By
Sanni Kay Yusuf
If anyone would talk ill of the MSSN, definitely not me – a beneficiary of its milky honey! That was the grass I paddled on to the grace I am currently footed. MSSN picked me up from the filthy mud of shirk and cleansed me up to become a better Muslim. To the pathfinders of the organization and our trainers I owe eternal gratitude and on them I will forever rain streams of prayers.
Anyone born of and/or bred in Ikorodu (its sububs not inclusive) would attest to the prevalence of shirkiyyaat, bid’aat and moral decadence in the town. Unfortunately, those who carried the emblem of Islam as sheikhs, alfas etc. in those days (aside a few who had themselves distinguished) were discreetly involved in the mess. And that gave room for the products of the existing madaaris to be ill-baked, and our mosques administered by polytheistic imams.
We were sunk in that messy, muddy Islam until MSSN came to our rescue. On transition to final year at secondary school, I was christened general secretary of the branch. That gave impetus to my activeness, and my Islam refined and redefined, courtesy of the weekly usrah of the Area Council and several other programmes I accorded optimal attention.
Imbibing the Islamic Ideals and values taught to us in MSS, I had a complete change of lifestyle. That though wasn’t without its accompanying challenges, but we had been taught to be steadfast barring all adversities.
We looked up to the leaders and elders. We wanted to be like them. So we were stimulated to memorizing the Qur’an competitively. We wanted to dress like them. So we would drag up our trousers on or above the ankles (even though that has been disposed in the bin now. I see some today, and I hardly believe my sight). Allaahumma sallim!
MSSN built public confidence in us. I couldn’t believe myself being a compere at such a tender age – a benefit that remains a value in me till today. MSSN had a significant touch on my writing dexterity. Writing of minutes, reports, letters etc. had a great deal of merits on me. These values I consolidated on transition to the university, especially as a unionist.
Someone like me and those who had sipped from the sweet juices of the MSSN well will never talk ill of the organization. Never! Numberless were those who never had pristine Islam until their romance with the MSSN in the higher institution. But for the MSSN, many would have lived a life of casanovas and whores. Thanks to the harbingers who paved the way we routed to our current destination. May they be rewarded in full.
However, things fell apart when the MSSN became a veritable tool in the hands of some organizations to propagate their ideologies. When I discovered that I was being used by one of them, I opted out completely – not of the MSSN, but of the ideology. For this I got lashed, bashed and slammed as though I had apostatized. That’s one evil to note about hizbiyyah. It is either you are with them or you are with no one else. Story for another day.
Today, MSSN is controlled by different organizations with contrasting ideologies. This varies from campus to campus, locality to locality, state to state, zone to zone. This, for me, is a clear indication that MSSN isn’t the problem but the intruders. While there are campuses where the organization is run on Kitaab wa Sunnah bi fahmis-Salaafi Saalih, there are those whose activities are run afoul of this ideal.
English 