Dapchi: You can’t force Leah Sherubu into Islam – Muslim group warns Boko Haram

The Muslim Rights Concern, MURIC, has condemned the attempt by Boko Haram insurgents to compel one of the schoolgirls they abducted from Dapchi, Yobe State, Leah Sherubu to use hijab.

The group said the attempt to force her to convert to Islam is reprehensible.

The Islamic sect on Wednesday returned 105 out of the 111 girls abducted on 19th February, 2018, five of them had reportedly died while one, Leah Sherubu, was not released.

One of the freed girls, Khadija Grema, had revealed that Leah was not released because she is a Christian and refused to put on hijab or convert.

MURIC asked the Federal Government to take immediate and proactive action in securing Leah’s release, adding that, “Boko Haram’s doctrine is heretical and its methods stand in contradistinction to those of pristine Islam.

“The Glorious Qur’an asserts that there is no compulsion in Islam (2:256). It says Allah himself could have made the whole mankind Muslims if He had wished (11:118).

“It forbids forceful conversion or punishment of non-Muslims by Muslims and limits the role of Muslims to admonitions alone.

“Once again we reject Boko Haram as an Islamic group. We urge the leadership and members of the group to re-examine its ideological base.

“Leah Sherubu must be set free because the basis for holding her after setting her schoolmates free is faulty and unIslamic.

“We invite the Federal Government (FG) to widen the scope of dialogue with Boko Haram by incorporating doctrinal issues. Islamic scholars should be involved in such discussions with the insurgents.

“This process is sine qua non for the deradicalisation of Boko Haram. Military defeat of Boko Haram alone amounts to a pyrrhic victory without ideological re-engineering.

“We charge (FG) to go back to the negotiation table in order to secure the release of the only Christian girl among the Dapchi girls who is being held back by the insurgents. Nigerians have been united in their prayers for the release of the Dapchi girls.

“FG should note that Boko Haram is not as daft as many people think. By withholding the Christian girl, they seek to divide Nigerians once again along religious lines.”