The spiritual leader of a new Islamic sect, known as the Gawsiyya sect, Sheikh Isma’il Bn Sayyadi Yusha’u has declared that those who are fighting him are fighting Allah because it is Allah who anointed him to lead the sect worldwide.
“If they are jealous about my position as the new Gawsiy, they are fighting Allah, because I was not the one that gave myself this position. It is not my power, age or wealth that gave me this position of Gawsiy,” Sheikh Yusha’u said.
He added, when he spoke to Daily Trust in the university town of Zaria, Kaduna state which serves as headquarters of the sect: “all the people that are spreading these rumours are mischief-makers.”
Sheikh Yusha’u, who schooled at the feet of several distinguished Islamic scholars, was quoted as saying that he has been divinely anointed as Gawsiy.
Gawsiy, according to Sheikh Yusha’u, is a divine anointment that usually takes place every century, adding that Allah chooses one of his servants to lead Muslims globally.
He said that before his anointment as Gawsiy, the last one that the world had was Sheikh Ibrahim Nyass of Senegal and that age, wealth or other social status is not prerequisite to the attainment of the position.
He added that since Allah has anointed him as the new Gawsiy, Muslims all over the world are obliged to accept and give their allegiance to him.
He therefore asked Muslims all over the world to accept and pay allegiance to him.
Sheikh Yusha’u dismissed the fear expressed earlier by Governor Nasiru Ahmad El-Rufai of Kaduna state that the Gawsiyya sect is a new one, saying that they are adherents of the Tijjaniyya sect, and their leaders are Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), Sheikh Ahmadu Tijjani, a 19th Century North African cleric and Sheikh Ibrahim Nyass, a 20th Century Senegalese cleric.
The 50 year old Sheikh claimed that he has followers all over Nigeria and beyond.
The headquarters of the sect is located around the university town, in a remote village on the outskirts of Zaria, Kaduna State. It is an isolated settlement where only Sheikh Yusha’u and members of the sect dwell.
The small town has been renamed Madinatu Zaria and is named after Madina, in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Madinatu Zaria is located between Zaria’s ancient gate of Kofar Gayan and Amana Mai Kasuwa town in Igabi local government area of Kaduna State. To get there from Kofar Gayan takes a 20-kilometre journey through the villages of Yaskwaki, Mangi and Turunku. At Siddi village, a traveller to Madinatu Zaria diverts from the main road to take a bush path that would lead him to the settlement, which is another journey of about five kilometres.
Source: Daily Trust. [myad]
