Islamic banking has come to stay – Sultan

Says N-East violence not caused by Boko Haram
KADUNA— The Sultan of Sokoto and President General of  Jamatul Nasril Islam (JNI), Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, declared, Thursday, that Islamic banking has come to stay in Nigeria, saying the issue should not lead to crisis.
The Sultan also said  the violence in the North Eastern part of the country was not caused by Boko Haram.
The Sultan, who is the leader of Muslims in Nigeria, disclosed this at the Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI) national headquarters, Kaduna in his opening remarks at a meeting to assess the level of compliance with the Tafsir (Islamic preaching)  guidelines for last year.

Said he: “If you have observed me, I have refused to comment on Boko Haram and Islamic banking. There is no need to quarrel over Islamic banking, because it has come to stay. I have not been talking, but  I have been making contacts with the right authorities over it. I don’t want us to make violent statements on this. But we shall realise what we want. I want to assure you.
“Violence begets violence and once violence is meted out on people, so many innocent people suffer and that is what happened in 2011 elections and that is what has happened in North East.
On Boko Haram, the Sultan said: “The issue of violence in the North-East is what people wrongly put  as an issue of Boko Haram. And this  is something we really have to look into in this meeting. The violence in the North East  is not caused by Boko Haram.
“So we have to ask ourselves why is there violence in the North-East. Those who cause the violence, who are they? The government must fish them out and say look we know you are the cause of this thing from day one. This thing did not start today.”
“So stop equating any violence with Boko Haram. Because who are the members of Boko Haram? They were extra judiciously killed! What happened to those who killed them? They were even asking for bail. And I know in criminal justice system, you don’t bail anybody who is charged with murder.
“So in what ever you do, you must come back to the negotiating table and discuss issues and agree. So we don’t agree to violence, we don’t believe in violence I want to call on every Muslim here and out side, let us not take laws into our hands. We can take issues up and be successful without taking up arms because even wars are fought to make peace so you can make peace with out fighting war.
Earlier in his progress report on the level of compliance with the Tafsir guidelines for last year, the Secretary-General of JNI  Dr Khalid Abubakar Aliyu cautioned that, “the issue of Islamic Banking must be properly articulated, as its benefit is for Nigeria as a whole and not Muslims alone, and we should all remember that we shall be accountable for all our actions and in-actions,” he said.
He urged that Tafseer should be jealously guided and Muslim should be steadfast in prayers and the preaching of peace and peaceful co-existence.
On Ramadan Dr Aliyu said, “it is therefore expected of all Muslims to be disciplined during the blessed month of Ramadan, the unity of the Ummah is very paramount at this material point in time, it should not be cajoled, our unity is our strength, we must maximally utilize this avenue provided by the Almighty to properly enlighten our teaming listeners and redirect their consciousness to Allah”, he said.
In Attendance were: Emir of Zaria,  Akh. Shehu Idris, the Shehu of Borno, Alh, Abubakar Ibn Umar Garbai El Kanemi, , Emir of Katsina, Abdulmini Kabi Usman;  Etsu Nupe, Alh. Yahaya Abubakar,  Chief Iman of National Mosque, Alh. Sheik Musa Mohammed.

Culled from : Vanguard