*Fatima Bio, the Imams – who to blame?*
*By Alhaji M. B Jalloh*
The form of sacrilege taking place in Sierra Leone these days is not only abhorrent and sinful, but it is also tremendously offensive to concerned Muslims.
What the First Lady, Fatima Bio, did recently at the Dambala Road Mosque in Kenema city, eastern Sierra Leone, by standing nearby the pulpit addressing male Muslims is unacceptable in Islam.
Never before have Muslims ever allowed a woman to stand at a most religious sacred spot like the pulpit, which is exclusively specified for religious leaders like Imams and Scholars.
Since the dawn of the history of Islam, a woman’s specified place in a mosque has invariably been in the back rows behind the men.
Anas bin Malik narrated in an authentic Hadith: The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Let the women pray in the last rows, and let the worst of the men pray behind them, and let the best of the men pray in the front rows.”
Another narration by Abdullah bin Umar quoting the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said: “Do not prevent women from going to the mosques; but their houses are better for them.”
Although women are not forbidden from attending congregational prayers, this Hadith highlights the Prophet’s preference for women to pray at home rather than going to the mosque.
Therefore, seeing Fatima Bio standing in front of Muslims in the male area addressing them, (regardless of whatever significance of that address might carry) one would hasten to ask about what has gone wrong with the Muslim Ummah in Sierra Leone.
Is this sacrilegious act happening in Sierra Leone owing to the ignorance of some Muslims about the true and fundamental Teachings of Islam or is it because some Muslims do no longer have any regards and value for their religion? Or rather, one would like to ask about the role of the so many scholars in the country.
As a matter of fact, Sierra Leone is in no shortage of scholars today. There are a good number of learned scholars with BIG CERTIFICATES in a variety of disciplines. But because of cowardice coupled with feeble faith, and, most importantly, because some of these huge hollow number of scholars who are licking their fingers from Government coffers, they have sold and compromised their faith and God-given knowledge and resolved to stay dumb-muted like a dumb Satan.
They have also ignored the fact that they shall be held accountable before God and man for their preference of transient world gains to the pleasure of Allah, the Most High, the Most Exalted, Who gave them that knowledge which they are required to impart to the people. Allah subhanahu wa taa’lah said in Chapter 37, Verse 23 of the Holy Quran: “But stop them, for they must be certainly answerable (for their deeds)”.
Those scholars must realize that they shall have questions to answer for allowing such a trespass to pass unquestioned and uncorrected. Those religious leaders, imams and scholars are the ones who carry the brunt of this trespass to Islam for allowing Fatima Bio and all those political figures (from different political parties, especially APC and SLPP) before her who have made it a habit to use the pulpit or Mosques as platforms upon which they reveal their political agendas.
If interested in the support of Muslims, such politicians should invite Muslims to suitable avenues to market their political philosophies rather than the mosque. Mosques should be exclusively viewed as a place specified for the worship of Allah the Almighty and for anything relating to Islamic affairs and nothing else.
This unfortunate development in Kenema should rekindle the faith of Sierra Leone Muslims in Islam, increase and revitalize their religious awareness, and motivate them to learn more about the Teachings of Islam so that they will have a clear idea about the DO’s and DON’T’s in their religion.
Also, it should be clear to every Muslim (male & female) that application of the Islamic rulings is not exclusively the responsibility of Imams and scholars. Spreading the word of God and the directives and teachings of the Prophet (pbuh) is mandatory upon every Muslim; irrespective of how scanty their knowledge of Islam might be. The Prophet (pbuh) said: (Convey about me or from me (what you know about me) even if it is just one verse). This is a clear indication that, as a Muslim, you are not allowed to a give a blind eye or a deaf ear to wrongful acts in Islam simply because you are not an appointed imam or a certified scholar.
Rather, every Muslim is required to play their own part in regulating and correcting the wrong doings in Islam whenever and wherever the opportunity arises.
