The Pilgrims Journey Home

[Defender]

THIS season of pilgrimages is blissful indeed. It is pregnant with lessons for pilgrims and non-pilgrims, cutting across both divides of Islam and Christianity.

It is imperative to state it clearly early enough that pilgrimage in Islam and Christianity transcends mere tourist trappings. Pilgrimage is both an exercise of religious and spiritual significance, if any segment  of the populace exists, therefore, that views the exercise as worthless and irrelevant; such needs be educated fully on the weight and import of the devotional service.

In Islam, pilgrimage to the Holy Land of Mecca in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is one of the five pillars which form the edifice of the religion. In a nutshell, a Moslem is required by the dictates of the Islamic faith, to pay holy pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in his lifetime. Though this injunction does not make it a matter of compulsion for pilgrimage to be made to Mecca by a Moslem, it portrays the pilgrimage exercise as necessary, worthwhile and of immense value.

To Christians, pilgrimage to Jerusalem in Israel may not be a rite spelt out clearly in the Holy Bible. But implicitly, it is held by all adherents that a visit to all sites of events recorded in the scriptures is not an exercise in fatality.

For this reason, the holy trip to Jerusalem is gaining prominence year in, year out. Gone are the days when Jerusalem pilgrimage was an exclusive preserve for the privileged few.

Today, governments at all tiers jostle to sponsor pilgrims to Israel; not to talk of private sponsors. This is also true of pilgrimage to Mecca in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

THE PARALLAX wishes to sound a note of erudition on the importance of two aforementioned pilgrimage sites to their respective countries. Whereas both Mecca and Jerusalem are not the political and administrative capitals of their respective countries, their religious importance has contributed immensely to the economy, fame and overall prosperity of these countries. Jerusalem became the capital of Israel in the days of King David.

Because of this fact, it remains till date the City of David, Later, Kind Omri moved the capital to Jezrel. In modern times, however, the capital of Israel has been moved to Tel-Aviv.

In a similar vein, Mecca is not the capital (politically or administratively) of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The capital of that kingdom is Riyadh. But the importance and reverence attached to Mecca today derived from the huge presence of sites of events, life and times of Prophet Mohammed (SAW) in that holy city.

What is the main thrust of these last observations? It is to let us realize that our actions, attitudes or exertions could contribute either to make or mar our environment or nation. By their own actions, attitudes and exertions; prophets ranging from Abraham (or Ibrahim) through Jesus (Isa) to Mohammed had brought fame, prominence, prosperity and reverence to the lands they traversed during their carnal presence on this terrestrial ball.

What then shall you, reader of this piece, and a Nigerian for that mater, contribute to this country? What legacy shall you bequeath after you are long-gone?

Pilgrimages to the two holy lands hold lessons that transcend religion or spirituality. Part of the tacit essence is to inculcate in the people of the world the organized way of life and finesse with which those societies are built.

I may never have travelled to both countries for once, but I can tell a little of the beauty and resplendence of Israel and Saudi Arabia. Both countries, located on the continent of Asia, are set on desert/ arid land.

In other words, they would not be expected to be productive in any way, especially in agriculture or mineral resources.But this is not so in actual sense. Today, Israel has so influenced its landscape that it has turned its weakness to strength, agriculturally. Aesthetically too, the nation is ranked high among the comity of nations.

In terms of economy, the holy nation still wields the blessings of Abraham, as it has much to lend than to borrow. Ditto is true for the oil-rich kingdom of Saudi Arabia where economic stability, high standard of living and high-level discipline are the order of the day.

The discipline factor is the reason why pilgrims from all parts of the world are always admonished to be of good conduct and comportment during their sojourn at both holy lands.

This year, Osun State joined the rest of the world to turn out pilgrims from the state numbering up to 1,020 or thereabouts, out of which about 200 were sponsored by the State Government. Christian pilgrims from the state numbered up to about 465.

Out of this figure, the state government sponsored about 250; local governments sponsored about 160; while the remaining 55 were privately-sponsored. Whatever be the manner of sponsorship, it could not be without specific purposes.

THE PARALLAX agrees that private individuals could sponsor contingents on pilgrimage for purposes of which spiritual inclination ranks paramount. Also, in the intents of governments at all tiers, spiritual development of pilgrims should blaze the trail. But the overall lesson which should not be lost is that pilgrims are expected to imbibe the culture of service, sacredness, piety, holy living and discipline which are the hallmark of the lands visited.

Nigeria as a nation has a good number of citizens who had visited the two holy lands. As a matter of fact, many of our privileged citizens have visited those places more than once. This is to the extent that some title-conscious veteran pilgrims are being referred to as Multiple Alhajis/Alhajas or J.P.2 or more.

I still observe that some segment of the privileged class has made it a creed to visit these holy lands once or twice on yearly basis.Well, as we welcome our Moslem pilgrims back to our midst, it is certain that by the time this publication is out, the first batch of Christian pilgrims consisting 274 contingents shall have been back in our midst too.

The second batch, comprising 191 pilgrims is expected to leave our shores by December 2. THE PARALLAX wishes all pilgrims safe journey to and fro the respective holy lands.

On a congratulatory note, we congratulate them, their families, the Pilgrims' Boards (both Moslems and Christians), the local and state governments for having an hitch-free pilgrimage year.

For the future, we wish the state many more successful years of holy pilgrimages.Above all, we advise our newly-arrived pilgrims to internalize the lessons and cultures they experienced in the holy lands. Nigerian society could be made to attain a status similar to those foreign lands. We too can be made to raise our head to the level of Israel, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia or even, United States of America.

As a matter of fact, we have good deposits of crude oil, which makes us a semblance of Saudi Arabia. Our wide expanse of arable, cultivable land makes us to outstrip Israel in agricultural potentialities. We should help ourselves in converting these potentialities to actual wealth. We can transform our waste to wealth.

THE PARALLAX is not against holy pilgrimages, God forbid. What we are clamouring is why the real lessons of pilgrimages in spiritual, political, social and economic sense should not be misplaced.

In addition, Nigeria has sites that could be transformed to world standard – all to our socio-economic benefits. In religious spheres, we have sites like NASFAT, QUAREEB campus and others (Moslems should bear me out).

Christian camp sites are dotted over the places. Redemption Camp and Canaanland are the leading lights in this regard. Socio-cultural sites are many and diverse. Osun Osogbo site is one such significant site that is located within our confines. We can make these centres equally good, prominent and attractive.

This season of pilgrimage, coupled with season of Eid-el-Kabir cum Christmas yuletide season, THE PARALLAX challenges our newly-arrived pilgrims to a higher-order dedication. The challenge we throw is far above title-consciousness.

We call them to commit their lives to being genuine change-agents in our bid to transform our society – the State of Osun – completely into a state of the virtuous. Beyond title-consciousness, they are enjoined to exemplify the spirit of hardwork, honesty, industry, enterprise, transparency and patriotism. God bless Nigeria. God bless Osun State. God bless us all. Osun a dara o.

Osun Defender