Prof. Sulyman Abudlkareem, the Vice-Chancellor, University of Ilorin (Unilorin), on Monday advised Muslims to emulate the obedience and faithfulness of Prophet Ibrahim in their daily activities.
The vice-chancellor, in a statement signed by Mr Kunle Akogun, the Director of Corporate Affairs, Unilorin, gave the advice in his Sallah message to members of the university Muslim community.
Abdulkareem noted that it was Prophet Ibrahim’s unprecedented submission to Allah that led to the institutionalisation of the annual celebration.
According to him, Muslims and other Nigerians need to exhibit all those qualities, which also marked out Prophet Ibrahim as a unifying factor among the followers of the two major religions of Islam and Christianity.
Abdulkareem stated that the emulation of the attributes of sincerity, obedience, faith and mutual respect demonstrated by Prophet Ibrahim and his son, Ismail, would reduce tension in the land and accelerate the process of nation-building for the country to emerge stronger and more united.
“The nation requires all hands to be on deck towards collectively and vigorously fighting and defeating the menace of insecurity and growing economic deprivations, which the nation has been battling with in recent times,” he said.
He specifically urged Muslims to cultivate and perpetuate the habit of sharing, which is the essence of the celebration, not only during the festive period, but also beyond.
He noted that peace, love and security always prevail in any society where those who have willingly give out to those who don’t.
Abdulkareem assured staff of the university of the continued commitment of his administration to always make life more abundant for them to enable them discharge their responsibilities more efficiently.
He advised staff, students and other Nigerians to celebrate the festival with restraint in view of the reported emergence of the third wave of the dreaded Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The vice-chancellor assured that Unilorin would nevertheless continue to do everything humanly possible to ensure that its academic calendar is not disrupted for students to graduate as and when due. (NAN)
