BEVERLY HILLS, October 07, (THEWILL) – The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, says it is unislamic to kill under the guise of fulfilling God’s injunction, adding that Muslims who do so are not carrying out the teaching of Allah hence would perish in hellfire.
He stated this on Friday while delivering the 9th Dignity of Man Lecture at the 57 Founders’ Day celebrations of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, UNN, with the theme: ‘Restoring the dignity of man: Education as a veritable tool’.
Abubakar called for the protection of the human life whether the person is a Muslim or not, stressing that the dignity of man covers all, including Muslims, Christians, Hindus and others.
According to him, “Human dignity is God-given. Any society where the sanctity of life is not protected cannot be said to be civilised.
“Shouting Allahu Akbar to kill your fellow human being in the belief that you are fulfilling God’s injunction is pathway to hell and not the teaching of Allah.”
The Sultan maintained that murderous herdsmen who go about killing people “are criminals and not genuine herdsmen”, stating that, “We don’t call them herdsmen, because herdsmen cannot kill another human to protect cow”.
He further harped on the need for understanding and recognition of various ethnic groups in the country, stressing that time has come for every divisive and selfish tendencies threatening the country and retarding its progress to be done away with.
According to him, “the sanctity of human life, the honour conferred in the human person and the investment in the development of the human person are the metrics to measure human civilisation.
“This promotion and protection of human life and dignity can only come through education. Education holds the key to development and development is people-centered and people-driven.”
Abubakar argued that: “modern education, which subsumes the Greek and Islamic traditions and our indigenous and Islamic educational traditions should be harnessed to ensure that the dignity of man is restored in our country, especially in these difficult times when the sanctity of human lives appear to be under threat.
“Man has no dignity if he has no education. The less education, the less his dignity,” he said quoting his great grandfather, Uthman Dan Fodio’s assertion that: “The man without education is like a country without inhabitants”.
