To connote street begging by children commonly known as as Almajiri in Northern Nigeria with Islam is erroneous and a fallacy according to the Sultan of Sokoto and president-general of Jema’atu Nasril Islam (JNI), Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III .
The Sultan said this while presiding over the pre-Ramadan meeting of JNI’s Central Committee held at the JNI headquarters in Kaduna yesterday. He said Almajiri is unIslamic and represents hunger and poverty.
“Almajiri does not represent Islam, but hunger and poverty. Almajiri system of begging does not represent Islam and must therefore be distinguished from Islam. Islam encourages scholarship and entrepreneurship and frowns at laziness and idleness as exemplified by Almajiri.
“Therefore, attempt must be made to stop the practice of Almajiri system begging among Muslim faithfuls”.
The event is an annual meeting meant to set modalities and guidelines for moon sighting and general muslims’ conduct in the holy month. The Sultan called on government, particularly at the state levels to prioritize welfare of their citizens to address hunger and poverty.
He also tasked state governments to strengthen institution of ‘Zakkat’ and endowment to address wanton poverty. The meeting was attended by prominent traditional rulers and Islamic scholars.
