The media office of the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, has denied claims that the monarch made a u-turn over his declaration of Thursday, May 13, 2021 as 1st Shawwal 1442 AH and day for Idul-Fitri celebration.
Bashir Adefaka of Sultan Media Office in a statement described the claims as an unfortunate attempt to mislead Muslim faithful and was therefore put off as unIslamic.
“Where those acting for any particular Muslim leader, for whatever reason known to them, heard “Wednesday” whereas what the entire world heard and read from the report approved by the Sultan was “Thursday”, remains a matter of concern,” Adefaka said.
“One is concerned, considering the kind of people, who should cooperate with the the Leader for the unity of Muslims and, by extension, peace, unity and overall development of Nigeria, but resort to using deliberate misinformation to misguide Muslims even in a religious affair as cogent as Ramadan fasting. It is not only unfortunate, it is sad.
“We wish to make it emphatically clear to the over 100 million Muslims of Nigeria that His Eminence Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, as a man of principle, self respect and very highly and sincerely committed to leading the Muslim Ummah of Nigeria aright, in his 15 years on the throne and as Leader of the Ummah, has never used one word to mean two. Once he declares his moonsighting it stands.
“Moreso, it may be pertinent for the concerned members of the public to know that the Sultan is not a Mr. Know All Acting Alone. Everything he does in moonsighting is based consultations even after profound and meticulous facts checking. He has a very formidable Moon Sighting System that is second to none anywhere around, based on dictates of the Qur’an and Hadeeth of the Prophet peace be upon him..
“The average Muslims in the village and at the grassroots sight the moon. He has never himself sighted one but has a very well articulated system that carries out integrity checks on moon sighting information gathered from across the states and then, based on consultations with and advise of National Moon Sighting Committee (NMSC), the Religious Affairs Committee of the Sultanate Council as well as the various committees consisting of members from, not only Northerners but also, across other tribes, he made his sincere broadcast directing the Muslims to either commence or end fasting at respective times of Ramadan’s new moon sighting and Shawwal’s new moon sighting.”
THE GUARDIAN
