AL - 'ILAAJ EDITORIAL BOARD, MSSN UCH, IBADAN

 “The nurse is temporarily the consciousness of the unconscious, the love of life of the suicidal, the leg of the amputee, the eyes of the newly blind, a means of locomotion for the newborn, knowledge and confidence for the young mother, a voice for those too weak to speak, and so on.” — Virginia Henderson, RN. On the 5th of Shawwal, 1447/24th of March 2026, the School of Nursing, University College Hospital, inducted freshly minted registered nurses into the noble profession. Hearty congratulations to the Muslim inductees. May this milestone be a door to beautiful beginnings, fulfilling careers, and commendable achievements for you all. Special recognition and commendations go to Ummu Maryam, RN, Oladipo Mubaarakah (BSc Hons, UI) (RN, UCH), who achieved the remarkable feat of graduating with multiple awards of excellence as the Best Graduating Student in Medical-Surgical Nursing, BGS in Community Nursing, and BGS in Oral Practical Nursing. Her accomplishments are made even more a...

 Ramadan is a month of restraint, reflection, and spiritual renewal. Football, by contrast, is a game of intensity, endurance, and constant motion. At first glance, the two may seem difficult to reconcile. Yet, year after year, Muslim athletes across the world demonstrate that maintaining an Islamic identity does not weaken performance. Instead, it strengthens discipline, character, and purpose. Allah says: “…Fasting has been prescribed for you… so that you may attain Taqwa (piety.)” (Qur’an 2:183) For the Muslim athlete, Ramadan is not merely a period of abstaining from food and drink. It becomes a test of sincerity, self discipline, and identity. It is also a time of heightened devotion, reflection, and consciousness of Allah. Within this framework, football does not become secondary. Rather, it becomes another space where faith is practiced through patience, resilience, and intention. Elite football demands speed, strength, endurance, and mental sharpness. Fasting, on the other...

“The ideal suture material is one that allows secure knot tying without slippage, provokes little tissue reaction, does not increase the risk of infection, retains enough tensile strength until the healing process has laid down sufficient collagen and connective tissue to restore tissue integrity, and can be wholly reabsorbed by the body. Such a material does not exist.” But what if an ideal greeting were to exist? In our education, we have encountered many “ideals” that exist more in theory than in practice, the ideal suture material, the ideal gas, the ideal conditions for countless scientific principles. These ideals serve as benchmarks and aspirational standards against which reality is measured, yet they remain perpetually out of reach. Now, as debates intensify about greeting customs, especially in our part of the world, to prostrate or not to prostrate, to kneel or not to kneel, it is worth asking what would constitute an ideal greeting. And like the ideal suture material or the...

That month is almost upon us again. The month of the Qur’an. The month of the Night of Majesty. One month to rule them all. A month in which we are enjoined to increase in good deeds, and rewards are multiplied beyond measure. Charity is elevated. The recitation of the Qur’an becomes a daily companion. The stillness of the night is broken by sincere midnight prayers. We leave food and drink for the sake of Allah, restrain our desires, and consciously avoid transgression. Ramadan is a school. It retrains the soul, disciplines the body, and softens the heart. And yet, my friend, do not let the label of being called a “Ramadan Muslim” deter you from becoming anew in this month and beyond. Rather, let Ramadan be the beginning. Let it be the spark that ignites consistency, not a temporary performance. Let this blessed month wash you clean, just as snow, frost, and hail wash away impurities. Hasten towards excellent deeds. Be kinder to your neighbour. Maintain the ties of kinship. Lower your...

 I recently went home for a break, to spend time with my family and to rest from the hassle of COMUI (College of Medicine, University of Ibadan) and the decrepit living conditions of ABH (Alexander Brown Hall, University College Hospital Ibadan). The journey home was much like many I had taken before. There were complaints about the cost of transport, hours spent in a cramped seat as the driver sped over bumpy roads, and passengers yelling at him to slow down. You know, the usual. Entering the city I lived in did not feel the same, though. A lot had changed. It felt like I had been away for much longer than I actually had. New roads, an overhead bridge, new estates, restaurants and other businesses were springing up here and there. When I got to my street, the sense of familiarity returned. It was just as I remembered. I looked around at the faded roofs, unpaved roads and unfinished houses, and it brought the feeling of home. It also brought back the bitter memory of a young neighb...

