Worshippers at Madinah Masjid at Mpingwe, Blantyre have urged the masjid’s authorities to change the timing of the Jumuah prayer complaining that the current prayer time makes them to be in conflict with their working time.
The worshippers, who come from the surrounding companies like Unilever, Stancom Tobacco, Robray, ADMARC and others complained after their colleagues from Unilever were cautioned by their superiors for reporting late to work from lunch on Fridays.
The workers said they are given a lunch break from 12pm to 1pm but the Jumah prayers (at Mpingwe Masjid) finishes around 1.20pm, which doesn’t augur well with their employers as it takes another 10 to 20 minutes to walk from the Masjid to their workplace.
They said that prayers at other masajid end in good time but the problem is that the they are far away from their workplaces.
They further added that the Muslims have tough decisions to make, either to go to the Masjid and face the employer’s wrath on return or remain indoors hoping that things would change in the future.
“Many are (now) not going for prayers because of the timings. Please make the committee understand that not everyone is privileged with (cars for) transport …please ask them to consider favorably to change the timing. Even on normal days the noon prayers start late and finish after 1pm,” complained one of the concerned Muslims.
Efforts to contact the authorities at the masjid proved futile.
Malawi being a secular state does not grant any privilege to Muslims during swalaat hence making them to find their own times to fulfill this obligation. This in turn makes many Muslims miss swalaat during working hours.
