Mosque that Sheikh Aboud Rogo preached sought to ban lectures they say radicalize youth

By ISHAQ JUMBE

Mombasa, Kenya: Riots broke out Thursday night in Majengo area of Mombasa with police and youth engaging in running battles.

Anti-riot police were keeping watch around a Salvation Army church in the area which thrice has been attacked and torched whenever police confronted rioting youths in the area.

A directive imposing new restrictions on sermons at the controversial Musa Mosque is believed to have sparked anger among some faithful.

Reports indicate the Management Committee of the mosque has sanctioned a new policy banning lectures or sermons in the evening offered on Tuesday and Thursday in order to bar militant preachers from using its pulpit to radicalize youth and incite discord.

When The Standard sought to trace the genesis on the directive on the notice board of the mosque banning lectures earlier in the day, a committee member who spoke on condition of anonymity reported that the committee was scheduled to meet to determine the way forward since their directive, first issued earlier this week was being ignored.

“These people are totally ignoring the directive and we are meeting to discuss the same,” he told the Standard at the mosque after the afternoon congregation prayer.

Apparently, an announcement was made after the late afternoon prayer whereby the committee stamped their authority by announcing from the pulpit that lectures are no longer going to be tolerated at the mosque, an announcement that was received in bad faith by a section of the congregation.

“The committee is made up of hypocrites and that is why they are scared of government directives,” a youth who was in a group that was seeking to rouse mayhem as a result of the announcement was heard shouting.

 A melee almost ensued Thursday evening when some members of the congregation sought an explanation as to why they would not be allowed to pursue their jihadist agenda in peace.

“If they are not willing to follow up on jihad because they are cowards, they should not be allowed to lead Muslims,” they gathered outside the mosque shouting.

However this view differed sharply from older members of the mosque who were of the view that the youth should be controlled to restore the reputation of the mosque which has been widely viewed as a center of Islamist radicalization from its association with slain preachers Sheikh Aboud Rogo and Sheikh Ibrahim.

 “These people tore down the notice and are still continuing with their lectures in spite of what this kind of preaching has done to our people,” complained an old member of the mosque who refused to give his name to the Standard.

A committee member who spoke to The Standard was quoted as saying that they had decided to ban lectures at the mosque because the content was not in conformity with the teachings of the religion of Islam.

That was before reports that there was a directive from the office of the president banning the same had emerged. “We do not agree to the message of some of the lectures going on in this mosque, that is why we have pinned a notice announcing the same, but they still persist,” he said.

What remains now, is just a general announcement on a plaque at the entrance banning begging, impromptu announcements and preaching in the mosque without the authority of the committee given in a two day notice to the Imam.

By the time of going to press, the committee was having the second session to discuss the new development as it emerged that their order would be difficult to enforce in a mosque that is torn down the middle on whether to discontinue evening lectures or proceed in spite of the consequences.