Nikah and other Islamic Functions association on Tuesday refuted the allegations that the organization is involved in malpractice where it demands money at the end of each wedding it organize.
People have been criticizing the organization saying it demands money ranging from MK10,000 to MK20,000 at the end of each wedding it organise and that it disapproves wedding cakes, things which have shocked the organisation.
“Nifah does not organise the Nikkah’s well. They force the youths to do what they want and steal other people’s money. I am told they even fake the change and end up going home with K10,000 or even K20,000. They should allow us to do what we want to do on our Nikkah’s. They claim to be good moslems when their children drink alcohol, smoke Indian Hemp yet they say we don’t allow wedding cakes because there is alcohol in there when in actual fact there are cakes done by good muslims. Niffah organisers wake up stop stealing money from poor muslims and stop accusing others when they have done something better. We are all muslims and its only Allah who can judge you,” reads one comment from one worried Muslim woman.
However NIFA has described the allegations as not true and challenged the people who are speculating to come forward.
“We at NIFA have leant with a shock with what other fellow Muslims are speculating that we demand money and don’t allow wedding cakes for every Nikah we organise. This is a total lie and they just want to paint a bad picture of our organization,” Issah Kazembe, organisation’s publicity secretary told Malawi Muslim Official Website.
“What they have to know is that we at NIFA we do things explicitly as the organization is being run by well reputable dignitaries, some work in public and in private sectors. If they are talking about the 2.5% we ask, then they have wrong assumptions as that one is used for stationery, Airtime and other things during wedding meetings and it is approved by both parties,” he said.
“We also keep some money which we put there before the main ceremony for change as we need people to make change freely without disturbing the time of pelekanipelekani and it is that money we take back at the end,” he clarified.
The publicity secretary also was quick to say he could not fully deny the allegations saying:
“It can really happen that there are some people who are indulging in that misconduct for their own capacity but not NIFA as organization. However, we ask the public to report to us if they find someone involved in this trend by dialling +2651985837,” he said.
NIFA is a non-profit Islamic organisation which was formed in 2004 by Muslim brothers and sisters from all corners of Malawi and it organises Muslim weddings as one part of its activities.
