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Tag: Muslim

  • Muslim man arrested for trying to convert woman to Islam

    Muslim man arrested for trying to convert woman to Islam

    Police in India’s northern state of Uttar Pradesh have arrested a Muslim man for allegedly trying to convert a Hindu woman to Islam, officials said on Thursday.

    The 20-year-old college student is the first to be held under a new anti-conversion law aimed at curbing `love jihad’, a term radical Hindu groups use in accusing Muslim men of converting Hindu women through marriage.

    The law has triggered a furore, with critics calling it Islamophobic and unconstitutional. The arrest was made in the Bareilly district on Wednesday and the man was sent to 14 days in jail pending investigations.

    “We have made the arrest on the basis of a complaint filed by the girl’s family. The allegation is that the man abducted her earlier and was forcing her to change her religion,’’ senior police officer Sansar Singh said.

    The man told domestic media that he was innocent and he had no connection with the woman.

    The new law carries a maximum punishment of 10 years in jail with fines.

    The case was registered on Saturday, the same day that Uttar Pradesh became the first state in India to enact the law, called Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance.

    In recent weeks, four more states, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Karnataka, have revealed plans to enact laws against forced and fraudulent religious conversions.

    Opposition parties and social campaigners have slammed the move, saying `love jihad’ laws are being pushed by the governing party and Hindu groups aiming to create a Hindu nation state.

  • WASSCE: WAEC examination timetable is anti-Muslim – MURIC

    WASSCE: WAEC examination timetable is anti-Muslim – MURIC

    An Islamic human rights organisation, Muslim Rights Concern, has rejected the examination timetable recently released by the West African Examinations Council for the 2020 West African Secondary School Certificate Examinations scheduled to begin on August 11, 2020.

    The organisation based its rejection on the clash between WAEC’s timetable and the period of Friday Jumu’ah prayers.

    This was made known to newsmen in a press statement on Monday by the Director and Founder of the organization, Prof. Ishaq Akintola.

    The group said: “WAEC has again fixed some of its subjects for the period of the Muslim Friday Jumu‘ah prayer in its examination which begins next week Tuesday 11th August, 2020. These are papers that Muslim candidates are also expected to take. The implications are very serious.

    “WAEC is deliberately creating a wedge between young Muslims and the mosque. WAEC is making it impossible for Muslim youth to worship. The examination body is encroaching upon Allah-given fundamental rights of Muslim candidates to access freedom of religion as guaranteed by Section 38 (i) & (ii) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. At best, the examination body is reducing the chances of good performance among Muslim candidates.

    “A quick glance at the timetable recently released by WAEC shows that there are at least three clashes between examination periods and Muslim prayers on Fridays: Management-in-Living (2pm, Friday 14th August, 2020); Literature-in-English (2pm, Friday 21st August); Health Science (1.30pm, Friday, 4th September).

    “This timetable is exclusive, sectional, parochial, insensitive and provocative. It is an invitation to anarchy. It is designed to cause pain to Muslim candidates. It is therefore the handiwork of sadists and anarchists. It smirks of an anti-Muslim machinery oiled by the passion for hate and injustice.

    “This is in spite of efforts made by us to guard against this kind of clash. It will be recalled that MURIC issued a proactive press statement on Tuesday 23rd June, 2020 under the caption ‘Consider the Friday Question in Your Timetable: MURIC Tells WAEC’. This press release was expected to remind WAEC of the need to avoid the present controversy. But WAEC ignored it.

    “The examination body cannot claim ignorance of this reminder because it was well published by the media (https://iwitness.com.ng/dont-let-your-exam-timetable-clash-with-jummat-service-muric-tells-waec/; https://authenticnewsdaily.com/2020/06/23/muric-to-waec-leave-out-friday-prayer-period-in-your-time-table/; https://www.herald.ng/consider-friday-question-timetable/; https://dailypost.ng/2020/06/23/islamic-group-issues-strong-warning-to-waec-reveal-why-terrorism-has-continued-in-nigeria/).

    “We are perturbed by WAEC’s recalcitrance. The fact that the examination body ignored the above advice shows that it deliberately targets Muslims for persecution. It inflicts unbearable psychological trauma on young Muslim candidates. It is unacceptable. This has to stop.

