From Femi Oyelola,Kaduna
Leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria Sheikh Ibraheem Yaqoub Zakzaky yesterday said in the face of on-going general onslaught and atrocities against Fulani herdsmen across Nigeria, return to Islam remains the only salvation.
Sheikh Zakzaky who made the statement at a special Maulud organized for the Fulani at Hussainiyyah Baqiyyatullah, Zaria, described Fulani as champions and vanguards of Islam.
He explained that, Fulani brought and spread Islam far and wide across continents, and therefore no tribe can boast of superiority over it. “You cannot compare he who brought light and salvation with the person that received and benefitted from it”.
His Eminence lamented that, the widespread persecution of Fulani across Nigeria was a deliberate attempt to break their unity, scuttle their economic base and distort their exemplary moral conduct to dissuade them from return to their ancestral history.
“They want to push out the Fulani into cities to corrupt their women, youth and children so that they become preoccupied with urban glamour and menace, thereby relegating their religion to the background”, he added.
He attributed the constant theft of Fulani cattle, killing their men and abduction and rape of their women and children as the handiwork of the government, whose agenda was to wipe away the traces of Islam brought by the Fulani.
Sheikh Zakzaky cited example of other countries such as Iran, where development is taken to the people such as herdsmen as they move along routes in remote areas. “But here in Nigeria, they being killed at will without any just cause, precisely because the Fulani tribe remains an embodiment of Islam”, he further lamented.
“You should therefore rise up to the challenge by holding firm unto your religion as the only solution. It is this religion that has placed you above other tribes; it is this very religion that has produced a luminary figure that brought light that shaped the society. This religion will surely be the panacea to your problems now”, emphasized Sheikh Zakzaky.
He also advised parents to ensure proper education of their children
Fulani leaders who spoke at the occasion expressed appreciation with the effort of Sheikh Zakzaky in propagating Islamic teachings to the Fulani folk, which he said has brought them out from darkness.
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