Internationally Renowned Cleric Mufti Menk Meets Taaooma During Visit To Nigeria As Viral Post Gets Reactions

Nigerian comedian Maryam Apaokagi, popularly known as Taaooma, has recently gained attention on social media due to her meeting with Islamic scholar Mufti Menk. She shared pictures of herself and the scholar on her social media accounts, including his response to her request for a selfie. These images generated significant reactions from Nigerians on social media. During Menk’s recent visit to Nigeria, Taaooma shared more photos of their meeting, which sparked further conversations online. Menk is known for his radical teachings and philosophical views on religion and humanity. His teachings have gained him a large following, both within and outside the Islamic faith.

Taaooma disclosed her dialogue with Mufti Menk in the caption of her social media account image. The comic, who recently got engaged, also told how the well-known clergyman politely avoided contact with her as he obliged her request for a selfie. In her post, Taaooma described how the prominent clergyman put his bag between her and him as the photo was to be taken. She mentioned that the cleric claimed his behaviour was an expression of his wife’s respect. But Mufti Menk readily let another stand beside him, close to her, when another man joined them for the selfie.

Taaooma wrote,

“Mufti, – For the sake of my wife, let me put this bag here.”

Muslim scholars have provided insight into the incident, particularly Sheikh Saheed Babatunde, the Chief Imam of the principal mosque in Abeokuta, to make sense of the mufti’s elusive act with Taaooma. To shed light on Mufti Menk’s conduct after the photos of him avoiding touch with Taaooma went viral, well-known Nigerian Islamic cleric Sheikh Saheed Babatunde stated,

“Mufti’s actions are fully justified. It is wrongly Islamic for a married man to touch another man’s wife. That’s why he coyishly avoided contact with the female skit maker.

Slide 1 .Mufti – “for the sake of my wife, let me put this bag here” 😅😅

Slide 3 . Mufti – “MashaAllah, let’s have this selfie” pic.twitter.com/WHcUXoekUJ

— MONKELE (@_Taaooma) November 21, 2023