An Assessement of the Activities of Selected Halqatus-Salafiyyah in Ilorin Metropolis

Abstract

Ḥalqah(p. Ḥalaqāt) is a unique avenue for imparting knowledge in Islam. It has been explored over times to get Muslims educated about their religion. It was institutionalised by the Prophet himself in the early days of Islam. The existence of ḥalqah in recent times has been synonymous to Salafism through which many Muslims have inclined to it (Salafism). However, different issues have come up due to availability of ḥalqah in Ilorin, with both effects. This paper therefore examined the activities of ḥalaqātu’s-Salafiyyah in Ilorin, identified their major impacts and challenges. The historical method was adopted to drive home the objective of this paper. It is discovered that ḥalqah metamorphosed from Dacwah activities of the Salafiyyah scholars in Ilorin. It is also discovered that activities of ḥalqah in the city are not limited to traditional teaching of Islam, but also include organisation of seminars and conferences among others. The impacts of ḥalqah in the city extended beyond religious entrenchment, but also covered sociopolitical, economic and intellectual spheres. The ḥalqah session in the city is also faced with internal wrangling and external challenges with negative effects on Salafism as a whole, ditto to ḥalqah . The paper therefore concluded that ḥalaqātu’s-Salafiyyah has the potentials to properly institutionalise Salafism in Ilorin if the Salafiyyah advocates put their house in order.