    “There is also enough evidence that this is not the first time WAEC will fix examinations during the Muslim prayer period on Friday. MURIC’s struggle with WAEC over the Friday question is of great antiquity. Unfortunately WAEC does not appear ready to learn from history.

    “We will cite at least two past clashes and our interface with the examination body. The timetable clashed with Jumu‘ah service in 2015 and MURIC cried out thereby forcing the examination authority to adjust its timetable (https://guardian.ng/features/muslim-students-at-crossroads-over-waec-exams/. Again in 2018 WAEC reenacted the same scenario. MURIC kicked again (https://www.blueprint.ng/muric-criticises-waec-examinations-time-table-2/; https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/more-news/262040-muslims-criticise-waec-over-exams-timetable.html; https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/more-news/262438-again-muric-asks-waec-to-remove-exams-from-friday-prayer-time.html) and WAEC adjusted its timetable (https://tribuneonlineng.com/waec-readjusts-exam-timetable-to-accommodate-jumat-service/; https://fellowpress.com/education/51694/waec-amends-timetable-as-exam-day-clashes-with-friday-jumaat-prayer/; https://www.thecable.ng/243939-2 WAEC Changes Exam Timetable After Pressure From Muslim Group).

    “It was due to this constant occurrence that we took a proactive step two months ago by cautioning WAEC not to allow its timetable to clash with the Jumu‘ah period this year but the leopard refused to change its skin. Is WAEC deaf? How can a public institution be so insensitive? What have the Muslims done to deserve being treated like blacks in apartheid South Africa?

    “We wonder why it should be so difficult for WAEC to leave out three hours only (from 12 noon to 3 pm) on Fridays in its examination timetable to allow Muslims to worship. Muslim candidates need three hours because the prayer usually starts around 1 pm. They need at least one hour to get to the mosque, one hour for the service inside the mosque and another one hour to return to the examination hall.

    “Muslims everywhere in the world do not joke with the Friday Jumu‘ah prayer. This special weekly prayer has divine and scriptural basis in Qur’an 62:9-11 and any attempt to circumspect it by any means constitutes a challenge to divine authority. Justice also demands that the Muslim prayer period be respected by all, especially by WAEC because the Christian Sunday remains sacrosanct. Perhaps WAEC examinations should be held on Sunday morning if it will not respect the Muslim prayer period.

    “What right does WAEC have to force Muslim candidates to write examination during Friday prayer time when the examination body does not fix its examinations on Sunday to disturb Christian worship? Is WAEC deliberately destabilizing Muslim candidates? How can a Muslim candidate be in the right frame of mind to sit for an examination slated for 2 pm on a Friday when he must be in the mosque from 1 pm to 2.30 pm? What is WAEC’s gameplan? Is WAEC’s timetable planned by double agents?

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    “MURIC calls the attention of the Federal Government and the Ministry of Education to WAEC’s excesses. Muslim candidates should not be blamed if they refuse to write examination under duress. Any examination that infringes upon freedom of religion is ultra vires, unlawful, illegal, illegitimate and unconstitutional. Candidates for such examinations acting alone or in conjunction with their parents have every right to use every lawful means to stop the examination.

    “WAEC is therefore invited to take notice of impending action by Muslim candidates unless it adjusts its timetable to accommodate Muslim Jumu‘ah service during the coming examinations. Muslim candidates must be given three hours every Friday. This is non-negotiable. Nigerian Muslims will liberate themselves from slavery, serfdom and religious apartheid if government is lackadaisical. The only thing MURIC opposes is violence.

    “Our message to WAEC is very clear and simple: ‘We warned you early enough but you decided to dare Nigerian Muslims with your satanic timetable. We are returning it ‘back to sender’. Adjust your timetable and stop provoking Muslims forthwith. Let the Muslims go.”

  • Buhari sends message to Muslim faithfuls, observes Eid prayer with family inside Aso Villa [PHOTOS]

    Buhari sends message to Muslim faithfuls, observes Eid prayer with family inside Aso Villa [PHOTOS]

    President Muhammadu Buhari and members of his family on Sunday observed the Eid-El-Fitr prayer at the presidential quarters in line with the protocol against mass gathering issued by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19.

    “Even as we mark the successful end of the Ramadan, and the commemoration of Eid-el-Fitr, we are doing so mindful of the times we are in.

