the motive behind the establishment of a Friday evening gathering at Okekere, Ilorin by Sheikh Muhammad Kamaludeen Al- Adabiy, rohimahuLoh where matters of the deen are discussed by different scholars on weekly basis. This was the gathering that actually rescued me from the path of Tijaaniyyah sufi sect. I read an Hadith that emphasized the superiority of an Islamic lecture (knowledge) gathering over and above any other form of gathering. However, there is need for pragmatic reforms in that arrangement as it has been noted in recent time that some of the invited preachers there are bereft of the proper foundation of the true Islamic knowledge. Therefore, urgent steps must be taken by the Khaleefatul Adabiyyah and Ansarul Islam Society of Nigeria as a body towards proper restructuring of the activities of the Friday evening forum. The principles of 'aqeedah are those which Allah has commanded us to believe in as mentioned in the Quran: "The Messenger believes in what has been sent down to him from his Lord, and (so do) the believers. Each one believes in Allah, His Angels, His Books and His Messengers. They say, 'We make no distinction between one and another of His Messengers' – and they say, 'We hear, and we obey'.

(We seek) Your forgiveness, our Lord, and to You is the return (of all). '" [al-Baqarah 2:285] The term 'aqeedah is defined by the Prophet, sollaLohu alaihi wasallam in the famous hadith which describes how Jibreel came to him and asked him about Islam etc.: "Eemaan (faith) is to believe in Allaah, His angels, His Books, the meeting with Him on the Last Day, His Messengers, and the Day of Resurrection." So, in Islam, 'aqeedah refers to the matters which are known from the Qur'aan and sound ahaadeeth, and which the Muslim must believe in his heart, in acknowledgement of the truth of Allah and His Messenger. It follows therefore, that anyone who disputes or stands against any matter of 'aqeedah as established in the Kitab wa Sunnah hasdisbelieved. May Allah save us from this because it is now common among Muslims to dispute many matters of 'aqeedah. A clear instance, is the saying that the Qur'an is a creature and not just words of Allah.

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