When the enemies of Islam fail, they employ individuals who act as Trojan horses to infiltrate the Muslim community and cause corruption from within. This explains why we see gay imams, female imams leading men, niqabi transwomen, and other such anomalies. We have had impostors like Imam Tawhidi, who parades himself as the Imam of Peace, but I have referred to him in my writings as the Twitter Imam and Imam of Nigerian Christians. I also recall one Imam Abiodun, who has now faded into obscurity. He dressed like an imam and spoke pidgin Arabic to deceive unsuspecting Muslims.
In this article, I will expose another impostor, charlatan, and poseur: the self-proclaimed Imam of Yoruba Land. Although he is staged to be a Trojan horse to infiltrate the Muslim community, I find it more fitting to call him a Trojan Rat, given the ignorance he exhibits. At the very least, an imposter should possess a certain level of intelligence and knowledge to achieve his goals.
Reacting to the idea of implementing Shari’ah in Yoruba Land, Mr. Trojan Rat, in a video, claimed that Isese came first, followed by Christianity, and then Islam. How can an imam be unaware of the history of Islam in the environment he supposedly leads? Islam arrived in Yoruba Land at least four hundred years before Christian missionaries, who rode into the region on the back of colonialism, brought Christianity. If he has forgotten how the Yorubas came into contact with Islam through Malian traders, earning the tag “Esin Imale” (meaning “the religion of the Malians,” now corrupted to mean “difficult religion”), is he also unaware that we had contact with Fulani Muslims long before Christianity?
This so-called Imam of Yoruba Land should be around 50 years old. If he never experienced it himself, he must have brothers, fathers, and uncles who were forced to give up their Muslim names or even their religion to access Western education. Is he also unaware that in Yoruba Land, we wrote the Yoruba language in Ajami script (Arabic alphabet) before missionaries introduced Roman alphabets?
Shari’ah for One Is Not Shari’ah for All
The Imam of Yoruba Land is too ignorant about Islam and its activities to understand what implementing Shari’ah in a multi-religious environment entails. I am certain he is a walking encyclopedia of Isese activities, which is the actual community he represents. According to him, he opposes establishing Shari’ah arbitration panels in the Southwest because non-Muslims live in the region. He further argued that implementing Shari’ah would lead to stopping the sale of alcohol, infringing on the rights of non-Muslims involved in the business.
In the context of Yoruba Land, a Shari’ah arbitration panel refers to a group of individuals, typically scholars or experts in Islamic law, appointed to resolve disputes between parties, particularly in matters related to Islamic personal law. These panels function similarly to courts but operate under the principles of Shari’ah.
Key features of Shari’ah arbitration panels include:
1. Voluntary participation: Parties usually agree to the arbitration process voluntarily.
2. Islamic jurisprudence: The panel’s decisions are based on the principles and teachings of Shari’ah law.
3. Non-binding or binding decisions: In many cases, the decisions of a Shari’ah arbitration panel are non-binding unless the parties agree to them.
The above applies to Muslims who have made a voluntary decision to be judged by Islamic law. As it appears, the self-proclaimed Imam of Yoruba Land does not represent Islam; rather, he is a Yoruba Isese-promoting individual seeking to deceive unsuspecting Muslims with the Imam tag.
Who made him an Imam? Where did he study? And where is his mosque?
Bashir Lucas Samson Lukman
English 