Gov. Babangida Aliyu of Niger on Friday, urged Nigerians not to link Islam with Boko Harm as\u00a0 “Islam abhors extremism in all aspects.”<\/p>\n
Aliyu made the call at the opening ceremony of a three-day workshop of Chief Imams of North Central Zone of the country in Minna.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all know that Islam is a religion of moderation and abhors extremism in all aspects,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n
Aliyu described a situation whereby some people linked the \u201cheinous activities\u201d of Boko Haram to Islam as unfortunate.<\/p>\n
He said that the activities of the sect negated the basic principles of Islam, stressing that \u201cMuslims do not attack another religion in the name of jihad.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gov. Aliyu, however, observed that many Muslims were ignorant of the rudiments of Islam because some parents had abdicated their responsibility of teaching their children the basic tenets of the religion.<\/p>\n
He added that schools no longer encouraged moral or religious education.<\/p>\n
Aliyu advised the imams \u201cto mould and reform the society through wise preaching, sincere and honest admonitions, spiritual advice and community support at all times.<\/p>\n
“You are entrusted with the guidance of everybody in the society; the leaders and the led, the rich and the poor, young and the old, father and son, husband and wife, that you see as servants of God.<\/p>\n
“The imams should also be in the vanguard of mutual understanding between Muslims and non-Muslims; similarly, the imams should serve as guides to political leaders.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey should reach out to the youth, inspire them in peaceful pursuits and teach them the correct understanding of Islam, to avoid them resorting violence,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He also appealed to the gathering to advise the government on whether the imams should be paid allowance or depend on charity.<\/p>\n
The governor, who said that the advice should also include the method of selecting the imams and the location of Juma\u2019at Mosque within a community, said the effort was worth its salt to avoid conflict.<\/p>\n
The Chairman, Niger League of Imam, Sheikh Ibrahim Fari, called for unity among the Muslim community to ensure better understanding and advancement of Islam and in the interest of the larger society.<\/p>\n
He also called for adherence to the true teaching of Islamic tenets, obey the leaders and avoid abusing them for failure to tackle the problems confronting the country and its citizens.<\/p>\n
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that 210 imams from Kwara, Kogi, Nasarawa, Plateau, Benue, FCT and the host state were participating in the workshop. (NAN)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Gov. Babangida Aliyu of Niger on Friday, urged Nigerians not to link Islam with Boko Harm as\u00a0 “Islam abhors extremism in all aspects.” Aliyu made the call at the opening…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7709,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n