Since EId-l-Kabir popularly called festival of sacrifice revolves around Prophet Ibrahim and his son, Ismail, the Speaker Oyo State House of Assembly, Hon Adebo Ogundoyin wants Nigerians not to lose hope in Allah as demonstrated by the duo during their trying times.
Hon Ogundoyin in his Sallah message urged Nigerians to emulate the level of obedience and devotion demonstrated by Prophet Ibraheem and his son as to receive uncommon mercy and favor from Allah.
While congratulating Muslims across message congratulated Muslims across the country, particularly the teeming Muslims in Oyo State on the festival, the Oyo State Speaker described the celebration as another opportunity for faith renewal and unalloyed obedience inline with the tradition of the Father of Faith, Prophet Ibraheem.
“The Feast of Sacrifice dated back to the historic event when Prophet Ibraheem was commanded by God, in a form of a dream to sacrifice his son, Ismail. But while he was in the act of sacrificing his son, Allah sent Angel Gabriel with a ram to replace his son hence the slaughtering of ram by the Muslims during the festival. The story is mentioned in Chapter 37 of the Holy Qur’an. If we as a nation increase our faith in our Creator and demonstrate our obedience to him, then our prayer requests for our dear country especially on the myriads of challenges like corruption,insecurity in different forms, ritual killings among others confronting us will be answered ” Hon Ogundoyin stressed
The Oyo State Speaker who noted that the feast of sacrifice this year is being hampered by Covid-19 pandemic however stressed that the unfortunate situation should not prevent Islamic faithful, their families and millions of Nigerians from enjoying the celebration , sharing food especially meat with their families, the poor and their neighbors as well as reflecting on the grand teachings of Eid-l- Kabir which is obedience to the Creator.
He nonetheless appealed to Muslims and others who will be joining in the celebration to adhere strictly to precautionary measures against Coronavirus as the pandemic is still very much with us.
According to him, the Oyo State Governor, Engr Seyi Makinde is relentless in the fight against Covid-19 and decided to open mosques and Eid prayer grounds with the firm believe that the laid down precautions on preventing the virus will be followed.
” We should not throw our nose masks away as we celebrate. Let us make sanitizers available for use at regular intervals. We should also observe physical distancing to avoid contracting the deadly virus” Hon Ogundoyin said.
Hon Ogundoyin in the Sallah message prayed Allah to rid the whole world of the pandemic and wished the Muslims happy Eid-l-Kabir celebration.
The particularly rejoiced with Islamic faithful in the 9th Oyo State House of Assembly, the Islamic faithful in the cabinet of the Oyo State Governor as well as the teeming Muslims in Ibarapa East State Constituency and prayed Allah to grant them the joy, happiness, benefits and outstanding merits and benevolence of the celebration.
