Last week we posted a topic, Why some Islamic Organisations are not united? at Malawi Muslim Official Website Discussion Board. So the following is what our team discussed on the matter:
Marshall Dyton (Host):
Why are some Islamic organisations in Malawi not united?
Rafeeq Ishmail Mahamood (Panelist):
The problem lies on the objectives of the organisations. Is a fact that not everyone who forms an Islamic organisation wants to further the interests of Islam. There are so many people out there who wants to make money using the name Islam. This is where the problem lies. you will find this organisation is accusing that one of misusing funds and portray themselves as saints. In short this differences arise because of what the officers of these organisations stand to gain. Secondly most of these people don’t want to be criticised.
They want to take the organisation like their persoanal to holder company. Thirdly, we have seen the mashrooming of so many sects of Islam of late. Some organisations are formed to promote the ideology of their particular group hence coming into conflict with those who hold different views from them.
It is therefore very important for every muslim to realise that there is only one Islam and the followers of this religion are called muslims. There are five (5) pillars of Islam then why should we fight each other? We need to educate ourselves on this one.
Marshall Dyton (Host):
Yeah. You are true brother! But what can we do to make sure that these kind of selfish people are no longer exists in these organisations? And I am using the word “selfish” deliberately.
Muhammad Maulidi (Panelist):
One of the reasons why Islamic Organizations in Malawi are not united simply because they have different agendas in hand, if these organization had welfare of the Ummah and having pure intention towards Islam this disunity couldn’t be there.
At the same time it is not fair to take a sweeping statement that all organizations in Malawi are not united, there are some who are working for the sake of Allah’s countenance and seek nothing in return only Jannah. One Allah One Islam One Ummah then why our organizations having these different agendas if they really working for the welfare of the Muslim community?.
By cleaning their hearts having pure intentions and abandoning the attitude of selfishness is the only solution to this problem. May Allah unite the Ummah! Aameen.
Marshall Dyton (Host):
You are true brother Maulidi, but you know what, one thing which makes my tongue tied up is that why cant these organisations sit down and come up with our own Islamic University in Malawi?
Muhammad Maulidi (Panelist)
Brother not only you who is tied up, a lot are sharing the same worries. Coming up with an Islamic university in Malawi will be a great achievement ever, I started hearing about this dream of having our own university when I was 8 years old,but till now I have not seen even the foundation. I heard a prominent member of MAM (name reserved) talking about this on air, I took it normal because I know MAM on its own can’t manage to fulfill this huge project unless all organizations come together and draw the road map forward while sharing the same goal. Otherwise this dream will never see the light. Its our responsibility we as Muslims try to convince these organizations the importance of doing things together (umodzi wa nyerere)
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I agree with the brother who says that the main problem with the organisations not united on islamic issues is the "objective" of the group.Mostly a religious organisation is a non profit making organisation that is ran by either by own funding or donation of some kind.What matters here is that if somebody considers of joining hand in hand with other organisations, it will mean distributing the donation to many for services thereby little prospection of having some funds for our own benefit.So i feel it is steel difficult to intergrate them into those who work together with one spirit.However, the organisations deverve credit because in the begining they intend to use there own resources the course of Allah and this is very admirable.Let us ask Allah to strengthen our imaan and purify our hearts so as not to deviate from the original "niyat" of our services, ameen.
um realy delighted to read this topic posted here.let me just add my comment,its very oviously known that those organisations are hiding in the name of khidmat islam but if look properly we will find that they are doing this in a foreign country like Malawi to sustain their families,the issue here is the failure of MAM as a motherbord for muslim ummah in Malawi.if there policies were stratagised in a way that every organision which comes to Malawi follow the rules of establishing an islamic organisation that will filful its objectives,we could not have such stupids,yes becoz we have endured very long in such hardships.all these problems are there becoz of MAM,I call MAM to wake up
It is true absolutely true some islamic organisations in Malawi are not United i wonder Why because we are all Moslems but look at MUM and Kadiria association it is shamefull to see them castigating one another in public, the issue here is that we we are all moslems we should respect eachothers ethics but when it comes to public anouncements please avoid castigating one onother it is very embarrasing to us moslems.
Lets a good example to our children. Let me ask a question here there is Ijitima this weekend in Mangochi do the chairman of MUM and Kadiria association Dine together at such functions if not then we have a big problem its high time we start removing that stigma of differences between the ethics of Kadiria and Suqti
The topic is very important and I beg everyone who reads this discussion not to close the page without writing something.
It's true SOME organizations in Malawi are not united; differences that result to slow Islamic development in our society, differences that segregate Muslims who, under shared-ideas, would have made Islam the most respected creed in the country, as well as the whole region.
I agree with all you brothers and sister here, for saying that unity is not there among Malawian Islamic Organizations … I would relatively say that's because of having different agendas and selfishness. Another point is that most organizations are designated with names, just names to be called and become famous for … this is absolutely sad; what happens in our country is a mess to Islam; you will see when one organization hears that another organization is planning to set a certain task for the benefit of the whole Malawian Muslims, members of that organization will not help, saying that it's not their responsibility … their agendas and not theirs … as if they don't know that even though they have different agendas to play with, but still they have to stand together as Muslims. However, they keep pointing fingers..
Another problem, as pointed out by sister Khadija, is that the leaders of the organizations should not just take their posts in the offices for granted, they should show good examples to their children because one day, they shall need a substitution, so if their manner in the offices is pointing fingers to one another, exchanging putrefied speeches between one and another organization, what kind of leaders do they think those organizations shall have when they quit?
When people in a certain society come up with argues and differences everyday, those who expected to take a good example from them lose interest and the society drops its religious dignity. Humankind forgets and he makes mistakes; that's why negotiation and reconciliation was also made to make us remain one people among the disintegrated parties. If we Muslims in Malawi were to understand each other, the word "One Ummah" would have been our first distinction, because in one ummah, there is a strong unity, where there is unity, there is power.
I agree with all the points raised by different panelists here.on the issue of opening the Islamic university, I agree is a good idea.if muslims worked together, this can not be a big task because each would contribute what he/she can. for instance, here others are contributing ideas while those with resources can contribute whatever they can. you know a thousand miles journey starts with the first step.donors can only come in when they see that atleast with the few resources at hand something has started happening.to say the truth, Islam is losing its values(adab) because today with the modern working class, you will find a child is taken care of somewhere where they have no Islamic values and as a result, children grow up with foreign (external )cultures because their parents are not the ones raising them up.the same applies to the university levels. we acquire education in unIslamic environment hence the conflict of ideologies within a person.
firstly i want to thank all of you for your contributions..this shows the good commitment that you have as a malawian muslim towards your community..its very sad to see that our muslim organisations are not united up to now..in my opinion the main problem lies at MAM..MAM as the motherbody of all muslim organisations should have been there to scrutinize all the activities and projects done by the muslim organisations in malawi..there are a lot of organisations that have the same objectives and projects..sometimes you find that one organisation is busy building mosques and secondary schools..the other ones are also doing the same..right now we have enough secondary schools and mosques for our muslim population..we need islamic universities, hospitals, increased scholarships etc.. had it been that MAM was able to control projects done by these muslim organisations ,whilst others are busy building schools..others would have been building hospitals and universities by now we would have had an islamic university..when a father is unable to control his family every member of it does the way he or she wants up until the time when the father loses the power and his family stops listening to what he says..thats why today its so difficult to unite because because MAM lost its power to control and its now jst there as a symbol..the only way to solve this is for MAM to change its system and regain its powers to control these other organisations so that for every project done in malawi should be scrutinised as to what extent it will benefit the muslim community of Malawi