Media is the fourth arm of government and a watchdog of the society. Its importance in terms of educating, informing and entertaining cannot be overemphasised.
The news about corruption in the Muslim community is not a new phenomenon. We have been hearing reports about corruption in various sectors of the society including government as well. All these stories were known and exposed through the media. This shows how important the media is.
Without somebody reporting or saying about this malpractice, our country or society cannot develop and many innocent ordinary Malawians will suffer at the expense of few greedy and selfish individuals.
Views of some quarters in the Muslim community that negative issues should not be reported and covered in our articles which are published on this website, are not only retrogressive but also show how evil corrupts one’s mind. This does not apply to Muslims only but the nation at large.
We all in this country are witnesses to how much damage can corrupt practices cause to beautiful plans, programmes and projects which have suffered while the perpetrators have continued to live blissfully on earth.
Spectators have been left in awe, commentators have had their vocabulary run out and donor fund has drastically dwindled and even stopped due to dubious moves by these front runners who would selfishly move about in towns and cities in posh cars which are bought using money meant for community or national development.
Is it not the responsibility of us in the media to dig out and report such issues?
Section 36 of our Republican Constitution states that “the press shall have the right to report and publish freely, within Malawi and abroad, and to be accorded the fullest possible facilities for access to public information.”
Therefore, it is the duty of any journalist to report anything that is important for the society be it corruption, development or disaster just to mention a few.
The media is bound to be objective, balanced and unbiased. The citizenry is there and subject to their views and opinion regarding any reported story and therefore take appropriate measures as would be in the interest of the general public.
Malawi Muslims Official Website would hereby like to hint that it will objectively continue to protect the image of Islam but not to protect the image of selfish and greedy Muslims who don’t care about their fellow Muslims and have nothing good for Islam other than fattening their pockets. These individuals are like a shepherd who, instead of feeding a starving thin cow, is busy milking it.
For example, if someone embezzles funds meant to assist Muslims and Islam, should we just watch while our constitution and the Qur’an gives us a right to fight for justice?
Allah says in the Holy Quran, “O you who believe! Stand out firmly for Allah and be just witnesses and let not the enmity and hatred of others make you avoid justice. Be just: that is nearer to piety, and fear Allah. Verily, Allah Is Well Acquinted with what you do.”( Sura Ma’ida 5:8 )
And Rasulullah (SAW) said, “By Allah you have to enjoin good and forbid evil, and hold against the hand of the unjust ruler and force him on the truth strongly, or you have to limit him to the truth”.
By this evidence, which is the hadith commenting on the verse, Allah has prohibited us from remaining silent against the evil, and He commanded us to remove it. Allah commanded the Muslims to enjoin good and deny evil, and made it a duty upon them to do so.
For us at Malawi Muslims Website, we feel that if a person is doing bad things in the name of Islam, he or she is not worth to be protected because he is destroying Islam. It also has to be made clear that the protection we are discussing here has nothing to do with personal and private dealings of an individual.
Every activity or action which is done in the name of an institution or organisation, becomes a public concern and it is in our mandate to inform the community about things in which they have interest. We cannot tolerate evil for the sake of pleasing others.
It is our utmost belief and hope that by reporting such things, other would be perpetrators would take lesson and strive to perfect their responsibilities, thereby reducing or eventually eliminating the misappropriation of resources in most institutions. It is only through financial prudence, transparency and accountability that can restore the image of our Islamic institutions.
Therefore, pretending that all is well will only do more harm to ourselves and will eventually result to uncontrollable effects in future.
By the way, every just person would not waste his time defending or stopping the media from publishing anything negative about themselves. Rather, it is people who would acknowledge every good and justify in their views.
You don’t kill the messenger because his duty is to relay the message. Otherwise, you may end up killing a person who wanted to warn you about a plot by others to kill you.
