CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Islam is
the religion of peace and brotherhood. It is a belief in Divine
Monotheism, i.e. belief in one supreme divine being, Allah. It protests
against idolatry, inequality and evil ways of the society. Islam enjoins
its followers to lead a pure, simple and decent life.1Islam, as a
universal religion, was conveyed extensively to
the nooks and
crannies of the world through Da’wah activities. Islam has, from the
outset, been identified with the act of proselytization. This religion
cannot, therefore, be divorced from Da‟wah and vice-versa. This is
because, the latter serves as tools for the former. In fact, it equally
serves as the backbone through which the Qur’ān enjoins the entire
Muslim community to follow the way of the Prophets by commanding what is
good and prohibiting what is bad:
Let there arise from amongst you a
group of people inviting to all that is good, enjoining al-ma„rūf (all
that Islam orders one to do) and forbidding al-munkar (polytheism and
disbelief and all that Islam forbids) and it is they who are successful)
Q3:104
Based on the above verse, it is crystal clear that Muslims
are to engage in Da‘wah activities. Not this alone, but to as well act
as model of moderation, eradicate evils, establish justice and deliver
supernumerary goodness to the entire humanity. With this, the Qur’ān
extols the Muslims over other creations when it says:
You are the best nation raised up for human kind. You enjoin righteousness and forbid corruption and you believe in Allah…
Q3:110
Da‘wah,
as an instrument of propagation of the religion, aims basically at
enjoining what is right and forbidden what is wrong. In line with the
fact that Muslims are to call the people to the fold of Islam, build a
balanced and uncorrupt society and to give adequate sensitization about
Islam, the society, Zumratul Jamiu Mumin poses a great interest to be
studied for its Da’wah activities.
1.2 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
This study aims at achieving the following objectives:
To probe into historical background of Zumratul Jamiu Mumin.
To examine its Da‘wah Methodology.
To evaluate its doctrinal beliefs.
To examine the position of Zumratul Jamiu Mumin with respect to the adoption of Hadith as a secondary source of Islamic Law.
1.3 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Unlike
other Muslim organization with main objective of winning new souls and
reawakening spiritual consciousness of Muslim ones, the primary
objective of Zumratul Jamiu Mumin is to engage various religious
leaders, Muslims inclusive, in hot debate regarding religious issues.
The society regards only the Quran and Bible as sacred Books of Allah in
determining religious issues. The use of Hadith, to them, is seen as an
aberration. This idiosyncratic religious attitude held by Ogun
State-based religious body is considered worthy to be investigated.
1.4 SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
The
society is recently confined to Ogun State. Our study shall, therefore,
be restricted to its religious activities with particular reference to
its Da’wah activities.
1.5 HISTORICAL ANTECEDENT OF OGUN STATE
Ogun
State is one of the populous states in the South-western Nigeria. It
was created on the 3rd of February, 1976 with Abeokuta as its capital.
Abeokuta is the largest city in the State and comprises the old Abeokuta
and Ijebu provinces. It was one of the nineteen states created out of
the former twelve state structures of 1976. The state shares an
international boundary with the Republic of Benin to the West and
interstate boundaries with Oyo State and Osun State to the North, Lagos
State to the South and Ondo State to the East.2
Ogun State, ab
initio, had seven Local Government Areas (LGA) at its creation, out of
which three additional ones were created to bring the number of local
government areas in the state to ten. These are Abeokuta, Egbado North,
Egbado South, Ifo/Ota, Ijebu East, Ijebu North, Ijebu Ode, Ijebu Remo,
Obafemi Owode and Odeda local government areas.3
In the further
creations of Local Government Areas in 1981, 1989 and 1991, the former
Abeokuta LGA became Abeokuta North and Abeokuta South LGAs, Ifo/Ota
became Ifoand Ado Odo/Ota LGAs, Ijebu Remo became Sagamu and Ikenne
LGAs, Ijebu Ode became Ijebu Ode and Odogbolu LGAs and Ijebu East became
Ijebu East and Ogun Waterside LGAs, making the total number of LGAs in
the state to become fifteen.4
The last local government creation
exercise of March 1997 added five more LGAs to the fifteen in existence.
