There was anxiety yesterday in the ancient city of Ikorodu, a Lagos state suburb, in Nigeria when a controversial Islamic cleric, Alhaji Rasheed Ayinde Saheed, declared fatwa on his only son, Yusuff Saheed.
According to Islamic scholars, fatwa is an equivalent of death sentence. In the Islamic world, when such declaration is proclaimed, it implies that any where in the world the victim is found, he should be killed by adherents of the faith.
Details about the circumstances surrounding this declaration was sketchy as at the time of filing the story, sources said they weren’t surprised that Alhaji Rasheed could do that to his own biological son because over the years, the cleric has displayed little tolerance to criticism.
For example, his followers don’t just worship in any mosque that is not accredited by him.”I am not surprised. Alhaji Rasheed is very strict.
His followers hardly mix with others. He behaves like a typical fundamentalist,” a nursing mother who simply identified herself as mummy Medinat told our correspondent.