    “I held Eid prayers at home today, with my family, in keeping with the protocol of the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19 against mass gatherings, as well as the directive of the Sultan of Sokoto and President General of the Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI), Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, suspending Eid congregational prayers across the country.

    “I urge all Muslims to continue to reflect on the lessons and virtues of this season, and sustain them beyond the celebrations. I wish you all Eid Mubarak,” President Buhari stated in an Eid message.

    PHOTOS: Buhari, family members observe Eid prayer inside Aso Villa

    Recall that President Buhari had on May 22 pledged to conduct his Eid prayers with his family at home as directed by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, who is also the President General of the Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI).

    The President, in a statement released by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, in Abuja on Friday, said his decision to observe the Eid prayer at home was also in observance of the lockdown measures in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, put in place “to save lives and protect people from all dangers.”

    Shehu, in the statement, said the president had cancelled the annual traditional Sallah homage being embarked upon by residents of the FCT led by the FCT Minister, to the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    “Further to this, the President who has traditionally shared the joyous moment with top government officials, political leaders, community heads, Muslim and Christian religious leaders and children, will not be receiving these homages in a bid to stop the coronavirus from further spreading,” he added.

    It would be recalled that President Buhari had in his this year’s Sallah message released on Friday urged Muslims to keep their spirits up in spite of the coronavirus pandemic.

    According to him, the deadly virus which caught the world off guard, and has put a damper on what would otherwise have been ”a time of celebration for the Muslim faithful to mark the end of the Ramadan fasting period.”

    The President said, “for the first time in recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a heavy toll on the people’s spiritual, social and economic lives.

    “This year’s fasting period was particularly challenging for Muslims because they had to forgo many important aspects of their daily worship, including the routine congregations for prayer and the recitation and interpretation of the Holy Qur’an as well as traveling for the lesser pilgrimage to Makkah.

    “It is not easy to give up many of these important duties and activities, but it became imperative to do so in order to control or limit the spread of this deadly disease.”

  • Muslim/Muslim ticket: Buhari helped me in choosing my running mate — El Rufai

    Governor Nasir E’rufai of Kaduna has explained how he chose his running mate for the 2019 election.

    In his first public response to criticisms over the decision, Mr El Rufai said he benefitted from President Muhammad Buhari’s counsel in deciding the candidate.

    Mr El-Rufai last week named Hadiza Balarabe, the current Executive Secretary of the Kaduna State Primary Health Care Development Agency, as his deputy governorship candidate.

    While some have applauded the choice of a female candidate, critics have accused the governor of insensitivity in picking a fellow Muslim for a religiously delicate state as Kaduna.

    But speaking Tuesday when he received a delegation from Sanga LGA who came to thank him for selecting their daughter as his running mate, Mr El Rufai gave an insight how the decision was made.

    According to him, Mrs Balarabe defeated 32 other nominees to emerge as his running mate.

    “We started piling list of people for consideration, and I had up to 32 names, including names of some people seated with me here today,” he said. “Then, we started selection and dropping of names based on merit. From 32 manes to 17 to 12 and then five names, three males and two females.

    “At that point, and as usual of us, when we are taking serious decisions, we consult President Muhammadu Buhari, because he is the only person I know that has worked in the army, he has been governor, minister and president.

    “So, when I told him, he said anyone older than you should be dropped, then one name was dropped, remaining two men and two women, then he said, since you are interested in a woman pick the best woman. That was how I picked Hadiza because she was the best.

    He responded to criticisms about the “Muslim-Muslim” ticket, the first in years for the north west state.

    “Meanwhile, from the beginning, I had told my team that, I will never choose or deny anyone appointment because of religion or ethnicity,” the governor said.

    “But some people have started all manner of things, ‘Muslim-Muslim ticket’ and so on. But government house is not a place of worship, we come here to work for the people.

    “The people that have criticized me most on this are people who never voted me in the first place. So, are they not supposed to be celebrating if in their own opinion I have made a wrong choice? Then, why are they mourning?” Mr El-Rufai asked.

  • Eid-el-Kabir: Okowa congratulates Muslims, urges prayers for leaders

    Governor Ifeanyi Okowa has called on Nigerians to put aside their religious and political differences and push for a united country as Muslims mark the celebration of this year’s Eid-El-Kabir.

