Religion

MURIC Calls for Sharia Courts and Friday as Work-Free Day in Southwest Nigeria

Published by Tope Fakinlede on July 7th, 2025.

MURIC Calls for Sharia Courts and Friday as Work-Free Day in Southwest Nigeria

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), an Islamic advocacy group, has urged the federal government to amend the constitution to allow for the creation of Sharia courts across states in Nigeria’s South West region.

MURIC also appealed for the declaration of Fridays as a non-working day, in recognition of Muslim religious practices.

These demands were presented by Dr. Jamiu Busari, representing MURIC’s Executive Director, Professor Ishaq Akintola, during the South West Zonal Public Hearing on constitutional amendments. The session was organized by the Senate Committee tasked with reviewing the 1999 Constitution.

According to Prof. Akintola, the establishment of Sharia courts in the South West would promote inclusivity and safeguard the religious rights of Muslims, many of whom reside in the region.

“Currently, there is no Sharia court in any of the South West states, even though Muslims constitute a significant portion of the population,” he said, arguing that this deviates from the pre-colonial legal traditions of the Yoruba people.

He advocated for Sharia courts to be instituted not only in the core South West states but also in Edo State, due to its substantial Muslim community. Furthermore, MURIC called for constitutional backing to mandate governors to create Sharia Courts of Appeal. Akintola emphasized that these courts would only handle Islamic-related cases, leaving non-Muslims unaffected.

On the matter of work-free days, Akintola demanded that Fridays be officially designated as public holidays for Muslim worshippers. He referenced the pre-colonial Islamic calendar where Thursdays and Fridays served as the weekend. In contrast, the modern two-day weekend—Saturday and Sunday—is seen as favoring Christians.

He claimed that Saturday was originally a half-day but was later extended to a full holiday under the Gowon administration to accommodate Seventh-Day Adventist Christians.

“The current weekend structure is a product of colonial imposition and is not religiously balanced,” Akintola said. “It is time to make Friday a recognized weekend day to ensure fairness.”

He pointed out that out of Nigeria’s eight national public holidays, five cater to Christian celebrations, while only three acknowledge Muslim festivals. These include Christmas, Boxing Day, New Year, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Eid al-Kabir, Eid al-Fitr, and Maulud.

Akintola proposed that the Islamic New Year be added to the list of national holidays, noting that some states already observe it.

He also raised concerns over the lack of legal recognition for Islamic (Nikkah) marriages. While Christian unions conducted in churches or registries are accepted for official use nationwide, Muslim marriages often face bureaucratic hurdles.

“This disparity is unfair in a pluralistic democracy,” he said. “All forms of religious marriages should receive equal legal standing.”

Backing MURIC’s proposals, the Muslim Ummah of South West Nigeria (MUSWEN) also advocated for the creation of Sharia courts and the development of judicial structures to support Islamic finance and other religiously aligned economic systems.

Responding to the various proposals, Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele, who represented Deputy Senate President Jibrin Barau at the Lagos hearing, assured participants that all contributions would be carefully reviewed and presented to the National Assembly.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that several other stakeholders, including youth groups, student bodies, and women’s organizations, also made submissions during the event.