IYANDA YUSUF (TED)

I am first and foremost a Muslim. I am an adherent of Islam, an Abrahamic believer, and a Hanif before anything else. Only then am I Yorùbá. To those who have made it their mission to question the loyalty of Yorùbá Muslims, you may continue your attacks. But know this: for a true Muslim, Islam will always come first. It precedes ethnicity, culture, and nationality because it is the primordial covenant with our Creator. A Yorùbá Muslim is not conflicted in his identity. He was a Muslim in the divine decree long before he was conceived, and he entered the world as Yorùbá the day he was born to Yorùbá parents. These two identities are not rivals—they are perfectly compatible. One defines his eternal soul and purpose; the other shapes his language, culture, and earthly heritage. Both have their rightful place. If any Yorùbá Muslim chooses, for whatever reason, to place ethnicity above Islam, then that person has failed to grasp the most fundamental principle of our faith: La ilaha illallah (there is no god but Allah), and nothing has precedence over Him. Such a person's reckoning is with Allah alone. My identity is clear and unapologetic: Islam first. Always. Everything else follows in its proper order.

A stable and inclusive Yorùbá future cannot be built on exclusion of Muslims and Christians in Yorùbá land. The strength of Yorùbá civilisation has always been its ability to accommodate diversity while maintaining a shared cultural identity. Muslims, Christians and practitioners of traditional religion have all contributed to the development of Yorùbá land. None possesses an exclusive claim to Yorùbá identity. A Yorùbá Muslim therefore does not face a choice between being Muslim and being Yorùbá. His faith defines his religious commitments, while his ethnicity defines his cultural and ancestral heritage. The two only come into conflict when cultural or spiritual practices contradict the teachings of Islam, and in such cases, the Muslim naturally gives precedence to his faith, just as adherents of other religions give precedence to theirs. That is not hostility to Yorùbá culture. It is simply fidelity to one's religious convictions. And that has been the position of Yorùbá Muslims for generations. - Idris Ajani Oni

I am first and foremost a Muslim. I am an adherent of Islam, an Abrahamic believer, and a Hanif before anything else. Only then am I Yorùbá. To those who have made it their mission to question the loyalty of Yorùbá Muslims, you may continue your attacks. But know this: for a true Muslim, Islam will always come first. It precedes ethnicity, culture, and nationality because it is the primordial covenant with our Creator. A Yorùbá Muslim is not conflicted in his identity. He was a Muslim in the divine decree long before he was conceived, and he entered the world as Yorùbá the day he was born to Yorùbá parents. These two identities are not rivals—they are perfectly compatible. One defines his eternal soul and purpose; the other shapes his language, culture, and earthly heritage. Both have their rightful place. If any Yorùbá Muslim chooses, for whatever reason, to place ethnicity above Islam, then that person has failed to grasp the most fundamental principle of our faith: La ilaha illallah (there is no god but Allah), and nothing has precedence over Him. Such a person's reckoning is with Allah alone. My identity is clear and unapologetic: Islam first. Always. Everything else follows in its proper order.

I am first and foremost a Muslim. I am an adherent of Islam, an Abrahamic believer, and a Hanif before anything else. Only then am I Yorùbá. To those who have made it their mission to question the loyalty of Yorùbá Muslims, you may continue your attacks. But know this: for a true Muslim, Islam will always come first. It precedes ethnicity, culture, and nationality because it is the primordial covenant with our Creator. A Yorùbá Muslim is not conflicted in his identity. He was a Muslim in the divine decree long before he was conceived, and he entered the world as Yorùbá the day he was born to Yorùbá parents. These two identities are not rivals—they are perfectly compatible. One defines his eternal soul and purpose; the other shapes his language, culture, and earthly heritage. Both have their rightful place. If any Yorùbá Muslim chooses, for whatever reason, to place ethnicity above Islam, then that person has failed to grasp the most fundamental principle of our faith: La ilaha illallah (there is no god but Allah), and nothing has precedence over Him. Such a person's reckoning is with Allah alone. My identity is clear and unapologetic: Islam first. Always. Everything else follows in its proper order.

