The Sultan spoke just as the Kaduna state governor, Mukthar Ramalan Yero admonished Islamic scholars to refrain from using the Muslim holy month of Ramadan to cast aspersions on people without proper investigations.
Speaking at a national conference on the role of Muslim Scholars in fostering unity, peace and security in Nigeria organized by Jama’at Nasril Islam (JNI) in Kaduna, the Sultan said that the nation cannot move forward when leaders are made to believe that they are always right.
“We cannot move forward when we tell a leader he is always right. No leader is ever right in this circumstance. So many things have gone wrong in this country, and they are still going wrong. So many things are not working because the leaders refused to allow them to work”.
While noting that the Muslim world was facing daunting challenge, the Sultan said “we are very aware just like any other people across the world of the challenges facing us as Muslims, not only in Nigeria; we believe somebody somewhere is pulling the string”.
The Sultan who is also the Co-Chairman of the Nigeria Inter-religious Council also said “we will not allow anybody to stop us from being Muslims because that is what God brought to us and that is what we chose to be, we will not allow anybody to turn our lives upside down, and whatever anybody does that affects Islam and Muslims.”
He expressed concern over the level of disunity among Muslims saying “if there is unity among Muslims, there will be peace, and if there is peace, there will be development and progress in our country and there will be total security in Nigeria.
“If there is security, definitely, there will be development. What is happening in the Northern part of the country is an unfortunate incident which has been forced on us, may be for so many reasons, may be the Almighty Allah (God) wants to correct our ways.
“I believe it is high time all of us come together and discuss those things that have been pestering our lives as Muslims in this country. I want to state here that our main problems have been lack of unity, lack of consensus in whatever we do, and of course, viz-a-viz so poor in our lives as Muslims in this country.
“We are begging Allah for constant prayers from all of you, you are all distinguished Ulamas, we need constant prayers from the downtrodden to any other person, we shall overcome all these challenges and move to greater heights by the special grace of God.
“We are committed to ensuring justice in whatever we do, we are committed to ensuring that whichever leaders God Almighty blessed on us to do what is right, and we must tell them when they go wrong”.
While lamenting the failure of leadership in the country to provide purposive leadership, he said “as Muslim leaders, we know what the holy Koran said about leadership, we know how our noble leader lived his life which we are all striving to copy in the minutest way, and I believe totally that if we imbibe the virtues of the holy Koran and the virtues of our noble leader, nobody will go wrong.
“I believe it is high time we put aside so many differences in understanding of Islam, put aside so called promise of big manism, put aside hatred that permeated people’s heart, and put aside personal interest. Put Islam above all, and if you do so, we will find the end of all the problems facing us that we will enable all of us to observe our religious obligations and duties in a peaceful manner.
“We refuse to accept time without number whenever any violence take place anywhere in the world, if committed by a Muslim, you will hear Islamic terrorist, or Muslim terrorist or Islamic fundamentalist. But when worst violence is perpetrated by somebody who is not a Muslim, we don’t hear the same coinage, or the same factionalization of the same criminal activity linking it to that particular religion.
“And we believe so many criminal activities have taken place in the name of so many other religion, but Islam has been singled out and it is a challenge for us to wake up, stand together, stretching our hands of unity and face such problem squarely. We can only do that if we put aside our personal differences.
“I don’t want to talk so much, but I really have so much in mind on such issues, but suffice to say, today we have an opportunity to bare our minds to the President, Commander-In- Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria who set up a committee to look into insurgency activities particularly in the North.
“I believe that committee should also look at other things that are happening in other parts of the country. But this is the first step. Let us stabilize north in particular, then move to other places, ” the Sultan stated. Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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