CAIRO – In a bid to spread true Islamic teachings, new radio and television
channels have been launched by a leading Nigerian Islamic group, serving as a
lighthouse in West Africa.
“We want to change the entire Muslim
Ummah’s lives through Manara, in area of preaching to them to do the right thing
and always avoid anything capable of breaching the peace,” Sheikh Bala Lau,
chairman of Jama’atu Izalatul Bidah Wa Iqamatis Sunnah (JIBWIS), was quoted by
Leadership newspaper on Thursday, June 11.
Adressing guests at the inauguration in Abuja, Lau said the new channels
would be known as Manara Radio and Television stations.
Along with serving Islam, the project was expected to create job
opportunities for youth and women.
“We are thinking of generating funds
through various Jumaát Mosques using Manara stations to assist the less
privileged in the society,” Lau said.
According to Lau, the JIBWIS has been working media field for a long period
by running a television satellite called Sunnah satellite television which was
transmitting from outside the country “by our brothers and sisters who had the
license”.
The new channel is expected to benefit both Muslims and non-Muslims by
helping them to understand the teachings of Islam, he added.
Lau also urged the Muslim Ummah to do
the right thing and abstain from “what Allah hates in order to deepen their
religious belief as well as believe in Almighty Allah”.
Praise
The new Manara channels won applaud from Nigerian officials and religious
leaders alike.
Gov. Abdulazeez Yari of Zamfara said the launching of Manara Radio and
Television stations would create an opportunity for the Muslim Ummah to
communicate more with one another.
“We are happy that Manara Radio and Television stations and many others
have come on board,” Yari said.
“The Muslims should put in their best in the area of communication and
information because it is the bedrock of whatever an individual, groups or
government is doing today.”
The head of the Nigerian Muslim and the Sultan of Sokoto, represented by
Alhaji Ahmed Oga, the Andoma of Doma, urged the organisation to employ quality
staff for quality service delivery.
“I have no doubt in my mind that the stations will compete favourably with
their foreign counterparts like VOA, BBC and CNN, among others.
“I can assure the Muslims and Nigerians that another innovation in the area
of radio communication and television has come on board,’’ he said.
The Sultan, however, urged the Muslim Ummah to cooperate with the stations
in order to achieve the aims and objectives for setting them up.
Nigeria, one of the world's most religiously committed nations, is divided
between a Muslim north and a Christian south.
Muslims and Christians, who constitute 55 and 40 percent of Nigeria's 140
million population respectively, have lived in peace for the most part.
But ethnic and religious tensions have bubbled for years, fuelled
by decades of resentment between indigenous groups, mostly Christian or animist,
who are vying for control of fertile farmlands with migrants and settlers from
the Hausa-speaking Muslim north.
