Islamic scholars, community leaders and media practitioners have emphasised the need for Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union (IEDPU) to regulate the activities of Muslim preachers in Ilorin Emirate, Kwara State.
The scholars, community leaders and the media practitioners made the call at the end of a one-day summit on advancing peace, spiritual sanity and progress in Ilorin Emirate.
At the event, a retired Grand Kadi of the Sharia Court of Appeal, Ilorin, Justice Salihu Muhammad, commended the leadership of IEDPU for organising the workshop.
“It’s high time that the community rose to defend her reputation being smeared by some of her citizens, particularly the half-baked clerics,” Muhammad said.
Another prominent preacher, Sheikh AbdulRazaq Aduagba, explained that to have a headway on the issue at hand, the support of proprietors of various schools of Arabic and Islamic studies must be sought.
While denouncing the growing lack of moderation among young preachers, Aduagba said that available evidence showed that the school proprietors still have a lot of influence on graduates of their respective schools.
Earlier, the national president of IEDPU, Alhaji AbdulMumini AbdulMalik, had said that the community was at a cross road, adding that, ” it was high time Muslim clerics regained their position as the pride of our community by ensuring that their rank was no longer infiltrated by pretenders as well as fake sheiks. ”
He added that every indigene of Ilorin, particularly Islamic scholars, must ensure that the community was reclaimed from those who were busy tarnishing her image through nefarious practices, particularly “all sorts of rituals and in the extreme, ritual killings.”
While urging Muslim preachers to reflect the desires of the good people of Ilorin Emirate on their preaching during and beyond the Ramadan period, AbdulMalik assured that all the suggestions proffered by the participants would be considered by the union with a view to implementing them.
The event that was attended by the national secretary of IEDPU , Abubakar Imam, Imam of the union, Sheikh Murtala Alaaya, representatives of media outfits, representative of grand Mufti of Ilorin, Sheikh Dr Suleiman Faruq Onikijipa, the grand Mufasir of Ilorin, Sheikh Usman Sanu- Shehu, the proprietor of Centre for Arabic and Islamic Studies, Oke-Agodi, Ilorin, Sheikh Muhammad Murtala and Sheikh Mahmud Adewole.
Others are the representative of the Quadiryyah group, Sheikh Nasir Salati; the representative of the Tijaniyyah, Sheikh Yasin, the secretary of Markaz Alumni Association, Dr AbdulRasheed Olaoti, Imam Omoda, Prof. Khalilulahi Gbodofu, Sheikh Abubakar Issa Solaty, representative of Ansarudeen Society of Nigeria, Prof. Bashir Omipidan and the president of the Association of Young Muslim scholars of Ilorin Emirate, Sheikh Abdulfatai Arowolo.
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