Targeted Killings Cannot Silence Scholars – Imam Kirki

Despite the rising wave of targeted killings of Islamic scholars and innocent citizens across Nigeria, prominent Islamic leader, Imam Yusuf Saidu Kirki, has declared that preachers will not be silenced by fear of death.

LEADERSHIP reports that in Nasarawa State, there are no incidents of the killing of Islamic scholars.

Imam Kirki, who is the senior assistant to Nasarawa State Governor on Islamic Religious Matters, made the declaration in an interview while reacting to the recent killing of scholars and the growing trend of jungle justice in the country.

“No, no, no, no, no. A preacher or a teacher in Islam is copying what happened to the past messengers whom Allah sent to their communities,” he said.

“If you sacrifice yourself to preach, to teach, to say the truth, then get ready to be insulted, to be even beaten by some people, to be even harmed by some people, and even to be killed,”  he added.

The sheikh said the fear of assassination cannot stop truthful preaching because death is already decreed by Allah.

He quoted Qur’an 3:145: Wa maa kana li-nafsin an tamoota illa bi-idhnillahi kitaban muajjala — “No soul can die except by Allah’s permission, at a decreed time.” “Nobody can kill you because he dislikes you.

And nobody will survive after Allah has decreed his death.

How does Allah kill you? By reaching you the time of living. The moment the time reaches you, you are going to leave.”

He explained that before a person comes to this world, Allah has already arranged four things for him: when he will be born, when he will die, what he will gain or lose in this world, and his final destination — Paradise or Hellfire.

“So by killing, can you stop me from preaching? Can you stop me from teaching? You say, okay, from now on, I am not going to teach, I am not going to preach, I am not going to say anything because I don’t want to be killed. Will you continue surviving? You cannot. You are going to die whether you say the truth or not. So to tell the truth is better than leaving it.”

He said killing human beings is a grievous offence in Islam. Quoting Qur’an 5:32, he said killing one innocent soul is like killing all mankind, and saving one soul is like saving all mankind.

He stressed that in Islam, nobody is to be killed except in three cases — murder, a married person caught in fornication, and apostasy after refusal to repent — and even then, only the constituted authority has the right to carry out the punishment, not an individual or group.

“If a Muslim kills somebody, he is going to be killed. If a married Muslim is found committing fornication, he is going to be killed by the authority, not by a single person or group of people.

And if he reverses from Islam after being a Muslim, he is going to be advised by the authority. If he refuses to repent, it is the authority that has the right to kill him.” He warned against the practice of some people publicly accusing individuals or sects after a killing, saying such accusations are oppression, which Allah condemned in Qur’an 42:42 as deserving painful torment. On how to stop the killings in Nigeria, Imam Kirki said the government must implement Al-Qisas — legal retribution.

Wa lakum fi l-qisaasi hayaatun yaa uloo l-albaab — “And there is for you in legal retribution [saving of] life, O you people of understanding.” (Qur’an 2:179) “Everybody who kills somebody, he is going to be killed. If 30 people kill one person, the whole people are going to be killed. But we are not doing so in our country.”

He said even sponsors of killings — top government functionaries, politicians or rich men who send others to kill — are liable to be killed according to Islam. He lamented that although Section 221 of the Penal Code provides the death penalty for culpable homicide, it is not being implemented, which is why killings continue daily.