This year, there were a lot of Muslim youth and intellectuals at the Christmas service. They gave gifts to help improve relations between Christians and Muslims in the north of the country.
The general overseer of the Christ Evangelical and Life Intervention Ministry says that hundreds of Muslims from 19 northern states often come to Pastor Yohanna Buru’s church to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ with them. This is done to promote peace and unity.
Buru says that members of the Tijjaniya, Shiites who are part of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, and other Sunni Muslims joined the different Muslim groups only to promote religious tolerance and peaceful coexistence.
Additionally, the Muslim organisations gave gifts to the church as a gesture of goodwill, love, and increased understanding.
“They arrived bearing many presents and honors, which they distributed to the Christians in order to improve ties between Christians and Muslims.”
As the country celebrated Christmas this year, the Christian preacher said that high inflation, unrest, rising food prices, poverty, and unemployment were making the country less peaceful and stable.
In order to promote interreligious tolerance, more than 1,000 Muslims attended the Christmas service the previous year. They brought a variety of gifts to share with their Christian brethren.
Buru also asked Christian and Islamic clergy to start praying all the time so that elections in 2023 can be held peacefully.
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He asked Nigerians to pray for the Nigerian Army and paramilitary groups to solve the security problems that make it hard for people to live together peacefully.
Reports say that young Muslims went to other churches, like the Unguwar Rimi Church, while dressed in a professional way.
One of the Islamic scholars, Sheik Salisu Abdullahi Giwa, responded that they were in Kaduna to celebrate the birth of Jesus with their Christian brothers. He was leading a group of buses filled with Muslims from Katsina, Kano, and Zamfara.
He claimed that they made the decision to go to church on Christmas, a day when people all around the world were celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.
He emphasised that they were at the church service to celebrate and share the joy of the day with them as Muslims, and that they thought of Christians as their other brothers and sisters in humanity.
Then he urged both Muslims and Christians to keep in mind that they were all Eve and Adam’s children.
He said that both religions’ followers, no matter what tribe, culture, or race they were from, had holy books given to them by the same God that taught them how to live in peace with everyone.
Malam Ibrahim Musa of Hayin Kogi, a different imam headquartered in Kaduna, expressed satisfaction with how Muslims and Christians encouraged good ties.
He continued by saying that the preacher would receive an honour for having long promoted peace in the state.
The leader of the Nigeria Youth for Peace Initiative, Mohammed Zakaria, also led a group of Muslims to the Unguwar Rimi church.
They shared gifts and some money for the church after the service.
