Members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), also known as Shiite today, Tuesday attended the 2019 New Year Church Service with their fellow Christians at St. Mary’s Parish Church, Samaru, Zaria, Kaduna State.
A leader of the group, Professor Isa Mshelgaru told news men at the Church premises that the action of the Shiites was to strengthen relationship between Muslims and Christians and to further boost the bond of relationship between the followers of the two faiths toward fostering national unity.
Professor Isa, who is with the Building Department, Faculty of Environmental Design of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria, said that going by the tenets of the two major religions in Nigeria, none of them preaches violence.
The Shiite leader described Christians as the closest people to Islam but lamented that Nigerians are divided by selfish politicians who hide under religion to achieve personal desires.
“Killing one another is an imaginary life; in the actual sense it does not exist; we are all created by one God, we must therefore, endeavour to live together in peace with one another. We should share joy, happiness and sorrow together. Our leader, Sheik Ibrahim El-Zakzaky said we should learn to live together in peace.
“When we are united as Nigerians, nothing will break us apart and nothing will go against the peace of the nation, not even Boko Haram nor militants or any other thing else.”
This was even as the Parish Priest, Rev. Fr. Michael Ibrahim-Bazai, expressed appreciation for the action of the Shiites, describing it as the first of its kind.
“We are happy to receive our brothers and sisters from Islamic faith here in our Church to celebrate with us today on 1st January 2019. It is true that sometimes we are scared of each other, this is because some of us are ignorant of the religion but we are all one.”
Ibrahim-Bazai stressed the need for followers of the two religions to always practice their religion according to its tenets to pave way for peaceful and harmonious relationship.
He called on the two faiths to respect, accommodate, embrace and tolerate one another towards building a stronger society and by extension, a stronger nation.
According to report, Shiites were hosted to a lunch and refreshment at the Church premises. Source: NAN.
