Sheikh Habeebullah Adam Abdullah El-Ilory - An Erudite Intelligentsia At Glance | AgegePulse Magazine

 

By Nurudeen Ibrahim 

I have always found it interesting to write about Sheikh Habeebullah Adam Abdullah El-Ilory just as it pleases me to write about his father Sheikh Adam Abdullah El-Ilory. When people ask me tell me about Sheikh Habeeb El-Ilory or who is Sheikh Habeebullah El-Ilory, it pleases me to quickly respond provided the one inquiring is ready to listen to the truth. Below I have written something concise about  this erudite and highly talented scholar of Islam.

Sheikh Habeebullah Adam Abdullah El-Ilory is a prominent personality and Islamic scholar in South-West, Nigeria. 

Sheikh Habeebullah Adam Abdullah El-Ilory is a profound and highly informed scholar. He is talented in the field of scholarship and an erudite intelligentsia. He is the son of that giant of knowledge celebrated throughout West Africa, Sheikh Adam Abdullah El-Ilory. Just like his father, Sheikh Habeebullah is a very talented and highly informed scholar about both local as well as global Islamic issues. He is a celebrated member of the intelligentsia as mentioned earlier and his Ramadan Tafseer attracts thousands of listeners gathered at the Great Markaz of which no other Tafseer in South West Nigeria if not the whole of Nigeria attracts such a great number of listeners. Today his Tafseer has a very large number of viewers online because of the knowledge and information he shares.

Sheikh Habeebullah El-Ilory is a scholar of contemporary Islamic Jurisprudence. He is vast in Tafseer of the Holy Qur'an, Arabic interpretation and history. He is very unique and a rare breed among the scholars of Nigeria today in terms of quality of knowledge and research. He is highly charitable, selfless and apolitical.

Sheikh Habeebullah is well known for his criticism on the Salafi ideologies as well as scrutiny on many issues. Due to his positions which may differ with other scholars on certain issues, some people have considered him as a controversial scholar while some other people refer to him as a Shi‘a Scholar or a Shi‘a sponsored scholar. At the same time, Sheikh Habeebullah El-Ilory is also considered as a pro-Sufi scholar which is evident in many of his sayings. However, the same Sheikh has criticized the views and positions of the Shi‘a as well as corrupt Sufis in many of his lectures. Sheikh Habeebullah El-Ilory has been on the scholarship throne of his late father, Sheikh Adam Abdullah El-Ilory, since about 22 years now.

At Al-Azhar University Cairo 

In 1986, Sheikh Habeebullah El-Ilory embarked on a journey to the prestigious Al-Azhar University for a course for Imams and scholars. He was conferred with the title Fadeelat-ush-Sheikh.

Sheikh Habeebullah Adam Abdullah El-Ilory 

Succession to Sheikh Adam After the death of Sheikh Adam Abdullah El-Ilory on the 3rd of May, 1992, Sheikh Habeebullah El-Ilory was unanimously appointed by the Muslim Leaders as the official successor (Khaleefa) of Sheikh Adam El-Ilory to take over the position and assume the roles and office of his father in the Muslim Communities across the world.5 The Emir of Ilorin was among the eminent personalities who pledged allegiance with Sheikh Habeebullah El-Ilory as the successor of Sheikh Adam Abdullah El-Ilory in 1997. By way of this, Sheikh Habeebullah El-Ilory became the official successor (Khalifa or Caliph) of Sheikh Adam Abdullah El-Ilory and Imam of the Mosque of Sheikh Adam as well as the Mudir (Director) of Markaz. Sheikh Habeebullah El-Ilory continued the Ramadan Tafseer (Qur’an Exegesis) of Markaz as well as the Friday Sermon (khutbah). Some Contributions Sheikh Habeebullah El-Ilory introduced a lot of developments at Markaz which are still ongoing one of which is the Annual Cultural Week where scholars are invited for paper presentations on important issues facing the Muslim of Nigeria in particular and the Muslim world in general. 

Literary Works of Sheikh Habeebullah El-Ilory 

Sheikh Habeebullah El-Ilory like his father also contributed to literary works. He is not too known for authoring books aside from his two popular books. However, he is more known for writing articles and papers. Averagely in a year, he writes beteren 40 yo 50 papers a year upon which many researchers depend. 

Sheikh Habeebullah El-Ilory authored the book ‘At-Tasawwuf al-Islamiy wa Tatbeeqaatuhu fee Naijiriya- Islamic Sufism in Nigeria: An Objective Research on Sufi Practices Among Nigerian Sufis). He also authored the book titled: Ahmiyyat-ul-Lughatil ''Arabiyya wa Makaanatuha al-'Alamiyya- The Importance of Arabic Language and its Position in the World.

International Conferences 

Sheikh Habeebullah El-Ilory has participated in several conferences within and outside Nigeria. These contributed to his vast exposure and rational thinking.

Position on Extremism 

Sheikh Habeebullah El-Ilory is very intolerant on extremism and fanaticism. His lectures are usually focussed on countering extremism and fanaticism. One of the reasons the extremists are bent on criticising him which is not unexpected.

