CHAPTER ONE


      INTRODUCTION 


1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Islam is  the  religion  of  peace  and  brotherhood.  It  is  a  belief  in  Divine  Monotheism,  i.e.  belief  in  one

supreme divine being, Allah. It protests against idolatry, inequality and evil ways of the society. Islam enjoins

its followers to lead a pure, simple and decent life.1Islam, as a universal religion, was conveyed extensively to
the nooks and crannies of the world through Da’wah activities. Islam has, from the outset, been identified with

the  act  of  proselytization. This  religion  cannot,  therefore,  be  divorced from  Da‟wah  and vice-versa.  This  is

because, the latter serves as tools for the former. In fact, it equally serves as the backbone through which the

Qur’ān enjoins the entire Muslim community to follow the way of the Prophets by commanding what is good

and prohibiting what is bad:

 

            Let there arise from amongst  you a group of people inviting to all

            that  is  good,  enjoining  al-ma„rūf  (all  that  Islam  orders  one  to  do)

            and  forbidding  al-munkar  (polytheism  and  disbelief  and  all  that

            Islam forbids) and it is they who are successful)                 Q3:104

 

Based on the above verse, it is crystal clear that Muslims are to engage in Da‘wah activities. Not this alone,

but to as well act as model of moderation, eradicate evils, establish justice and deliver supernumerary goodness

to the entire humanity. With this, the Qur’ān extols the Muslims over other creations when it says:


            You  are  the  best  nation  raised  up  for  human  kind.  You  enjoin

              righteousness and forbid corruption and you believe in Allah…           


                                                                      Q3:110                  


Da‘wah, as an instrument of propagation  of  the religion,  aims  basically  at  enjoining  what  is  right  and

forbidden what is wrong. In line with the fact that Muslims are to call the people to the fold of Islam, build a

balanced  and  uncorrupt  society  and  to  give  adequate  sensitization  about Islam,  the  society, Zumratul  Jamiu

Mumin poses a great interest to be studied for its Da’wah activities.


 


1.2   OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

This study aims at achieving the following objectives:

· To probe into historical background of Zumratul Jamiu Mumin.

· To examine its Da‘wah Methodology.

· To evaluate its doctrinal beliefs.

· To examine the position of Zumratul Jamiu Mumin with respect to the adoption of Hadith as a secondary

source of Islamic Law.
 

   1.3  STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Unlike  other  Muslim  organization  with  main  objective  of  winning  new  souls  and  reawakening  spiritual

consciousness of Muslim ones, the primary objective of Zumratul Jamiu Mumin is to engage various religious

leaders,  Muslims  inclusive,  in  hot  debate  regarding  religious  issues.  The  society  regards  only  the  Quran  and

Bible as  sacred  Books  of  Allah  in  determining  religious  issues.  The  use  of Hadith,  to  them,  is  seen  as  an

aberration. This idiosyncratic religious attitude held by Ogun State-based religious body is considered worthy to

be investigated.

 

1.4   SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The  society  is  recently  confined  to  Ogun  State.  Our  study  shall,  therefore,  be  restricted  to  its  religious

activities with particular reference to its Da’wah activities.

 

1.5   HISTORICAL ANTECEDENT OF OGUN STATE

Ogun State is one of the populous states in the South-western Nigeria. It was created on the 3rd of February,

1976 with Abeokuta as its capital. Abeokuta is the largest city in the State and comprises the old Abeokuta and

Ijebu provinces. It was one of the nineteen states created out of the former twelve state structures of 1976. The

state  shares  an  international  boundary  with  the  Republic  of  Benin  to  the  West  and  interstate  boundaries  with

Oyo State and Osun State to the North, Lagos State to the South and Ondo State to the East.2

Ogun State,  ab  initio,  had  seven Local  Government  Areas  (LGA)  at  its  creation,  out  of  which  three

additional  ones  were  created  to  bring  the  number  of  local  government  areas  in  the  state  to  ten.  These  are

Abeokuta,  Egbado North, Egbado South, Ifo/Ota,  Ijebu East, Ijebu North, Ijebu  Ode,  Ijebu  Remo,  Obafemi

