Ramadan at its peak

The past one week witnessed suicide bomb attacks in Jos and Zaria towns of Plateau and Kaduna states. While we pray to Allah (SWT) to grant eternal mercy to those who lost their lives in the attacks, we equally seek His intervention to bring the spate of insurgency that has bedeviled this country to an end; for the sake of the sacredness of the Ramadan fast we are currently observing, amin.   
The Night of Power, or Laylat ul-Qadr (in Arabic), is the peak of spiritual activities that usually characterise the end of Ramadan. Laylat ul-Qadr is a night described in Qur’an 97:3 as equivalent to 1000 months. Given this precious status, it is desirable that Muslims should search for this particular night which according to the Prophet (SAW) is concealed within one of the odd-number days in the last 10 days of Ramadan.
Although scholars are divided in their opinions as to the exact day on which Lailat ul-Qadr falls, majority opine that Laylat ul-Qadr is on the 27th day of Ramadan. In any case, we are encouraged by the Prophet (SAW) to engage in acts of devotion on the nights of the odd-number days in the last 10 days of Ramadan. Muslims are encouraged to diversify their devotion on these nights. This may include recitation of the holy Qur’an, glorifying Allah (SWT) with appropriate words of remembrance (dhikr), giving gratitude to Him (SWT), and observing nafilat prayers. Imam Ahmad, Ibn Majah and Attirmidhi all relate on the authority of Aisha (RA) that she asked the Prophet (SAW) about what to say or recite on the Night of Power. The Prophet (SAW) replied that she should keep rehearsing the following supplication, “Allahumma innaka ‘afwun, tuhibb ul-afwa fa’afu anni” meaning “O Allah! You are indeed Most-Pardoning; You cherish pardon; so pardon me.”
One major religious act that signifies the end of Ramadan is the Zakat ul-Fitr. It is a sunnah that is compulsory on every Muslim, children and adults, young and old, male and female, free-born as well as slave. The cost of paying the Zakat ul-Fitr is to be borne by the person responsible for an individual’s upkeep. A man would give the Zakat ul-Fitr of his wife/wives, child/children, and every other person under his care, including domestic servants and maids. The Zakat ul-Fitr is to be paid in the staple food item of one’s community.
The quantity to be given out per head, as Zakat ul-Fitr, is four measures of the food item (grains or cereals) using the prophetic cubic measure (mudun-nabiyy). The two palms of a man put together and filled with grains are supposedly equivalent to one full measure of the Prophet’s cubic measure where the latter is not practically available. It is sunnah of the Prophet (SAW) to pay Zakat ul-Fitr after daybreak of the day of Eidul Fitr; before going for the Eid prayers. However, it could be given a day or two before the Eid day. If a Muslim were unable to give the Zakat ul-Fitr before leaving his house for the Eid prayers for reasons of indigence, he/she is required to give it out when it is affordable. It has no waiver.
Now is the period during which Allah (SWT) emancipates His righteous servants from hell fire. We pray that Allah (SWT) puts us among those who are not only delivered from hell fire but also forgiven of their sins, amin. Eid Mubarak in advance!
Sheikh Yusuf Abdullahi Lokoja dies at 132
Sheikh Yusuf Lokoja passed on last week Saturday July 4 at his hilltop residence in Lokoja. The funeral (Janaza) prayer which held at 2pm on Sunday July 5, was led by Sheikh Abul-Ahad Ibrahim Nyasse, one of the children of the deceased’s close associates, Sheikh Ibrahim Nyasse of Senegal. The Kogi State capital stood still last week Sunday as sympathisers trooped to the confluence town to attend the Janaza of the Tijaniyyah scholar.
In February 2010, the Arewa House Centre for Historical Documentation and Research of the Ahmadu Bello University in Kaduna commissioned me to write and present a paper at a two-day international conference with the theme: ‘The State of Public/Private Arabic Manuscript Repositories in Nigeria.’ This was part of the activities of the Ford Foundation/Arewa House Arabic Manuscript Project (FFAHAMP).
My paper focused on the private repository and the state of Arabic manuscripts in the collection of Sheikh Yusuf Lokoja. To write the paper, I went to spend few days with the late sheikh at his hilltop residence in Lokoja. Although I went to search for and assess the state of Arabic manuscripts, the sheikh gave me more than 50 of his published books. What amazed me most during my stay with him was the ease with which he recalled every event of his life at over 100 years of age.
Born in 1883, Sheikh Yusuf Lokoja was Nupe by tribe, from Bida in Niger State. He was one of the pioneer Muslim scholars in Nigeria who saw the need for contemporary Muslims to acquire Islamic education that blends with the knowledge of modern science and technology. Inspired by this vision, the sheikh in 1952 established an Islamic school, Nur ul-Islam, in the south-west Nigerian city of Ibadan. He later moved from Ibadan to finally settle at Lokoja where in 1958 he established another Islamic centre called Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies or Markaz as it is popularly known.
Sheikh Yusuf Abdullahi Lokoja was a prolific Arabic writer, author and poet with over five dozen works to his credit, all in classical Arabic language. His writings which include prose and poetry are on themes that cut across jurisprudence, Islamic mysticism, theology as well as other branches of Arabic and Islamic science.
Sheikh Yusuf Lokoja is survived by 4 wives and 23 children (15 males and 8 females), including Sheikh Muhammad Nurudeen Yusuf, a qadi at the Kogi State Shari’ah Court of Appeal in Lokoja; Sheikh Muhammad Awwal Yusuf (retired director of the FCT Judiciary); Sheikh Nasirudeen Yusuf, the Principal/CEO of the Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies (established by the deceased); and the Sheikh’s closest aide Ustadh Ahmad Tijani Raji (a.k.a. Sisi). May Allah (SWT) grant him eternal mercy, amin.