DR. SHARAF AND ILORIN: THE CALL IS AGAINST REMNANTS OF SHIRK IN OUR SOCIETY

By

Ibn Abdillah As-sudaisiy Al-Iloori

A brother said he knows Ilorin is the target of Ahlus Sunnah da'wah. How could that be? How will any true Ahlus Sunnah want to deliberately attack Ilorin? One of the great evils that Ahlus Sunnah always criticizes is tribalism. So, no true Ahlus Sunnah would ever target a town for attack. If you are using this opportunity to attack Ilorin merely because of the hatred you have for it and its people and you claim to be an Ahlus Sunnah, then, your claim is problematic.

What the scholars of Sunnah strive to do is to eradicate shirk in whatever form in our society and asking people to mention some shirk or kufr practices common in a town or community should never be a crime. The scholars of Sunnah inherited this great task from the Prophets عليهم السلام and Companions رضي الله عنهم. Allāh says:

وَلَـقَدْ بَعَثْنَا فِيْ كُلِّ اُمَّةٍ رَّسُوْلًا اَنِ اعْبُدُوا اللّٰهَ وَا جْتَنِبُوا الطَّا غُوْتَ ۚ فَمِنْهُمْ مَّنْ هَدَى اللّٰهُ وَمِنْهُمْ مَّنْ حَقَّتْ عَلَيْهِ الضَّلٰلَةُ 

And We certainly sent into every nation a messenger, [saying], Worship Allah and avoid Taghut. And among them were those whom Allah guided, and among them were those upon whom error was [deservedly] decreed.(QS. An-Nahl: Verse 36)

Dr. Sharaf حفظه الله is not perfect and he can be opposed if he is wrong on any issue with evidence from Qur'ān and Sunnah. But on this, he has done nothing wrong. The people of falsehood who hate the Sunnah and its people so much are only using this opportunity to fight back. They have been waiting for this opportunity. What will be sad is to see anyone who claims to be upon Sunnah supporting haters against the Sheikh on this matter. This should never be used to count any score. It will be creedally disastrous to count score with this matter.

The boys are not to be crucified for the use of the word "oro" or "ebo". They should rather be made to clarify what they meant by it and they have done that. If you have not watched the video, go and watch it. By the word "oro", the boys never meant there are "oro" festivals in Ilorin. What they intended was "oro idile" (lineage superstitions). Are there no families who still hold on to this? There are many examples of this in our town and we must speak against it because it is shirk. We must tell ourselves the better truth and avoid hypocrisy.

Concerning  "sobi", I had once made a post to warn against Muslims going there for any form of worship. It is bidah for a Muslim to specifically go to a mountain for any form of worship without any evidence from Qur'ān and Sunnah. This has no basis in our Deen and it can lead to shirk if care is not taken. Neither the boys nor the Sheikh made a general statement that all Ilorin people do "oro" or worship sobi mountain. What can be reasonably implied from their statements is that some people Ilorin still believe and practice some "oro" and worship sobi. This is a fact that can never be denied. We that live close to the place know how Muslim go there from time to time. 

To deny the fact that there are remnants of jahiliyyah kufr practices in our town is a fallacy. A video being circulated of an event in the heart of our town with the minarets of our beautiful mosque visible behind it is clear evidence on this. The main problem is ignorance. We need to be observant and vigilant to identify these evils and fight them and their custodians the way we fought the "isese" people. One of my Sheikhs that I will not want to mention here once told me about the activities of some people around Oloje area who still engage in pure shirk that can be called "oro". The fact that you are not guilty does not mean there are no people who are guilty of some of these evils. With the rate at which evils are being perpetrated, individuals and families can only speak for themselves and not for others. 

I think one of the problems is that many of our people, including some Alfas don't understand what shirk is. They think shirk is just about having an idol that you kneel beside and worship. Shirk and kufr are beyond this. For instance, sihr (magic practice) is shirk and this is very common among the Alfas. Their jalabi practice has a lot to do with this. Cases of ritual killings are on the increase. Several people are caught with human parts and keep pretending nothing is wrong with us? What has the group claiming to defend the honour of our town and our forefathers done about this? 

Calling on other than Allāh is "ebo" (shirk). This is common among Some Sufis. Some of the common prayer books in our community contain this (e.g. Khutbah Yasin). That is why it was funny to see some Alfas condemning the RMQK group when they themselves are guilty of some of their practices. 

Choosing a specific site for a specific act of worship without evidence in the Qur'ān and Sunnah is shirk. Some of our people go to Kuho and Oke Suna (some historic sites attached to Sheikh Alim رحمه الله) for this purpose. They don't know it is unIslamic. We need to educate them. A visit to these sites should only be for tourism purposes and no act of ibādah should be taken there thinking that the sites have a special place before Allāh. I know a woman who visits "Jiji" Mosque (around Ago area) every Wednesday with a group and with the belief that their prayers will be answered there. I used to drive away those who sell "oruka Alfa Ajijola Annabi l" at Oja Oba. Who are those buying it? Many of our women are patronizing them. I don't intend to make this post long. There are more instances, but let me stop here. My book 50 Common Bid'ah exposes more of these evils for anyone who cares to know.

As a caller and promoter of pure Taoheed, I have written severally against some of the shirk I have seen people promote and practice in our community. Would that mean that I have generalized? Recently, I warned against a shirk programme on one of our radio stations. Some of our radio stations with a wide audience are used to promote full blown shirk and none of these groups claiming to represent our town has done anything on them. More so, some of these stations are owned by Ilorin people. What kind of hypocrisy is this?

May Allāh guide us aright.