An Islamic cleric, Raji Abdul-Ganiyy, has criticised the recent killing of a man in Sokoto on allegations of blaspheming against Prophet Muhammad, saying the act was due to a misunderstanding of the precepts of Islam.

Abdul-Ganiyy, who condemned the killings on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Wednesday, said, “They are misunderstanding Islam, they are engaging in what we call jungle justice which is not known to Islam.”

According to the cleric, there is no verse in the Quran that instructs one to kill and it does not posit intolerance for blasphemy.

Lamenting the killing, he cited the murder of Deborah Samuel, a female student, who was similarly killed in Sokoto for alleged blasphemy.

The Secretary of the Nasrul-lahi-li Fathi Society of Nigeria (NASFAT) Mission Board noted that the practice of Islam should not be forcefully imposed on people but accepted willingly.

“People have to accept Islam out of conviction and if somebody chooses to renounce Islam, probably the person has a reason to do so,” Abdul-Ganiyy said.

“In a country such as this, we are not practising Sharia here, even where Sharia is practised, you will not go out there to stone the person or kill the person. There has to be a court and a judge that will say ‘This is what this person has done wrong’.

“And it is not enough to say, because the person has said I am not no longer a Muslim, the next thing you do is to call people to come around and kill him, stone or come and set him ablaze because he has renounced Islam — that is not it.”

According to him, the Quran does not in any way support a revenge mission over those who renounce or blaspheme against Islam.

“What the Quran says is that even if you sit in a gathering where Allah or his prophets is being blasphemed, what you should do is to leave; you leave that community, not that you go and call people to kill.”

The cleric lamented the surge of religious hypocrisy and urged religious followers to imbibe and emulate what was ministered to them at their gatherings.

“People have actually not understood the true meaning of religion. There is a world of difference between saying ‘I am religious’ and actually living up to the true meaning of being a religious person,” Abdul-Ganiyy argued.

“When you go the mosque or church to listen to their clerics and they come back to kill, to steal, that means the preaching has not been internalised with them,” he noted.

Two Killings

An irate mob in Sokoto on Sunday killed a butcher, Usman Buda after he was accused of making blasphemous comments against Prophet Muhammad.

The Sokoto State Police Command confirmed the killing in a statement by its spokesperson, Ahmad Rufai.

He said the command received information on the incident and quickly swung into action. Adding that the command had begun an investigation into the incident.

Also, in May 2022, a student of the Shehu Shagari College of Education in Sokoto, Deborah Samuel, was lynched by her fellow students after being accused of blasphemy.

Protests broke out when the police arrested some suspects in connection with the gruesome killing. Nobody has been charged with the killing. (Channels TV)

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