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The issue was raised last week Thursday by George Olu Best of Kano (080 – 3964 – 3878) in a text message he sent to me. It reads: “Sir, as God has given you permission to ask Him questions on statements and stories in the Bible and Qur’an, I will appreciate it very much if you can enlighten me on the sacrifice Abraham carried out in the Bible. Sir, is it the same God who instructed him in the Bible to sacrifice Isaac who in the Qur’an told him in a dream to sacrifice Ishmael? Are they the same personality?”
It is not only Mr. George who wonders how the Ancient of Days would tell Abraham to sacrifice Isaac in the Christian Holy Book and would change it to Ishmael in the Qur’an. It is one evidence many a Christian cited to challenge my write – ups in the last ten years that members of the religion and the Muslims worship the same God.
They surely have a valid point. Christianity had its origin when Jesus Christ at the age of 30 began his ministry (Luke Chapter 3 verses 23 – 38) while it was established as a religion in 32 A.D after his death. The Holy Bible is believed to have been published in one of the years from 96 – 104A.D.
The reason for uncertainty is that the last five Books written in the Scriptures, the Gospel of John (in – between Luke and the Acts of the Apostles), First John, Second John, Third John and Revelation, all authored by Apostle John, were thought to have been penned in the late 80s to early 90s A.D, that is from 86 – 95A.D. On the other hand, the church established by Apostle Peter on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1 – 47) is believed to have been given the name Catholic in 105A.D.
Since this name and Pope, the title of the head of the first Christian denomination in the world, are not in the Bible that meant that the Christian Holy Book was published in one of the unknown years from 96 – 104 A.D.
Islam was introduced by Prophet Mohammed who was born in 569 and went to glory in 632 AD at the age of 63, in the early 7th century AD, which was about 496 – 504 years after the Bible was published.
God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac in Genesis 22:1 – 19 a Book written in 1445 B.C. Given this, how could Ishmael be the son Abraham saw in a dream that he was to sacrifice in the Qur’an whose contents were divinely dictated to Prophet Mohammed about two thousand and forty – five years after the Book of Genesis was penned?
The answer to unraveling the puzzle that the son Abraham was to sacrifice in the Bible was Isaac but Ishmael in the Qur’an is the same as the explanation I gave in this column about six years ago on a related issue. This was on the reason why God after getting Abraham to introduce Judaism raised Jesus Christ to bring Christianity and Prophet Mohammed Islam.
More to come Wednesday next week
Fola Alade: One of Nigeria’s best architects ever
Chief Fola Alade was a multiple – trail – blazer in architecture in Nigeria. It began in 1961 when he was one of the first four Architecture degree holders who graduated from the College of Arts, Science and Technology, Zaria (now the Ahmadu Bello University). It was the first and only institution offering architecture at the time.
Chief Alade was also among the pioneer architects to be employed by the Lagos City Council and later by the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing (FMWH). He made history in 1969 when he became the first Registrar of the Architects’ Registration Council of Nigeria (ARCON).
He created another record in 1972 as the pioneer Chief Project Architect in the FMWH and in 1975 the original Director of Public Buildings. Finally in 1976, he became the first Architect in Nigeria to be appointed a Federal Permanent Secretary in the Federal Civil Service, a position in which he served until 1979 when he retired and went into private practice with the establishment of Fola Alade Associates that year.
More than anyone in the profession in Nigeria he left his footprint on the sands of designing federal public buildings in the country and abroad. The legacy achievements he recorded included being the brain behind the 1004 (one thousand and four) Federal Housing Estate on Victoria Island in Lagos, the Federal Secretariat Building in Ikoyi, Lagos, the Remembrance Arcade at Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos, the National Stadium in Surulere, Lagos and the Satellite Town off the Lagos – Badagry Expressway.
Other handiworks of Chief Fola Alade when he was in the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing were designing the Nigerian Air Force Base in Ikeja, Lagos, National Judicial Institute, Abuja, the Nigerian Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies building in Kuru, Plateau State and Nigerian Embassy buildings in eleven countries in Africa, Europe, Asia and the United States.
For his invaluable and esteemed services to the nation Chief Fola Alade was honoured with the title of the Officer of the Federal Republic (OFR) and in1990 appointed the Pro – Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of the Federal University of Port Harcourt.
His academic and professional accomplishments are that he was an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), a Member of the Architects’ Registration Council of the United Kingdom (ARCUK), Fellow of the Royal Society of Health of the United Kingdom (FRSH) and a Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Architects (FNIA). He also had a Doctor of Science Honoris Causa award.
Legendary Chief Fola Alade was a double holder of the chieftaincy titles of Maiyegun and Asiwaju of his hometown of Aramoko – Ekiti.
CONCLUDED
10 topmost immigrant Lagosians – Candido Da Rocha (2)
Chief Candido Joao Da Rocha had his secondary school education at C.M.S Grammar School, Lagos where his colleagues included Chief Herbert Macaulay and Chief Isaac Oluwole, one of the prominent Lagosians in the 20th century. Upon passing out of the institution he followed the footsteps of his father, Chief Joao Esan Da Rocha, a wealthy businessman by going into the same profession and becoming Nigeria’s first millionaire.
His businesses included running Bonanza Hotel and a popular eatery called the Restaurant Da Rocha and a company known as Sierra Leone Deep Sea Fishing Industries Limited. He was also a large landowner and a creditor (money lender) who owned the Lagos Native Bank with Chief Joseph Henry Doherty and Sedu Williams two other wealthy Lagosians in the 20th century.
Chief Da Rocha lived at Kakawa Street in one of the eight most magnificent residential houses on Lagos Island all of Portuguese (Brazilian) designs. The other edifices were Chief Joseph Henry Doherty’s imposing storey – building at Campos Street facing Campos Square and those of his sons. One was the storey building of Chief Theophilus Adebayo Doherty at Odunlami Street and that of his brother Dr. Joseph Akanni Doherty at Idumagbo Street and four adjoining buildings.
Chief Da Rocha’s house at Kakawa Street which was built by his father Chief Esan Joao Candido Da Rocha was known then and until now as Water House because it had a borehole from which water was sold to members of the public and it also had a water fountain, the first in Lagos and Nigeria.
Chief Candido Da Rocha whose brother Dr. Moses Da Rocha was one of the earliest Western – trained orthodox medical practitioners in Nigeria, was a founding member of the Lagos Auxiliary to the Anti – Slavery and Aborigenes Rights Society. He held the chieftaincy title of the Lodifi of Ilesa conferred by the Owa of Ijesa Kingdom, the hometown of his ancestors.
For conclusion next week
