“I never pray for Murphy Afolabi, he’s always acting like herbalist or wizard in movies” – Islamic cleric

An Islamic cleric, Sheikh Yelma’e has vowed never to pray for the late actor Murphy Afolabi due to the movie roles he played when alive.

According to the Islamic cleric, Islam forbids him from praying for the departed soul of popular actor, Murphy Afolabi, because all the movie roles he played while alive were roles which went against the Islamic religion.

In the video shared online, the cleric stated that the late Afolabi played movie roles like a herbalist, a fetish priest, and a wizard which are against the Islamic religion.

In his words; “What we posted yesterday was that we cannot pray for (late) Murphy Afolabi because in the movies he usually acts, and particularly Yoruba movies, it has a lot of forbidden things including traditional sacrifices and it is rare for the actors not to be involved in such traditional sacrifices.

“They might be acting that way with the thinking that they are joking but anything that has to do with Almighty Allah should not be joked with. Acting like an herbalist, witch, or wizard, is against Islamic teachings and Islam is against such actions.

“What will make a Muslim start using what nonbelievers do to make people laugh? It is common in Yoruba, Hausa, and Igbo films, but mostly in Yoruba films. I feel it is time for religious teachers and students to start looking into these issues.

“When any of these actors with a Muslim name acts like an herbalist in Yoruba movies and later dies, it becomes hypocritical for people to expect us to pray for them. As for Murphy Afolabi, I won’t pray for him, and neither will I curse him because he might not know.”