CHILD ABUSE AND ITS MONUMENTAL CONSEQUENCES IN CONTEMPORARY NIGERIA: ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

Child abuse which refers to all forms of illicit acts against children has reached alarmingrates in modern-day Nigeria. Surprisingly, most of those that are seriously affected havebeen poor children. Meanwhile, Islam seriously condemned all sorts of abuse towardschildren. Its norms to the children are love, mercy and compassion as documented in theQur’ân and Hadîth which are also uniquely practised by the Prophet (S) and his companions.Hence, this paper draws the attention of Nigerian parents and guidance in particular, and theentire world in general to the Islamic stand against child abuse and its monumentalconsequences as contained in the Sharî‘ah. It also conceptualises child abuse, discusses itscauses and effects in Nigeria and highlights systematically the Islamic approach towardsameliorating it. The paper also examines the concept of child abuse, its meaning from theIslamic point of view and scholastically highlights its forms with respect to modern-dayNigeria. In doing these, it employs historical and expository methods in driving home itspoints. The paper argues that the rate of child abuse in Nigeria is alarming and suggests someurgent and research-based steps to be carried out by the parents, the government andNigerian citizens in reducing the rate at which children are being abused in modern-dayNigeria. It then concludes by suggesting the application of Maqâsid al-Sharî‘ah as related tothe children’s well-being as remedies for preventing child abuse in Nigeria.