In Nigeria, particularly among the Yoruba tribe where
religious tolerance is most noticed, it is a regular occurrence to see Muslims convert to Christianity. Hardly do we see a Christian turn to
Islam. However, a man, former Pastor Adekunle Afolabi, founder and
leader of Apata Adura Cherubim and Seraphim Church, Ekute, Ado-Ekiti,
Ekiti State, broke that jinx recently.
Sun newspaper reports that he converted fully to Islam after practicing Christianity for over 25 years and even risen to become the
General Overseer of his church, which have branches across Ekiti State.
Now
known and addressed as Alfa Abubakar Afolabi, the 45-year-old man
attributed his conversion to a divine encounter he had with a strange
man in white in his dreams who showed him certain flaws in Christianity
and convinced him that indeed Islam is the only religion that leads to
heaven.
In this interview at his Ekute, Ado
Ekiti residence, Alfa Abubakar spoke extensively on his experience.
Excerpts:
How did your journey to Islam begin?
I
am former Pastor Adekunle Afolabi, General Overseer and founder of Apata
Adura Cherubim and Seraphim in Ekute, Ado-Ekiti, I have been a believer
in Christianity for 25 years. I have been tutored at the Deeper Life
Bible Church school in Ayobo, Lagos and my parents were attending the
Assemblies of God Church. I later left the church to set up a C &S
church where I became a Shepherd because God always reveals things to me
either by vision or by dreams and to be candid, God reveals things to
me and when God wants to make a confirmation of them, they always come
to pass.
The spiritual gift has enhanced my career as a cleric in
Christianity such that my church grew so fast that by the time we were
celebrating fifth anniversary, the church has had branches across the
state and over 150 members attended my headquarters in Ekute alone. I
have also become the state chairman of the association of our church
unification in Ado.
I was preparing for the anniversary when I
started having dreams that eventually led to my conversion. At first in
the dreams, I noticed my members were sitting on the floor in the
church and some of them were covering their heads. I also saw that
people were washing their hands and feet before entering the church just
like it is done in Islam.
In my canal thinking, I thought God
wanted us to be washing our hands and feet before entering the church
and I instructed my members to be doing so, some did, while others
didn’t.
I remembered when I was living in Ikere, around 1986, I
used to attend a church then called the Church of Iya Olomi (Woman of
holy water) in Ikere. There was an earthen pot in the church where we
washed our legs before attending the church so I was thinking that may
be that is what God wanted me to do. I went to buy an earthen pot in
Ijebu and put it at the back of the church but something strange
happened the day I did that, a heavy rain fell and erosion poured sand
into the earthen pot that was filled with water and all the perfume and
spiritual arrangement I put inside the water was spoilt. Then, I went
to clean the pot and put another clean water again. To my surprise, when
I was coming home I met little children at the earthen pot fetching
water from it like a well. So, to avoid trouble in the neighbourhood, I
dug out the earthen pot and made up my mind that it seems God is
against what am doing.
In another of my dream, I saw women in
Hijab in the church, so on one Sunday I informed my congregation that at
the forthcoming anniversary, all women should come with hijab. Only 10
people adhered to the instruction during that period but I was yet to
be converted.
After that, certain strange things began to
happen in my dreams, I would notice that someone comes to me, wakes me
up and then take me on a journey to somewhere, there the man will ask a
question: he said do I know if the way I was taking in life is the right
one?,I told him, yes since I do pray to God and he answers me. But he
asked me again that what makes me believe I was right and I told him
that since I can pray to God and he answers me. He asked me again that
do I believe that God could write Quran in Arabic to people for them to
know his teachings, I said to him I don’t know but knew that some people
use Arabic as language. He then called my attention to my left hand,
there he told me to open my palm which I did and he asked if I knew that
the first line in my left hand stands for eight and the second stands
for one which go for 81. He added that on my right hand, the first line
stands for one in Arabic and the other stands for eight and that if
these are added together, they are equal to 99 which stands for the
ninety nine names of Allah. He said this means that Allah wrote his name
on the palms of all human beings in Arabic.