All praise is due to Allah alone, far exalted is He above whatever partners people ascribe to Him in worship. May peace and salutations be upon His Messenger ﷺ , through whom the message of pure and uncompromising Tawḥīd (monotheism) was perfectly conveyed. One of the subtle yet dangerous threats to pure monotheism is minor shirk (polytheism), acts that do not expel a person from Islam but corrupt the perfection of their Tawḥīd and may serve as a gateway to major shirk if left unchecked.  Allah Swears by His Creation But Do We? Allah, in His infinite majesty, swears by elements of His creation in several verses of the Qur’an, and these oaths stand as testimonies to His greatness and absolute authority.  “By Al-‘Aṣr (time).” {Surah Al-‘Aṣr v 1} “By Mount Sinai.” {Surah At-Tīn v 2} These divine oaths raise an important question. Do human beings share this privilege, or are we commanded to swear only by Allah? The answer is clear from the Qur’an and Sunnah. Swearing by other than...

  From the end of my secondary school days through university, I had several non-Muslims, during conversations, attempt to convert me to their religion. Those who knew me personally could not accuse me of vices such as gambling, drinking, or reckless living, things conversion was often said to “save” people from. So, more often than not, the conversation shifted to terrorism. “Why is terrorism usually linked to Islam?” “Why are terrorists usually Muslims?” From 9/11 to Boko Haram and then Hamas, these examples were repeatedly raised. My response was always simple: there is no part of Islam that commands Muslims to kill non-Muslims. The only context in which fighting is sanctioned is warfare, specifically defensive war, when Muslims are attacked and must defend themselves. One can only imagine how many Muslims, over this same decade, were subjected to similar conversations. For those with little grounding or conviction, many may have quietly drifted away from Islam, especially after...

  Although contemporary feminists have raised a lot of prepositions against liberalism, one cannot deny the historical framework liberalism provided for feminism and how it influenced its development (Baehr, 2004). If liberalism is the root of feminism, it begs the question: “What is Liberalism, and what is the Islamic perspective on it?”  Liberalism is a political doctrine that takes protecting and enhancing the freedom of the individual to be the central problem of politics (Minogue et al., 2023) whereas, Allah says in suratul Ahzab verse 36,  “It is not for a believing man or woman—when Allah and His Messenger decree a matter—to have any other choice in that matter. Indeed, whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger has clearly gone ˹far˺ astray” . This is the first loggerhead between liberalism and Islam, while liberalism places its fulcrum on individual freedom, Islam restricts it and even calls whoever places personal freedom over her astray. Feminism is often descri...

 One fateful evening in the year 323 BC, a man lay dying from a disease that can easily be cured with antibiotics today. All his wealth and all his power could not save Alexander the Great from what was likely typhoid fever. Humanity has come a long way since then. We now have the upper hand in our war against microbes that cause diseases capable of killing many people at once. We have better understanding of these pathogens, we have improved sanitation and perhaps most importantly, we have antimicrobial drugs. Most people know the famous story of the discovery of penicillin. Sir Alexander Fleming was growing a bacteria colony on a petri dish. Unknown to him, the dish had been contaminated with penicillium mould which secreted a substance that inhibited bacteria growth. Fleming named this antibacterial substance penicillin and the rest, as they say, is history. Antimicrobials have quite literally revolutionized modern medicine. A cut, a scrape, stepping on a rusty nail and many oth...

Yesterday I went to the shrink and I wasn’t diagnosed as mad. She just said, “You’re tired from holding your storms too long, from pretending the thunder is applause.” I laughed, because in my head I’d already rehearsed a thousand verdicts of madness. But she smiled and said, “It’s okay to cry without reason, to rest without guilt, to talk before you break.” She didn’t hand me pills or labels. She handed me silence and told me to fill it with truth. Yesterday I went to the shrink and I learned that healing isn’t weakness. That you can walk into a room with heavy thoughts and walk out lighter, not because they vanished, but because you finally shared their weight. So if you ever feel like your mind has become a maze of noise, go. Not because you’re mad, but because you deserve peace. In a world where physical health gets applause and mental health gets whispers, visiting a therapist often carries the weight of stigma. Many still believe that walking into a psychiatrist’s office means yo...

