The Chief Missioner of Igbomina-Ekiti Muslim Forum, Alhaji Abdulkadir Salaudeen, has urged wealthy Muslims to empower indigent ones among them rather than bankrolling their travels for hajj.
Salaudeen stated this while delivering a paper at the Annual Ramadan Lecture of the forum in Ilorin on Sunday.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Hajj, in Islam, is the pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia, which every adult Muslim is expected to do, at least, once in his/her lifetime.
NAN also reports that Hajj is the fifth of the fundamental Muslim practices and institutions, known as the Five Pillars of Islam.
According to Salaudeen, some wealth Muslims have glamourised going for Hajj pilgrimage every year at the detriment of empowering indigents ones, as dictated by Allah.
The cleric said that the funds being used by wealthy Muslims to sponsor them to Hajj could be used to empower them in their various trades and endeavours.
This, he said, would make them to be equally be self-sufficient enough to fund their own Hajj trip.
Also read: 2024 Hajj: Kebbi Board urges prospective pilgrims to complete N1.9m balance
“There are rich people among us who will never support the indigent to get empowered but they will be willing to bankroll the Hajj trip of some poor people who can hardly feed themselves.
“Those who bankroll Hajj travels of indigent Muslims don’t even support them with what to feed their families when they are back from pilgrimage.
“It is better to empower them so as to be economically buoyant rather than sending them to Hajj and they remain needy and indigent.
“When you uplift them, they will, in turn, be in position to help themselves and also others,” he said.
The cleric also cautioned against alms-begging, saying that the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) strongly warned against such unwholesome practice for sustenance.
Quoting the Holy Prophet of Islam, Salaudeen said that it was better for a Muslim to be fetching firewood for sale to sustain themselves rather than engaging in alms-begging.
He expressed the regret that some Muslims had become professionals in alms-begging, a practice which, said, contradicted the dictates of Islam.
The chief missioner, however, pointed out that under the Islamic injunction, the state was expected to be responsible for the welfare of the indigent, adding that rich Muslims must also contribute to Zakat to cater for the needy.
He enjoined Muslims to “promote what is good and forbid what is evil”, as dictated by Allah.
Also speaking, President of the forum, Alhaji Nasrudeen Ibrahim, expressed satisfaction with the organisation’s 2024 Ramadan Lecture.
Although Ibrahim admitted that there were some constraints, he, however, said that the forum had been a rallying point for unity of the Ummah.
He enjoined Muslims to remember the lessons and spirit of Ramadan, as Eid-el-Fitr celebration approaches, stressing that they should maintain piety, even after the end of Ramadan.
