Islam does not allow Muslims to consume or trade in frogs, popular Kano-based Islamic cleric, Sheikh Muhammad Sani Rijiyar Lemo, has said.
The cleric spoke on Islam’s position on the issue of trading in the amphibian during one of his 2021 Ramadan tafsir sessions at Gwallaga Mosque in Bauchi.
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Rijiyar Lemo said the ban traced its origin to the story of Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) in the Holy Qur’an when he was to be thrown into a fire.
He said the idol worshippers of the time were angry with his action of destroying their idols, so they ruled that he should be burnt at the stake.
Rijiyar Lemo said after the fire was set, all kinds of animals, except the gecko which helped to kindle it, made efforts to extinguish it so as to save Prophet Ibrahim.
Because of the ignoble act, Islam decreed that geckos be killed whenever they are sighted, he said, adding that recent scientific researches have proved that geckos are harmful to human beings.
“The Prophet Muhammad decreed that Muslims should kill gecko when it is seen,” he explained.
For frogs, according to him, Islam enjoins Muslims to spare and not kill them because “when animals asked for Allah’s permission to stop Ibrahim from being burnt, frogs got the approval to cover his body and prevent it from getting burnt, which they did.”
Sheikh Rijiyar Lemo said it is for this reason that killing of frog is prohibited in Islam. He said Islam also prohibits its consumption because it has, first, to be killed before it is eaten.
“For instance, if it had been decreed that ram should not be killed then automatically it cannot be consumed because you have to kill it before you can consume it,” he said.
“I have seen people trading in frog. That trade is haram (prohibited), given that it has to be killed before it is sold and the Prophet has prohibited its killing,” said the cleric.
Frog is a popular delicacy in parts of Nigeria and its business booms in many communities, including the North which has a Muslim majority population.