Have you ever noticed how some people stay in the same spot for years, not because they lack ideas, but because they never move? They wait for perfect conditions that never come. It is like living in balance, yet never breaking free. Chemists have a name for this balance. It is called Le Chatelier’s Principle. The principle states that when a system at equilibrium is disturbed, it shifts in a direction that counteracts the disturbance and restores balance. Add more reactants, and the system produces more products. Change temperature or pressure, and it adjusts to restore stability. This law not only applies in laboratories but also plays out every day in our lives. We all live in a kind of personal equilibrium. Our habits, comfort zones, and routines create a steady state. But this same balance can also keep us from growing. I once knew someone who always had access to funds she could borrow for business. She had good ideas but never acted on them. She only borrowed when emergencies ca...

 On the 12th of Rabiul Thani, 1447 AH (4th October 2025), sisters from MSSN UCH, Agodi-Gate Area Council, and beyond came together for a truly radiant experience. The theme of this year’s MSSN UCH/AGAC Sisters’ Seminar was “Az-Zahraa”, the epithet of Fatimah Az-Zahraa (RadhiyaLlahu anha), the daughter of the Prophet  ﷺ . It was held at the UCH Central Mosque, with over 300 attendees present. The programme began with the memorisation of a verse from the Qur’an, Surah An-Nur, verse 35, where Allah says: “Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The example of His light is like a niche within which is a lamp, the lamp is within glass, the glass as if it were a pearly white star lit from the oil of a blessed olive tree, neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil would almost glow even if untouched by fire. Light upon light. Allah guides to His light whom He wills. And Allah presents examples for the people, and Allah is Knowing of all things.” The keynote speech, deliv...

Paediatrics 1 was a ghetto of postings. And it wasn’t even about the people; they were mostly nice. I remember us discussing that they were just very principled, and as long as you did at least the minimum expected of you, you should be fine. But that minimum—Lord help you if the consultant ward round was on Monday and you “locked out” during the weekend. By the time you came back to your senses, it would be 9 a.m. on Monday, and the consultant would be asking, “Whose patient is this?” Usually, the probability of being asked to present your patient was highest if your patient happened to be the first reviewed. That often depended on how much of a hurry the consultant was in. You could even risk answering “yes” to having clerked the patient and get away without being asked to present. But Lord help you if the consultant had enough time in the world. “Tell me about your patient.” My story was a crazy one. Three of us were assigned a patient. Two of them decided to split the clerking pres...

Nigeria has celebrated yet another Independence Day. As everyone and every organisation sent out their flyers with pictures of the green and white flag flying high and proud, I sat and imagined the perspective of a seventy-year-old man on all of this. He must have been there, a starry-eyed young lad, as the nation officially gained independence from the British colonisers. He must have witnessed the birth of a country with its name, its flag, its coat of arms, and its freedom. As a teenager, he must have lived through the country’s golden age. He must have marvelled at Cocoa House, built from the revenue of Nigeria’s thriving agricultural exports. He must have watched as the discovery of oil toppled everything over. He must have seen the time when a good income, a house, and a nice car were almost guaranteed for every graduate; when people stood tall and proud and happily called themselves citizens of this nation. He must have witnessed the transfer of power from military rulers to ele...

During the time of the Prophet ﷺ and the early pious predecessors, Tawheed (the absolute Oneness of Allah)   was fully understood. Later on, it became necessary to explain it in terms of its components. From the essence of Tawheed is Ar-Rububiyyah , which is the firm belief that Allah alone is the Creator of the universe and its Designer. He gives life and death as He wills. He is the Provider, the All-Powerful, and the Possessor of infinite strength. “And if you ask them who created them, they will surely say: Allah. How then are they turned away (from the worship of Allah, Who created them)?” [Surah Az-Zukhruf: 87] “Say: Who is the Lord of the seven heavens and the Lord of the Great Throne? They will say: Allah...” [Surah Al-Muʾminūn: 86-87] None denies Allah’s Lordship except the atheist, who claims to reject His existence while knowing deep down that He exists. They may substitute terms such as “nature,” “force,” or “the force of nature” to mask the truth. This denial is not b...