The Muslim Writers Guild of Nigeria has said the death sentence placed on Yahaya Sharif over blasphemy was not based on Islamic law as entrenched in the Quran.
The group also noted that the judgment was influenced by the political situation in Kano state and not the true provisions of the Sharia law itself.
This was revealed in a statement signed by the National Chairman of the Guild, Al-Hafiz Yunus Omotayo, and the National Secretary, Ambassador Agbaje Abbas.
The Muslim Writers Guild of Nigeria considers it equally compelling to denounce the death sentence pronounced by the honourable Upper Sharia Court as not only jurisprudentially un-Islamic but also fundamentally anti-Islam and anti-Sharia in its implications.
The statement reads that, “the Muslim Writers Guild makes bold to state that, as well-articulated, as this legal provision may appear, it is however not based on any Quran or Prophetic source.
“Rather, as any scholar of Muslim history would agree, the ruling only reflects and was influenced by the turbulent political situations and judicial exigencies that characterized the medieval period of the Muslim era.
“For the avoidance of doubt, we strongly maintain that this position of the Guild is defined and informed by the fact that, while blasphemy is condemned on moral and ethical grounds by the Qur’an, however, no physical punishment is prescribed for blasphemy in Islam despite the commonly held view in the contemporary world, they claimed”
The association, however, appeals to the entire Muslim states, jurists, scholars, and the public to realize that, notwithstanding all the ills of blasphemy, modern-day blasphemy does not in any way threaten the existence, continuity, and dynamism of Islam as a great religion, the legal system, and civilization. Thus, although it should not pass without protest from the Muslims, the protests must be academic, philosophical, dialectical, and must be grounded in the common and shared values of dignity and respect for humanity as exemplified by the Holy Prophet.