Lagos commissioner urges Muslim clerics to be upright

Muslim need to be informed and educated on the teachings of the Qur’an and Sunnah but Islamic scholars are nowhere to be found in Mosques around the state delivering soul lifting sermons, Commissioner for Home Affairs, Lagos State, Dr. AbdulHakeem AbdulLateef, has said.

AbdulHakeem, who spoke during a lecture at the Right Path Arabic Institute second Hafilah graduation and convocation ceremony in Lagos, said the dearth of itinerant Muslim clerics visit to the mosques teaching and imparting Islamic moral values and cultures to Muslims on a daily basis is partly responsible for the inadequacies in understanding of the Qur’an and the teachings of prophet Muhammad (saw).

He said: “We should not turn our Mosques to graveyards. They are places of worship where Qur’an knowledge and Sunnah of the Prophet are taught and discussed. This is a call to service to all Muslim clerics to extend their lectures schedule to the mosques. The hours before each salat should be utilised to host lectures.

“Knowledge is essential to the worship of Allah and the only way of getting this knowledge unhindered and undiluted is for scholars that are vast in the understanding of the Qur’an and Sunnah not to be stationary. It is for them to rove our mosques for Muslims need to be educated and informed about what Allah commands and what He prohibits. But it is unfortunate that many Muslim clerics are lacking in the responsibility of calling people to the path of Allah. Many of them have gone astray, very far away from what Allah commands.

“As the vicegerent of Allah on earth, many of them are engaging in fetishism and idolatry. Therefore, to the graduants, my advice is for you to be steadfast in the fear of Allah and put to practice the knowledge of the Qur’an and Sunnah acquired for the promotion of Islam without associating any partner with Him,” he said.

Speaking further on the benefits of knowledge to Islamic monotheism, AbdulHakeem said: “Any seeker of knowledge is a would-be leader this is part of the reasons all of us must strive to seek Qur’an knowledge. It is only a Muslim with knowledge that can testify to the oneness of Allah. However, in this world, trials await the knowledgeable because no one can claim to belong to Allah without being tested”.

Director, Right Path Arabic Institute, Ustaadh Yunus Al-Imam expressed the achievements of the institution especially in the area of curbing insecurity from the perspective of seeking positive knowledge.

Ustaadh Al-Imam stated that: “Nigeria as a country has been facing series of security challenges. But on our part as an institution of learning, we have identified lack of right knowledge of Islam as the root cause of Boko Haram dreaded and anti-Islam activities. However, since inception, we have been educating Muslims on the right Islamic knowledge and values from the perspective of the glorious Qur’an and Sunnah of our noble prophet Muhammad (saw) with the right implementation of the knowledge acquired for them to be tolerant of people of other faith and live in harmony with them.“By implication, this will enable the Federal government to focus more on the pressing needs of citizens instead of expending scarce resources on security.

As Muslims, we need to increase our knowledge of the Qur’an and the Sunnah in order to be able to tackle the plots and deceptions of enemies of Islam and more importantly, to have a balanced western and Islamic education,” he said.