Muslims who kill Christians in Nigeria over blasphemy will not smell Paradise, popular Kaduna-based Islamic scholar, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, has declared.
He was reacting to the killing of a student of Shehu Shagari College of Education (SSCOE) Deborah Samuel over alleged blasphemy against Prophet Muhammad last Thursday.
Gumi stated categorically that Nigeria is not an Islamic state, adding that Muslims have an agreement with people of other faiths to live together peacefully.
He said any Muslim who kills Christians with whom they have agreed to live peacefully on religious guise has committed a grievous sin.
The Islamic scholar spoke in one of his preachings at Sultan Bello Mosque in Kaduna.
He said it is unfortunate some Muslim clerics were quoting verses they don’t understand and telling people to kill whoever insults their religion.
Quoting some Quranic verses and jurisprudence, the cleric said killing a non-Muslim under the guise the person uttered a blasphemous statement against Prophet Muhammad is not an excuse “because Allah has told us in the Qur’an the non-Muslims will insult Allah and His Prophet. In fact, it is now the blasphemy that will start after the killing of that lady in Sokoto, the insult will increase, not reduce.”
Gumi said some Muslims in Nigeria that want to defend Prophet Muhammad should be ashamed of themselves because they are corrupt.
He explained the best way to defend the Prophet is to follow his teachings.
According to Gumi: “We the clerics need to wake up and teach the Muslims their religion. We must leave this state of ignorance, we have turned like animals. We the Muslims are not the only ones in this country.
“It is not only that we are not the only ones in this country, we must know that there was nothing the unbelievers did not do to Prophet Muhammad but he was patient because he was conscious that if he killed them, the unbelievers he was trying to bring to the fold of Islam will tag him a killer.
“There are people who are neither Muslims nor Christians in Nigeria, and everyone is trying to win their souls. Also, there are people who are not Muslims, whom we are preaching Islam so that they can enter the fold of Islam and be salvaged in the hereafter.
“If we now begin to kill people, they will say it is even from the leader of our faith, Prophet Muhammad, that we have learnt it. They will say their religion is a religion of bloodletting. At a time we are trying to draw the attention of people to see the beauty of Islam, we are now scaring them away.
