By Kemi Kasumu, General Editor

Chief Sarafa Tunji Isola, who rose from the grassroots as Chairman, Abeokuta North Local Government, through the state as Secretary to Ogun State Government, until he got to a peak as Nigeria’s Minister of Mines and Steel Development, is the choice of Yoruba Muslim leaders as the new Baba Adinni of Yoruba Land.  He will be turbaned in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital, on Tuesday 19th, insha Allah.  What makes Sarafa Isola’s installation stand out is not only because he is third to be so installed in the region or because his, like late MKO Abiola, is coming with glamour but mainly because, this is the first time that a Baba Adinni of Yoruba Land is coming with the zeal, vision and mission to be committed to uniting all strata of clerics and elites of various callings in this part of the country to ensure one voice for the progress and development of the Ummah.  This no doubt, will make the job of national peace, unity and development that the Sultan that is the Leader of the over 90 millions Muslims of Nigeria set out to achieve and has tirelessly done to receive a boost. Sarafa Tunji Ishola, born in Abeokuta, Ogun State, on….. is carrying his experience as the first ever Baba Adinni of Ogun State to the regionwide level but with many innovations for the love of Islam and Nigeria. He speaks more on this in this interview with our reporter.  Excerpts:

The last time we heard of a Baba Adinni of Yoruba Land with all the glamours that came with it was during the Alhaji MKO Abiola time, which makes it seem that for somebody to be considered for that religious title, he must a man of timber and caliber.  What worked for your selection; or is it because you, like Abiola, come from the same place?

Thank you very much. I think that question should be directed to the Ulamas of the League of Imams and Alfas because, in Yoruba parlance it is said “No wise man can install himself as king just as a knowledgeable cannot confer chieftaincy title on himself.”  No matter how beautiful a crown is, in Yoruba Land, nobody carries and puts it on his head.  The kingmakers crown the king.  So, that question should really be meant for them.

But I must say that the way I have seen it, you will recall that about 12 years ago, I was installed as the Baba Adinni of Ogun State, where all the Imams and Alfas in Ogun State came together and installed me as the first Baba Adinni of Ogun State.  And since I left office, I have tried as much as possible to make sure that I promote unity amongst the Ummah.

And I must tell you that my concern as somebody who has occupied exalted positions in this country is in religious harmony and peaceful coexistence. 

You see, most religious conflicts are born out of ignorance especially in a world of high gullibility.  Somebody will just initiate a movement and will start convincing and, before you know it, people are getting swayed. But when people are properly educated, that means you have oneness. It means you have to start with enlightenment programmes and then you have to make use of the Ulamas to reach out to the populace on the normal practice of Islam.

And what do you intend to do differently in promoting religious harmony in the region?

In promoting religious harmony you have to unite the Muslim Ummah because, intra-religious conflicts can be worse than inter-religious conflicts.  For example, Boko Haram.  Unknown to many Nigerians, many Muslims got killed through Boko Haram insurgency.  That is a statement of fact.  But it does not occur to a lot of people.  Muslims are more victims of Boko Haram than people of other religions. That is a major challenge.

So, the challenge that we have in contemporary times even across the world is more of intra-religious conflicts.  In some Arab countries you have the Sunni and the Shi’ites, all Muslims conflicts.  The conflicts in Syria Iraq, Iran, are more of intra-religious conflicts.

Then what did you find out has been the cause of those intra-religious conflicts and now bringing your findings back to Nigeria, what is your thought about domesticating solution?

The challenge we have is the need for appreciable unity among the Muslim Ummah.  For instance, extremism is not something that starts suddenly.  It is a gradual thing. If you don’t have a situation whereby everybody meets together, take time to review situations and nip the problem in the bud, it may lead to conflagration. I always believe that it is better to prevent a crisis, to neutralize a threat rather than waiting for that threat to become a conflagration. You can only achieve this through united efforts.

The League of Imams and Alfas, no doubt, happen to be the people that provide leadership.  If you look at it in the context of the Qur’an, Imamship is about leadership and because they are also in a vantage position to reach the Ummah through their Mimbar (podium) for whatever message they want to convey to the Ummah. They remain  a veritable source of communication. Every Friday they are at the Mimbar. Five daily prayers, they are with the Ummah and after every turn of prayers they can pass messages and the Ummah believe more in their messages.

