Kaduna State Governor Mukhtar Ramalan Yero has tasked Imams to use their preaching to promote unity and peaceful co-existence in the country.
Speaking during the National Seminar of the Jama’atu Izalatul Bid’ah Wa’iqamatis Sunnah (JIBWIS) for Imams in Kaduna yesterday, Yero said Imams have a special role to play in ensuring sustainable peace and stability in the country.
“When you deliver sermons during Friday or Eid prayers, it must be at the back of your minds that the religion of Islam is hinged on peace and it will continue to thrive in a peaceful as well as stable world. Imams must desist from hate preaching because it is evident that messages from the pulpit hit followers of a religion like the hypodermic needle.
“Reactions to hate sermons are usually instantaneous and if negative could lead to violence and crisis. You must always remind Muslims of the significance of ‘al-sabr’ (Patience) as emphasised by the Holy Prophet (PBUH),” he said.
He expressed joy that children and youths have the opportunity of acquiring Islamic knowledge from the numerous Qur’anic schools nowadays but lamented that the more knowledge some of them get, the less they exhibit sound moral behaviours.
The governor noted that Muslims are not supposed to indulge in immoral acts and called on Muslim leaders to come together in finding solutions to such problems.
In his address, the National Chairman of JIBWIS, Shiekh Abdullahi Bala Lau, said last year, they were able to assist 20,000 persons under a programme tagged “Families in difficult circumstances support scheme. He said this year their target is to assist 50,000 persons.