The Muslim Right Concerned “MURIC” has condemn the killing of Debrah Samuel over alleged Blasphemy~details below
The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has condemned the killing of Deborah Samuel a 200 level student in Sokoto over alleged of blasphemy of Muslim prophet Muhammed.
In a statement released by its director, Professor Ishaq Akintola, on Friday, 13th May, 2022, the MURIC described the killing as outrageous, illegal and unlawful.
“The female student of the Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto, Deborah Samuel, was on Thursday killed for allegedly blaspheming against the Prophet Muhammad. The blaspheme audio statement was reportedly posted on a school WhatsApp group chat after some Muslims student were posting all sort of things relating to talks about prophet Muhammed but Deborah protested that this is a class group chat saying they should post things relating to class activities.
She was asked to delete the voice note records which she latter did but still they came for her undermining the presence of security unit and police which was later by the crowd when they tried to rescue her.”
“MURIC strongly condemns this killing and all others that have been happening in Nigeria in recent times. Those aggrieved by the student’s post should have reported her to the security agencies or to the Shariah police, the hizbah. Mob killing is archaic and bohemian. It belongs to the Stone Age. Nobody has the right to take the law into his hands.
“The Glorious Qur’an compares the killing of a single person to the killing of the whole of humanity just as it compares the saving of a life to the rescue of all homo sapiens (Qur’an 5:32) In like manner, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) himself condemned all acts of violence and advocated peaceful conduct at all times.
“But this incident should not be condemned in isolation. The recent trend whereby Nigerians now freely shed their brothers blood should be condemned by all patriots. In this regard, we also strongly denounce the killing of several Northern Muslims in the South East in the past few months.
“We frown at the recent burning last week of a truck fully loaded with cows in the South East as well as the killing of many Muslims of South East origin by their Igbo brothers in the same South East. We note with keen interest that Muslims in the North did not retaliate when these killings were taking place.
“MURIC calls on the Sokoto Police Command to do everything within its power to get to the bottom of the yesterday’s killing of the female student over alleged blasphemy. We appeal to members of the public to remain calm and law abiding. Nigerians should allow the police to carry out its investigations on the case. The Sokoto Police Command has started well as it already has two suspects in detention for the killing.
“Meanwhile we remind Nigerians to always exercise restraint on matters of religion. Free speech is no longer free if it amounts to religious provocation. Even the European Court has ruled that the utterance of derisive statements against the prophet of any religion is a crime.
“We affirm clearly, categorically and unequivocally that there is a symbiotic relationship between provocation, violence and extremism. While MURIC will not condone extremism and violence, the anatomy of terrorism is becoming clearer day by day. We must all ponder over the causal-effect theory. Violence and terrorism are mere symptoms. The real disease is provocation. Violence and terrorism are mere smoke. Provocation is the fire and we all know that there is no smoke without fire.
“We therefore appeal to Nigerians to desist from insulting, deriding or abusing the prophets of other religions. Muslims should continue to respect Jesus (peace be upon him) whom the Christians hold very dear. In the same vein, Christians should avoid casting aspersion on the person of Prophet Muhammad (SAW). We have experienced enough religious crisis in the land.