By Martin Cole-
A Nigerian Sharia court in Kano has sentenced a 22-year-old gospel singer to death by hanging for alleged blasphemy in a song the singer wrote and circulated on WhatsApp.
The Hausawa Filin Hockey upper-Sharia court found Yahaya Sharif-Aminu guilty of blaspheming the Prophet Muhammed by praising a local imam from the Tijaniya Muslim brotherhood in one line of a song circulated by Sharif-Aminu in March
Sharia Judge Aliyu Muhammad Kani said Sharif-Aminu could appeal the ruling within 90 days.
Blasphemy against Allah, insulting an angel, or denying the prophethood of one of the Islamic prophets is a punishable offence by death according to strict interpretations of the Hadith. The Hadith is believed by many Muslims to be a silent record of prophet Mohammed’s word, actions, and silent approvals.
Muslim Only Court System
The Sharia courts are a separate Muslim-only court system used in the northern part of Nigeria where there is a predominant Muslim presence. Only the civil supreme court can overturn a death conviction of the Sharia courts.
Sharif-Aminu initially went into hiding after his song was released, but angry youth protesters burned down his family’s home, calling for action from the Islamic police, called the Hisbah.
Northern Nigeria is notorious for Islamic killings of Christians, the situation being particularly bad in the areas controlled by Boko Haram- the terrorist group of Islamic fundamentals there. This latest announcement will cause concern among many freedom fighters.
Followers of Sharia law will say Aminu should have known it was forbidden to blaspheme against the Islamic prophet, but human rights activists will insist the sentence is unacceptable and a violation of international law.
The death sentence brings to the fore Human Rights issues which are not recognised in those darkest parts of Nigeria where lawlessness prevails on a large scale.
Renounce
Some commentators have called for the Hadith to be renounced by opposing Muslim sects if they want to be detached from its teachings, but the fear of reprisals lurks in the minds of more moderate muslims.
Not all death sentences handed out by Sharia Courts have actually been carried out. Some of those condemned have been left to rot and jail by the Islamic authorities in Northern Nigeria.
A number of sentences have been passed, including women convicted of having extramarital sex, sparking uproar. Only one has been carried out – a man convicted of killing a woman and her two children who was hanged in 2002.
The last time a Nigerian Sharia court passed a death sentence was in 2016 when Abdulazeez Inyass, was sentenced to death for blaspheming against Islam during after a secret trial in Kano.
Several states in northern Nigeria use the stringer version of Sharia in early 2000s. Many others have had their limbs amputated under the ruthless law which forbids the use of free expression to offend any of their prophets.