Sultan of Sokoto and President-General of the Jama’atul Nasir Islam, Sa’ad Abubakar lll
Tunde Ajaja
The Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic
Affairs has said the Christian Association of Nigeria is being paranoid
and intolerant of Islam. It said Muslims in the country had always
tolerated Christians but that CAN was showing itself to be
“Islamophobic.”
CAN had alleged that the issuance of
Sukuk bond by the Debt Management Office was an attempt to make Nigeria
an Islamic nation, and that promoting a sectional religious financial
policy was a violation of the constitution.
But in its response on Friday, NSCIA, in
a statement by its Deputy Secretary General, Salisu Shehu, said CAN
could not claim ignorance of the fact that even the World Bank had been
involved in issuing Sukuk bond.
It added that several non-Muslim
countries across Africa, Europe and Asia had also instituted Islamic
Financial System generally and Sukuk in particular. It cited Kenya,
Tanzania, South Africa, United Kingdom, Luxembourg, Russia, China and
Singapore as examples.
The statement read, “It would certainly
be embarrassing for CAN to be told that the first and foremost state in
Nigeria to submit application for loan to the Islamic Development Bank
is a Christian-dominated state in the South-East.
“This has been the factor that made
Muslims to tolerate several practices or things that are essentially
Christian in nature and outlook, in substance and form and indeed in
principle and practice, but imposed on us.
“We have not been talking of
Christianisation because Sunday has been forced on us as a work-free
day, or the Cross as our hospital sign and symbol, our membership of the
International Red Cross, and many other things including almost all the
titles of the heads of academic institutions (chancellor, provost,
dean, rector, etc.).
“Despite this remarkable tolerance from
Muslims over the years, CAN appears to be increasingly becoming
Islamophobic and paranoid about its hate and intolerance of Islam,
casting aspersions, unnecessarily overheating the polity and
unjustifiably creating fear and distrust in the minds of peace-loving
citizens of our great country.”
It further advised CAN to, in the spirit
of Biblical injunctions, uphold the truth and refrain from statements
capable of causing disaffection and promoting disharmony that might lead
to conflict in the country.
However, the General Secretary, CAN,
Musa Ashake, declined to comment on the report, “I have not read it and I
don’t like to comment on any report that I have not read.”
Comments
Post a Comment