Yorubaland in Nigeria has embraced Islam some seven centuries ago. The Islamic faith has passed through different stages in the region. There is a consensus by researchers over the need for reforming many practices of Yoruba Muslims, including their clerics. Those areas that need reformation among Yoruba Muslims, as asserted by Al-Ilori, Opeloye, Oloyede and Arikewuyo include but not limited to, syncretism (an act of mixing Islam with paganism), hereditary imamship, incompetent clerics and Imams, enslavement of Arabic pupils by their teachers, practice of spiritual power through satanic means by Alfas and worshipping of graves, etc.
The attempt to address these daunting challenges gave rise to the reforming trends in Yorubaland with their various inclinations. Undoubtedly, the reformative agitation has reached its climax by the beginning of the 21st century and is continually recording success story. One of the success stories of reformative calls in Yorubaland is the attitudinal change of Muslims, most especially the elites among them, regarding the selection of Imams. Indeed, Muslims in Yorubaland have suffered a lot in the hand of Imams whose incompetence and half-baked knowledge have rendered our mosques lifeless, useless and voiceless. I prayed Jumat prayer in a particular mosque built with hundreds of million Naira. This is a mosque that can accommodate up to 3,000 congregation, located at GRA, a very serene area occupied by the elites. Unfortunately, because the Imam doesn’t belong to this generation of sophisticated scholarship and exposure, rarely is the mosque attracting up to 100 members of congregation. This is the story of many big mosques in Yorubaland. The elites couldn’t continue in the same direction. Now, major big and influential mosques and organizations in Yorubaland invite interested Imams to an interview. This method has produced the best Imams and spiritual leaders in the region including Shaykh Abdulrahman Ahmad of Ansarudeen, Dr Ridwan Jamiu of Lekki Central Mosque, Dr Telhah Yunus who is the Grand Chief Imam of Ogbomosoland, the new chief Imam of Oyo kingdom, Barrister Idris Alao of Assalam Islamic Centre in Ogbomoso and hosts of others. Blocks and cements are too expensive now than dedicating a multi-million structure of mosque to Alfas who are only interested in manipulating the Muslims through Asalatu gathering.
This new trend whereby the prospective Imam is interrogated in order to ascertain his competence, credibility and integrity before appointment is being seen by the traditional Alfas as a systematic way of edging them out of the Imamship institution and spiritual leadership in Yorubaland. We are now living in a time when merely graduating from Ile-kewu is no more sufficient to qualify you as an Imam or religious leader. Your steadfastness, exposure, doctrine and behaviour actually are needed most. So, turning our mosques to a jalabi workshop instead of being a place for spiritual upliftment and religious education, is fast becoming a history in this region. Thanks to the elites who Allah has used to safeguard our mosque institutions.
The revitalization of mosques in Yorubaland depends largely on the kinds of Imams who lead the sacred institutions. Our mosques are too dull because of the dull messages coming from the dull Imams. Some of the requirements of an ideal Imam needed in this time include proper understanding of Islam, solid belief in the oneness of Allah, boldness to preach Islam, and being a role model in the practice of Islam. When you watch one of the fathers of Islamic awakening in this region, Barrister Alh Kunle Sanni, the Chairman of Oyo State Muslim Community, describing the Chief Imam of Ogbomosoland as one of the best Chief Imams in Yorubaland, you will hardly appreciate that candid statement except you visit the Central Mosques of many towns in Yorubaland. Imam Telhat Yunus, the Grand Chief Imam of Ogbomosoland, has become an epitome and model of a Chief Imam the Muslim community yearns for in contemporary time. He doesn’t have enemies other than the usual traditional foes of Islamic awakening and progressiveness. His enemies are those who have the historical record of attacking hijab, joining the Christians to condemn the implementation of Shari’ah in the Southwest, attacking the authoritative books in Islam, and you can easily identify them and their followers with addiction to music, dancing, sorcery, black magic, hatred for religious identity, abusing the companions of the Prophet and unnecessary arrogation of scholarship to themselves. So, one should not be perturbed by such opposition from the same angle. It is a fight between a sinking empire battling to survive and an evolving regime taking over the mantle!
Nafiu Ahmad Al-Jawhari Al-Ilori, PhD