    He urged the Muslims to emulate the Holy Prophet Mohammed by imbibing the ideals of sacrifice exemplified by the prophet.

    Okowa, in a Sallah message by his Chief Press Secretary, Charles Aniagwu said Eid-el-Kabir was a season of love, peace, togetherness and sacrifice.

    “I enjoin you to use the period to uphold the spiritual benefit of the celebration by extending a hand of friendship and solidarity across all divides and imbibing the spirit of sacrifice and obedience to the higher authority as exemplified by Prophet Ibrahim and upheld by Prophet Muhammed.

    “This is an opportunity for us to reflect and pray for our nation; and for all those in leadership positions so that God in his infinite mercy will continue to guide them as they steer the affairs of the country,” Governor Okowa said.

    He assured the people of Delta State that the state government would work with security agencies to ensure that all citizens celebrate the Sallah in peace and harmony.

    While thanking the state Muslim community for the consistent support that they had always extended to his administration, Governor Okowa congratulated the Muslim community in Delta State on the Sallah celebration, assuring them that his administration would continue to partner them to move the state forward.

     

  • Use Eid el-Kabir period to strengthen unity, IBB tells Muslims

    The former military President General Ibrahim Babangida has urged Muslims to use the period of Eid el-Kabir and beyond to further unite and strengthen the nation.

    In a statement he issued in Minna on Monday, he said “it is a unique and important festivity in the last lap of Islamic calendar year for all Muslims globally to make sacrifices and religious rites.

    “It is our collective duty during this sacred month and period of devotion to glorify Allah and adhere to our religious teachings by maintaining peace, protecting the sanctity of human life and unite to solve the problems bedeviling us collectively as a nation’’.

    Babangida also cautioned political gladiators not to allow their personal political ambitions to overshadow their sense of reasoning.

    He advised them to be guided in their utterances as some of those speeches might provoke negative sentiments, especially during electioneering.

    “At this auspicious occasion of Eid el-Kabir, I urged all Nigerians from all works of life or political affiliations to be in the vanguard of peace, unity and work for rancor-free polls in the build up to the forthcoming political dispensation,’’ he said.

    NAN

  • Eid-El Kabir: Emulate Prophet Ibrahim, Ayade urges Muslims

    Cross River state Governor, Professor Ben Ayade has felicitated with Muslims in the country on the festival of Eid-El Kabir.

    The Governor harped on peace and sacrifice as Muslims in Nigeria join their counterparts round the world to mark the occasion.

    He enjoined them to imbibe the spirit of love, obedience, sacrifice and sharing that the celebrationnof Eid-El Kabir signifies in line with the principle of Islam.

    In a Sallah message signed by his Chief Press Secretary and Senior Special Assistant on Media, Mr Christian Ita, the governor charged Muslims and Nigerians to be ready to make the sacrifices necessary for the progress of the country, which is currently passing through challenging times.

    Ayade said Nigerians should keep aside all forms of religious, ethnic and tribal sentiments, in the interest of unity, progress, peace and prosperity of the Country.

    “The Eid-el-Kabir presents an opportunity for Muslim faithfuls to reflect on the faith, which prophet Ibrahim dutifully agreed to sacrifice his son in obedience to the command of Allah.

    “May I use this period of Eid-El Fitri to speak to our souls and remind us that our nation is going through challenges and all of us must play our role to overcome these challenges.

    “As a government we have provided a peaceful, conducive environment for all citizens to cohabit irrespective of their religion, tribe or ethnic coloration in Cross River State.”

    While thanking Muslims in Cross River for making the state their home and also for supporting his administration, the Governor admonished Nigerians to shun acts capable of disrupting the unity, togetherness and peaceful co-existence of the country as the 2019 general elections approach.

     

  • 2018 Hajj: Gov. Obaseki charges intending Muslim pilgrims of good behaviour

    2018 Hajj: Gov. Obaseki charges intending Muslim pilgrims of good behaviour

    Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, on Thursday charged the 130 Edo State’s intending pilgrims, comprising 77 females and 53 males, to be good ambassadors of the state and country in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

    Obaseki, who gave the charge in his farewell message to the pilgrims at the Hajj Camp Ground in Benin City, the Edo State capital, assured that his administration is committed to the overall wellbeing of all Edo people and residents.

    He urged the pilgrims to make the state proud through their conduct in the holy land.

