Kunle Adelabu
Sheikh Sefiudeen Ademoritan Olowo-Oribi, the Chief Imam of Ikorodu Central Mosque and Grand Chief Imam of Ikorodu Division, has urged Muslim faithful to pay more attention to the lessons taught by Eid Adha (Ileya celebration) than trying to impress people with the killing of rams for the celebration.
He also charged them not to incur any debt because they want to celebrate the festival.
He gave these advice while speaking with THE IMPACT in his Ijomu house in Ikorodu.
“I want tell our Muslim faithful that as Ileya festival is fast approaching, they should pay more attention to their faith and act in accordance to the lessons and significance of the celebration as taught and represented by Prophet Ibrahim (may the peace of Allah be upon him)”, the Chief Imam said.
“The Prophet related with Allah with faith and truthfulness and that was where the celebration of Ileya came into being.
“The celebration is all about the reality of his dreams in which God commanded him to sacrifice his only son to Him and he did. He did it in obedience to God because he had faith in Him.
“But his belief paid off as God replaced the life of Ibrahim’s son with a ram which he slaughtered as sacrifice.
Chief Imam Olowo – Oribi explained that Satan did everything to convince Prophet Ibrahim and his son not to obey God’s commandment concerning the sacrifice but that because of their faith in God, they turned Satan down and threw stone at him.
The Islamic cleric stated that Muslims today usually stand at the point where Prophet Ibrahim threw stone at Satan to do same and also kill rams in place of human being during the Holy Pilgrimage (Hajj) as done by the Prophet.
“The place where Satan was stoned when he tried to convince Prophet Ibrahim and his son not to carry out God’s command, is where we too are throwing stones at him when we go for Hajj and we also kill ram as they did then”.
While stating that it is mandatory for every Muslim to kill ram as directed by Allah, the grand Chief Imam said that anyone without the power and means should not go into debt but observe the celebration with faith.
“We all owed the debt to kill ram to celebrate Ileya but we are not mandated to go into debt because we want to do that or impress anybody”, he said.
“Observing the commandment to kill ram must be based on your capacity and anyone that does not have that capacity should not force himself.
“Ileya is about faith in God and not about showing off to prove to people that you can afford the means to kill ram. It is about our relationship with God”, Imam Olowo – Oribi said further.
