Eclipse of the luminous moon

If death were considerate, Dr. Abdul Lateef Oladimeji Adegbite wouldn’t have been its right choice at this trying moment of the Nigerian Muslim Ummah, but the occurrence of anyone’s death is a mere phenomenon, which is beyond the decision of even the angel of death. It is indeed by Allah’s decree that any dying soul drops out of the surface of the earth. It is also by His permission that the soul perishes on a certain day, in a particular land and manner. It is, therefore, unpardonable that anybody should ask “why” with respect to the death of Dr. Abdul Adegbite. After all, from Allah we come and to Him is our return. We are thus free from blaming Allah for extinguishing the most luminous of our guiding lamps. We do not question His decision for eclipsing our Deen-adorned beautiful moon; but in pain and faith we endure His decree.

For the Muslims, no loss could be more painful than this demise. Dr. Adegbite was perhaps the greatest Islamist in the contemporary Nigeria. Though of little skill in the knowledge of Arabic, he ranked above many notable scholars of Islam whose eloquence in Arabic language deceptively dazzled the masses.

His rays of light shone beyond the south-west of Nigeria where he was born as he struggled, right from his youth days, to partake in every effort that could make Muslims relevant in the country.

Dr. Adegbite, with four other secondary students among his class mates, founded the Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria in 1954. Imagine the dream of that secondary school boy, perhaps as a teenager, metamorphosing into a virile ideological Islamic movement today, from which several other movement-oriented groups and leaders have emerged. Imagine our schools without the MSSN. Look in your surrounding and see if that reputable Muslim leader at the helm is not a trained product of this potentially great organization.

I have always marvelled at Adegbite’s sense of mission. I wonder how ecstatic he would feel, during his earthly sojourn, watching the MSSN grow into a mother of all Islamic organizations in Nigeria. Of course, the leadership of the Islamic Study Group (ISGON) in Lagos; El-Zakzaky’s Islamic movement in the North; Nasfat prayer group across the country; the Muslim Congress in the south-west; Al-Usra Society in Port-Harcourt; Da’wah Front in Abeokuta; the Companion Brothers in Lagos and the Islamic movement in Ilorin were among those trained by the MSSN.

Ideological diversity is the beauty of all these organizations. Each group is known for its unique methodology and principle of propagating Islam which does not hinder their sense of cooperation, when necessary, in the pursuit of the common good.  Today, what makes the Muslim voice heard is the occasional collective agitation of these groups each time the Ummah is challenged. Each stands in defence of Islam and clamours for the Muslim’s right, using the least controversial methodology that is peculiar to it.

Dr. Adegbite was indeed a bridge builder per excellence. His name was in fact synonymous with reconciliation in all respects. His person filled the spacious gap of occasional misunderstanding between the Muslim youths and their elders in the south-west; his moderate approach to religious issues, especially of national interest, creates a better understanding between the Muslims and their Christian counterparts; his least resisted methodology grants him the audience and respect of both the radical and moderate Muslims.

Even though a devout Muslim, the royal authority of his birth place in Egba land accorded him a place of honour in the palace. As the Seriki of Egba land, he was one of the high chiefs of the Alake, but this honour, unlike others, was not only untainted with paganism; it was equally as prestigious as that of a king. Who does not know that Seriki, as a title, connotes a king in a predominantly Muslim community? The Seriki of Egba land represents the interest of all Egba Muslims in Alake’s palace, which is another kind of bridge-building in an African traditional environment.

The Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), under the Sultan of Sokoto, is of course the official mouth-piece of the Nigerian Muslim Ummah; and few are those who know that, like the MSSN, it was another brain child of Dr. Abdul Lateef Adegbite. Many Muslims, as well as non Muslims, could only identify him as the Secretary General; but Adegbite it was who conceived the idea and nurtured it administratively. In his capacity as the Secretary General, he was not only vocal in protecting the values and ideals of Islam (such as his role during the Sharia saga and the miss world beauty contest), he had also remained the bridge builder between the south west Muslims and their brothers in the north. Gone are the days when the southern Muslims were always suspicious of their northern brothers and also when the northern Muslims would hardly pray behind their brothers from the southwest fondly accused of both moral and religious infidelity.

Indeed, Adegbite’s interaction with the northern emirates, in the course of discharging his duty as the Secretary General of the NSCIA, must have arrested that tension as the Muslim leadership from the north of Nigeria came to realize that Yoruba Muslims are, after all, as loyal to Allah and righteous in their religious commitment as their northern counterparts do claim to be, judging with the character of the Secretary General. It is, therefore, not an over statement to declare that the Nigerian Muslim Ummah is bereaved with this eclipse of the luminous moon? Of course, the South-west Muslims, in particular, are shut out of that illuminating light that had always guided their path in moments of darkness. In that region, Adegbite’s glorious but painful exit marks the commencement of the end of his own generation of reputable Muslim leaders who never betrayed Islam; but – I am afraid – with the blurred vision of the succeeding generation, it may be difficult to replicate that character – of humaneness, integrity, sagacity and unapologetic approach to critical issues – that set Adegbite ahead of his contemporaries.

In grief and sorrow we celebrate this hero of religious harmony who, far removed from the common habit of tribal chauvinism with which some of his contemporaries were characterized, had reined ahead of his time.

Even if the press, particularly the print media, continues to behave as though nothing spectacular has just occurred with the news of his death, the entire Muslim community in Nigeria, from the Onikolobo area of Egba land to the sleeping town of Auchi and the rebellious city of Damaturu knows that, indeed, a dolorous fate – much more significant than the death of the so called notables – has just befallen the nation with his exit. Even with that, we do not begrudge the Nigerian press for deliberately scorning the wide coverage of his death. Who among the great Muslim minds in this country, dead or alive, was ever celebrated by the so called Lagos press? However, the filthy news of “western education is sin” has not only been employed sensationally by them in the recent time to stigmatize our faith-system, men of brilliant ideas like Adegbite have at one time or the other also been maligned in the past each time they offered Islamic alternatives to any questionable national issue.

This eclipse of our luminous moon must awaken our collective consciousness about the current plight of this Ummah. We must all think of what to do to propagate the faith-system called Islam. We must also abstain from damaging its image and corrupting the purity of its sacred essence. In emulation of Dr. Abdul Lateef Adegbite, each of us must contemplate a unique innovative role he can play to promote the Islamic value system as taught by Allah and His Messenger. While scouting for a suitable replacement for his vacant office, the Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affair must assist the Ummah select the best of minds among Muslims; someone of equal pedigree and enviable moral credentials.

We pray that Allah should grant the Seriki of Egba land Al-Jannat firdaos, which he truly worked for. We also pray that He grant the entire Muslim Ummah the fortitude to bear this irreplaceable loss. To the south-west Muslim faithful, we say Eku ara fera ku; ojo ajina sira wan o!

Abdur Rauf Bn Sa’eed is the MD, De Minaret International, Abuja