Author name: Admin

The Formal Commissioning of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at of Nigeria Central Mosque and Ahmadiyya Nursery and Primary School, Oke-Ore, Owode Circuit, Ogun State. The Amir Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at of Nigeria, Alh (Barr) Alatoye Folorunso AbdulAzeez, Sadr Majlis Ansarullah, Alhaji Adeoye AbdulWaheed Akanji; Former Naib Amir Special Duties, Alh (Engr) Ahmed Al-Hassan; Circuit President, Owode, Alh. Ajibade; Circuit President, Ota, Bro. Salman; Naib Sadr Admin, Alhaji Raji Dauda; Engr. Aziz Shonibare, Chairman, Building Committee, Coordinator Zone 2, Ustaz Shoboyede, Chief Imam Oke Ore Central Mosque, and others, during the commissioning of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at of Nigeria Central Mosque and Ahmadiyya Nursery and Primary School, Oke-Ore, Owode Circuit, Ogun State on Saturday, January 29th, 2022.

Al-Hafiz Yunus OmotayoJournalist, Missionary of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at of Nigeria, and Chairman, Muslim Writers Guild of Nigeria. (E-mail: al-hafiz@thetruth.ng) An array of both immediate and remote factors stimulated this piece. On February 1, 2022, Amnesty International released a damning report titled “Israel’s apartheid against Palestinians: a cruel system of domination and crime against humanity.” The investigation details how Israel enforces a system of oppression and domination against the Palestinian people wherever it has control over their rights. This includes Palestinian living in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OTP), as well as displaced refugees in other countries. (1) Particularly, the comprehensive report sets out how massive seizures of Palestinian land and property, unlawful killings, forcible transfer, drastic movement restrictions, and the denial of nationality and citizenship to Palestinians are all components of a system which amounts to apartheid under international law. This system is maintained by violations that Amnesty International found to constitute apartheid as a crime against humanity, as defined in the Rome Statute and Apartheid Convention. (2) Remotely, over the centuries, particularly, both the 20th and the 21st, the Middle Eastern Israeli-Palestinian region has been a hotbed of incessant inter-racial, inter-religious and international crises, conflicts and wars the ominous impacts of which have not only continued to bedevil the socio-political conditions and landscapes of the region, but have also polarized the larger world with resultant jeopardy to global peace and harmony. Historically, the bone of contention in the Israeli-Palestinian crisis initially was: who are the rightful aboriginal owners of the Holy Land of Palestine: the native Arab Palestinians or the Jews? The debates, the crises and the wars on this question spanned the centuries, in fact, the millennia, which preceded the modern 20th century. Then, during the course of some historical moves made by certain Euro-American powers backing the Zionist movement from roughly the late 19th to almost mid-20th centuries, the issue shifted to: why should or should not the Jews in the Diaspora be re-settled and granted statehood in the Holy Land? Subsequently, since the Euro-American sponsored UN’s creation of the State of Israel in 1948 till date, the incessant crises and wars have been revolving around not only the issue of: why should or should not the Arab Palestinians be granted autonomous statehood status in the Holy Land, but also: what geographical area should or should not the boundary of such a state cover? This is the crux of the monster. Importantly, “the essence of this case”, as Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad [rta] maintained, “is that a conspiracy of the Western powers, in which the defunct League of Nations and subsequently its successor, the United Nations actively participated and the government of Britain and the U.S. played the pivotal role, resulted in the emergence of a Jewish state in Palestine which no standard of justice, international law, or the Charter of the United Nations would have sanctioned. They could not have moved a step towards the creation of Israel without the active connivance of these powers. Anyhow, this fateful decision was taken and, ever since, this region has been a scene of armed conflicts and a hotbed of international intrigues.” [3] Observably, one emerging fact from the above is what Professor Ismail Raji Al-faruqi referred to as a “three-cornered affair, involving the Muslim World, Western Christendom and the Jews.” [4] However, there is no gainsaying the fact that none of the three worlds locked in the crisis can be seen to have been pathetically victimized and bedeviled by its devastating consequences much more than the Muslim-dominated Palestinian camp. Little wonder that Al-Faruqi further starkly declared that “the problem of Israel confronting the Muslim World today has neither precedent nor parallel in Islamic history. The Muslim World has tended to regard it as another instance of modern colonialism, or at best, as a repetition of the Crusades. The difference is not that Israel is neither one of these; but that it is both and more, much more.” [5] Notably, the past decades have seen a number of failed peace processes initiated by the Superpowers as well as numerous never-to-be-implemented UN’s resolutions on the crisis. Woeful developments which many observers believe are largely due to the fact that their initiators are themselves the masterminds of, and complicit in, the whole monster. Similarly, the decades of Palestinians’ strategic resort to suicide bombings or martyrdom operations have merely always left the Palestinians with greater devastating consequences. Now, as the conundrum further exacerbates and the Palestinians stand at a crossroad where future prospect seems almost not foreseeable, the self-imposing questions confronting the Palestinians, in particular, and the global Muslim world, in general, are: Why has Palestinians’ continuous looking towards the Western or Eastern Superpowers or the UN for solution failed to bring about the dire freedom? What should be the ultimate move? By highlighting the Palestinians’ and Muslim world’s neglected obligation, this piece interrogates and recommends the missing link in the struggle towards actualizing the freedom of the Palestinians. The Age-Long Most Disputed Land of Palestine The land of Palestine, located in the Middle East, witnessed the first recorded form of civilization in human history in the city of Jericho which was established ten thousand years ago. Ever since it was inhabited by the Canaanites and the sea immigrants named Philistines who integrated with them later on. [6] The land, previously known as the land of Canaan, took the name of the new settlers and came to be known as Palestine. [7] Prophet Ibrahim [Abraham] came to this land around the year 1900 B.C.; in narrating this story the Torah called the area “the Land of Canaan”, admitting the existence of a civilization on the land prior even to the coming of Prophet Ibrahim, the great grandfather of Arabs and Jews. His grandson, Yaqoob [Jacob or Israel], from whom Jews descended migrated with his children from the land of Canaan to Egypt, where they stayed until 1250 B.C. in which Moses took them to the Holy Land.[8] The history of

