The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has expressed support for
the introduction of Sharia in the South-West.
The Islamic group told the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria
(PFN) and other Christianity adherents to mind their business.
The comment followed a warning by the PFN against any move
to introduce Sharia law in Yoruba States through the ongoing constitutional
review by the Senate.
MURIC Director, Professor Ishaq Akintola, accused Christians of always being the first to fire shots and heat up the polity.
He said Christians know very well that Shariah is the
Allah-given fundamental human right of Muslims but are determined to deprive
them using unorthodox methods.
“PFN and other Christian groups are fully aware that Shariah
was in the South West decades before the arrival of Christianity in 1842.
Shariah was practiced in Ede under Oba Abibu Olagunju (Habeeb, a Muslim name)
and the Ede Shariah Court operated up till 1913 at Agbeni area of the town. It
was moved to Agbongbon area in 1914.
“Shariah was applied in Iwo under Oba Momodu Lamuye
(Muhammad Lamuye) who died in 1906. Even the seventh Akirun of Ikirun, Oba
Aliyu Oyewole (died 1912), instituted Shariah in Ikirun in 1910. These are just
examples of the existence and spread of Shariah in Yorubaland and the Christian
leaders are not oblivious of the fact that it was the British Christian
colonialists who stopped Shariah in Yorubaland and imposed Christian common
law.
“However, they are equally aware of the rising tide of
Islamic awareness in the same South West. They have seen the hitherto passive
Muslim community being transformed into an active, articulate and politically
conscious populace. They are afraid that the sleeping giant is waking up to
take back what belongs to it.”
MURIC called on Nigerians to understand the siege mentality
of Christians who, like “all aggressors”, believe that attack is the best form
of defence.
The Islamic group said as the benefactors and inheritors of
colonial rampage that lasted more than a century, Christians are determined to
keep all the loot which their principal bequeathed to them.
“They have forgotten that the only thing that is constant in
life is change. We are worried about the voyeuristic disorder which has again
manifested in the PFN. It is a Peeping Tom syndrome that propels our Christian
neighbours to crane their necks in order to see what is in the pot of soup of
the Muslims. It is called ‘giraffing’ in examination hall parlance.”
Akintola recalled that the Constitution Review Panel asked
Nigerians to forward their views regarding what they want in the constitution.
The director said instead of telling the panel what the
Christians want, PFN was insisting on what they do not want Muslims to ask for.
“The issue is what do the Christians want? It is clear that
they have been over-pampered by the colonial master who handed over our common
patrimony to them on a platter of gold. So now they want nothing because they
already have all they need. But they want to sustain the status quo because it
favours them.
“Decorum, courtesy and protocol demand that Christians
should ask for what they lack and what they want. But instead of doing that
they are asking the committee not to tolerate the demands of Muslims. Yet
Christians already have their own common law and the shariah has nothing to do
with them. It is Muslims who need Shariah.
“This attitude can be compared to that of the dog in the
manger whose master gave it its own meat and bone. The dog ate and was filled
up. But when the master gave hay to the horse, the dog came barking ferociously
in order to prevent the horse from accessing the grass. But do dogs eat grass?
How uncharitable can our neighbours be?”
MURIC warned the PFN and its co-travellers to steer clear of
the path of Muslims in the South West, adding that the demand for Shariah is a
civil rights matter.
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