Oloyede, varsity dons, clerics examine challenges, dynamics of Islamic organisations, movements, emphasise Muslim unity

REGISTRAR of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Professor Is-haq Oloyede, has identified those who consider themselves the best of all Muslims as one of the greatest threats Islam, Muslim associations and Islamic movements are facing today.

Professor Oloyede stated this on Monday in Ibadan, Oyo State, in his keynote address at opening ceremony of the ‘International Centenary Conference’ on ‘Islam, Muslim Organisations and Islamic Movements in Africa and Beyond’, which was organised by the Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies, University of Ibadan.

The conference, chaired by the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman, Board of Trustees, Summit University, Alhaji Rafiu Ebiti, was attended by imams, representatives of Muslim organisations and paper presenters from Africa and other parts of the world.

The lead paper presenters at the conference were Professor Mohammad Khalil from Michigan State University and Professor Abdul Lateef Oladimeji from Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin.

The JAMB registrar, whose address was delivered by the Vice Chancellor of Ahman Pategi University, Patigi, Kwara State, Professor Mahfouz Adedimeji, averred that other intra-Muslim challenges include the ones posed by certain groups which “uphold the notion that Islam prefers ascetism to active participation in worldly affairs and the traditional Ulama who remain impervious and unwilling to change their methodology in dialogue with modernity.”

Lack of agreement among Muslims in the West and other parts of the Muslim world, according to him, is the reason questions are still being asked today as to whether Muslims should participate in politics or avoid it altogether.

He noted that the lack of disagreement has resulted in the Muslim organisations remaining at a loss as to how to forge more productive alliances as weapon with which they can confront the multifarious challenges facing the ummah in the contemporary period.

He added that how these organisations can work together to rescue Muslim youths from the disease of modernity – the disease of drug addiction, betting, immorality, and desecration of eternal values of Islam – has also continued to be elusive.

Professor Oloyede explained how global Islamic awakening and renaissance led to the formation of Islamic movements and the establishment of Muslim organisations in Sub-Sahara Africa and in other parts of the Muslim world in the late 19th and 20th centuries.

He gave the examples of how in South Africa in 1903, the South African Muslim Association was founded and how, less than a decade after, the Ahmadiyyah Muslim movement was introduced into Nigeria. He also discussed how, in the year 1923, the Ansar-Deen Society of Nigeria was established and in 1928, the Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt.

The convener, a former Head of the Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies, Professor Afis Oladosu, speaking through the current head of the department, Professor Ibrahim Uthman, said: “It is exactly a hundred years when the pioneer Islamic organisations, including the Young Ansar-Ud-Deen which has metamorphosed into the Ansar-Ud-Deen Society, were founded in Nigeria.

“Our department, the Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies, University of Ibadan, deemed it necessary after a century to interrogate the various paradigms in the conceptualisation and definition of Islamic movements and organisations.

“When we talk of Islamic movements and organisations today, they are not monolithic, they are not the same. We have some that are violent in their methodologies and approaches, but the majority of these organisations and movements have been very peaceful. They are interested in the promotion of Islamic values.

“So, we thought it necessary to look at their activities, their achievements, their successes as well as their failures and challenges and see whether we can provide solutions for the future.”

Muslim personalities who delivered goodwill messages at the conference included the Chief Imam of the University of Ibadan, Professor AbdulRahman Oloyede; the Osun State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr Mutiu Agboke; leader of Zumratul Qadriyah in Nigeria, Dr Muideen Nojimdeen Al-Kubroh; and the amirah of the Federation of Muslim Women’s Associations in Oyo State, Dr Lateefat Dairo.

Dr Agboke said there are many Islamic organisations in Nigeria, but expressed the opinion that a good number of them are working at cross purposes.

He called for the integration of all the organisations, saying: “We must integrate and complement one another. We should complement and not compete. All the Muslim organisations must adopt a pragmatic approach in presenting Islam to the world.”

Dr Nojimdeen Al-Kubroh called for reorientation of some Muslims who harbour the belief that possessing the knowledge of the Qur’an is enough to live without having a job.

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