‘Prophet Muhammad didn’t kill anyone for insulting him’ — Gumi speaks on murder of Deborah Emmanuel

Ahmad Gumi, Islamic cleric, says Prophet Muhammad (SAW) did not kill those who insulted him during his lifetime.

Gumi spoke during a religious teaching class at the Sultan Bello Mosque, Kaduna.

He was reacting to the murder of Deborah Emmanuel, a student of Shehu Shagari College of Education.

Gumi’s sermon, which was in Hausa language, was live-streamed on Facebook.

On Thursday, Deborah was attacked by a mob and set ablaze over comments purportedly considered to be an insult to Prophet Mohammed.

A video of the student being stoned and beaten with sticks was shared on social media.

The incident sparked outrage and condemnation across the country.

Subsequently, the police command in Sokoto announced the arrest of two suspects in connection with the killing.

On Saturday, some residents protested against the arrest of the two suspects, which led to unrest in Sokoto — a development that made the state government impose a 24-hour curfew.

Reacting to the incident, the Islamic cleric said Prophet Muhammad did not avenge the insults targeted at him by non-Muslims because he did not want to be tagged as a killer.

Gumi said no one is allowed to take laws into his or her hands in Islam, adding that the best way Muslims can show love is by obeying the teachings of the prophet.

He added that no religious law can be applied in Nigeria since the country is a secular state.

“Some Muslims in Nigeria that want to defend Prophet Muhammad should be ashamed of themselves because they are corrupt. The best way to go if we want to defend the Prophet is to follow his teachings,” he said.

“We the clerics need to wake up and teach the Muslims their religion. We must leave this state of ignorance, we have turned like animals. We the Muslims are not the only ones in this country.

“It is not only that we are not the only ones in this country, we must know that there was nothing the unbelievers did not do to Prophet Muhammad, but he was patient, because he was conscious that if he killed them, the unbelievers he was trying to bring to the fold of Islam will tag him a killer.

“here are people who are neither Muslims nor Christians in Nigeria, and everyone is trying to win their souls.

“Also, there people who are not Muslims, whom we are preaching Islam to, so that they can enter the fold of Islam and be salvaged in the hereafter.

“If we now begin to kill people, they will say it is even from the leader of our faith, Prophet Muhammad that we have learnt it

“They will say their religion is a religion of bloodletting. At a time we are trying to draw the attention of people to see the beauty of Islam, we are now scaring them away.

“It is unfortunate that we even see some clerics who are telling people that whoever insults your religion, just kill them. They are quoting verses they don’t understand.

“There is no one who has the will to kill anyone except through the Islamic justice system. And in doing this, the conditions of such justice must be completed before anyone can be killed. Our religion is civilised. The white people learnt rule of law from Islam.”