You see, most religious conflicts are born out of ignorance especially in a world of high gullibility.  Somebody will just initiate a movement and will start convincing and, before you know it, people are getting swayed. But when people are properly educated, that means you have oneness. It means you have to start with enlightenment programmes and then you have to make use of the Ulamas to reach out to the populace on the normal practice of Islam. In actual fact, part of the conference is desired to have a unifying, and later codifying the practice of Islam across Yoruba Land so that the religious way of life of a Muslim in Ekiti is the same thing with a Muslim in Osun, Ondo, Oyo, Ogun, Lagos, Edo and Delta States. It is about unifying the practice of Islam.

But somebody from outside the region will then begin to say the Yoruba Muslims are trying to design Islamic practice based on their self volition.  Or is it that you are saying designing your unification effort based on the dictates of the Qur’an and Hadeeth of the Prophet?

The practice of Islam is anchored on three legs: the Qur’an, the Hadith and the Fiqh. Islam is knowledge driven and the knowledge is based on Qur’an, Hadith and Fiqh. However, we have a situations whereby Islam is not being practised accordingly.  You will attend some gatherings and ask yourself “Am I in an Islamic gathering?”  For instance you go for a Nikah and during the Nikah, what you have is flow of alcohol especially while the Ulamas are still seated.  There must be a way of coming together to spell out how Nikah and other Islamic programmes should be conducted. That is what I mean by unifying Islamic practice. 

You can perform  engagement and wedding, but if you must perform Nikah at that ceremony, it must be an Islamic setting.  These are the issues but people may not know.  And if we don’t talk among ourselves and bring it to attention that intoxicant is not part of Islam, how do people know?  It is not about extremism.  Islam must be practiced in according to its tenet.  There are some parts of our culture that are not out of Islam but, if you are not knowledge driven, you will not be able to know which one is allowed and which one is not allowed.  There are some Arab cultures that are not part of Islam but some people may copy same thinking that they are part of Islamic culture.  It is just like copying the Jewish culture and takingit as part of Christianity, when the Jews are not Christians.

So, these are the issues.  Unless there is proper education, people will not be able to appreciate the issues and these are the areas through which extremism creeps in.  Someone could just develop a habit that is not part of Islam and before you know it, he will start looking for followers, who take his message without asking questions and you end up with dogmatism and from dogmatism to extremism.  And by the time it gets to that, you can’t curb it again because it has become deeply rooted. It is better for you to act when it is being planted, instead of waiting for the thing to be deeply rooted with stems and it has grown leaves and you say you want to cut it.  Because it bothers on ideology.  So these are the issues and so you need education and unity of purpose. We need to sit down and say, “Okay, if you say this is Islam, give us the fatwa.  Point to it in the Qur’an or give us the authentic Hadith backing it.” 

And we will look at the science of Hadith to know whether the action is based on strong or weak Hadith. So, all these are based on knowledge and there is no doubt about the fact that Islam is knowledge-driven.  There is no controversy about it and so it is a universally accepted religion.  The same way of recitation and all of that.  So, how does extremism come in?  No way.

In the South West we thank God we don’t have serious issues of inter-religious conflict. The way the world is going , the challenge is more intra-religious than inter-religious….

(Cuts in) But somebody will also tell you that in the South West there is a lot of inter-religious conflicts with the pockets of anti-Islamic attitude going on in the institutions and the rest of that.  What about that if you say no problem about inter-religious conflict in the South West?

When I say no problem, I mean no life threatening problem thus categorizing the problems to their levels and categories.  All those ones that you talked about are problems that are surmountable.  But, when you start killing people, that goes beyond the educational, social, other institutional issues.  It is what extremism brings.  But if you are talking of political, educational and other differences, they are there and they have not just started today but we have continued to manage them through engagements.  But if it gets to taking of lives, definitely you can’t compare it.  They are not comparable.

To say somebody is Baba Adinni of Yoruba Land, what role is he expected to play in the Muslim Ummah of Yoruba Land that is South West and how do you intend to carry yourself your into playing that role after your installation?

Well, the essence of Baba Adinni, to my understanding, is that you must be in a position to bring the Ummah together. Leaders of the League of Imams and Alfas provide Islamic leadership but they need support. Baba Adinni is not a frontal but back up role.  Yes, the way we are, one can say we are the leaders but there cannot be a leadership without followership.  We are the Ummah and so, we should always strike a balance.