Condemns Owo Massacre in Strong Terms It was a huge landmark and historic day on Sunday, 19th June 2022 as the National Head of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at of Nigeria, Barr. Alatoye Folorunso AbdulAzeez commissioned an Ultra-Modern Central Mosque at Ajagamibo Avenue, Aradagun Badagry in Lagos State.The worship centre was built with state-of-the-art facilities, tiled both within and outside, embedded with good-looking minarets, and surrounded by attractive flowers in a serene and spacious environment. Named ‘Baitul-Fatah Mosque’, the place of worship can easily accommodate over 600 worshippers at once. The foundation of the Mosque was first laid in October 1980 by the then head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Nigeria, His Eminence Ajmal Shaheed Ahmad. The foundation stone was re-laid on Saturday 19th February 2022 by the Badagry Branch President of the Muslim Organization, Pa. M.B Okubena. Hence the mosque project was completed in a record four-month. The Mosque was built and donated by one of the blessed families of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community – the Popoola family in honor of their late father Alhaj Abdul Fatah Atanda Popoola who was a staunch and devoted member till his demise in 1982. In his address, the National Head of the Muslim organization lauded the initiatives of the Popoola family, stressing the importance of Mosque building and its aftermath rewards in the hereafter. He added that all places of worship must be sacred centres void of evil acts. Alhaji Alatoye further admonished worshippers to always have pure and sincere minds when observing prayers in Mosques as this is pleased with Almighty God. “The rewards for building Mosques in honor of our late loved ones are in multitudes.  It is a life-time reward.  The initiative of the Popoola family is hereby commendable”. “We must worship in the Mosque with our hearts filled with love, kindness, and piety.  Everything we do in the Mosque must be Godly.  May Allah accepts our sincere prayers,” he prayed. Owo Massacre highly condemnable Alhaji Alatoye also used the opportunity to, once again, condemn in strong terms, the brutal attack on worshippers at St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo in Ondo State. He stated: “It is difficult to believe any group of individuals could have the audacity to attack a place of worship filled with human beings who were gathered to worship God, the Almighty. This is the peak of an affront against God and man that will never go unpunished.  There is no absolutely no justification whatsoever for any group of people to engage themselves in such a callous and dastard act.” “Even in the face of a defensive response to an act of war, the Holy Quran expressly forbids believers from attacking places of worship, children, women, and priests.” The Amir further informed that the youths of the organization joined others in donating blood to the surviving victims of the barbaric attacks. He thus urged the police force to fish out all the perpetrators and their masterminds and made them to face the full wrath of the law for their devilish acts.

Nurudeen Akinreti Following the gracious approval of the worldwide Head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad (May Allah be his Helper), the new board for The Truth newspaper was inaugurated recently. The inauguration was anchored by the Amir (National Head) of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at of Nigeria, Alhaji (Barr.) Alatoye Folorunso Azeez was held at the Conference Hall of the organization in Ojokoro, Lagos State with all the new members in attendance (both physically and online). The names of the new Board members, as approved by His Holiness are Mr. Abdul Wahab Matepo (Board Chairman), Mr. Ishaq Popoola (Editor), Mr. Ismail Abdul Quadri (Board Secretary), Muallim Abubakar Abdul Hadi, Mr. Nurudeen Akinreti, Mr. Ajibade Taofeek, Mr. Bayo Issa Ewuoso, Muallim Qasim Oyekola, Muallim Yunus Omotayo and Mrs. Muslimah Okunnu-Adebisi. Among various terms of reference, the new board has been saddled with the responsibilities of regular newspaper publication in line with the ethics of internationally-recognized standard journalism; holding regular board meetings and recovering all sales proceeds to sustain continuous production. Barr. Alatoye urged the new board to live up to the expectations of members of the Jama’at on the newspaper and carry out His Holiness assignment with utmost diligence, proper planning, and organization. He also emphasized the need for the new team to reposition The Truth Newspaper which will ultimately ensure its sustainability.  The Amir advised the leadership, management team, and staff members of the newspaper to rise to the occasion and carry out their duties with a sense of humility and dedication. The Jama’at’s National Publications Secretary, Alh Mudathir Dada promised to support the Board in every way possible to achieve its objectives. Responding on behalf of Board members, Bro Abdulwahab Matepo expressed appreciation to the Jama’at Management for finding them worthy to revive Nigeria’s first Muslim newspaper. He promised that the Board would strive to make The Truth attractive as well as a dependable source of information and enlightenment to both the Muslim and non-Muslim community. He solicited prayers and for the support of the Jama’at at all levels to meet the expectations of Hazrat Khalifatul Masih V (May Allah be his Helper) Also in attendance were: the Naib Amir Finance and Administration, Alhaji Mufadhil Bankole as well as AMJN Publication Secretary, Alhaji Mudaththir Dada.