A picture, said to be Blasphemous has angered Muslims in Mpilipili Village, T/A Makanjira in Mangochi and resulted in burning down of Emmanuel Church Mission.
Mangochi police through its public relations officer, Amina Tepani Daudi confirmed although she did not give in more information to the development and said the investigations are underway.
“It is indeed true that a church has been set ablaze by angry mob in Makanjira, but the situation is calm now. Our officers are on the ground as they continue investigations.” Said Daudi.
But according to the incident report that was made available to this publication says Gladson Njenekera founder of the church was the one who reported the incident to police.
The report also said that Njenekera, a senior pastor of the said church owns a bible college of Pastors under Golden Eagles Theological College and its lectures came from different denomination.
One of the visiting lecturers, Wyson Semani Prepared the examinations and gave it Njerekera for printing.
“In the course of printing, the employee of the printing firm who was a Sheikh came across an illustration depicting the god of Muslims which was due for printing. He photocopied the diagram and showed some Sheikhs who got angry with it and demanded explanation from the Snr Pastor. A meeting was convened at Snr Chief Makanjira’s house where the Snr Pastor admitted giving the documents for printing but denied ownership.” read part of the report.
The Muslims asked for a dialogue with the said Lecturer, who was communicated to and agreed to go to Makanjira and apologise to the muslims and the Muslims sent him k20,000 for transport.
“However, the matter got worse as reports which were received were that the pastor in question will not come due to security reasons.” Said the report.
Muslim Association of Malawi (MAM) says while it is not wise to mock other people’s religions and beliefs, it does not condone violence and does not encourage people to take the law into their own hands.
“We have sent our district chairman to investigate the matter and give us the full information. However, faith leaders should avoid mocking other people’s religions so that the existing peace and harmony should continue to prevail. Nevertheless, whatever caused it, we don’t condone violence or encourage people to take the law into their own hands.” Said MAM’s Spokesperson Sheikh Dinala Chabulika.
The Muslims are said to be angry due to the drawing that shows the image alleged to be for god of Muslims that the church has been using to teach their congregants.
The image shows parts of a human body like head, eyes, neck, hands and legs with Qur’an verses quoted.