Yoruba Land’s Inter Religious Relationships: A Humorous Account Of A Muslim Father Giving His Daughter Out To A Christian Groom
The Oasis Reporters
November 9, 2021
When it comes to marriages in Yoruba land, it is beautifully all systems go. There’s hardly any extended Yoruba family that you would not have sons’ in-laws or daughters’ in-laws from diverse ethnic groups within Nigeria, Africa and the world.
On the other hand, marriages across different religious beliefs are commonplace.
It may be the daughter of a proud Imam, insisting on marrying a Christian groom or the son of a Christian pastor insisting on marrying the daughter of an Islamic Sheikh.
Marriages often get contracted in the mosque, with weddings cemented in church. A large percentage of the contracting families attend all ceremonies.
The Oasis Reporters came across a very sweet story of a father who swore not to go to Church to give his daughter out.
Here’s the narrative:
“I am proudly Aminat…my father named me that. I was born a Muslim!
I became a Christian and my father swore not to go to Church to marry me out, that I must do Nikkai! It took the intervention of a highly respectable Chief and family members to convince him !
But my beloved father, a proud Muslim did enter the church and no, hell didn’t let loose. If anything..the heavens literally came down !
It rained heavily on my wedding day and we used an open space for the reception….my father will humorously add later, “when you people went to do your wedding in Latter Rain Assembly! What did you expect” ? It happened to have been the first rain of the year, that year.
Humour ends it all, and joy reverberates with loud echoes of perfect harmony. That’s the sweetness of Yoruba marriages. May the rains of joy and fruitfulness fill Yoruba land to bring continuous prosperity, constant peace and essential harmony.
Greg Abolo
