THEY ARE FED UP OF THEM!
BY
SANNI KAY YUSUF
The nikaah kicked off few minutes past 12 and was put to a halt some minutes after 1. I was reliably informed that our style never went down well with some of the uninvited alfas present. Obviously, if they had their way, they would have the programme hijacked to suit their whims.
In attendance at the outlandishly decorated hall were people of timber and caliber who could afford to spoil with dollars and pounds. But from start to finish, we didn’t call for money. Apparently, some people were deprived their daily bread. They were angered but could not ventilate it. Their physiognomy said it all.
While winding down the programme, the congregants approached the platform in troops dropping different notes of the nation’s currency on the table. They said it was gift to the officiating alfas. That reminds me the one we graced a week before then – where the groom’s mother voluntarily took to her feet – towards the tail of the programme – with a bowl in her hand asking members of the audience to drop cash as gift for the alfas.
As we stepped out of the hall to observe the noon worship, we encountered different people who could not but express how impressed they were for our simplicity and the management of time. “Thank you for presenting Islam well to people,” commented an admirer. “All my life, I have never attended a nikaah as impressive as this,” said a groom’s friend. We equally encountered a familiar elderly man who came late for the occasion. “If I had known that today’s nikaah would be coordinated by ‘eyin alfa sharp-sharp’, I would have been here earlier,” he said, comically.
As we bade farewell, an envelop was handed to one of us. That was an add-up to the sponsoring of our trip to and fro. If those who invite alfas for ceremonies were like this, things would likely normalise.
There is no doubt that people are fed up of how nikaah is conducted by alfas. They are tired of their usual time wastage and financial exploitations. The worst is the practice of jettisoning salawaat. They will not pray Dhuhr until ‘Asr, or both left unobserved.
Today, alfas are insulted with latitude. DJs embarrass them using sounds to disrupt their flow. The alaga-iduros are usually at loggerheads with the alfas. The two parties fight for supremacy. Innaa lillaahi wa innaa ileihi raaji’uun!
People have little or no respect for alfas these days. Unfortunately, the disrespected seem not moved that they’ve lost their value. Alfas who should be enthusiastically embraced are now being largely avoided by people.
English 
