Think, Speak and Act Good About Nigeria, Salako Charges Ahmadiyyat Jamaat At Their Annual Conference In Ilaro

Sharing is caring!

Nigeria’s Minister of State for Environment, Dr. Iziaq Adekunle Salako, adminished the Ahmadiyyat Jamaat to think good, speak good and act good about Nigeria. He said this at the 69th Annual Conference of the Society. Salako, who is also a member of the Ahmadiyyat Jamaat added that the Quran teaches us to obey (with goodness) constituted authorities as long as they do not command us to disobey Almighty Allah and His Prophet Razululah (SAW).

The full text of the his remarks:

1. PROTOCOLS AND GREETINGS
2. It is a great privilege and honour to stand before you today as a special invitee of the 69th annual conference of my Jama’at, The Ahmadiyyat Muslim Jamaat, Nigetia.
3. I remember as a young boy, in the 70s, when this conference used to hold in Surulere, Lagos, it was one conference that we all looked foreward to with high anticipation, expectation and excitement. In those days, if you misbehave in the house and you are told no conference for you, it was almost like a death sentence.
4. There was this year that my mum took ill shortly before Jalsa and therefore she could not attend. One of us, the children needed to stay behind with her so that she can have somebody next to her to send on errands. As children, all of us tried to find reason not stay behind. Eventually, the lot fell on me to stay behind. Immediately, I was told that I wont be going, I also took ill only to get well the next day when it was decided that one of her sisters will be staying with her. That was the kind of love and attachments we had to the annual Jalsa in those days.
5. Alhamudulilahi robil allameen how far Almighty Allah has taken the Ahmadiyyat Jamaat in Nigeria and worldwide.
6. My father, Alhaji Yunus Akande Omotosho Salako was the first President of the Jamaat in my town, Ayetoro, and unlike we the politicians, he did 3 terms without any dust being raised. He infact came back as Treasurer, I think for another 2 terms. In my town, today, his house is known by no other name than SALAAM AILEKUM HOUSE.
7. For somebody with no formal education and from a largerly traditionalist family, he was able to set a firm ground for us and in a way build a wall of Islamic ethos around us.
8. May Almighty Allah bestow his mercy on him as he took care of me when I was young. May Almighty Allah be merciful on all our parents whether dead or alive.
9. Let me also use this rare opportunity to talk briefly to you my brothers and sisters on one of the most pressing and threatning challenge being faced by humanity today and how our disobedience of the laws of Almighty Allah has led us on the path of race against time to safe planet earth and humanity from extinction. I am talking about the planetary crisis of climate change.
10. Climate change refers to a long term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns mainly caused by human activities especially the burning of fossil fuel.
11. The Ouran Chapter 4 ( Surah An-Nisa) verse 31, teaches us that Almighty Allah created a perfectly balanced world on the basis of sustainability and circularity.
12. Almighty Allah created natural cycles;
    A natural process in which elements are continuously cycled in various forms between different compartments of the environment (e.g., air, water, soil, organisms). Examples include the carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycles (nutrient cycles) and the water cycle. This is to ensure sustainability and balance.
13. Climate change is a consequence of man’s disruption of this natural balance through over exploitation, over production and over consumption.
14. In Quran chapter 6 (Surah Al-an’am): Verse 165, Almighty Allah said:

“For He it is Who has appointed you vicegerent (Khalifa, agents, inheritors, successors) over the earth, and has exalted some of you over others in rank that he may try you in what He has bestowed is upon you. Indeed your Lord is swift in retribution, and He is certainly AllForgiving, All-Compassionate.

15. This statement embodies important truths that speaks to our responsibility to planet earth and the consequences of our mismanaging it.
16. As human beings, we are representatives of Allah on earth and HE has entrusted us with many things and endowed us with the power to use them. This is designed to test us. Our entire life is like a vast examination wherein we are being tested about the trust we have received from Allah: how sensitive we are to that trust, to what extent we live up to it, and to what extent we prove to be competent with it.
17. Climate change and other planetary crisis being faced by humanity is a result of man failing in the divine responsibility to take care of planet earth and all its resources for our selves and our children unborn.
18. Science has clearly shown that if man continue to live its live on earth the way we are currently doing, there may be no earth left to live in.
19. Climate change is causing more frequent and intense drought, storms, heat waves, rising sea levels, melting glaciers and warming oceans which is directly harming man and other creatures of Almighty Allah, destroying the places we live, and wreaking havoc on people’s livelihoods and communities.
20. It is the single biggest health threat facing humanity.
21. It is causing massive crop and fishery collapse, the disappearance of hundreds of thousands of species, and entire communities becoming uninhabitable.
22. WHAT CAN WE DO INDIVIDUALLY

a. Save energy at home: LED lights, switch off, change energy source to renewable etc .

b. Walk, bike or take public transport

c. Reduce, reuse, repurpose or recycle

d. Eat more vegetables and fruits: animal base diet results in more green house gas emmission

e. Moderation in using of every resourses: eat in moderation, conserve water ( even for ablution)

f. Dont be wasteful and throw away things including left over food

g. Plant trees and dont cut down a tree except its absolutely necessary

h. Be less disruptive to nature in doing your construction: less paving, preseving vegetation

i. Dispose your waste properly in an environmental sound manner

j. Protect insects and other animals. Dont kill them indiscriminately

k. Join the crusade and speak up when the laws of nature are being breached: building on waterways, wetlands, disposing waste indiscriminately, burning bush indiscriminately etc

23. Finally, let me call on us to be more patriotic, more committed to our country Nigeria. Yes, it can be better, but our country is not the worst place on earth. Most of us Nigerians think, speak and act too negatively about the country. As Ahmadiyyat Muslims, let’s think good, speak good and act good about Nigeria.
24. The Quran teaches us obey (with goodness) constituted authorities as long as they do not command us to disobey Almighty Allah and His Prophet Razululah (SAW). Let us therefore continue to support and pray for our President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu who is committed, has the clear vision and the courage to lead our country into a new era of good living and welfare for Nigerians through the 8 points priority agenda.
25. Oh Allah, grant us the wisdom to care for the earth and tilt it. Help us to act now for the good of future generations and all your creatures. Help us to become instruments of a new creation, founded on the covenant of your essence as the al-Wadud. O Allah, grant righteousness to us all, and to our leaders. Make our leaders among those who fear you, look for refuge with you, follow your commandments and seek your pleasure always (amin).
26. Salamu ailekum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh

Thank you for your attention.