Scholar calls for entrepreneurship training for clerics

A popular cleric in Ilorin, Kwara State, Dr Abdulquadri Sholagberu, has called for the inclusion of entrepreneurship training in the teaching of Arabic and Islamic Studies.

This, he said, will help in checking the immoral acts being perpetrated by some Islamic clerics.

According to him, he has opened talks with fellow scholars running Arabic schools across the state to include vocational training in their curricular.

Speaking last weekend at his Daarul-Kitab College of Arabic and Islamic Studies’ graduation ceremony that involved 665 students, Dr Sholagberu expressed worry that Islamic clerics have been linked with possession of human parts, money ritual and other unwholesome spiritual practices.

The proprietor, who blamed what he called an anomaly on sole reliance on clergy work, advised clerics to emulate Prophet Muhammad who he said combined cattle herding with prophethood.

Addressing the graduands, Sholagberu said: “Be mindful of how you earn a living so that your livelihood does not stain your personality. Be mindful of who you marry so as not to make a decision that would thwart all this effort you have invested your life in.

“No real and genuine cleric goes about duping the public. No genuine cleric relies solely on clergy work to survive. No real cleric should be caught with human parts. No real cleric does Yahoo or swindles the public for survival.

“Rather than soil your name or parents’, it is better to engage in a vocation for sustenance. Afterall, Prophet Muhammad was a cattle herder while he was propagating Islam.”

He added: “Propagation of religion doesn’t prevent you from having vocations like trading, carpentry, sewing, shoemaking, hairdressing, among others.

“It is not sufficient to be a cleric alone. This will encourage fraud and corruption.

“Training in vocational works will not let those wards rely on politicians for survival after graduation.”

The school graduated 595 males and 70 females in different programmes.

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