Alhaji Sarafa Tunji, a former Secretary to Ogun State Government and Minister of Mines and Steel Development has faulted the claims in some quarters that Islam is a religion of violence.
Sarafa, the new Baba Adinni of Yorubaland insisted that more Muslims have bee killed by the Boko Haram insurgents and other terrorists than Christians.
Countering the notion that all terrorists are Muslims, the former minister told Vanguard that, “In fact, Muslims are more victims of Boko Haram than people of other religions. So, the challenge that we have in contemporary times, even across the world, is intra-religious conflicts.
“In many countries, you usually have the Sunni fighting the Shi’ites. The conflict in Syria is intra-religious. Talk of Iraq and Iran, the problem you have there is more of intra-religious conflict.
“The practice of Islam is anchored on three legs: the Qur’an, the Hadeeth and the Fiqh. Islam is knowledge driven and the knowledge is based on the Qur’an, the Hadeeth and the Fiqh but we have a situation whereby some of these things are bastardised.
“In promoting religious harmony, you have to unite the Muslim Ummah because, sometimes, intra-religious conflicts can be worse than inter-religious conflicts. A good example is the Boko Haram insurgency in which, unknown to some Nigerians, many Muslims have been killed.”
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