I bear witness that there is none worthy of worship except Allah. He is one, without any partner.
I also affirm that Muhammad Mustapha (May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) is the Messenger of Allah and His servant. We invoke Allah’s blessings on Muhammad and his household and on his true followers until the Day of Judgment.
I wish to congratulate the entire Muslim Ummah, especially my brothers and sisters in Nigeria, for the successful completion of this year’s Ramadan fast. The holy month of Ramadan was observed in an unusual way this year, occasioned by the outbreak of the novel Coronavirus also known as Covid-19. Our condolences go to all those who lost their loved ones due to the pandemic. We pray for the quick recovery of those afflicted and for Allah’s protection on all of us. We urge all Nigerians to faithfully follow the guidelines issued by the government and health authorities. We should seek forgiveness for our sins and beseech the Almighty Allah for His mercy.
We urge all Muslims to imbibe the lessons taught by the Ramadan and to live our lives in practical demonstration of such lessons in order to improve our relationships with our creator.
This is the only way we can claim to be fulfilling the purpose of our creation. The intensity of our prayers during the Ramadan should continue. We should constantly pray for our country, leaders at all levels and all citizens. To create the right environment for the acceptance of our prayers, we should live pure lives, devoid of sinful acts, hatred, disobedience, nepotism, corruption and other vices – most of which were avoided during the Ramadan. Going back to these acts is a vitiation of our sacrifices during the Holy month of Ramadan. We should see our disposition to unrighteousness during the last one month as a template to go through the next eleven months before the next Ramadan.
As Muslims, we are expected to be our brothers’ keeper. We should rededicate our lives to the service of Allah and of humanity. It is against the noble teachings of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) for Muslims to be engaged in rebellion, religious intolerance, corruption in all of its ramifications and arrogant behaviour. Remembering the Day of Judgment and the consequences of our actions here on earth should be enough to keep us off of these vices but unfortunately, we behave as if there is no life after death.
We call on our political leaders and all those who are in position of authority to adhere strictly to the rule of law and to maintain justice. There can be no peace in the absence of justice. Our public office holders should harness our God-given resources to develop the country, rather than concentrating on selfish interests. As citizens, we also owe it a duty to support the government by being lawful citizens and doing all those things that are required of us to develop the country, as the government alone cannot achieve this goal.
We pray for Allah’s guidance on our leaders, His mercy on all of us and the acceptance of our prayers.
Eid Mubarak! Eid Mubarak!! Eid Mubarak!!!
Signed
Alatoye Folorunso Azeez
Amir (National Head)