There by bringing the total number of Local Governments to twenty LGAs
in the state. These are Ewekoro (from Ifo LGA) with its headquarters at
Itori, Ijebu NorthEast with Atan as its headquarters, Imeko
Afon
having its headquarters at Ipokia and Remo North having Isara as its
headquarters.5 Summarily, the state contains the following twenty Local
Government Areas:
Abeokuta North ImekoAfon
Abeokuta south Ipokia
Ado-Odo/ Ota ObafemiOwode
Ewekoro Odeda
Ifo Odogbolu
Ijebu East OgunWaterside
IjebuNorth Remo North
IjebuNorth East Sagamu (shagamu)
Ijebu Ode YewaNorth(formerlyEgbadoNorth)
Ikenne YewaSouth (formerlyEgbadoSouth)
1.6 THE CONCEPT OF DA‘WAH
Da’wah
is Arabic word from the root word “da’a” which means “to call, to
invite and to supplicate i.e. to call on God”. In Islamic context, it is
used to refer to the act of conveying or calling people to the message
of Islam. By this, Da’wah simply means any effort to communicate the
message of surrender to God (i.e. Islam) to other people whether through
word or example.6 Quran buttresses the importance of Da’wah and those
who engage in it. Allah says:
And who is better in speech than he who
calls people to Allah, works righteousness sand declare, „I am one of
those who surrender to Allah.
Q41:33
Da’wah, in fact, was the
basic mission of the prophets of God. They were raised up among their
respective people to call them to the worship of Allah alone and to
abandon the worship of the various false gods that they had invented.7
Allah says:
And verily, We have sent among every Ummah (nation)
a messenger (proclaiming): „worship Allah (alone),
and avoid Taghut (all false deities). Q16:36
Also
the task of spreading the message of Islam became a duty on every
Muslim when the prophet (S.A.W), in his farewell message, enjoined
Muslims who were present to convey the message to those who were
absent8. In addition to this, Quran explains the quality of Muslim Ummah
as the best Ummah based on the sole duty of enjoining righteousness and
forbidding corruption. Allah says:
You are the best nation raised up for humankind. You enjoin righteousness, forbid corruption and you believe in Allah… Q3:110
Calling
people to Islam (Da‘wah) is an important task and a glorious mission
because it means calling people to worship Allah alone which is the sole
essence of creation. Allah says:
And I (Allah) created not the Jinn and mankind
except that they should worship Me (alone)
Q51:56
Furthermore,
Allah does not only encourage Da’wah in the Quran but also explains the
way it should be carried out. The methodology to be adopted for Da’wah
is clearly explained in the Holy Quran. Allah says:
Invite (call) to
the way of your Rabb (Lord) with wisdom and beautiful preaching and
argue with them in ways that are best (and most gracious)…
Q16:12
The
analogy of the above verse, by virtue of extensive deduction, forms the
real concept of Da’wah, which is calling with Wisdom, Beautiful
preaching and Best argument. This is best way of calling people to
Islam. Also in another verse of the Quran, Allah enjoined Moses to be
lenient when talking to Pharaoh. Allah says:
Go both of you to Fir‟aun (Pharaoh), verily,
he has transgressed. And speak to him mildly,
perhaps he may accept admonition or fear (Allah).
Q20:43-44
1.6.1 OBJECTIVES OF DA 'WAH
Da‟wah, as an instrument of calling people to the Islamic fold, therefore, aims to achieve the following objectives:
Conveying the message of Islam to non-Muslim and inviting them to Allah.
Making efforts to remove misconception about Islam and Muslims.
Making efforts for the integration of new converts into the Muslim community.
To develop material resources, recruit manpower (volunteer) and provide training for Da’wah workers.
These and many more are parts of the objectives of Da’wah.
It
is important to know that the goal of Da‟wah is not to force the
non-Muslims to convert into Islam but inform them about the religion.
