Community Grammar School, Amuloko, off Akanran Road in the Ona Ara Local Government Area of Ibadan, Oyo State, was a Mecca of sort on Saturday as many people were rushing to see a mysterious inscription of the name of Allah on the bark of a tree in the premises of the school.
The inscription, which had been noticed around 1pm on Friday by a JSS 1 student, Abdulsalam Selimot, drew the attention of many people from the community and beyond, such that many turned the tree to an object of worship, with which they were supplicating.
Similar experience was made public last year when a female undergraduate of the University of Ibadan saw an inscription of Allah in a piece of meat she bought and boiled.
The Quranic lettering, which an Agriculture teacher in the Amuloko school, Atanda Abdulrauf Olayiwola, interpreted to mean: “Mohammadu Ra Sululah”, first appeared faintly before it got bolder few hours later to the consternation of many people.
Speaking with Selimot in her mother’s rented apartment at Oloya area of Amuloko, she said: “My dad said he was coming to see me and so I stood under the tree in front of our school.
“Suddenly, a leaf fell on my head and when I picked it, I saw certain writing on it.
“I looked up to see where it came from and discovered it fell from the tree.
“There and then I saw an Arabic lettering appearing, written on the tree.
“I could not read it well but I noticed that it was a Quranic language similar to the spellings we were being taught at our Quranic centre.
“I then went to inform some alfas (Islamic clerics), who came for GNLD training close by.
“They saw it and asked for my name.
“They asked me to go and call my parents and I went to call my mother.
Selmot said that the alfas then started rubbing their palms on the part of the tree and shouting the name of Allah with praise, just as many other people were gathering to do same.
The news brought many more people to the area as they were seen with their mobile handsets taking the picture of the inscription, while many used their mobile telephone video devices to record it.
Both the old and the young were seen plucking the leaves of the tree, cutting its branches, while some were rubbing their palms on it.
Some were even rubbing sachets of pure water on the bark of the tree, in the belief that it would turn holy water for them to drink.
Two other similar trees in the premises also bore some Arabic writings on their barks, but Selimot said: “Those other ones were the handiwork of some boys who were using nail to inscribe similar lettering on the trees because they heard that some people said they would send me to Saudi Arabia because of what I discovered.”
The JSS 1 student expressed bewilderment at the discovery, but faulted the news by a woman in veil, who claimed that the tree shouted ‘Allau Akbar’ when it was first sighted.
She said: “I didn’t hear any voice from the tree.
“It was the leaf, which fell on my head, that prompted me to look up and I saw the tiny writing.”
In the account of the Muslim teacher, Olayiwola: “It was ‘Mohammadu Ra Sulu’ that I was able to read with my pair of reading glasses when I first saw it, but after about an hour when I had returned from Jumat Service, ‘lah’ had appeared and I could read everything clearly without my glasses.
“It has even appeared bolder today (Saturday).”
A Christian and Social Studies/ Christian Religious Education teacher in the same school, Korede Johnson, also confirmed the mysterious writing, saying: “God has again used this to alert us that He actually exists and we should be worshipping Him.
“It shows that He is capable of manifesting Himself in many ways to His creatures and we should be closer to Him.”
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