I was baffled
because I never had any knowledge in the Quran, so I decided to go and
research on it. It got to a point that my wife and I started attending
the mosque together and one day, an alhaji around my neighbourhood saw
me coming out of the mosque, he was so surprised and challenged me and I
told him everything that occurred to me which led me to the mosque. He
told me that I must not keep this to myself so he advised me to keep
walking in God’s way in Islam and stop preaching in the church but call
on Imam or alfa to come and preach.
Eventually, I ended up
inviting an Imam, a muslim cleric to preach in my church during our
fifth anniversary last year. The church members were surprised as the
Imam preached.
After the anniversary, the same man came to me in
my dreams and tasked me on payment of tithe in my church, saying I
should stop collecting it. So, the next Sunday I stopped collecting
tithes from the congregation.
Of course, the church members were
not all happy, some went to another church because they can’t continue
with this type of doctrine and that was how the number of the
congregation continued to reduce day after day.
I nearly got fed
up, but I made up my mind that I won’t go back on my decision and
religion and when it got to January ending, I made up my mind fully to
convert to Islam.
As a prophet in C and S, you would be doing
some spiritual work for people, now that you are now in Islam, do you
still do the works?
Rendering spiritual help is given to all
men by God for their own use, so the wisdom of it is given to me by God,
he didn’t take it away from me because that is different from religion.
It is a way of livelihood so, if any one falls sick, wants to give
birth, is having stillbirth, stagnation at work, that is all what we use
that for. He showed me places in the Bible where many prayed to God in
Islamic way. By this praying, I mean to kneel down and bow down your
head and face down.
How have your wife, relatives, friends and in-laws reacted to your newfound faith?
They
have always known me to be truthful with whatever I’m doing and they
respect me for that and also respect my decision, so there hasn’t been
any cause for alarm.
The only person who at a time opposed it was
my wife because she was a Christian when I married her. She said she
would quit the marriage and I said it is okay and that I don’t want to
die a Christian but would rather die a Muslim. But after a while, she
discovered that we haven’t been worshipping any idol, that we have
always been worshipping God. She came back and accepted me this way.
Also, my children are supporting me and have joined me.
What about those who were your colleagues when you were in Christianity as a church leader?
They
all left me the day I invited an Imam to come and preach in my church.
That day of our anniversary. I have also been relieved of my position
as president of our association. The only thing the pastors do once in a
while is to call to ask me if indeed I still want to continue in the
new faith and I usually confirm it. As for friends, some have stayed
while others have left.
Have you now become a leader in Islamic faith?
No,
I am still learning to be deeper in Islam. I had over 150 members in
the church before but they have all left now. My church before has now
been converted to a mosque and it is being attended by many muslims now
that I cannot even count them. An Imam is currently running the mosque
while I am also there as an Alfa, learning more about the religion.
How many wives have you now?
The
Bible does not oppose marrying more than one wife. It says if you want
to marry another wife, you must ensure that you treat her the same way
you are treating the ones or one you have already married. The Bible
only says that for those who want to become Bishops, they should marry
only one.
Now you have only one wife, is it likely that you will marry another wife?
No.
I have married some women before. Now, I cannot marry another
woman.That is not in my plans. My first born is about 22 years old.
You
know that there is this common opinion that religion does not really
matter, whether you are a Christian, Muslim or traditionalist, your
relationship with God matters most in getting to heaven, what is your
view on this saying?
All I can say is that anyone who wants
to go to heaven should just accept Islam peacefully. Islam to me now, is
the only way to God. No other way.
You have spoken against
collecting tithes, and said you have stopped collecting tithes from your
members, are you concerned that you may not get money to run the mosque
since that is a major way to get money?
All I can say about
that is that God’s words advise that when we have, we should be grateful
and also when we do not. Before I stopped collecting tithes, I have
members who usually give me about N20 000 or N10 000 but I still have to
stop collecting it in obedience to God. Now, I don’t collect tithe from
anyone but Islam permits people to do saka, which is just a voluntary
attitude to contribute to someone’s or an alfa’ or just extend mercy or
what we call Sadaka.