Friday, April 16, 2010
Nigeria: National Ahmadiyya leader cautions Nigerians on crisis
“In order to have harmonious religious and political atmosphere and good governance, we have to uphold truth, justice and fair play, guarantee freedom of conscience, freedom of worship without transgressing on the freedom of others, protection of life and property." [Dr. Mashhud Aderele Fashola]
Ahmadiyya Times | News Staff | Int'l Desk
Source & Credit: Nigerian Compass | April 16, 2010
By Samuel Ogidan and Yekeen Nurudeen, Abuja
Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at, Nigeria has cautioned Nigerians against fighting and quarreling on the basis of cultural, ethnic and religious differences which would not only hindered its progress, but would make the nation to drift and lose focus.
Speaking in Keffi, Nasarawa state on the topic; ‘religion, politics and good governance’ at the 60th Jalsa Salana annual conference, Ahmadiyya national President, Amir Alhaji Dr. Mashhud Aderele Fashola said the recent happenings around nation are serious threats to peace, prosperity and unity of the country.
He called on the Muslim faithful not to fold their arms and watch the affairs of the nation degenerate and yet, claim to be righteous, adding, “the holy Prophet is reported to have said that if any wrongdoing, we should revert it with our hands. If we cannot, we should speak against it. If we cannot speak against it, we should condemn it in our heart. And this is the lowest level of faith.
“In order to have harmonious religious and political atmosphere and good governance, we have to uphold truth, justice and fair play, guarantee freedom of conscience, freedom of worship without transgressing on the freedom of others, protection of life and property.
“Muslims are not allowed and should never destroy any place of worship, whether it belongs to Christians or Jews or fellow Muslims, whatever their sects, according to Allah’s injunction and should not kill or force anybody on religious ground, but rather protect freedom of worship and of conscience.”
Fashola called on all good and well-meaning Nigerians to come together without tribal, religious or sectarian discrimination, without partisan-political discriminations, to address the national problems.
“All hands should be on deck including those of federal, state, local government authorities, traditional rulers, the media, the religious and spiritual leaders to ensure that equanimity, fairness and justice prevail in our society that all and sundry benefit from the dividends of democracy.
“If any religious leader is encouraging sectarian conflicts, we should all come together to caution such group. If we refuse to live to our responsibility as leaders of the people, then we cannot rescue humanity from destruction,” he stated.
The President explained while fielding questions from reporters that Jos crisis was not a religion problem, but as a result man quest for material gain.
He said people have become too materialistic, stressing that they are looking for power and material gain, forgotten that we are all creature of God and God want us to live in brotherhood and harmony.
“It is not religious crisis, it was because the fulanis who were involve were Muslims and the indigenes happened to be Christian. They were not fighting over religious; there was a clash in the use of resources,” Fashola explained.
Meanwhile, an Islamic scholar and a lecturer from the University of Lagos, Dr. Saheed Timehin who gave a lecture on the topic, ‘leadership requirement and challenges-Islamic perspective,’ said all the crisis in the modern world are not unconnected with the failure of leadership in many countries of the world. “This is particular true of Nigeria .”
He further noted that “the fact that mankind is continually sinking in the quicksand of social and spiritual apostasy is a result of the failure of Muslims to provide true leadership to the contemporary human society.”
Saheed lamented the recent crisis that took place in Jos, adding that it was not religious but unfortunate incident that involve two warring group that belong to different religion.
He said it was ethnic-political crisis, as there was nothing in the Islamic religion that encourages the Muslims to go into such mindless killing of people.
“We know very well that politicians gain from such things. It is easy to get people to use when you want to cause problem because there are so many unemployed youth all over the places. Politicians do not go to the street, they use jobless youth who are available for stipend. As long as we continue to ignore joblessness, we continue to have ready made hands to be recruited for violence in the future,” he warned.
Read original article here: Ahmadiyya leader cautions Nigerians on crisis
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