An Islamic cleric and National Chairman of the Council of Ulama, Dr. Ibrahim Jalingo, has stirred widespread controversy after publicly endorsing the death penalty for individuals who renounce their religion.

In a statement written in Hausa language and shared via Facebook page on Thursday April 10, Jalingo strongly defended Hadith prescribing capital punishment for apostasy and condemned critics of Hadith literature, accusing them of “compound ignorance”.

According to reports Jalingo’s post came in response to mounting criticisms disrupting the authenticity of a specific Hadith which many argue contradicts the teaching of the Holy Quar’an. But Jalingo dismissed such arguments, launching a detailed theological rebuttal against what he described as “Fabricators” aiming to discredit Islamic traditions.

“Today, I came across the first Hadith among the supposed “100 Hadiths” which the fabricators claim contradict the Quar’an. They assert that Muslims who believe in both the divine revelation of the Hadith and the Quar’an cannot respond to them. The Hadith in question is; “Whoever changes his religion ,kill him”, the person who presented this statement by the fabricators to me is someone named Issiyaku Abdulkadir.

Here is what I wrote in response to the claims of these fabricators: First, I thank you for starting to bring me what this compound ignoramus refer to as “I00 Hadiths that contradict the verses of the Quar’an. “This will, God willing give me the opportunity to expose his ignorance to the world”

He further backed the Hadith with multiple Quranic references claiming it does not contradict scripture.