…Says law not synonymous with punishment
By Adeyinka Adeniran
A former Head of Islamic Law Department, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria, Professor AbdulRazzaq Alaro has said the reason the adoption and implementation of Sharia law is facing stiff opposition and resistance in the Southern part of Nigeria is because people take Sharia as synonymous with punishment.
Alaro who described Sharia as one of the most misunderstood terms in the region said, to the average Southerner, the term means punishment , a misconception which he said has given birth to a myth or long time wrong notion that Sharia is all about punishment.
He made the assertion in his lecture entitled: “Sharia beyond the Criminal justice system: clarifying the myth and misconceptions scrounging the application of Sharia law in Nigeria”, delivered at the 2025 Annual Ramadan Lecture of the Muslim Lawyers’ Association of Nigeria (MULAN), Oyo State Branch.
The lecture which held on Sunday at the Aare Afe Babalola Bar Centre, Iyaganku, Ibadan, Oyo State had in attendance Muslim legal practitioner, top government officials, scholars and members of the Association.
The guest lecturer who made reference to the Yoruba speaking community of the Southwest who use ‘seria’, a term loosely derived from Sharia in the local pallance to mean punishment, said anytime the issue of application of Sharia law in Nigeria comes up for implementation or discussion, it is met with stiff resistance.
He added that it was even more worrisome that in recent times, the discussion about application of Sharia received the same old and unwelcoming resistance not only from non-muslims, but even from those he described as uninformed Muslims.
He commended MULAN for taking the step of choosing the topic for the lecture, as well as a plans to follow it up by legal and strategic planning to ensure the application if Sharia in Oyo State becomes a reality.
The guest lecturer clarifies that Sharia, linguistically and technically, is not synonymous to punishment, rather a complete system of law primarily derived from Quran and Sunnah.
He defined Sharia as a legal system just like the Common Law and Customary Law, adding that the application is Sharia in areas now constitution Nigeria predates Nigeria itself as a sovereign state.
According to the guest lecturer, Sharia is not all about capital punishment or amputation of hands as wrongly perceived by some people in Nigeria, adding however that, Sharia has a robust and effective criminal justice system, the focus of which is deterrent and not the punishment.
He said “Apart from the Criminal justice system, Sharia has other branches of laws including public and private laws, business and commercial laws, municipal and international laws as well as substantive and procedural laws.
“In specifics, Sharia has laws relating to family relationship otherwise known as Personal law, law of financial transactions such as laws of contract, commercially law, company law, property law, banking law and insurance law. 
“It also encompasses laws relating to civil wrong such as the laws of tort, environmental law, and laws relating to regulation of resources such as land law, oil and gas law.
“Equally, Sharia encompasses laws relating to governance such as constitutional Las and administrative law. Therefore, it is safe to conclude that Sharia laws and principles cover all branches of laws known to mankind in the past, present and one’s that are not presently known but which may be unraveled in the future.”
He added that Sharia law is capable of addressing all challenges as a people and also enhance justice in the society if well implemented.
He cited the example of the use of fund from the Islamic bank and sukuk in particular, saying “Sharia has provided for us a viable alternative to the interest based system in the areas of public project funding. A total of 124 road projects covering over 5,820 kilometers across the six geopolitical zones have been developed through sukuk since 2017. Yet, Nigeria remains a multi-religious country and was never islamised.”
He lamented that the unfounded fear of islamization agenda each time Muslims demand for their legitimate right has been exposed to be no more than a ruse wickedly devised to sustain the systematic deprivation of Nigerians Muslims of their fundamental rights as citizens.
He however cautioned that Sharia should be seen beyond its criminal justice system, noting that it is a complete legal system that has many other branches of law which are capable of complementing the existing legal systems in several aspects of the law.
“The legal system is capable of offering justice that satisfies the conscious amd religious dictates of the Nigerian populace in line with citizens fundamental right to freedom of religion and conscience “, he added.
Earlier in his remarks, the Chairman, Ramadan Planning Committee, Akeem Agbaje said the topic was choosing after it was observed that Sharia has become a very sensitive topic which is assuming a dangerous dimension as people are gradually becoming aggressive about it.
Agbaje said “We observed that Sharia is a very sensitive topic in our society. We also observed that it was assuming a dangerous dimension.
People were being aggressive about it. Even though what they were proposing was an abdication panel, we felt that it was important that we should enlighten both Muslims and non-Muslims about the Sharia. Because the concern about Sharia is not restricted to Christians.
“Even some Muslims are showing concern about the Sharia. So we believe there should be a process that enlightens everybody about what Sharia is all about. We know that the popular part of Sharia is the criminal justice part of it.
“But Sharia is beyond criminal law. It covers every aspect of the private Muslim law like banking, matrimonial matters, inheritance. So it’s important that we begin to educate or enlighten our people.”
He said the fear or apprehension about Sharia is more dominant in the minds of the leaders which has made several effort at changing the wrong orientation about it futile.
He appealed to non-Muslims to eschew their fears about Sharia noting that if people have inter religious marriages without fears, there should not be any about the religious laws of Muslims, noting that the introduction of some parts of the Sharia law such as Islamic banking has been beneficial to all and sundry irrespective of religious beliefs.
The event also featured a panel session where members gave their diverse views about various benefits that the implementation of Sharia law holds for the society at large.