Ideological Moderation

The position of Sheikh Habeebullah El-Ilory has always been the position of his father Sheikh Adam Abdullah El-Ilory which is promotion of Ideological Moderation called Al-Wasatiyya. Al-Wasatiyya or Ideological Moderation is aimed at eliminating ideological indoctrination and extremism incorporated into Islam which has led to unrest in many parts of the world as noticed among the Boko Haram terrorists in Nigeria. This is because fanaticism leads to extremism and extremism results into terrorism if not controlled. For this reason, Sheikh Habeebullah El-Ilory has been given the title of THE DEFENDER OF ISLAM by the IRFAN CENTRE for Research and Human Development. 

In 2010, Sheikh Habeebullah Adam Abdullah El-Ilory was honoured by the former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan with the national title of Officer of the Order of Niger (OON).

SOME POSITIONS  OF  SHEIKH  HABEEBULLAH ADAM ABDULLAH ELILORY 

Some  of the  positions  of Sheikh Habeebullah Adam Abdullah ElIlory which are also maintained by many more scholars across the world are  given below: 

1. The  problem  of Moon Sighting  as  regards  the  commencement  and  termination of  Ramadan should be  solved by modern sciences  and technology  in addition to  astronomical  calculation. 

2. The  use  of face  veil  (niqab) by women is  not  compulsory. 

3. Good Music  is  permissible  in Islam. 

4. Prophet  Isa  (Jesus  Christ) is  dead and not  coming  back. 

5. There  are  some  errors  in Saheeh Al-Bukhari . 

6. Women leadership  in politics  is  permissible  in Islam.

We pray that Allah in His Infinite Mercy should continue to strengthen, protect and bless Sheikh Habeebullah Adam Abdullah El-Ilory and all those around him.

SHORT BIOGRAPHY OF LATE SHAYKH MUHAMMAD YAHYA SALATI:

The renowned scholar, is a grammarian, mystical, poet, Islamic philosopher, jurist, person is Shaykh muhammad yahya Salati.

The son of Shaykh Hashim bn muhammad baba, bn Abdulsalam (kofasamu; simply means: the fearless), by which his father was a Nephew to popular and reformer of Qa’diriyah order in Yoruba land in nigeria.

Shaykh Hamad rufai nda salati, while his mother sahadah is one of Shaykh nda Salati’s Daugthers.

He was born in Ilorin in the year 1960 he started his Arabic education background from his uncle Shaykh Buhari.

In 1968 he was enrolled at Ansar Islam primary school Okekere Ilorin, for the western and Islamic Education.

He finished his primary level in 1976, And Because of his quest and thirsty for knowledge he moved to lagos the same year where he lived with Shaykh Abdullah salati and later become alter ego to Shaykh Sha’zili Sambo oganija as his first pupils which also enrolled to marcaz (Islamic training centre at Agege the same year 1976).

He finished both stages (Ida ‘di and Tha’nawi) at marcaz and graduate in 1983. In February 2, 1985 he was appointed as Imam at masjid Aranse Oluwa, Olumo street, Papa Ashafa Agege, lagos.

He joined Ansa’r Deen Society of Nigeria in 1985 through Alhaji Abdul Azeez Adeshina and served as deputy missioner of Fadeyi branch till 1998.

He performed his first haj in 1990. In 1998, he was appointed as the missioner of ojodu branch till 2012.

He resigned from the society in 2012 and stand as chief Imam in his permanent Masjid at Denro Ojodu Ogun State. He was a married man and blessed with many children.

He succeeded shaykh Abdullah salati after his demise for ramadan tafsir at ode-alfanda, ilorin since 2005 till date and he has since moved the programme to the greater height.

In 2002 He delivered a paper at “usbuhu shaykh” marcaz agege on the topic:

*THE ROLE AND IMPACT OF QA’DIRIYAH IN WEST AFRICA TOWARD DEVELOPMENT OF ISLAM*

In 2011, He visited “el-azhar el-sherif” and met some personels like shaykh el azhar tanta’wi and others.

He also attended maolid at senegal in 2012 and related sufis conferences in which he was honoured to contribute to the theme of the day , a rare opportunity to come by.

In 2003, he officially established madrasah (Ibtida’hiyah section) at denro lshashi ogun state.

He wrote many books with arabic language such like;

Manzumatul alfiyah (on philosophy),

El hahaji el sufiyah (on sufism),

Jada’wilu qa’nunil fikr (on logic),

Diwa’nu shir lateef (on ode/ poem) and others.

He is da’hiyah per excellence in our immediate society. He has attended lectures and conferences every part of the nation like:

Anabra,
Delta,
Kano,
Abuja,
Oyo and others.

He almost travel accross the globe for “dahwa” to mention few:

Saudi arabia-

Benin Republic-

Port Novo (more than a time),

Egypt (2011),

Senegal (2012),

Canada (2016),

Italy/rome (2016),

France (2016),

United state of america (2017).
In summary, he was pronounced in 1996 as Amirul jaysh Qa’diriyah (The commander Chief of Qa’diriyah in Yoruba land, He is Chief imam, author, rector and the head of sawiya jilani and its branches in nigeria, Benin and dubai . He has students and “sa’likun” of qa’diriyah order…
Finally he passed away on Thursday 5th of July, 2018

May Allah be pleased with this our humble lecturer and great Sufist forgive all his shortcomings and grant him Jannatul Firdaws.