This year’s competition on the history of the beloved prophet’s family and his companion has revealed that Malawian Muslims lack pertinent knowledge in terms of the history of the last prophet.
Malawi is the only country in the southern Africa which has an enormous population of Muslims.
The competition which is financed by the committee of dawah in Africa, Saudi Arabia under the ministry of Islamic affair and locally coordinated by the Islamic Information Bureau and Blantyre Islamic Mission (BIM) requires a participating individual to answer various questions in regard to the illustrated life of our beloved prophet (pbuh).
But out of over a thousand of Muslims who took part in the competition, only 20 got the questions correctly.
Speaking in an interview with this website coordinator for Limbe Islamic Information Bureau Sheikh Ahmed Chienda expressed concern over the development but said there is a great possibility of improvement
He has since attributed the challenge to lack of interest on reading widely.
“‘It is really a wakeup call for us. This shows that there is a need to improve on attainment of knowledge in regard to the history of our beloved prophet.
“We are happy with the participation for this year’ edition – but in terms of getting the questions correct, that is where we have encountered a challenge .But Iam very optimistic that as we go along the levels of our knowledge in regard to the history of our beloved Prophet will greatly be enhanced.
Asked on how the winners are selected, Sheikh Chienda said, “What we do together with our counterpart (BIM) is to select those who have got all the questions correctly.
“Then we send the entries to Saudi Arabia where the draw is made to determine the winners,” he explained.
The competition which was introduced in the country four years ago is aimed at among other things encourage Muslims to be furnished with knowledge in regard to the history of their beloved prophet and his companions.
Sheikh Chienda has however said the competition will go a long way in ensuring that Muslims understand the true history of the last prophet considering the fact that nowadays some disgruntled non-Muslims are deliberately distorting the amazing history of the world’s greatest man-a thing which he said can not affect muslims who know the true history of the prophet hence having strong faith as well as brushing aside all the fallacies.
“The idea is not to make others win prizes, but to inculcate the spirit of learning the true legacy of our prophet. A Muslim who is well versed with the legacy of the prophet with no doubt will take part in teaching the true history of the last messenger of Allah the almighty,” he said.
Meanwhile winners of this year’s edition are set to receive their prizes on Sunday November 11, 2012 at Blantyre Islamic Mission (BIM).
Numerous prizes ranging from laptops to smart phones are set to be distributed among 10 winners of the competition.
However, the grand prize of Hajj sponsorship for three was already given as the winners were required to attend this year’s prayers in Saudi Arabia.
By Ali Blessings Idi