I am first and foremost a Muslim. I am an adherent of Islam, an Abrahamic believer, and a Hanif before anything else. Only then am I Yorùbá. To those who have made it their mission to question the loyalty of Yorùbá Muslims, you may continue your attacks. But know this: for a true Muslim, Islam will always come first. It precedes ethnicity, culture, and nationality because it is the primordial covenant with our Creator. A Yorùbá Muslim is not conflicted in his identity. He was a Muslim in the divine decree long before he was conceived, and he entered the world as Yorùbá the day he was born to Yorùbá parents. These two identities are not rivals—they are perfectly compatible. One defines his eternal soul and purpose; the other shapes his language, culture, and earthly heritage. Both have their rightful place. If any Yorùbá Muslim chooses, for whatever reason, to place ethnicity above Islam, then that person has failed to grasp the most fundamental principle of our faith: La ilaha illallah (there is no god but Allah), and nothing has precedence over Him. Such a person's reckoning is with Allah alone. My identity is clear and unapologetic: Islam first. Always. Everything else follows in its proper order.

Please help me understand this properly. Does the statement imply that, in the hypothetical event of a conflict similar to the 1840 wars between the Yoruba and Fulani jihadist expansionists, a Yoruba Muslim would be expected to side with the jihadists against the Yoruba? In other words, what does the phrase “Islam first before Yoruba” actually signify in this context? I just want to understand the context without prejudice to the position of the person.

I am first and foremost a Muslim. I am an adherent of Islam, an Abrahamic believer, and a Hanif before anything else. Only then am I Yorùbá. To those who have made it their mission to question the loyalty of Yorùbá Muslims, you may continue your attacks. But know this: for a true Muslim, Islam will always come first. It precedes ethnicity, culture, and nationality because it is the primordial covenant with our Creator. A Yorùbá Muslim is not conflicted in his identity. He was a Muslim in the divine decree long before he was conceived, and he entered the world as Yorùbá the day he was born to Yorùbá parents. These two identities are not rivals—they are perfectly compatible. One defines his eternal soul and purpose; the other shapes his language, culture, and earthly heritage. Both have their rightful place. If any Yorùbá Muslim chooses, for whatever reason, to place ethnicity above Islam, then that person has failed to grasp the most fundamental principle of our faith: La ilaha illallah (there is no god but Allah), and nothing has precedence over Him. Such a person's reckoning is with Allah alone. My identity is clear and unapologetic: Islam first. Always. Everything else follows in its proper order.

I am first and foremost a Muslim. I am an adherent of Islam, an Abrahamic believer, and a Hanif before anything else. Only then am I Yorùbá. To those who have made it their mission to question the loyalty of Yorùbá Muslims, you may continue your attacks. But know this: for a true Muslim, Islam will always come first. It precedes ethnicity, culture, and nationality because it is the primordial covenant with our Creator. A Yorùbá Muslim is not conflicted in his identity. He was a Muslim in the divine decree long before he was conceived, and he entered the world as Yorùbá the day he was born to Yorùbá parents. These two identities are not rivals—they are perfectly compatible. One defines his eternal soul and purpose; the other shapes his language, culture, and earthly heritage. Both have their rightful place. If any Yorùbá Muslim chooses, for whatever reason, to place ethnicity above Islam, then that person has failed to grasp the most fundamental principle of our faith: La ilaha illallah (there is no god but Allah), and nothing has precedence over Him. Such a person's reckoning is with Allah alone. My identity is clear and unapologetic: Islam first. Always. Everything else follows in its proper order.

I am first and foremost a Muslim. I am an adherent of Islam, an Abrahamic believer, and a Hanif before anything else. Only then am I Yorùbá. To those who have made it their mission to question the loyalty of Yorùbá Muslims, you may continue your attacks. But know this: for a true Muslim, Islam will always come first. It precedes ethnicity, culture, and nationality because it is the primordial covenant with our Creator. A Yorùbá Muslim is not conflicted in his identity. He was a Muslim in the divine decree long before he was conceived, and he entered the world as Yorùbá the day he was born to Yorùbá parents. These two identities are not rivals—they are perfectly compatible. One defines his eternal soul and purpose; the other shapes his language, culture, and earthly heritage. Both have their rightful place. If any Yorùbá Muslim chooses, for whatever reason, to place ethnicity above Islam, then that person has failed to grasp the most fundamental principle of our faith: La ilaha illallah (there is no god but Allah), and nothing has precedence over Him. Such a person's reckoning is with Allah alone. My identity is clear and unapologetic: Islam first. Always. Everything else follows in its proper order.