Mutual trust, sincerity: Tonic for good interfaith relations, peaceful coexistence, says Onike of NASFAT

The Chief Missioner of Nasrul-Lahi-l-Fatih Society, NASFAT, Imam Abdul-Azeez  Onike, has urged Nigerians of different faiths to, in the spirit of the season, imbibe the culture of mutual trust and sincerity in their efforts to promote freedom of religion and belief.

According to Imam Onike, this will go a long way in ensuring good interfaith relations and peaceful co-existence.

Onike gave this admonition in his goodwill message to Nigerians as Muslims celebrate the 2022 corresponding to 1443AH Eid ul Adha festival.

He said the situation of accusation and counter -accusations of religious persecution and intolerance would not do the nation any good.

Citing the reports contained in a national daily of July 4,  2022 of Prof Usman Yusuf who represented the President of Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs, His Eminence Muhammad Abubakar Sa’ad, the Sultan of Sokoto at  the 2nd Annual International Religious Freedom (IRF) Summit in Washington DC held from June 28 to 30, 2022, he said a situation whereby the religion of Islam was painted as the aggressive party, violators of peaceful coexistence and religious freedom by people who profess other faith, “will not assist our resolve to fight our common enemy: those who are involved in banditry, kidnapping and other vices”.

“As the people of faith, we are not expected to fan the embers of discord and heat up the polity by feeding our members and the outside world with distorted facts about the insecurity situations in the country, which evidently does not discriminate on the basis of religion or ethnicity.

“Both Muslims and Christians and their worship centers have fallen victims to the dastardly acts of haters of peace, and we all should work together to defeat the enemies of peace.

“We need peace, security, love and tranquility, our Noble Prophet (saws) says, “You will not enter Paradise until you have faith and you will not have faith until you love each other. Shall I show you something that, if you did, you would love each other? Spread peace between yourselves”, Onike stated.

He advised Muslims to emulate  Prophet Ibraheeem and Prophet Ismaheel in their obedience to Allah’s command, admission of their weaknesses, submission to Allah’s superiority, yielding to Allah’s greatness and patience in the face of trials, “while awaiting Allah’s mercies for us to triumph over the trials”.

For a better society