Owode and Odeda local government areas.3

In  the  further  creations  of  Local  Government  Areas  in  1981,  1989  and  1991,  the  former Abeokuta LGA

became Abeokuta North  and Abeokuta South  LGAs, Ifo/Ota became Ifoand Ado Odo/Ota LGAs, Ijebu Remo

became Sagamu and Ikenne LGAs, Ijebu Ode became Ijebu Ode and Odogbolu LGAs and Ijebu East became

Ijebu East and Ogun Waterside LGAs, making the total number of LGAs in the state to become fifteen.4

The  last  local  government  creation  exercise  of  March  1997  added  five  more  LGAs  to  the  fifteen  in

existence.  There by  bringing  the  total  number  of  Local  Governments  to  twenty LGAs  in  the  state.  These  are

Ewekoro (from Ifo LGA)  with  its  headquarters  at Itori,  Ijebu NorthEast  with Atan as  its  headquarters, Imeko
Afon having its headquarters at Ipokia and Remo North having Isara as its headquarters.5 Summarily, the state

contains the following twenty Local Government Areas:


Abeokuta North    ImekoAfon


Abeokuta south    Ipokia


Ado-Odo/ Ota    ObafemiOwode


Ewekoro     Odeda


Ifo               Odogbolu


Ijebu East                                             OgunWaterside


IjebuNorth              Remo North


IjebuNorth East                                      Sagamu (shagamu)                


Ijebu Ode               YewaNorth(formerlyEgbadoNorth)


Ikenne                                                     YewaSouth (formerlyEgbadoSouth)


 


1.6 THE CONCEPT OF DA‘WAH

Da’wah is Arabic word from the root word “da’a” which means “to call, to invite and to supplicate i.e. to

call on God”. In Islamic context, it is used to refer to the act of conveying or calling people to the message of

Islam. By this, Da’wah simply means any effort to communicate the message of surrender to God (i.e. Islam) to

other  people  whether  through  word  or  example.6 Quran  buttresses  the  importance  of Da’wah and  those  who

engage in it. Allah says:

And who is better in speech than he who calls people to Allah, works righteousness sand declare, „I am one

                              of those who surrender to Allah.

                                                                                                                 Q41:33                                               

Da’wah, in fact, was the basic mission of the prophets of God. They were raised up among their respective

people to call them to the worship of Allah alone and to abandon the worship of the various false gods that they

had invented.7 Allah says:
                          And verily, We have sent among every Ummah (nation) 

                        a messenger (proclaiming): „worship Allah (alone),

                                               and avoid Taghut (all false deities).Q16:36

Also  the  task  of  spreading  the  message  of  Islam  became  a  duty  on  every  Muslim  when  the  prophet

(S.A.W),  in  his  farewell  message,  enjoined  Muslims  who  were  present  to  convey  the  message  to  those  who

were absent8. In addition to this, Quran explains the quality of Muslim Ummah as the best Ummah based on the

sole duty of enjoining righteousness and forbidding corruption. Allah says:


              You  are  the  best  nation  raised  up  for  humankind.  You  enjoin

              righteousness,  forbid  corruption  and  you  believe  in  Allah…   

              Q3:110


Calling people  to  Islam (Da‘wah) is  an  important  task  and  a  glorious  mission  because  it  means  calling

people to worship Allah alone which is the sole essence of creation. Allah says:

                          And I (Allah) created not the Jinn and mankind

                            except that they should worship Me (alone)

                                                                                                  Q51:56

 Furthermore,  Allah  does  not  only  encourage Da’wah in  the  Quran  but  also  explains  the  way  it  should  be

carried out. The methodology to be adopted for Da’wah is clearly explained in the Holy Quran. Allah says: 

              Invite  (call)  to  the  way  of  your  Rabb  (Lord)  with  wisdom  and

              beautiful  preaching  and  argue  with  them  in  ways  that  are  best

              (and most gracious)…                             

                                                                    Q16:12

The analogy of the above verse, by virtue of extensive deduction, forms the real concept of Da’wah, which

is  calling  with  Wisdom, Beautiful  preaching  and  Best  argument. This  is  best  way  of  calling  people  to  Islam.

Also in another verse of the Quran, Allah enjoined Moses to be lenient when talking to Pharaoh. Allah says:

                          Go both of you to Fir‟aun (Pharaoh), verily,

                           he has transgressed. And speak to him mildly,

                              perhaps he may accept admonition or fear (Allah).

                                                      &nbs

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