'Stop causing religious crisis in Nigeria with your bills', Sultan of Sokoto tells National Assembly

Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, the Sultan of Sokoto, has a message for the National Assembly and state assemblies.

The head of Muslims and Islam's most influential leader in Nigeria has appealed to these assemblies not to pass anti-Islam bills, The Guardian reports.

He made this appeal at the closing ceremony of the 20th Zamfara State Annual Qur’anic Recitation Competition organized by the state Quranic Memorisation and Tajweed board.

According to him, the rights of Nigerian Muslims must be protected, thus he encouraged the relevant authorities and stakeholders not to go against the teaching of the Qu'ran and Islamic religion.

He said this would avert a religious crisis and ensure sustainable peace and harmony in the country.

The Sultan called on all Muslims not to accept any law that was against the teachings of the Holy Qur'an.

Alhaji Abubakar also made reference to the recent bill on gender equity that was brought before the National Assembly and rejected by the Senate.

“Our religion is our total way of life; therefore, we will not accept any move to change what Allah permitted us to do.”

Islam is a peaceful religion; we have been living peacefully with Christians and followers of other religions in this country. Therefore, we should be allowed to perform our religion effectively,” the Sultan said.

He rejected this particular bill, which was meant to ensure that both women and men get equal rights to inheritance, because he said it contradicted Islamic teachings.

Alhaji Muhammad recently celebrated his 10th year anniversary as the Sultan of Sokoto.

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The event, which included a grand durbar, featuring thousands of horse riders, was attended by President Muhammadu Buhari and other notable guests.