Misbau Alamu Lateef a devouted Muslim confirmed that the killing of a woman in Kano for blasphemy of the Holy Prophet of Islam, Peace be upon Him, is NOT Islamic in any way.
Speaking with Amiloaded correspondent today he said he is not an Islamic Scholar, but he is an enlightened and well informed Muslim. He hereby condemn the barbaric murder in the name of religion and express his unreserved condolences to the family of the deceased.
Every legal system, including the Shariah based Islamic law, is at liberty to criminalise whatever act fancies its whims, but such liberty stops where the rights of other human beings begin. There is NO portion of the Qur’an, expressly or indirectly, validating blasphemy or apostacy as crimes punishable with death.
He also said that hadiths generally complement and do not necessarily negate the Qur’an. A Muslim must therefore belief also in the hadiths.
The Qur’an however represents the FUNDAMENTAL source of Shariah at all times so that whenever any other source or sources like an hadith provides for something that the Qur’an has not provided for, the Qur’an remains supreme and most authoritative to the exclusion of other sources.
Furthermore, he told amiloaded correspondent that the holy Qur’an is very clear on what offences attract death penalty. Such offences include that of a person who willingly and without just cause killed the other person -pure murder. Even at that, the holy Qur’an gives the opportunity of paying “jizyah” ( i.e compensation) to the family of the deceased by the murderer, if they accept, to avoid death penalty.
So again, blasphemy and apostasy are not offences punishable with death in the holy Qur’an.
He considered it barbaric and irrational to make death sentence or killing of any human being the consequence of blasphemy of the prophet or even the Almighty Allah.
He said for him, blasphemy is more or less like defamation which can be either libel or slander. So it is only the defamed who should and can sue for damages against the act and not any other party. If anyone has blasphemed the prophet or the Almighty Allah Himself it cannot be in the place of any third party to fight for them or against the other persons.
He also added that no individual can fight for Allah or the prophets. Leave them to fight or judge whoever has wronged them…. There is no compulsion in the religion and no one should appoint himself the guardian of peoples faith.
The Kano killers are pure murderers and those already apprehended should be dealt with as such.
The Supreme Court of Nigeria in 2007 in the case of MUSA YARO VS STATE SC 244/2004 did affirm this position.
Leave a Reply