Muslims in the country have been urged to forget the farce differences they have towards each other by working together in fighting the advent of Shiaism in the country.
The call was made by panelists who spoke during a three-day seminar, which was organized by Supreme Council of Ulama in collaboration with Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Committee for Dawah in Africa, held at Zomba Development Centre (ZODEC) in Zomba.
The event, which assembled over 200 participants from across the country, was held under the theme Shia Sects and Their Beliefs started on Friday and ended on Sunday March 31.
Al-Barakah Charity Trust Director Ibrahim Milazi, who was also one of the invited guests, said it is very sad to see people fighting for trivial issues instead of fighting against the real enemies of Islam.
“Shiaism has penetrated into our country and it is a responsibility of sheikhs and every Muslim to make sure that this disease is not spread to all parts of our country. Whether you are a Sukuti or Qadriya we are all Muslims. Let’s join hands and fight against the advancement of Shiaism,” he said.
Milazi therefore hinted that one of the contributing factors towards the spread of Shiaism in Malawi is poverty and ignorance. He said a lot of Muslims especially in the village are illiterate and poor.
“That is why we are urging you sheikhs to take this task by informing them the beliefs of shias and how dangerous they are in our communities,” said Milazi.
Initially, the event was expected to take place at Assalam Complex in Mangochi in order to utilize the resources of their teachers who are mostly graduates of Madinah University to be facilitators at the function.
However, the teachers turned down the offer saying they are affiliated to the Ulama Council of Malawi and therefore do not recognize the Supreme Council of Ulama.
The Director of the Complex Sheikh Abdullah Muhammad Ballah therefore proceeded to deny Dr Shareef to conduct the function at the Complex.
Speaking after the function, Dr Shareef described the seminar as a success, as evidenced by the high turn up of the participants.
“You have seen it for yourself. This is what Islam wants. There are a variety of sheikhs of their caliber here. You talk of Maulana Narduwi, Mufti Tambala, Mufti Yusuf Kanyamula and Mufti Karim Kamwendo among other sheikhs who have come to share their knowledge with us. I didn’t expect the hall to be full like this – this is a success to our organisation,” said Dr Shareef.
The former Muslim Association of Malawi Secretary General therefore bemoaned the tendency of his friends who shunned away the event and questioned the level of their faith.
“I don’t understand them. After all, this is for Islam not for me (as an individual). The aim of the function is to see how we can fight against these enemies of Islam who are posing a great danger to our (Muslim) society. So, if someone says no I don’t want to come, to which group does he belong to; Islam or its enemies? We need to think about that critically because we may be staying with other people assuming they are our friends yet they are our enemies,” he said.
The Chancellor College Lecturer said his organization decided to engage the sheikhs because they are the ones living with the people in the villages.
Shareef therefore revealed that there are about 36 Malawian Muslims studying Shiaism in Iran and about three mosques have already been built in Dedza.
It is really a shame for Majlis Ulama to stay away or block such an important meeting. Do this Majlis Ulama know their role as leaders of Muslims or they are just a bunch of overzelous greedy Muslims that aim at self improvement at the expense of the Muslim ummah. Bravo Shareef, although at times you are controversial, this time around wadya one kwaine. We should fight using all what we have to stop shiaism from coming near Malawi. This is the greatest jihad for us all, if we are really Muslims regardless of Qadriya or Sukuti. Remember our country is very poor and the Shias are well known for using lots of monies to lure people to their religion.
If you can imagine that we are not united as we are right now, what more if Shia comes on board? No no no to this. Please Shk Imran Shareef hold more of these functions to sensitize our poor Muslims all over Malawi. May Allah give you the energy and power to continue this program and may Allah also give light to Majlis Ulama for it to know what is right and what is wrong. What Shareef is doing is right. Majlis Ulama please don’t fight your individual fights at our expense. I am beginning to wonder your credibility as far as Islam is concerned. You looked like a group of well learned Muslims, what is your problem?
islam does not need only sheikhs as leaders but it need a new generation of leadership. these sheikhs whether they belong to majilis ulama or whatever the council of sherif is a sign of a failed society. not only them but also MAM is a big failure sinnce they assumed their position, they are busy noing nothing. we want change achinyamata atenge maudindo, agenda for change ibwere osatiso mashehe. ushehewo ndiye uli pati ngati mukulephera kugwirazana.za chipembezo zomwezi, mukudyapo kodi eti
I personally look at this function either ways,as a success or failure.firstly as success because people attended and benefited from knowledge dispatched by our well versed sheikhs.Definitely they can tel the difference between shia and suni Islam compared to me,i cant tel.all i know is that they(shias) are Muslims just like me.seriously i wish i were there.On the other hand it was a failure because the discussion started with dispute and division which has not been resolved.Malawian Muslims are divided,though hiding behind recognition of an organization,for many reasons that keep us and possibly will continue if not addressed to drag us into poverty and socially poor statuses.first,Malawian Muslim leaders tend to be regional than national,secondly,they like to use religious functions for their political ambitions,thirdly and most serious of all,they like to form their own organizations once they have disagreed with one another.on the third point i will give you an example.do you know how many dawa groups we have only in Lilongwe?i wont tell you the number, but i can tel you that all the leaders and dayees of these groups were once members of Muslim youth dawa association and broke away due to disagreements and of course financial reasons.Please our leaders,we are looking up to you for our unity and development.I would advise sheik sharif to personally visit these other leaders and iron out all the disagreements they may have carried from the campaign process.We are talking about religion here,not politics where you rough one another in the campaign and you remain with gradges forever.Look at places where shias and sunis are fighting.do you like that situation to repeat itself in Malawi?study those conflicts carefully,you will realize it starts from leadership disagreements.it is only when our leaders sit down and resolve to work together that we can stop this shiaism invasion into our society.it should start with leaders because every leader has people that are loyal and listen to him.MAY ALLAH TOUCH THE SOULS OF LEADERS FOR THE SAKE OF OUR RELIGION.
AKUSIONA
The prophet Muhammed (PBUH) stated in a Hadith that the Muslim ummah will be divided into 72 groups.Going by this Hadith the Shia’s are also muslims. I beg to differ with Dr shareef that they are a threat and a Disease. Our sheikhs have failed us they are responsible for the poverty and ignorance the malawi Muslims are facing. Corruption ,envy and cupidity has been behind all this.Our sheikhs have allowed individuals to get rich in the name of MAM without taking action against them.There is also an element of double standard by the Saudi Dawah committee because there are Shia’s in Saudi Arabia especially the Eastern province of Qatif.They should start the dawah against Shias there not here after all the number of Shias in Malawi is so negligible- most of them are foreigners from Lebanon.Educate the Muslim folk massively (especially the old sheikhs & women) the younger generation of Muslims is much better, eradicate poverty and hunger.Creating new organisations cannot do the trick ,because we leave problems behind.We should work together and stop pointing fingers at each other, besides Asian Muslims should come out of their cocoon and work together with the Local Muslims. There is an Institutionalized segregation within the malawian Muslim community.Asians build more Islamic centres but they dont send their kids there only Africans attend why?.This is unislamic and not the case in other countries such as South Africa and Tanzania.I personally interacted with Shias in Tanzania they are not threat at all .Give us the relevant development not the unfounded fear and noises you are making.