Nigeria’s most senior
Muslim cleric has rejected a new gender equality bill, which proposes
that women and men inherit an equal share…
The Sultan of Sokoto,
Mohamed Sa’ad Abubakar, said Muslims would not accept the violation of
Islamic law guaranteeing men a greater share.
Nigeria’s main Christian body has welcomed the bill, saying its religion permitted equal inheritance.
Activists have pushed for the bill to end discrimination against women.
Nigeria is a deeply religious society with roughly the same number of Christians and Muslims.
Speaking
at a Koranic recitation ceremony in northern Zamfara state, the sultan
said: “Our religion is our total way of life. Therefore, we will not
accept any move to change what Allah permitted us to do.”
He
added: “Islam is a peaceful religion; we have been living peacefully
with Christians and followers of other religions in this country.
Therefore, we should be allowed to perform our religion effectively.”
In
October, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) said it did not
find anything wrong with the bill because in “Christianity inheritance
is shared equally between male and female”.
Lawmakers say they
will consider public opinion before a decision is taken on which aspects
of the bill to approve and which aspects to reject.
In March,
Nigeria’s senate rejected an earlier version of the bill, saying it was
incompatible with Nigerian culture and religious beliefs.
from bbc.