Hajj 2025: Sheikh Gumi sends cryptic message to Saudi authorities
Kaduna: Sheikh Ahmad Abubakar Mahmud Gumi, a Nigerian cleric barred from performing Hajj, has sent a cryptic message to Saudi authorities against denying Muslims access to Masjid-ul Haram (sacred house of Allah).
Upon his return to his home country in Nigeria, the scholar shared a Qur’an verse which translated as “Surely (as for) those who disbelieve and hinder (men) from Allah’s way and from the Sacred Mosque which We have made equal for all men, (for) the dweller therein and (for) the visitor, and whoever shall incline therein to wrong unjustly, We will make him taste of a painful chastisement.”
“The Qur’an is explicit,” he added, quoting chapter 23, verse 25 in a Facebook post.
Sheikh Gumi was part of a delegation of religious scholars sponsored by the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) for this year’s pilgrimage.
He arrived in Madinah on Saturday night around 10:30 p.m. via an Umza Air flight but was stopped by Saudi immigration and denied entry.
“Alhamdulillahi, I’ve already completed my Hajj 2025, and I’m at home in our beloved country, Nigeria,” he said on Monday in a Facebook post.
“For some obvious reasons, my views about the world and politics, the Saudi authorities are uncomfortable about my presence in Hajj after giving me the Hajj visa.
“Thanks to the Nigerian authorities who have pledged to take up the matter immediately with Saudi authorities. That is the value of our cherished freedom and democracy,” he added.
He called on Nigerians to continuously pray for the nation to prosper and for the safe return of all pilgrims.
“I’m now free to attend to my health and farming activities,” he added.
In recent past, the Kaduna based scholar despite being a Sunni has developed close ties with Iran as he had embarked on a tour to the country.
He is also known critic of the Saudi government over its treatment of African scholars.
Born in 1960 in Kano state, Sheikh Ahmad is the eldest son of the late Sheikh Abubakar Mahmud Gumi, an outspoken Islamic scholar and Grand Khadi (chief judge of the Shariah Court of Appeal) in northern Nigeria.
He studied medicine before enlisting with the Nigeria Defence Academy and serving as a medical officer in the Nigerian Army Medical Corps (NAMC)
Upon attaining the rank of a captain he retired from military service and moved to Saudi Arabia to study in Makkah, where he obtained a Doctor of Philosophy in Usul ul Fiqh (principles of Islamic jurisprudence)
He is currently the Mufti and Mufassir (scholar and writer) at the Sultan Bello Mosque in Kaduna.
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