A renowned Islamic cleric Ustaz Abdul-Lateef Adekilekun and the Waziri Muminina of Yorubaland has strongly frowned at the practice of beheading or killing for blasphemy in Islam. He said the practice was propagated by a self-acclaimed jurist and has no doctrinal basis in Islam.
Adekilekun’s reaction followed the recent incident in Sokoto state, where a butcher was stoned to death on allegations of blasphemy against the Prophet.
In his statement to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ede, Adekilekun emphasized that it is not in accordance with Islamic teachings to take another person’s life due to blasphemy. He reiterated that Islam is a religion of peace and does not promote violence.
Furthermore, the cleric recalled reading a book 61 years ago that advocated beheading anyone who accuses the prophet, clarifying that the book was not the Quran or Hadith. He explained that it was a publication authored by a self-proclaimed jurist.
In his words, “I remember, I read a book and I was taught in the class exactly 61 years ago where they said anyone who accused Prophet Muhammad should be beheaded. But the book is neither the Qur’an nor hadith. It is just a book written by a self-styled jurist.
He described the action of killing over blasphemy as an expression of ignorance by the Nigerian devotees especially from Northern Nigeria who fly with beliefs that have no Islamic origin.
“Our problem in Nigeria is ignorance. Blasphemy in Nigeria is mainly from the Northern part of the country and the cause is ignorance.”
“You rarely hear of such in the Southern part of the country where enlightenment and awareness are more pronounced”
The cleric said that the establishment of the National Board for Arabic and Islamic Studies is established to help bridge the gap of ignorance as the board is saddled with the responsibility of blending Islamic-Oriented education with Western education for a proper understanding of Islam.
