Isa Sa'idu
13 December 2008
Last Eid-el-Kabir was, perhaps, the most controversially celebrated Sallah in the recent past. Islamic scholars, including members of the Sultanate Council of Fatwa, held different views on when the Sallah was supposed to be celebrated. Weekly Trust revisited the divergent views and now reports how three Sallahs were celebrated in Kano.
It is stating the obvious that the year 2008 (1429 AH) Eid-el-Kabir was celebrated at different days at different parts of the country. While the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (SCIA), the highest Islamic decision-making body in Nigeria, slated Sunday, December 7th as Sallah day, in Kano the Sallah was celebrated on three different days in a row by three divergent groups of the ancient city's residents.
All the three Sallahs, except for the last one of Tuesday, were backed by prominent Nigerian Islamic scholars with reasons said to have been sourced from the Qur'an and Sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh).
Many residents - including the Governor of Kano State, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, most of his cabinet members and Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero, with his counselors - of Kano observed the Eid-el-Kabir prayers at the Kofar Mata Eid ground on Sunday, day set aside for the Sallah by the SCIA.
Prominent supporters of Sunday as the Sallah day were the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa'ad Abubakar III, who, in conjunction with SCIA council of Fatwa, said since according to the Nigerian moon sighting Sunday, December 7, is equivalent to the 10th of Qhul Hijja, Sallah can be celebrated despite the decision of the Saudi authority to set the day as Arafat's.
Under normal circumstance, Eid-el-Kabir is supposed to be observed a day after Arafat, a ritual that is performed on the 9th of Islamic lunar month of Qhul Hijja as a major pillar of Hajj.
Scholars like Sheikh Abdullahi Sale Pakistan, Chief Imam of Tudun Murtala Juma'at mosque and chairman Kano state's chapter of Jama'atu Izalatul Bidi'a Wa'iqamatus-Sunnah (JIBWIS), and Ustaz Salisu Muhammad, Chief Imam of Jigawa State Government House mosque, are of the view that there is no any harm in observing the Eid-el-Kabir on Sunday because of many reasons.
Sheikh Pakistan stated their reasons thus: "Observing the fasting of the month of Ramadan is obligatory and the prophet had said we should fast when we see the new crescent and stop fasting when we see the Shawwal crescent, 10thmonth of Islamic lunar calendar. If Nigerian Muslims have agreed to go contrary to other parts of the world during Ramadan, which is one of the obligatory rituals of Islam, and Eid-el-Fitr, there is no any reason that should have stopped us from observing our Eid-el-Kabir last Sunday. Remember, fasting the month of Ramadan is compulsory but both fasting the day of Arafat and Eid-el-Kabir are voluntary and nobody will query you even if you refuse to observe something that is voluntary."
Sheikh Pakistan said another reason that makes it pertinent to observe the Eid-el-Kabir on Sunday is obedience to leaders, which is compulsory upon every Muslim. He said since the Nigerian Muslim leaders had decided, after consulting some prominent scholars and the reality on ground, on Sunday as Eid-el-Kabir, it became compulsory for every Nigerian Muslim to obey.
He added that refusing to observe Sunday as Eid-el-Kabir means disobedience to leaders, which is a gross sin in Islam. Sheikh Pakistan further said that had majority of Nigerian Muslims did not observed the Sallah on Sunday, subsequent orders of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (SCIA) might suffer neglect, the development that would not be healthy for Nigerian Muslims.
On the contrary, Sheikh Dahiru Uthman Bauchi, who is a member of the Sultanate Fatwa council, said it was wrong that the Sallah was observed on Sunday in Nigeria. The scholar also said that ram sacrifices that were offered on Sunday would not attract Allah's reward.
According to the scholar, Nigeria can differ with Saudi Arabia on moon sighting in any month but not in Qhul Hijja because Arafat that usher in the Eid-el-Kabir has time and location, therefore all times of the world that are contrary to the one slated for the Arafat has to be set aside.
In the same vein, despite Sheikh Muhammad Bin Uthman's, the Chief Imam of the Kano Kundila Juma'at mosque, soft-pedal on his earlier stance of faulting Sunday as the Sallah day, the scholar still believes that reasons for observing the Sallah on Monday, December 8, are stronger than those that supported Sunday, December 7.
He said: "Observing voluntary fasting on Arafat day is Sunnah (saying, deed or acknowledgement of the prophet Muhammad (pbuh). We all know that injunctions the Prophet (pbuh) gave were through revelation from Allah. Therefore, it is better for us to observe what come through revelation than to follow the decision or fatwa of any person. Fasting Arafat day cannot be spilled over and it is an injunction of the prophet that came through revelation from Allah.
The unity of the Muslim Umma is also another reason that should have been considered. It is obligatory for Muslims to unite. Eid-el-Kabir is not an obligation in Islam but the unity of Muslims is compulsory. Therefore, it is better for us to have observed our Eid on Monday which is the day all parts of the globe observed theirs for the sake of our unity which lack of it cause us the types of the Jos mayhem."
The scholar, once more, gave an instance where one of the companions of the prophet (pbuh), Abdullahi Bn Mas'ud, gave up his stance that has stronger reasons for the sake of Muslims' unity. Sheikh Uthman averred that one of the successors (Khalifah) of the Prophet (pbuh), Uthman Bn Affan, observed four raka'ats at Mina, one of the holy places in Saudi Arabia, contrary to what the Prophet (pbuh) had taught his companions but Bn Mas'ud followed the congregational prayers which Khalifah Uthman led in order not to create disunity among Muslims. Observing Sallah on Sunday had created disunity among the Nigerian Muslims, he said.
Bin Uthman further stated that observing Eid-el-Kabir on Monday would have allowed Nigerian Muslims, like their counterparts elsewhere in the world, to reap the benefits of observing two sunnahs of the prophet (pbuh).
"Fasting on the day of Arafat is also sunnah as the Eid-el-Kabir, therefore it is better to observe two sunnahs and get double rewards than restricting ourselves to one. Our moon sighting is faulty and not reliable because it is questionable to always fast 29 days in the month of Ramadan. It is also questionable to always say that the month of Sha'aban, 8th Month of the Islamic lunar calendar, almost every year ends at 29 days. You should also know that it is always at certain areas of Northern Nigeria that new crescents of Ramadan and Eid-el-Fitr are sighted. The Prophet (pbuh) had observed 30 days fasting in the month of Ramadan but nobody at my age can tell you that he has ever observed 30 days fasting in the month of Ramadan," Bin Uthman remarked.
Though all attempts to get the scholar who would offer reasons why some groups of Kano residents observed their Sallah on Tuesday, December 9, a worshipper at the Kariya village Eid ground in Kiru local government area of the state said they observed their Eid Tuesday because by their count of the month of Qhul Hijja, Tuesday is the 10th.
The Eid-el-Kabir Sallah has come and gone but, certainly, Nigerian Muslims are desperate to see an end of the controversies that usually trails the moon sighting of the month of Ramadan and the two Sallahs of Eid-el-Fitr and Eid-el-Kabir which the Sultan, Sa'ad Abubakar III, had acknowledged by setting a committee that would work the modalities that might bring an end to the controversies of moon sighting in Nigeria.
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