Extra-judicial punishment unacceptable in Islam, says Onike of NASFAT……Advises against reprisal attacks

The Chief Missioner of Nasrul-Lahi-l-Fatih (NASFAT), Imam Abdul-Azeez Onike, has said that the recently-reported extra-judicial killing of a student, Deborah Samuel, in Sokoto is unacceptable in Islam.

Imam Onike stated this in a statement reacting to the extra-judicial killing of Deborah Samuel, a student of Shagari College of Education in Sokoto over alleged blasphemy.

“To understand the anathema of the sad incident of extra-judicial punishment meted out to a lady in Sokoto recently, which resulted in her death, let us look at the following narration which depicts and represents the expected reaction of any follower of our Noble Prophet Muhammad (saws):

Anas b. Malik reported: “While we were in the mosque with Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ), a desert Arab came and stood up and began to urinate in the mosque. The Companions of Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) said: Stop, stop, but the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: Don’t interrupt him; leave him alone. They left him alone, and when he finished urinating, Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) called him and said to him: These mosques are not the places meant for urine and filth, but are only for the remembrance of Allah, prayer and the recitation of the Qur’an, or Allah’s Messenger said something like that. He (the narrator) said that he (the Holy Prophet) then gave orders to one of the people who brought a bucket of water and poured It over”, Imam Onike said.

He added: “Can you imagine what would be the reactions of some people if they see someone ignorantly or deliberately urinating inside a mosque?”.

The Chief Missioner’s reaction came in the tail of similar condemnation of the extra-judicial killing from the palace of the President of Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, His Eminence Sa’ad Abubakar.

He, therefore, advised against reprisal attack and unnecessary maligning of a particular tribe or religion, “since jungle justice, which is fast becoming rampant in our country is a condemnable act by all religions and sensible person”, urging the law enforcement agents to do a thorough investigation, arrest all culprits and speedily bring justice to bear.

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