NIGERIA: Lagos: Friday!

Friday is here again!!! 

The best day of the week!!!

It's just not the best, but also the grandest among all of the days. So grand that, Allah Almighty bestowed a surah about it (Surah Jumu'ah):

“O you who believe! When the call to prayer is proclaimed on Friday hasten earnestly to the remembrance of God, and leave aside business.  That is best for you if you but knew.” (Quran 62:9)

Apart from the surah, countless Hadith (collection of tradition containing the sayings of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), with accounts of his daily practise (sunnah) constitutes the major source of guidance to Muslim apart from the Qur'an.

Abu Huraira reported the Apostle of Allah (may peace be upon him) as saying: The best day on which the sun has risen is Friday; on it Adam was created. on it he was made to enter Paradise, on it he was expelled from it. And the last hour will take place on no day other than Friday (Qur'an 62:9)

It was also on a Friday that the greatest verse was revealed in Surah Al-Maidah (The Table Spread)

...This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favor upon you and have approved for you Islam as religion...(Qur'an 5:3)

It is also the obligatory Friday prayer (solah Jumu'ah) is performed during the hour of Zuhur. What makes it special is the sermon or khutbah before the solah.

By the way, let me rewind a bit. Of the 160Million (maybe more) population of Nigeria, 50% are Muslim. The rest is divided between Christian (40%) and Animism (10%). Some said the numbers are incorrect and any typical Nigerians would be glad to sit down and argue with you the statistics till the cow comes home. 

OK, so most people back home asked me are there any mosque/masjid/masjeed/mossalassi and how do they look like? Well ladies and gentlemen...feast your eyes on these pictures...

Lekki Central Mosque

Solah mat/prayer mat complete
with the name of the mosque

The interior is just similar to ours in Malaysia. Adorned in verses from the Holy Qur'an. This is a new mosque. Easily can fit thousands of people at one time. 

What I can tell you, the imam and bilal during my Zohor prayer was young indeed. I did record the adhan (call of prayer, but lost it..must be in the phone), the tune was like the one in Mecca. Maybe like Sheikh Ali Mulla, but with a twist. Suffice to say it was beautiful...

Ruxton Street Mosque

I've been here only twice so far for my Friday solah. A very small mosque if you would compare to the Lekki Central Mosque. It's near the roundabout to the Lekki Bridge at Alexander Avenue. It will be jam packed on Fridays because of the small road leading to it. 

On a Friday, there will be tazkirah (reminder) in one of the local language (not Yoruba, maybe in Hausa by an ustaz (teacher)..will check next time). Then the call of prayer as soon as it was time and then it will be the sermon (khutbah). The sermon will be in multiple languages. Arab, first and English, second. Depends on the khatib (the one who reads the sermon, also doubles as Imam usually), the sermon will be long. An hour maybe an hour and half is usual. 

tazkirah by the ustaz

Estate 1004 Mosque

When I first arrived in Lagos, I asked our driver about the nearest mosque to our location at that time. We were in Victoria Island (sounds really posh), so off we go to Estate 1004.

Estate 1004 was established in 1979 to accommodate the senators and members of the House of Representative. It was later converted to house the Senior Federal Civil Servants before it was bought over from the government and converted to luxury high rise estate. 

1004 derived from the number of flats, studios and maisonette (small house...town house, maybe) Anyway, it's a big estate (housing area) along the Ozumba Mbadiwe Road. It is the main artery from which you can reach Lekki and the eastern most town of Epe in Lagos, using the Lekki - Epe Expressway. 

The mosque is of an old design as you can see from the following pictures. But I can say it is most lively in comparison of the previous two. There will be a Suya seller at its main entrance, a cobbler, some date sellers and students huddled in small group reading Qur'an or doing some reading together. 

The mosque is equipped with its own
diesel generator, so no problem there with
electricity...No NEPA

Main entrance of the mosque. Note the
cobbler on the left and Suya stall with bright coloured
plastic cover. Behind it is a small shop.

Usual scene on Friday

poring over the old yellow kitabs

Right side of the mosque is a church. There are 3 nearby.
The huge mango tree with a well underneath it.

Just a small plastic tea pot is all they need
to perform wudhu' (ablution)

There are water taps around but they prefer it using the pot. All in the name of sunnah. 

On Friday, there will be the usual tazkirah (reminder) by a young teacher and it was in Hausa. Hausa language is predominant to the northern part of Nigeria. After the adhan,  a middle age man would climb the mimbar or minbar to address the congregation. It was Imam Sulaiman Ibrahim.

Imam Sulaiman Ibrahim 

A 48y.o man from Kano would began adressing the congregation in fluently in Arabic. With him, only a piece of paper to guide him through the points. Fifteen minutes to half an hour passed before he would address us in English. 

The topic is of public interest and mostly the current ones. Like last week it was about Hajj. The types of hajj one can perform, but most importantly the preparation before performing the hajj by the pilgrims. The preparation even before you can go for Hajj. He gave an example, a son who is taking after his elderly parents would not be able to go for hajj, as his obligation towards his parents outweigh everything...even the Hajj. He urged Muslims in similar situation to make niat/niyyah (intention) to go for Hajj as the niat itself is more important than the actual action. Of course, it has to be a good niat, in any case. 

Imam Sulaiman in action

To all school going parents, he reminded to make sure all provision are taken care off. Money for food, to pay bills while away and even the school fees for their children must not be overlooked. Most important thing he said is to have a will made with specific instruction on its execution if the person does not come back from Hajj (due to his or her death). Imam Sulaiman was very specific about this, and urged the congregation to do so. 

The topic of focus during Hajj were also brought up by him. Urging the pilgrims to spend time to pray and performing other Ibadah rather than listening to BBC News (yup, he said that) and the latest football score of your favourite team. Be among good pilgrims of Nigeria and limit idle chit chat. It is not easy to be chosen to perform Hajj, so do your utmost. A mabrur Hajj should be the aspiration of all pilgrims.

His sermon would be long as he would jump from one topic to another. Well, we are very used to that. A diversion from the main topic, even after the du'a just before performing the solah..he could be talking another 15 minutes about the hottest topic which I am disincline to talk about. He would be very angry talking about it (how about banging the mimbar) and showing a machine gun sign and the sound of shooting. He does hope, and so does the rest of the country that the problem which has displaced millions, orphaned the children and made women widows would end soon. InsyaAllah.

A date seller

Ireke or sugar cane

 From time to time, you would see men by the roadside performing solah. It's nothing new. Usually these places were marked using chalk on a wall, indicating it as a place for solah. You can't help but smile to see that here...in Africa, the cradle of civilisation a place where there are thousands of tribe (In Nigeria, at least there are more than 2++ tribes), Islam is what binds us all. These are brothers....Aheh!

I'm not sure if you can see the small water packet in his left hand. That is all the amount of water he needs for wudhu'. Note the man behind him (right) with the water packet between his teeth.