Stay away from monkeys and bush meat to avoid contracting the dreaded Ebola virus, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III has told \u00a0the Muslim ummah.<\/p>\n
Abubakar who said the warning became necessary in the wake of the Ebola pandemic, \u00a0noted that since it was first confirmed medically that the disease was discovered in monkeys and fruit bats, it would be reasonable for Muslims to avoid such, including other bush meat.<\/span><\/p>\n A statement on behalf of the Sultan by the JNI\u2019s Secretary-General, Dr. Khalid Abubakar in Kaduna on Tuesday said, \u201cAs confirmed by medical experts, the disease was first discovered in monkeys and contacted by those who eat monkeys and other sources of bush meat. Alas, in Islam eating of monkeys had already been discouraged (Makruh), according to many scholars of Islamic jurisprudence. Thus, we should continue to uphold this verdict as it also serves as a preventative measure.\u201d<\/p>\n He also urged Muslims to abide by all health tips for the prevention of the disease seriously, noting that the culture of personal hygiene as well as proper sanitation must always be emphasised<\/p>\n According to him, Islam is a religion of cleanliness, adding that as reported in a sound Hadith, \u201cCleanliness is half of faith.\u201d<\/p>\n Therefore, the Sultan called on Imams and Ulama to continue sensitising their respective followers on the dangers of the disease and the preventive measures they are supposed to imbibe.<\/p>\n He added: \u201cNigeria has now joined the league of West African nations with the deadly Ebola outbreak. Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia were reported as taking the lead. The Nigeria Ebola case was first reported with the arrival of a Liberian, Mr. Patrick Sawyer with the disease in Lagos and subsequently died at a Lagos hospital.<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Stay away from monkeys and bush meat to avoid contracting the dreaded Ebola virus, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III has told \u00a0the Muslim ummah. Abubakar who said…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10417,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n