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By AbuSatar Hamed & Raymond Osho
ILARO-YEWA – The Chief Imam of Ilaro Central Mosque, Ilaro-Yewa, headquarters of Ogun West, Imam Tajudeen Mustapha-Adewunmi, has lamented the rate at which Muslim faithful are being converted to Christianity in the country.
Imam Mustapha-Adewunmi in an interview with StarTrend International crew, shortly after the Jumat Service on Friday, January 1, 2021 hung the situation on negligence on the part of some Islamic leaders who through their utterances and ways of life made some Muslim faithful to look elsewhere for their religious obligations.
The revered cleric who described the migration as alarmingly on the increase faulted the Muslim leaders, saying, “Many Muslim leaders don’t care about the welfare of their congregations, and they are in lack of ways to package the religion in a way that Muslim faithful would build confidence in the religion as it used to be in the past.”
He noted that this deficiency would continue to lead to conversion of Muslims to Christian if Muslim leaders did not do the needful as being done by the Christians.
For instance, Imam Adewunmi said, “Christian leaders often organise seminars and empowerment programmes for their followers to develop them in line with their Christian faith, but it’s regretable to note that this is missing in Islam.”
Imam Mustapha-Adewunmi appealed to leaders of the Islamic faith to cultivate the habit of solving the financial, psychological and emotional problems of Muslim faithful instead of focusing majorly on spiritual impartation.
His words, “We should try to organise conferences and seminars where we sit down with our Muslim brothers and sisters, train them the way they can serve and also to solve their problems, either psychological, educational or financial; if we continue like that our children would not convert to other religion and we will triumph in Islam.
“It’s sad to note that we have not practiced Islam as it should be. What I’m saying is that we should package Islam the way it should be, we don’t just build mosque, we need financial support, counselling, and more for our people.”
Imam Mustapha-Adewunmi stressed that “Islamic religion goes beyond how to perform ablution and solat, adding that Imams and Alfas need to learn to show love and compassion to their followers.
“We should always share from our people’s pains and troubles, and also try our best to alleviate their problems, both spiritual and physical.
“It’s also sad to note that some of the Imams and Alfas are not well trained before they took over the positions of Imams and Alfas. Aside from having knowledge in Quranic studies Islamic leaders should also undergo training on how to manage and genuinely lead their congregation.”
The Islamic scholar posited that Muslim leaders should stop using derogatory languages while addressing their followers or delivering their sermons, rather they should address them with encouraging words, saying, “the utterances of Imams or Alfas should not drive people away from practicing Islam, as Prophet Muhammed identified Islam as religion of peace.”
Imam Mustapha-Adewunmi also described the attitude of some Islamic sects as another factor that led to the migration from Islam to Christianity, adding the country’s Imams and Alfas should rise up to this aching and annoying challenge, to always reiterates Islam to the people as a religion of love and peace.
He however called on the Muslim elites, association and elders to quickly find ways to stop the increasing migration of Muslim faithful to other religion.
Fielding a question, Imam Mustapha-Adewunmi commended Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun in his quest to give the people of the state a lease of life, saying the governor should try as much as possible to do more and spread the development evenly across the state.
He advised the youths to be prayerful and desist from anything negative that could affect their future, praying, “God in His infinite mercies to continue to guide and protect them to achieve their goals in life.”
Imam Mustapha-Adewunmi also offered prayers to God, for President Muhammadu Buhari, his team, state governors, local government chairmen, traditional rulers and the entire people of Nigeria for God’s continued protection over the country.
