By NANCY AGUTU
Majority leader Aden Duale in Garissa./COURTESY
A sharp division has hit Muslim community after confusion on the Eid-Ul-Adha date.
Majority leader Aden Duale said he will move to JSC to take action on Chief Kadhi Ahmed Muhdhar.
Muhdhar had announced that Eid-Ul-Adha will be celebrated on August 22, but the Interior CS Fred Matiang’i announced it to be today, August 21.
Sheikh Juma Ngao(right) with Taib Ali Taib and Abubakar Bajaber after Eid prayers at Sheikh zayed children center on August 21 ../JOHN CHESOLI
In defiance to Muhdhar’s advice, hundreds thronged Tononoka grounds in Mombasa to mark the festival. Other Muslims will celebrate tomorrow.
“As Muslim political leaders we shall ask the Judicial Service Commission that the Chief Khadhi must not operate outside his mandate as provided in the constitution,” he said.
“He (Chief Kadhi) has no business guiding the Muslim on the day they should perform their Eid.”
Muslim faithful in Garissa./COURTESY
Duale asked Islamic scholars, Imam’s, Namlef, Supkem and Majlis Ulama to convene a meeting to discuss the “misconduct and culture of dividing” Muslims.
“We don’t hear or see him in the development of Islam in Kenya, Islamic functions. We only see him when he wants to divide the Muslim community,” he said.
He spoke when he joined fellow Muslims in celebrating Eid-Ul-Adha at General Muhamud grounds in Garissa.
“The office of the Chief Kadhi belongs to the Muslim community and you will not use that office to divide us,” he said.
According to Kenyan time, Eid-Ul-Adha will begin on the evening of Tuesday, August 21 and end on the evening of Wednesday, August 22.
On Saturday, Sheikh Muhdhar faulted Matiang’i for declaring Tuesday as the public holiday to mark Eid-Ul-Adha.
Muhdhar said the announced went against his advice that the celebrations be marked on Wednesday, August 22 in line with the Muslim calendar.
“I wrote to him before the announcement indicating that Muslims would celebrate Idd on Wednesday but he went ahead to declare Tuesday as the public holiday,” Muhdhar told the Star on the phone.
NAKURU
In Nakuru, some faithful held the celebrations today while others will mark it on Wednesday.
Religious leaders in the area are rocked in leadership row and have a case pending in court.
This has forced a handful of them to hold prayers at Afraha stadium while a majority of them assembled at Menengai high school about 500 meters away.
The chairman of the Muslim Association of Nakuru Faizer Ahmed Nassir said it was a great honour for the government to set aside a holiday for the community.
Source: The Star
