{UAH} Fw: [PK] Fw: IN ANSWER TO SHEIKH UMAL & HIS FELLOW HARDLINERS ON MOSQUE ISSUE

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From: 'mohamed warsama' via Progressive Kenyans <progressive-kenyans@googlegroups.com>

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Sent: Sunday, 22 March 2020, 15:00:44 GMT-4

Subject: [PK] Fw: IN ANSWER TO SHEIKH UMAL & HIS FELLOW HARDLINERS ON MOSQUE ISSUE

IN ANSWER TO HARDLINER SHEIKH UMAL ON MOSQUE ISSUE

BY MOHAMED WARSAMA

DISCLAIMER:

It is not my work to answer Muslim Ulemas because I am not an Ulema or theologian. This task belongs to others in that field. But I am forced to take it up in response to contradictory statements by Imam of Sayyid Abubakar Mosque in Eastleigh, Sheikh Mohamed Umal.

He was concilialory on Thursday last week saying he & 30 other imams of mainly Somali mosques in Nairobi would wait until the Government imposes an order to shut down mosques, then they would be forced to do so. In the meantime they would enforce strict hygiene at their mosques including hand sanitizers and toilet closures.

The next day, Friday last week, he changed tune and said he can never take the responsibility of closing the Mosque of Allah.

I respond to him.

WHO IS SHEIKH MOHAMED UMAL ?

He was a key fund-raiser in Nairobi for the Islamic Courts Union that birthed the government of former President Sheikh Shariff.

He later turned on Sheikh Shariff and his clips advocating the overthrow of the Shariff government were broadcast on a Somali radio station.

Wikileaks cables from the US Embassy in Nairobi described him as a radical.

In 2015, following the Garissa University College attack by Alshabaab in which 147 students were killed, Umal's bank account was among 86 bank accounts of various Somali individuals and businesses frozen by the government temporarily.

MY ANSWER TO SHEIKH UMAL

Umal's statement that he can never close down the mosque of Allah is dogmatic and is in denial of the essence of sharia laws.

Whether spiritual or secular, laws do recognise and make provisions for exemptions and exceptional circumstances.

In the Islamic Hanbali School of Thought, it is compulsory for a worshipper to say all his five prayers at mosque. But the Shafii sect grants a leeway. You can pray all your prayers at home, should it be necessary, but the Friday prayers must be said at the mosque.

Both are interpretations of the Hadith of the Prophet  Muhammad (SAW) who said praying in the mosque has 27 times more rewards than at home, but the Prophet never invalidated home prayers.

On the contrary, the Prophet recommended saying some prayers at home because the home should not be like a grave where prayers cannot be said.

Home prayers are therefore allowed in exceptional situations of hardships like we have now with coronavirus.

When heavy rains are falling at prayer times, the adhan or caller calls upon Muslims to observe their prayers at home and not come to the mosque.

Why does Sheikh Umal ignore this very important exemption, one of several such exemptions ?

The Prophet gave an injunction to Muslims not to enter or leave places where there is an outbreak of plague.

By extension, you can interpret this as an injunction not to enter or leave a place where there is a coronavirus outbreak, a disease that is fast proving to be as deadly as the bubonic plague.

As I write this on Sunday night, March 22, the latest death toll from coronavirus worldwide stands at 13,000. It took three months for it to reach 100,000 cases worldwide and ONLY 12 days to reach the next 100,000 cases.

Sayyidna Umar, the second Rightly-Guided Caliph of Islam, left for an urgent mission to Sham when on the way he was informed of the outbreak of a plague.

He consulted his companions who were divided on whether to go to Sham or return back to base. He finally decided to return back to base, whereupon a follower who was in favor of going in, challenged him: Why are you retreating from the decree of Allah ?

Whereupon, Umar (RA) responded: "I am retreating from one decree of Allah to go to another decree of Allah."

Translated: Umar was retreating from a place where death had been decreed by Allah via plague to a place where Allah decreed safety through no plague.

This statement by Umar (RA) should also have informed Sheikh Umal and his hardliners.

Now let us consider the state of hygiene in Umal's mosque and that state applies also to the other 30 mainly Somali mosques.

Somalis from Somalia are extremely poor in hygiene. They dont even use handkerchiefs to blow their noses.

They misuse toilets whether in hotels or in mosques. At mosque toilets, the floors are awash with used water.

No disinfectants or soaps are provided.

Sheikh Umal claimed the 30 mosques including his will provide hand sanitizers.

People who prayed at Umal's mosque today said there were no hand sanitizers at all.

Moreover, coronavirus is a respiratory disease. Many Somalis from Somalia  suffer from gastrointestinal infections which affect their respiratory systems.

Sheikh Umal's mosque is very poorly ventilated. During the rainy season, people have to wade through the mud to reach his mosque.

If people pray  without social distancing, and the carpets are not disinfected, anyone who has corona virus and coughs or sneezes, can easily pass it on to the next fellow standing nearby through respiratory droplets.

Sheikh Umal & his ilk should spare us religious bigotry. Learned imams vastly superior to Umal have decreed the closure of the holiest mosques in Islam - in Mecca, Medina and the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. The Grand Mosque of Al-Azhar in Cairo also shut down.

Dont wait till people start dying then you close down the mosques. Do it now.

MOHAMED WARSAMA

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