Best Jihad for Muslims is knowledge, not killings – Sheikh Gummi

A renowned Islamic scholar, Sheikh Ahmad Gummi, has said the best Jihad for Muslims to pursue in this modern time is knowledge and not killings of innocent lives.

He described both western and Islamic knowledge as best form of Jihad every Muslim male or female should acquire.

The scholar made the comment while closing this year’s Tafsir lecture at Sultan Bello Mosque Kaduna on Sunday evening.

He said due to poor understanding of the concept of Islam, many youths have misunderstood the true message of Islam and are using verses of Jihad to cause havoc and to kill innocent people.

The Islamic cleric explained that there was an Hadith that says before the end of time, true knowledge will be lifted off while ignorant remains and there will be lot of commotion.

“What commotion means here is lot of killings and murder between Muslims all in the name of Islam.

“Islam is free of such obligations because Allah has not called anyone to kill anybody. There is a system of jihad and the best jihad now is knowledge.

“We need to educate our daughters in the field of medicine if we want to free our married women from being attended to by male doctors.

“We need to make sure our male children go into ICT because everything today is about ICT.

“There are also other important sectors that Muslims are lacking and we need to acquire such knowledge if we really want to be important in the society.

“All these are jihad that we need to do for our future generations. So, whoever tries to obtain knowledge no matter how, he is a ‘Mujahid’.

“Therefore, all these killings are directed by ignorance and lack of moral education which makes it the most paramount targets of the congregation. May Allah give us victory over all evil army,” he said.