Nigerian Chief Justice seeks amendment of Shari’a law curriculum
The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad, has advocated the amendment of Nigeria’s constitution to accommodate some of the concepts of Shari’a law.
Tanko Muhammad, who was represented by Justice Danjuma, Grand Khadi of Niger State, disclosed this at the 20th Annual Judges Conference held at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria.
The Shari’a law should be taught in Arabic not English. There is no university in Nigeria that runs Shari’a in Arabic; they all teach Shari’a in English
Commenting on the theme of the two-day conference, ‘Documentation of Contracts in Islamic Law: Procedure, Sample Precedents and Practice’, organised by the Centre for Islamic Legal Studies (CILS) of the ABU in collaboration with National Judicial Institute (NJI), Abuja, Danjuma urged academics at the event to champion the inclusion of Arabic as the best method of teaching Shari’a law.
He noted that the implementation of his suggestions would be more feasible if universities give the Shari’a law its own faculty.
He stated: “As we all know, there are sections of the constitution that allow the implementation of Shari’a personal law and apart from that, we cannot do more.”
In the same vein, the CJN said in view of the importance of the Shari’a legal system to the legal profession, Shari’a law ought to be taught in Arabic language in Nigerian universities.
