CJN seeks constitution amendment to ‘accommodate peculiarities’ of Shari’a

Ibrahim Muhammad, chief justice of Nigeria, has advocated amendment of the constitution for the “accommodation of peculiarities” of Sharia law.

Speaking at Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Kaduna state, during the 20th annual judges conference, he said the inclusion of more sharia law components will cater for concerns of Muslims in the country.

The chief justice, represented by Muhammad Danjuma, grand khadi of Niger state, spoke on the theme “Documentation of Contracts in Islamic Law: Procedure, Sample Precedents and Practice”.

The event was organised by the Centre for Islamic Legal Studies (CILS) of the university, in collaboration with National Judicial Institute (NJI), Abuja.

Muhammad said more sections of the constitution that allow implementation of sharia law will enable lawyers in sharia law specialisation to do better.

“As we all know, there are sections of the constitution that allow the implementation of Shari’a personal law and apart from that, we cannot do more,” he said.

“However, we have the number to amend the constitution to suit our own position as Muslims.”

The chief justice also called for the teaching of Sharia law in Arabic as against the English language which is being used, challenging academics to look into ensuring that the course is taught in Arabic.

“The Shari’a law should be taught in Arabic not English. There is no university in Nigeria that runs Shari’a in Arabic; they all teach Shari’a in English. So, academicians let’s also look into this issue,” he said.