Stop Messing Up With The Qur’an- MURIC Tells Political Parties

Stop Messing Up With The Qur’an- MURIC Tells Political Parties

A Muslim group has issued a warning to Nigeria’s prominent political

parties to stop messing up with the divine book of Islam.

January, 2019 by the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC). According to the

Islamic human rights outfit, a certain “prominent” political party in

the country is fond of using the Qur’an in its political rallies

without following laid down rules. MURIC described this as laughable,

provocative and totally unacceptable.

“Our office has been inundated with a Tsunami of complaints about a

prominent political party that has been abusing the use of the Qur’an

in its political rallies. Such an attitude exposes the political party

as a body that is insensitive to the feelings of Muslims. It is

laughable, provocative and totally unacceptable.

“Exempli gratia, we are in possession of a video clip in which a

notorious lawmaker cum comedian who is obviously a non-Muslim recited

the Surat Al-Fatihah (chapter one of the Glorious Qur’an) wrongly in

one of the party’s rallies about two weeks ago. The question is why

was a non-Muslim allowed to recite an Islamic prayer using verses of

the Glorious Qur’an in a political rally?

“We don’t want to be misunderstood. Anybody can pray but decorum must

be applied when doing that in public. It is most unwise for a

non-Muslim to venture into praying in Arabic when he is not sure he

can do it well. A Muslim should offer the Muslim prayer and vice

versa. Prayer is a serious spiritual exercise. It is communication

between the creature and the Creator. It is not something you can

trivialize. But what we saw on that day was the transfer of the usual

parliamentary theatricals that has been associated with the National

Assembly in recent times.

“In another trending video, a woman was seen struggling with the

recitation of Surat Ash-Sharh (Qur’an chapter 94) at another rally of

the same political party. She ended it all by mixing up the verses and

wordings.

“MURIC is not just raising false alarm or sounding unnecessarily

demagogic. The fact is that the implications of reciting a verse or

chapter of the Glorious Qur’an wrongly in an attempt to offer prayers

are very serious. An inexperienced reciter may end up raining curses

instead of offering prayers due to errors of pronounciation, wording

or incorrect reading of verses. This can be terrible in a rally

organized by a political party because instead of actually praying for

the country and the political party, the person may end up

inadvertently cursing the party and the country (may Allah forbid

that).

“That is why political parties need to have religious advisers among

its officials. Such religious advisers must be made up of qualified

Christian and Islamic clerics. They are the ones who should be called

upon to offer prayers in public programmes, not parliamentary rascals

whose only value lies in their capacity to constitute public nuisance.

“We like to place it on record for public awareness that the rules

guiding the recitation of Christian and Islamic scriptures are

different and the yardsticks of one should not be used to judge the

other. For instance, a person wishing to recite any portion of the

Glorious Qur’an must first perform ablution. The rule is that you

cannot read the Qur’an if you are not pure. The Qur’an itself set the

rule when it says ‘Only those who are clean can touch it. It is a

revelation from the Lord of the Worlds’ (Laa yamusuhu ilaa

al-mutaharuun, tanziilun min Rabbil-aalamiin, Qur’an 56:79 – 80).

“The recitation made by the woman at that political event is also

contentious from another angle. Apart from the fact that she may not

have performed ablution, she may not be clean. She may be in her

menstrual period and Islam does not permit women to do such things in

that state. That is one of the reasons Muslim women are not usually

called upon to read the Qur’an in public. She does not have to make

her condition public and this may happen if she is so invited.

“In conclusion, we charge political parties to demonstrate seriousness

in spiritual matters. We also advise political parties to consult

their religious advisers before taking any step that has spiritual

implication. We urge all churches and mosques to pray for a peaceful

general election and a stable polity thereafter”.