The controversial Kano Islamic scholar, Sheikh Abduljabbar Nasiru Kabara, has apologised, saying his utterances were totally misunderstood.
This is coming barely 24 hours after his debate with other clerics in the state.
In an interview with BBC Hausa on Sunday, the cleric said, “If these utterances were actually from me, that I am the one who made them and they are not in any of the scriptures, then I have accepted it as a capital offence, and therefore tender my apology.”
“But, if they are not from me, that they were actually from those scriptures, then it is a challenge to all Muslims to come together and fish out those ‘false’ Hadiths (traditions of the Prophet, PBUH), to prevent adulterating our religion.
“However, if they were from me, I hereby tender my apology, first to Allah the Almighty, then to the Muslim Ummah, and hereby retract them.
“But, if they are really in those books, these scholars should fear Allah and wake up to this noble challenge. Let us all go back to the Allah, the Omniscient who will judge us all.
“While some were alleging that I concocted them myself, many people were lost along the way, because the narratives were cut and adulterated. But those who listened to my preachings directly understood.
“These are issues that one cannot bring out in just few minutes and that is why I said the Saturday’s debate was not fair, because I was not given enough time to bring these issues out.
“I can’t do that in the 10 minutes I was given, not because they are not there but they are issues that need an extensive research,” Abduljabbar added.
Sheikh Abduljabbar, a factional leader of the Qadiriyya sect in Kano State, is famous for his controversial religious commentaries and statements that are seen and regarded as an insult and degrading against the person of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) and his companions.
The Kano State Government had on Saturday organised a debate between the cleric and other scholars in the state after several agitations by various Islamic scholars within and outside the state on the manner in which Abduljabbar went about his preaching.
He, however, rejected the outcome of Saturday’s debate which he said he was not given enough time to prove his points.
The judge of the debate, Professor Salisu Shehu, had declared that the cleric had failed to answer all the questions or clear himself of the allegations raised against him.
