Combating Ebola: Do not act with ignorance – Sheikh Sani Yahaya Jingir

He said the reaction of some people to messages that were sent around late at night urging them to bathe with water heavily mixed with salt, before daybreak, and drink the mixture as protection against contracting Ebola was an exercise in futility as the so-called saline therapy, rather than provide cure, killed more people than […]

He said the reaction of some people to messages that were sent around late at night urging them to bathe with water heavily mixed with salt, before daybreak, and drink the mixture as protection against contracting Ebola was an exercise in futility as the so-called saline therapy, rather than provide cure, killed more people than the virus itself which the people dreaded and sought to protect themselves from.
Sheikh Sani Yahaya Jingir, who is the Chairman, Ulama’u Council of the Jama’atu Izalatul Bid’ah Wa’ikamatus Sunnah (JIBWIS) headquartered in Jos, the Plateau State capital, said the response of the people to the purported salt cure, which they accepted without investigating its source and veracity, was against the injunction of Allah (swt) in Surat Isra’, among others, where he tells the ummah, “Do not pursue what you have no knowledge of.
“We know that doctors have cautioned those with certain ailments against taking salt and that bathing with salt affects the skin but in panic the people threw caution to the wind and brought suffering and death upon themselves,” he said.
He referred to Surat Taghabun Verse 11, saying “No calamity befalls, but with the Leave of Allah,” who, he added, also cautions us against panicking or taking any action without thinking.
The JIBWIS Ulama’u Council leader also said Allah (swt) has already decreed against all the things that have now been identified as the means of contracting the Ebola disease and other viruses.
He said: “Allah (swt) has prohibited Muslims from eating monkey, swine, clotted blood of slaughtered animals,, bush meat or flesh of any animal not properly slaughtered. These have been found to be the sources of the Ebola disease. We as Muslims have already been barred from consuming any of them and are therefore protected from the ailment if we are steadfast in observing the injunctions of Allah as contained in the Holy Qur’an and the Sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh).
“It is also clear that the Human Immunodeficiency Syndrome (HIV) which causes the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is contracted through homosexuality, lesbianism, illicit sexual relations and having sex with animals all of which Islam abhors and condemns without reservations. Allah says, Do you approach males among the worlds. And leave what your Lord has created for you as mates? But you are a people transgressing.” He directs Muslims to marry and restrict ourselves to their spouses as a shield from numerous calamities.
“But that the Muslims jettisoned the words of Allah and His Prophet and sought cure from the dream of somebody they  knew nothing about and without even bothering to verify the source. This is most unfortunate. And the  pain and deaths that followed the action speak for themselves,” he said.
Sheikh Sani Yahaya Jingir called on the authorities and striking health workers to resolve their differences and strive to give the people all necessary health care services in the effort of attaining fairness in the society.
He also urged government and its security agencies to track down and appropriately sanction those who propagated the so-called salt therapy which resulted in the loss of lives of the people without regard to religion.