They are to make the decision based on their own freewill after the
message is conveyed to them. This is evident in the Holy Quran where
Allah says:
There is no compulsion in religion.
Verily, the right part has become
distinct from the wrong path. Q2:256
The
purpose of Da‘wah as well, is to bring all people out of darkness and
into the light. Islamic Proselytizers are to convert the non-believers
neither through compulsion nor coercion rather through persuasion,
proselytization, true-faith and realization. They are to purify people
of unwanted qualities and teach them the way of Allah and wisdom behind
the acceptability of Islam.
1.7 DA‘WAH IN NIGERIA
Da’wah in
Nigeria is as old as the religion itself. This is because the religion
got to the country through the instrument of Da’wah. In Nigeria,
according to I.O. Oloyede (2014), Islam was first accepted by the Kanem
Ruler, Umme Jilmi (1085-1097). He was introduced to Islam by the
scholar, Hamed Muhammad Mani.9 This made the scholar, Muhammad Mani, the
first person who introduced the religion to the country. Ummi Jilmi‟s
son, Dunama 1 (1097-1150), also followed his father‟s interest in Islam,
learning and practising it and was reported to have gone on Hajj,
Oloyede maintains.10This trend continued till the reign of Idris Alooma
when the religion flourished more. Mai Idris Alooma (1570-1602) of Bornu
had far-reaching and more extensive Islamic
campaign than his
predecessors, building mosques and Islamic schools, thereby
strengthening the foothold of Islam in Bornu-Kanem axis.11
Historical
antecedents show that a time was in some parts of this
country-Nigeria-when Islam comprehensively governed the lives of the
people. Everything, at that time, was being done within the framework of
Islam. In fact, there is no doubt that Arabic was more or less the
official language and Muslim scholars were alive to their
responsibilities moving from one town to another spreading the religion
of Allah, promoting the Islamic education and purifying the society from
corruption and Kufr, e.t.c. Undoubtedly and without any exaggeration,
that time could be marked as the golden era of Islam in Nigeria.
The
exact period that Yorubaland came in contact with Islam is still
unknown, but historians between the 14th and 15th centuries during of
Mansa Kanka Musa of Mali Empire. The first mosque was built in Oyo-Ile
in 1550 A.D, although it was to serve foreign Muslims in Oyo as there
were no Oyo Muslims at that time.12 Islam was known to Yoruba people as
Esin-Imole, a patronymic reference to Mali. This means that the Malians
were the pioneers of Islam in the region, Yorubaland. The activities of
Du’at, especially during the jihad of Uthman Dan Fodio (1804-1810),
helped the religion to spread to other parts of Yorubaland in which Ogun
Sate is not left out. This was when many scholars, from Hausaland
through Ilorin, came to Yorubaland with sole aim of spreading the
religion.
However, with the colonialists‟ invasion of this country,
the tempo with which the Da‘wah was progressing was halted. This was
done through numerous measures notably but certainly not exclusively
such as modification of the Sharȋ‘ah, relegation of Arabic and Islamic
education to the background. The measures increased tremendously and
multiplied to include imperialism, Zionism, secularism, communism and
socialism among others. All these forces combined together to ensure
that the cog put in the wheel of Islam is not removed. The unscrupulous
activities of the whites sprang the Muslims to come up with many
strategies to revive Da‟wah‟s spirit of the Muslims. This led to the
formation of different organizations, societies and group of individuals
to engage in various forms of Da‟wah in their respective domains. These
societies and organizations include the following among others:
Ahmadiyyah Muslim Jama’ah, Ansaru-d-Din Society, Jama’tu Tabligh in
Nigeria, Zumratu-l-Islamiyyah Society of Nigeria, Nawairud-Din society
of Nigeria, Muslim Association of Nigeria, National Council of Muslim
Youth Organizations (NACOMYO) and of course Zumratul Jamiu Mumin Society
on which this work is based.
End notes
1. Raheem. A. 2003. Islamic History. Delhi: Royal Pu