The Movement for Islamic Culture and Awareness (MICA) has urged Muslims to ensure peaceful coexistence in the country and live in peace with people of other religions. Speaking during the group yearly Ramadan lecture, the coordinator of MICA, Alimosho branch, Mr Taofeek Junaid, said the choice of the theme, ‘Positive co-existence, reality and expectations’, was chosen to reflect many crises around the world and in Nigeria in particular with a view to underscore the need for Muslims to live in peace and harmony with people of other religions.
He said the organisation has been in existence since the ’90s, adding that the Alimosho branch has continuously held Ramadan lectures for over 20 years now.
“The holy month of Ramadan is a month that we cherish so much. We use the opportunity to admonish Muslims on various issues. The primary objective of this programme is to provide a platform where people can receive the words of Allah, where they can be admonished and taught about their religion and also get some contemporary issues sorted out.
“Besides all these, we believe the programme will be an avenue for Muslims to benefit from other things such as medical check-ups, networking and so on. We usually have medical doctors come around and they solve people’s problems and the ones that can’t be solved are referred immediately to government hospitals. Over the years, we have improved our medical check-up.”
The guest lecturer, Mudeer of Zamzam Academy in Ogun State, Sheikh Muneerudeen Salahudeen Ar-Riyaady, charged Nigerian Muslims to tolerate themselves and not look down on one another. He said this attitude will foster unity among the Muslim Ummah in the country while stressing the significance of understanding and cooperation at a time when Muslims are sharply divided into sects. Ar-Riyaady said, “The first thing we should do as Muslims is to unite ourselves, and if we see someone that is struggling with their eeman (faith), what we should do is to pray for them and not look down on them. Piety cannot be attained unless Allah guides us alright.”
He lamented that Muslims are divided into various sects in most of the higher institutions in Nigeria, noting this has created a lot of problems for the Ummah. “You go to some of these schools, and see that Muslims don’t exchange tasleem (greetings) among themselves just because of divergence in the sects to which they belong.”
He therefore, appealed that “Muslims should go and read about the Prophet of Allah (SAW) and his sunnah. This will guide us back to unity. We can live in harmony and cooperation because no human on earth does not know what is right or wrong and does not love what is right. So, if we, the Muslims can radiate love among ourselves, we can also radiate the love with other members of the society.”
Also speaking, a Project Manager and Management Consultant, Mr. Babatunde AbdulSalam tasked Muslims on peaceful coexistence with adherents of other religions in the community. He noted that Allah commanded Muslims to cooperate with people of other faiths for the common good in Suratul Maidah (Qur’an Chapter 5 Verse 2). “We should treat them the way we want them to see Islam and most importantly, we should peacefully coexist with them. We should deal with them with patience and wisdom. Even when they maltreat us, we should not retaliate with evil, rather, extend good to them. That will tell them what is right and what’s wrong.”