    “God has been good to us in Edo State as we have lived peacefully with one another. The peaceful coexistence is as a result of prayers by Edo people and residents, and we are determined to create a state that will be fair to all,” he added.

    The governor commended the Sheikh Ibrahim Oyarekhua-led Edo State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board for the transparent manner it has handled the affairs of the board in the last one year.

    “I am proud that I made the right board appointments with the amount of progress the board has made under the present leadership. I am delighted at the board’s performance and I donate a bus to the board to enhance its performance.”

    Obaseki saluted the 2017 Amiru Hajj, Abdulfatai Enabulele, whose detailed report, according to him, helped his administration in planning this year’s pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. He pledged that his administration will support the intending pilgrims to ensure they are comfortable before their departure to Lagos next week.

    The 2018 Amiru Hajj and Speaker, Edo State House of Assembly, Alhaji Kabiru Adjoto, commended the Edo State governor for approving the reconstruction of the Hajj Camp and road leading to the camp.

    “As Amiru Hajj, I will ensure that our pilgrims are protected, secure and safe in the holy land while performing the Hajj,” the speaker said, and made a case for the decentralisation of the Hajj operations by the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria to forestall unnecessary delay in the air-lifting of pilgrims to Mecca.

    The chairman of the board, Sheikh Ibrahim Oyarekhua, thanked the governor for the appointment, and disclosed that the over eight million naira debt his board inherited has been cleared.

    He explained that Edo State pilgrims used to pay the second highest fare to Mecca, and informed that the efforts of the board, with the support of the Amiru Hajj, have brought down the cost, as the state now pays the cheapest fare to the holy land.

     

  • German Muslim council designates anti-Semitism as a ‘sin’

    The Central Council of Muslims in Germany on Tue day designated anti-Semitism a “sin.’’

    “Anti-Semitism, racism and hatred are great sins in Islam, therefore, we will also never tolerate that,” the Council President, Aiman Mazyek, was quoted as saying by the Tuesday edition of local Dusseldorf newspaper Rheinische Post.

    Mazyek was responding to comments at the weekend by German Chancellor Angela Merkel to an Israeli broadcaster that Germany is experiencing “new phenomena whereby refugees and other people of Arab origin that are bringing a different form of anti-Semitism into the country.”

    Mazyek said Merkel’s comments had been “as usual differentiated’’ because she had stressed that anti-Semitism had not returned to Germany with the refugees; the crime statistics prove that, he said.

    “However, we take it very seriously that there is anti-Semitism present among some refugees,” Mazyek said, adding that the Muslim council was organising meetings between Jews and refugees as well as running educational programmes.

    Part of this effort was regular joint visits to the memorial sites at former Nazi concentration camps.

    There have been a number of anti-Semitic attacks by Muslim people in Germany in recent weeks, the latest of which saw a perpetrator attack a man wearing a Jewish skullcap in Berlin’s Prenzlauer Berg district while shouting “Yahudi,” an Arabic word for Jew.

    The man, who was attacked said later he was not Jewish, but an Arab Israeli.

    Jewish kindergartens, schools and synagogues are already protected by police around the clock.

     

     

  • Sri Lanka declares state of emergency after Buddhist-Muslim clash

    Sri Lanka has declared a state of emergency for 10 days to rein in the spread of communal violence, a government spokesman said on Tuesday, a day after Buddhists and Muslims clashed in the Indian Ocean island’s central district of Kandy.

    Tension has been growing between the two communities in Sri Lanka over the past year, with some hardline Buddhist groups accusing Muslims of forcing people to convert to Islam and vandalising Buddhist archaeological sites.

    Some Buddhist nationalists have also protested against the presence in Sri Lanka of Muslim Rohingya asylum-seekers from mostly Buddhist Myanmar, where Buddhist nationalism has also been on the rise.

    “At a special cabinet meeting, it was decided to declare a state of emergency for 10 days to prevent the spread of communal riots to other parts of the country,” the spokesman, Dayasiri Jayasekara, told Reuters.

    “It was also decided to take stern action against people who are instigating violence through Facebook,” he added, referring to postings on social media.

    The government sent troops and elite police to Kandy after a mob set fire to a Muslim-owned shop, imposing a curfew there on Monday to prevent clashes between majority Sinhalese Buddhists and minority Muslims.