Nigerian Christians, Muslims Must Live In Peace, Harmony, Say Egyptian Clerics

From Shettima Abdullahi, Kaduna
In their effort to promote peaceful coexistence among diverse faiths in the world, a team of Islamic Scholars from Egypt counselled Nigerians Muslims and Christians on the need to live in peace and harmony, saying violence will never be a solution to religious differences in the country and world in general.
According to them, there is need for followers of both religions to say no to violence against each other.
The leader of the team of Scholars from Egypt, Dr Rabie Jumua Muhammad told the gathering of Muslims and Christians scholars at an interaction held in Jama’atul Nasril Islam Headquarters in Kaduna, to always embrace dialogue when faced with challenges.
Muhammad said: “We need to say no to violence because violence is never a solution to problems. We must embrace tolerance, we must embrace peace and coexistence. We have to say no to inhuman behaviour against each other regardless of religion, tribal affiliations.
“This is what Islam teaches us. Islam is a religion of peace and it teaches us to show love towards all humanity. We must tolerate other religion because we are created by one God. No religion weather Christianity of Islam advocates violence. The two religion always advocate to people to resolve crisis peacefully.
“Verses of the Holy Quran tells us that Allah created us in different tribes and groups to understand each other and the most pious among you in the sight of Allah are the righteous, meaning those who behave good. We must emulate the values of our Prophet peace be upon him who teaches us to spread love among humanity,” he said.
He also cautioned Muslims to avoid acting violently against others, saying Islam doesn’t teach bad behaviour.
“We must learn to spread the value of peace and tolerance and to also help the needy and the poor among us. These are good values that we should emulate. We are all brothers from one creator,” he said.
In his remarks, Secretary General of Jama’atul Nasril Islam, Dr Khalid Abubakar Aliyu said the essence of the Egyptian scholars’ visit to Nigeria was to counsel both Muslim and Christian scholars on religious tolerance and peaceful coexistence.
He commended them for taking their time to visit Nigeria to spread gospel of peace.
Founder Peace Revival and Reconciliation Foundation of Nigeria, Pastor Yohana Buru, who represented the Christian community at the interaction, thanked the organizers and the visiting scholars for giving him the chance to listen and made his own contribution about peace from the Christian perspective.
He said Christians and Muslims have a long relationship, describing that relationship as ‘unique’.
He assured the visiting scholars of his commitment to spreading the words of peace so that Nigeria, particularly Kaduna state, could move away from religious crisis in future.