مسجد Arisekola

Arisekola Mosque in Ibadan, the sprawling metropolis in southwestern Nigeria that served as the capital of the old Oyo State and remains one of the largest cities in West Africa, commemorates the name of Alhaji Abdulazeez Arisekola Alao, one of the most prominent Nigerian Muslim philanthropists and industrialists of the late twentieth century. Arisekola, as he was widely known, built a business empire spanning oil, gas, and telecommunications, and used his wealth extensively for philanthropy and for building mosques and Islamic institutions across Nigeria. He was one of the key patrons of the famous University of Ibadan Central Mosque and of many other projects that enriched Muslim communal life in southwestern Nigeria. Mosques bearing his name across Ibadan and beyond preserve his legacy as a sadaqah jariyah whose spiritual reward continues to flow to him long after his passing in 2014. Ibadan itself has a strong Muslim heritage dating back centuries, with Islam taking root among the Yoruba people through trade and missionary activity long before colonial times, and the city today hosts one of the densest concentrations of mosques in any African city. Arisekola Mosque serves its local neighbourhood community with the five daily prayers, Friday Jumuah gathering, Qur'an and tajwid classes for children and adults, Islamic studies in the Maliki tradition, Yoruba and Arabic language instruction, marriage solemnisation, funeral rites, zakat distribution, and welfare services. The prayer hall is carpeted and oriented toward the qibla with a mihrab, mimbar, separate women's section, and ablution facilities. Ramadan brings nightly tarawih prayers, community iftars featuring Yoruba Muslim cuisine, Qur'an khatm sessions, and itikaf during the final ten nights, while Eid prayers draw worshippers in festive attire to celebrate together in continuation of the philanthropic tradition the mosque's namesake so generously embodied. Arisekola's philanthropic example continues to inspire the local Ibadan business community, with successful Muslim entrepreneurs regularly making contributions to the mosque's welfare and educational programmes, a virtuous cycle of wealth deployed in the service of faith that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa alihi wa sallam repeatedly encouraged through teachings on the spiritual benefits of sadaqah and on how wealth properly used becomes a means of drawing ever closer to Allah.