The rise and fall of the National Mosque

My first day in the National Mosque in 2001 was a memorable one. Being a young Muslim from the south west, the most beautiful mosque I ever prayed in happened to be the Lagos Central Mosque on the Lagos Island which was almost single-handedly built by the late Baba Adini of Nigeria, Alhaji Abdulwahab Folawiyo, in the early 90s.

On entering the national mosque, I saw it as a monument worthy of being called the National Mosque. Anytime I came to pray or join the NASFAT at their weekly programme, I was always marvelled at the edifice.

After a while, the National Mosque was losing its standard. It was great joy when the then President, Chief Obasanjo, spearheaded the donation for the renovation of the National Mosque. Whether it was political or not, that could be a discourse for another day. But that singular act earned the leader huge respect amongst his peers. Obasanjo came at the right time to rescue the National Mosque from its first fall. The renovation was carried out to some extent, the general cleaning, polishing of the marbles, the minarets and so on and so forth were carried out. Whether the money spent for the renovation commensurated with the level of work done, I would not want to delve into that in this write-up. That would be for the conscience of those who carried out the execution of the project. It’s between them and Almighty Allah (SWT).

My main concern on the issue is the drastic and tragic fall of the National Mosque. It has lost its values. The then “Mecca” of sort for all the who is who in Nigeria has now become the shadow of itself. The mosque used to be the meeting point of great Muslims, either in government or business, but that attribute has now departed the National Muslim treasure and monument. A mosque which hitherto contains tens of thousands of worshippers both inside and outside the main mosque hardly fills the inside to capacity, talk more of having people praying outside during the Jumu’ah services.

The National Mosque has now become a funeral place for big personalities. It saddens my heart anytime I drive past the National Mosque, see fleet of cars, hear the blaring of sirens, and by the time I stop to ask what’s going on there or open my phone, the news of the death of one personality and his/her Jana’iza being performed or soon to be performed at the National Mosque is what I get. It is a pity.

The clerics at the National Mosque are not really looking as expected. I wonder how we have clerics at the national level living almost below average. Yes, it’s not written in the Quran that clerics must be rich but Allah made us to understand that poverty can ignite a mind with disbelief.

Reverse is actually the case at Al-Nur mosque in Wuse II, Abuja. Attention has been shifted to Al-Nur mosque. Majority of government functionaries who are Muslims are now using the mosque as their meeting point. In fact, if you are a great personality and your daughter or son is getting married, Al-Nur mosque would be the definition of your persons and guests.

The only time I heard about funeral rite being performed at Al-Nur mosque was when Imam Imam, the late Special Assistant to Governor Tambuwal died. Aside that, funeral rites have been shifted to the National Mosque while weddings and other merriments now take place at Al-Nur Mosque.

Reasons for this write up is for all the relevant stakeholders, especially the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs headed by the Amirul Muslim, His Eminence, the Sultan of Sokoto, to please do something fast by calling on all well-meaning Muslims not to allow this national Islamic heritage become a national funeral mosque.

The national mosque was almost coming back to life when the current President, Muhammadu Buhari, came into office in 2015 and observed his Jumu’ah services in the mosque, but immediately he switched and started praying in the Villa, the mosque fell again.

This House of Allah Must Not Fall!!

Alhaji Mutiu Adebola Adenola ([email protected])