Well-known Islamic cleric, Sheik Ahmad Gumi, this morning said that Friday’s killing of nine women polio vaccine workers in Kano confirms the presence of terrorists among Nigerian Muslims who are misinterpreting Islam and carrying out evil acts.
In a statement sent through social networks, monitored by SaharaReporters, Gumi described the killings as a sad, abominable, barbaric and evil. He blasted the ‘scholars’ and politicians who frighten the common people against vaccinations and polio, describing them as the true killers.
The cleric recalled that even in the old Northern Nigeria, people were all vaccinated against cholera, CSM, smallpox, BCG, measles etc, and that nobody raised any alarm at that time.
“How can then today, people that are neither specialist in Islamic Law nor specialist in Medical sciences go public with such a fatwa in clear contradiction of the Quran?” he asked. “It means the Quran doesn’t pass through beyond their throat. Let us assume, they have the rights to their ijtihad, but that does not give them the license to kill innocent people that see otherwise? When do you kill people on suspicion?”
He asserted that the killings incident confirms there are true terrorists among Muslims and that because of their shallow understanding of Islam they have turned out to the greatest enemy of Islam and the prophet – alaihis Salam.
“In a Hadith the Prophet said there will come a time – in the end of time- when some youth who are apt to reciting the Quran – but will not pass their throat- will be killing Muslims. Today, you just need to disagree with them, then you become their hit target. Subhanallah! The Ummah has to wake up from its slumber and fish out these evil people. The prophet – peace be upon him said: “if people will see a transgressor and don’t clamp on his two hands, Allah will soon engulf them all with his chastisement” Abu dawud. Only the people can cure this evil.”
Delving into the Koran, Sheik Gumi went on: “Jabir narrated that “we went out on a journey and a man among us was hit by a stone which cracked his skull then he had a wet dream to which he asked his companions for fatwa whether there is any ease or concession for him to perform the sand ablution (tayammum). They said: we don’t find for you any concession so long you can use water. He then bathed with water and died. Jabir said: when we came back to the prophet –peace be upon him- he was told about the incidence. He said: they KILLED HIM, MAY ALLAH KILL THEM! Why didn’t they ask if they don’t know, for the only cure for ignorance in inquiry. It would have been ok for him to do the tayammum and bandaged his wound then dry rub over it and wash the rest of his body” Abu Dawud.”
“Those ‘scholars’ and politicans –I am saying it without resevation- that frighten the common people against vaccinations and polio are the true killers. Allah said: “When there comes to them some matter touching (Public) safety or fear, they divulge and spread it. If they had only referred it to the Messenger, or to those charged with authority among them, the proper investigators would have the knowledge of it from them (direct). Were it not for the Grace and Mercy of Allah unto you, all but a few of you would have fallen into the clutches of Satan.” Q3/83.
He stressed that only learned scholars and specialists in every field of endeavor should issue a fatwa, particularly in specialized fields, noting that anyone who issues a fatwa which leads to the death of others is also directly responsible for such death.
With reference to vaccinations, he said that only experts in virology, immunology, pediatrics, as well as principles of Islamic jurisprudence, working together, can give such a fatwa.
“So far, all the Muslims countries except for some intellectually inconsequential individuals or extremists organizations have unanimously accepted the vaccinations including polio as beneficial in prevention and cure of disease,” he said. “Prevention of disease and the seeking of cure are entrenched in Islam.”
Quoting Prophet Muhammad, he said, “Every disease has a cure so when the medicine affects the disease the patient is cured by the leave of Allah the Al-mighty,”
Sheik Gumi drew attention to the acceptability of vaccination in other cultures. In Saudi Arabia, he said, it is a prerequisite that a child present his 1st year vaccination certificate before he is registered in school. “With all the scholars both Islamic and medical experts in Egypt, there is no scholar of repute who denies vaccination,” he stressed, adding that many rich Nigerians now go to Egypt for medical treatment.
Source: Saharareporters