The Islamic police in Kano State has arrested 11 Muslims, reportedly caught eating food during the Ramadan fast.
The Islamic police, widely known as Hisbah, carry out searches of eateries and markets every year during Ramadan.
The 10 men and one woman were released after swearing an oath that they would not purposely miss a fast again.
“We got 11 persons on Tuesday including a lady selling groundnuts who was seen eating from her wares and some persons alerted us,” Hisbah spokesman Lawal Fagge told the BBC.
“The other 10 were men and were arrested across the city especially close to markets where a lot of activities happen.”
He added that the search operations would continue but said that non-Muslims were exempt.
“We don’t arrest non-Muslims because this doesn’t concern them and the only time they could be guilty of a crime is when we find out they cook food to sell to Muslims that are supposed to be fasting.”
Regarding those who were arrested he said that they were freed after promising to start fasting from now on and “for some of them we had to see their relatives or guardians in order to have family monitor them”.
Just over two decades ago, Sharia was introduced to work alongside secular law in 12 of Nigeria’s northern states that all have a majority Muslim population, including Kano.
It is during this month that Muslims believe the first verses of the Quran – Islam’s holy book – were revealed to the Prophet Muhammad.
This year, Ramadan Fasting is expected to last 30 days, starting on Monday 11 March to end on Tuesday 9 April.
BBC
