The Bida Emirate in Niger on Thursday organised a prayer session for abundant rainfall and bumper harvests in the state and Nigeria in general.
The residents of the emirate resorted to special prayers seeking divine intervention from God over an imminent drought due to the lack of steady rainfall in the area.
The Etsu Nupe, Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar, traditional leaders, religious leaders and farmers in the emirate converged at the Eid prayer ground in Esso, Bida for the session.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that thousands of the residents converged for the congregational prayer sequel to the cessation of rainfall in the area.
NAN also reports that this was done in accordance with the Islamic injunctions to seek divine intervention.
Speaking shortly after the prayer session, Abubakar said that the move was to seek for forgiveness and mercy of Almighty Allah.
According to him, Islam teaches Muslims to repent and seek God’s mercy in the event of any calamity that befalls society.
Abubakar, therefore, urged the Muslim Ummah to forgive one another and refrain from all acts prohibited by the Islamic religion.
The Etsu Nupe also urged his subjects to shun immoralities and go back to God in true repentance.
He said: “Whenever there is a possible threat of drought, we are enjoined by Allah (SWT) through His Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) that we should go back to Him and seek His guidance and forgiveness.
“We seek Allah’s mercy and guidance and we hope this prayer will be answered by Allah (SWT) and will grant us not only rain but bless our crops and other things that we need to survive.”
In a sermon, the Chief Imam of Bida Emirate, Sheikh Adamu Liman-Yakatun, listed five reasons that cause drought and other calamities to befall communities.
He said, “They include the failure of the people to redeem pledges, some shoddy deals by some marketers and people who provide services, among others.”
Liman-Yakatun said that withering crops were in serious need of water to survive, amidst the high cost of food items in the market and security challenges facing the state.
He admonished the residents of the state to fear God in their daily activities and for leaders to treat their subjects with sincerity and provide the needed humanitarian assistance to them.
“Even these unnecessary killings of innocent citizens can be responsible for rainfall shortage including our bad characters,” the cleric added.
The chief imam, however, prayed for sufficient rain for the farmers to witness bumper harvests and beseeched God to end the hardship that Nigerians were currently facing. (NAN)
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