Fight terrorism together, Sultan urges Muslims, Christians

The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, has said Muslims and Christians are one humanity and must come together to defeat terrorism. The President General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs said Muslims, especially, must be united and tackle insurgency to stop those trying to soil the name of Islam. The Sultan spoke on Saturday during the ‘turbanning’ of the Grand Imam of Ekiti State, Jamiu Kewulere Bello, as the President General of the League of Imams and Alfas in Southwest, Edo and Delta States. Delivering the lecture, the Proprietor of Morkaz Agege, Sheikh Abibulahi Adam, urged Bello to use his position to unite Muslims and promote Islam by continuing to lead by examples. The Sultan was particularly happy that notable Christian leaders and dignitaries attended the occasion. The Sultan said, “That is the message to take home. We are all one humanity created by God Almighty. There is no time to be up and doing in strengthening the unity of Muslims than now. “We have so many challenges confronting us today that we know are un-islamic. We as parents must know how to stop our children from participating in criminality. It is important for us as Islamic teachers to tell our children what is Islamic and what is not. “Imagine a 10-year-old child will commit suicide and kill innocent people, saying it is Islam cause. This has no place in Islam and has no basis in our religion. Those bad people are living with us. If you know any of such people, please expose them so that they cannot continue to spoil the name of Islam. “It is a big task no doubt, but we must be united as Ummah because what binds us together is Islam. It is not euphemism, not poverty but Islam.” The spiritual leader of Muslims in Nigeria also urged Islamic clerics to promote and teach virtues of Islam and peaceful coexistence with others. He added, “We must work together to bring our clerics together to tackle terrorism and extremism because this is unIslamic. The way we can do it is through education and not through arms taking. We are one people and we will continue to be one people. “In Islam, Allah enjoins us to be our brothers’ keeper and I know it is the same in Christianity. Those people preaching violence in the name of religion are not part of us.” “We are proud to be Muslims and we have no regret that God created us Muslims, but we must be good Muslims. We must follow the teachings and tenets of Islam.” “There is no compulsion in religion. Let us unite and close ranks, and expose the evil ones among us.Insha Allah, Nigeria will be a better place to live in. Let us continue to tell our leaders the truth. When they are wrong, we will tell them, when they are right, we will commend them. Nobody is above mistakes.” In his acceptance speech, Kewulere paid tributes to all his predecessors and expressed gratitude to his colleagues in the League.