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| Shelkh Taofeek Akewugbagold |
A popular Ibadan-based Islamic scholar Shelkh Taofeek Akewugbagold has condemned the gruesome killing of Deborah Samuel, a student of Shehu Shagari College of Education(SSCOE) Sokoto over alleged blasphemy last Thursday.
Deborah was killed over allegation of blasphemy against Prophet Muhammed (S.A.W) on the premises of the campus by a mob.
Condemning the action of the mob, Akewugbagold said Islam frowns against unjust killing, saying no verse of the Quran supports such acts.
According to him, Islam is against any form of blasphemy against God and His Prophets.
He said although blasphemy is a very grevious offence in Islam, there are rules to follow before punishment is meted out to anyone who allegedly commits such an offence.
He explained anyone accused of blasphemy must be taken before a Sharia Court and allowed to defend his/herself.
Thorough investigation, he added, must be conducted before a judge could pass judgment aa against stoning as done in Deborahโs case.
He said there are no verses of Quran where Allah says anyone that commits blasphemy should be stoned but there are Hadiths and stories from scholars that supported stoning for anyone who commits blasphemy.
Akewugbagold said there are a lot of verses of the Quran where Allah always directed prophet Muhammed (S.A.W) to be patient and ignore any negative things people said about him.
His words: โNo single verse of the holy Quran where Almighty Allah has command stoning for anyone that commit blasphemy.
โThose who have the mindset of killing fellow human beings here and there should know that they will end up in hell fire regardless of their solat (prayer) or worship.
โDeborah Samuel was killed unjustly and those who killed her should know that Allah will question them specifically on the day of judgment.
โYou cannot just kill a single soul in an Islamic world, Islam respects dignity of human being and respects the essence of being alive.โ
He called on Muslims to shun jungle justice on the basis of defending Islam, saying doing so would have negative multiplier effects on the image of Islam and Muslims.
Akewugbagold said carrying out jungle justice should not continue so people donโt start looking at Islam as if it is a religion of war rather than that of a peace.
โNobody was killed for blasphemy throughout the life of the Prophet Muhammed despite the fact that they were scenes which people supposed to be killed for it but they never kill them.
โIf we want this country to be great we must tolerate one another irrespective of religion. I appeal to the Federal Government to take action on this type of killing so that it would not happen again,โ Akewugbagold said.
