{"id":179610,"date":"2016-01-06T15:42:55","date_gmt":"2016-01-06T15:42:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=179610"},"modified":"2016-01-06T15:42:55","modified_gmt":"2016-01-06T15:42:55","slug":"nigerian-cleric-sentenced-to-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=179610","title":{"rendered":"Nigerian cleric sentenced to death"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Islamic court has sentenced a Nigerian cleric to death by hanging for insulting the Prophet Muhammad in the northern city of Kano.<\/p>\n

Abdulazeez Dauda, popularly known as Abdul Inyass, was convicted after a trial held in secret to avoid protests.<\/p>\n

Five of his followers were also sentenced to death last year.<\/p>\n

These are the first death sentences for blasphemy handed down by a Nigerian Sharia court; those delivered for other offences have not been carried out<\/p>\n

Mr Inyass is a preacher at a local faction of the Tijaniya sect, founded in Senegal by Sheikh Ibrahim Niasse, which has a large following across West Africa.<\/p>\n

He was reported to have said that “Niasse was bigger than Prophet Muhammad” during a lecture at an event in May, leading to violent protests in the city.<\/p>\n

\"Nigeria<\/span><\/figure>\n

The BBC’s Yusuf Ibrahim Yakasai in Kano says he then fled to the capital, Abuja, and nine of his followers were arrested for their alleged part in organising the event.<\/p>\n

When they were arraigned in court, there were further clashes and the courthouse was set on fire, he says.<\/p>\n

Four of the followers were acquitted and the five sentenced to death are appealing against their conviction at the state’s high court.<\/p>\n

Kano has a predominately Muslim population and Islamic courts operate alongside secular courts.<\/p>\n

Mr Inyass, whose five-month trial was held in secret for security reasons, will also be able to appeal against the verdict at a the high court.<\/p>\n

Several states in northern Nigeria introduced Sharia after the country returned to civilian rule in 1999.\"Grey<\/span><\/p>\n

Tijaniya at a glance<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Members<\/span><\/figure>\n

The Sufi sect of Tijaniya was founded in Algeria in 1784 by Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Tijani.<\/p>\n

It spread all over the world, with large following in North and West Africa. It also has followers in South Africa, Indonesia and other parts of the world.<\/p>\n

There are other Sufi sects in Islam but Tijaniya is the largest.<\/p>\n

They have three main daily practices: Asking the forgiveness of God; sending prayers to the Prophet Muhammad and affirming the Oneness of Allah.<\/p>\n

Senegalese-born Sheikh Ibrahim Niasse was credited with reviving the sect in the 20th Century. People travel from across the continent to visit his shrine.<\/p>\n

They have several factions including the Haqiqa (Realist) group, whose members were convicted of blasphemy in Kano.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An Islamic court has sentenced a Nigerian cleric to death by hanging for insulting the Prophet Muhammad in the northern city of Kano. Abdulazeez Dauda, popularly known as Abdul Inyass, was convicted after a trial held in secret to avoid protests. Five of his followers were also sentenced to death last year. These are the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":179612,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-179610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=179610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179610\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/179612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=179610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=179610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=179610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}