‘The discrimination against Muslims goes deeper than Hijrah Holiday’ – Imam AbdurRahman Ahmad

Imam AbdurRahman Ahmad, National Missioner of the Ansar-Ud-Deen Society of Nigeria said the discrimination and injustice against Muslims in Nigeria is beyond declaring 1st of Muharram a work-free day, noting that: “It goes deeper, looking at it critically. It looks like Muslims are barely tolerated. It is almost like we are strangers.”

The veteran broadcaster argued that 7 days a week and 2 work-free days have religious connotations and connections.

“Even on Fridays, Muslims hardly have time to observe their prayers. If they are not discriminated against, they are being outrightly prevented from observing their religious obligations, such as by assaults on the Hijab or lack of Muslim teachers to teach Islamic studies in schools, among other challenges facing us as Muslims in Nigeria”, he said.

According to him, in Nigeria, “Muslims are easily faced with shouts of blue murder and alleged Islamisation agenda from the Christians under the banner of CAN. But, who is Islamising, really? And who is Christianizing? These are critical questions.

“The kind of noise that greeted the Federal Government’s introduction of the Sukuk bond and the Islamic banking system are signs and symptoms of hatred for Islam, even though the beneficiaries of these schemes are not chosen on the basis of their faiths, yet Nigerian Christians keep screaming “Islamisation agenda”.However, these Islamic financial products are very popular across the world, even in advanced countries, as viable alternatives in project financing.

“The claim that Islamic banking and the Sukuk bond amount to a phantom Islamisation agenda is like Muslims saying that, because there is a cross on the logo of health care facilities, they will not go to hospitals to receive treatment because such is tantamount to Christianization. That is why I said the discrimination and injustice against Muslims in this country is beyond declaring 1st of Muharram a work-free day. It goes deeper.”

Sheikh Ahmad called on people of goodwill and conscience to come together and address what he called “this madness and derangement.”

He said: “It is high time we sat and addressed the issue, because this pathological hatred for anything Islam and Muslims will not help us as a people and as a country. We will not move forward if this intolerance continues. The Nigerian Muslim Community must also face these challenges and address them.”

• Rasheed Abubakar