The chairman of the Oyo State Muslims Community, Alhaji Kunle Sanni, has advised fasting muslims to wait for announcement from Sultan Muhammed Sa’ad Abubakar before proceeding for Eid prayer.
WAIT FOR THE SULTAN’S ANNOUNCEMENT BEFORE PROCEEDING FOR EID PRAYER. ALHAJ KUNLE SANNI, CHAIRMAN MUSLIM COMMUNITY OF OYO STATE AND MEMBER GENERAL PURPOSE COMMITTEE OF THE SUPREME COUNCIL FOR ISLAMIC AFFAIRS.
As the Ramadan fast is coming to an end we congratulate all Muslims in the World for their patience and steadfastness in the Holy month and enjoin us to maintain the spiritual fervour and moral sublimity after the Holy Month. In Islam the issue of adherence to leadership advice is a sine qua non and absolutely unassailable. For us as Muslims in Nigeria we are under the hegemony of the Sultan. This Sultan has no pretension of being a great scholar of Islam but he is versatile enough in Islam to be qualified for leadership. He did the right thing in consonance with the Shariah by constituting a Fatwa and moon sighting committee under an internationally recognized Islamic scholar Fadilat Ibrahim Saleh Al Husseini whose ancestry is traced to the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be On Him) This Fatwa committee comprises of critical stakeholders within the Ummah who are erudite scholars. This committee includes a representative of The League Of Imam and Alfas of Yorubaland.
In absolute compatibility with the dictates of the Shariah the Sultan has told Muslims in Nigeria to search for the new moon on the 29th of Ramadan. If the moonsighting committee is convinced that the moon had been sighted then we await the announcement of the Sultan that we celebrate the Eid on Saturday. If the moon is not sighted on Friday it means we would complete the 30 days fast and celebrate Eid el Fitri on Sunday.
Perchance some people announce a different day we should just ignore it
We should not spoil our fast by being insolent or abrasive. Let us take into cognisance that Sultan Muhammed Sa’ad Abubakar the present Sultan worked assiduously and fervently with uncommon humility to cement the unity of the Ummah so far. Gone were the days of his progenitors when it was not out of fashion for us to start and end Ramadan in three different days. If the issue of discordant tones is now localised or isolated to one or two people we have made tremendous progress. Let us not squander the present unity.
We should realise that this people who are proponents of Hisab calculations are fantastic Islamic scholars who can stand shoulder to shoulder with any of their peers anywhere in the world
They deserve our respect not our insult even if their methodology is antithetical to Islamic jurisprudence. After Ramadan in sha Allah we would go back to the drawing board, invite them for a dialogue and harmonise our position in the interest of the unity of the Ummah
We also take this opportunity to appeal to Muslims in states where religious houses are banned from socialising. In Islam you can pray Eid in your houses. Allah would accept it as a doctrine of necessity. For those states where the lock down had been lifted they should stay safe because of this invincible enemy on the prowl that has put the whole world in fear and apprehension of imminent death. May Allah protect us and make us witness many Eid ul fitri celebrations in good health
