13/05/2021
*FELICITATION ON EID-EL-FITRI*
The 1442 AH fasting {Ramadhan} has just been concluded. The period of thirty-day spiritual rebirth commenced on the 13th of April after the traditional announcement of moon sighting in notable parts of the Nigerian north by the Sultan.
Like in the few of such instances in the past, this year's experience is unique both in its noiseless {freedom from controversy} beginning and its consensual ending. Maybe Allah's way of again re-inforcing the need for us to unite all fronts as brethren of a common root.
Let it be said one more time that it is out of sheer generosity of Allah that we have been spared for today. I participated in a Jannazah at a Muslim cemetery in Ibadan just two days ago, shortly after which the fellow manning the cemetery at about 2pm declared that ours was the 7th co**se to be interned in the dawn of a single day! Who knows if some others were buried upon our departure. What an opportunity we have!
We must shun permanently all the habits neglected for the sake of Ramadhan. It is evident that our tenacity to vices in this part of the world keeps plunging our economy into the deodulrum and making life unbearable for many families. We owe both our generation and that of our children the duty to bequeth a virile nation where peace, love and prosperity are the hallmark and its symbolic identity. May the Almighty intervene in the worsening insecurity in the land, the brutal inflation and the complicity of both the leaders and led.
As Muslims, the sustained agony of Palestine must arrest our attention, while we had unhindered access to our various religious centres during fasting, they, especially in the twilight of Ramadan recorded fatalities, varying degrees of injuries as a result of unprovoked Israeli onslaughts, making them spend most of the period burying their dead.
We must remember them in our prayers today for the preservation of their lives and Deen.
Let me, on behalf of the executive Council, appreciate our affectionate fathers, mothers and members of the Association who received with rare enthusiasm, our routine Ramadhan visitation, and contributed their hard-earned resources while sharing their precious time for the success of the programme. We remain eternally grateful and ask the Almighty Allah to accept all the prayers we exchanged, replenish your purse and spare us for many more.
We must all leave for the prayer ground early while chanting Allah's praises in our most dignifying Sallah attire. Remember that Zakatu-fitri after eid is a mere charity with no matching potency of a stricto senso pre-eid offerings. Hurry up on this before it is too late!
*ILYAS B. AGBOOLA
PRESIDENT.*