In our contemporary world, things are changing.  Hundred years ago people travelled to Hajj on foot, the Prophet travelled to Hajj on camel.  Can you now say because of that you must go on Hajj on foot or on camel?  We must be able to strike a balance and that is one of the roles that a Baba Adinni must be able to play in support of the leadership of the Imams.  Yes things have changed technologically but it was part of things the Prophet of Islam himself, Muhammad (peace be upon him), had predicted.  But the fundamentals of Islam have not changed.  Khalimah has not changed.  Without khalimah you are not even talking about five daily prayers. Without five daily prayers you are not even talking of Ramadan. Without Ramadan you are not talking of Zakat. Finally, holy pilgrimage, if you can afford it. The five pillars will not change. Islam is anchored on those five pillars.  The challenge is in the practice.  Hadith is about the life and teachings of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). 

The challenge is that some people will bring up a weak Hadith and interprete as a strong Hadith.  And so the issue now is to make sure that the Imams are on the same page on the teachings of the Holy Qur’an and Hadith through constructive engagements by our learned scholars.  Like the proposed conference in Abeokuta , we have about 10 professors of Arabic and Islamic Studies as resource persons.  That is major. Professor D O S Noibi,  Professor Is-haq Oloyede, Professor K. K. Olosho, Professor Kamaldeen Balogun, Professor R Raji,  Professor Ishaq Akintola and so on and so forth.  So, if it is about Islamic Religious Knowledge, come and let us discuss.  That is the issue: bring the academia, bring the Imams, bring the Ulamas, bring the youths and let’s continuously have an annual conference where we meet, review the situation and whatever we conclude, we commence a united action.  That is the essence. 

But if you don’t create a forum that will allow stakeholders  to meet, how do you engage yourselves?  So, at the end of the day, everybody would be doing the same thing: MUSWEN is doing the same thing, RABBITAH is doing the same thing, NACOMYO is doing the same thing, FOMWAN is doing the same thing, all towards religious harmony, all towards unity and oneness of Islam, all towards making sure that extremism does not spread to Yoruba Land.

Well, it is about time somebody of an all-encompassing stature is coming up to lead the way in ensuring an all-Ulamas, all-elites effort towards resolving the long time diverse voices among Muslims of Yoruba Land and so, it is worth saying congratulations about to all of the Muslims of the region.

Thank you.

Lastly on the whole thing is to now look at you as a political personality that we know.  From my personal experience of your person, you are a kind of refined politician, who always considers his status as somebody who owes a lot to the Nigeria as former Minister so that anything you talk about, even as an opposition, you have always kept to that.  Now, coming from this background, how do you as refined politicians, which is what I like to use for you here, ensure that what we usually have as religious, ethnic and partisanship situations must become a thing of the past because, when we have crisis in the land, you have people blaming the politicians, especially for the violent extremism within the religious community and lack of love leading to hate speeches here and there.  How do you intend to be part of solution to problems of this nature?

You see, you have raised two issues. Politicking and the society.  It is only when the society is at peace that you can politick.  We should all realise the essence of being in politics must be to serve the people. We must not derail from that. If we do, we will not only get the punishment on earth, we will also get the punishment in heaven because, every leader that is entrusted with leadership will account for his actions in this world and the hereafter.  As a Muslim, that is the core belief that I have.  I always tell people that I separate politics from other ways of life.

Number two is that we should thank God for the presidential system of government that we have.  If we run a parliamentary system, then opposition and government is a permanent feature of the parliamentary system.  Every day you are reminded we are in government, you are in opposition.  In a presidential system of government, after every election it must be the people, and the society that should matter until after three years.  Then you get to the last year of politicking.  That should be the way we should operate.  Immediately after the election, the loser congratulates the winner and it is about the people. Then those things that the loser have to offer, you send them to the winner.  If you are politicking for the people, then it should be the people that matter and not your party, not your person!  Parties are usually the vehicles for getting into power.  So, the issue of having permanent opposition or permanent government, I don’t believe in it.  I believe in the people and the society.

And in Ogun State we have tried to establish that.  The Governor (Senator Ibikunle Amosun) is the chief host of the conference.  The President (Muhammadu Buhari) is sending a goodwill message to the conference. The people should be our major concern.  How do we ensure that extremism does not get here? And that is important because, if extremism gets here, it doesn’t differentiate between APC and PDP or between Christians and Muslims. 

What Nigeria had witnessed in Boko Haram in the North East, does it discriminate between Christians and Muslims?  Does it discriminate between APC and PDP?  Does it discriminate between social classes?  Everybody is a victim.  We must realise that the issue at heart, which is more important, is the welfare and security of our people.  It is more important than party membership. After every election, the concern must be the  people,  the society and good governance.