Muslim leaders urged to engage in vocational skills
Imams demonstrate the skills they gained from the one month capacity building exercise in Kampala last Saturday.
PHOTO | SHABIBAH NAKIRIGYA
What you need to know:
- The remarks were made during the closing ceremony of the capacity building exercise for the imams under their umbrella, Nabugabo Swadaka Association (NSA) that ended on Saturday.
Muslim leaders across the country have been urged to engage in vocational skills if they are to empower their communities and increase their income.
The remarks were made during the closing ceremony of the capacity building exercise for the imams under their umbrella, Nabugabo Swadaka Association (NSA) that ended on Saturday.
During the one month capacity building exercise, 110 imams were trained in different disciplines in regard to their duties as heads of Muslims in their respective communities.
Speaking to the media after the pass-out in Kampala on Saturday, Imam Iddi Kasozi, a renown Muslim scholar, said clerics should change their mind-set of getting money from the followers and instead start engaging in vocational skills, which can work as their additional source of income.
“Currently, there are several projects and a lot of opportunities where our imams can get skills across the country for free and start their own businesses,” he said.
He added that Muslim leaders should desist from being money-minded, especially when they are not working, because it undermines their position and makes them dependent on their flock.
“That tendency of waiting for people who have come for prayers is outdated because they are also struggling and have the same problems imams have,” he said.
The public relations officer of NSA, Sheikh Zubair Kasule, said the main aim of the capacity building initiative is to train imams in their respective duties in line with the Islamic teaching.
“We have realised that Muslim leaders, especially in remote areas, are not well versed with their duties since some of them were appointed by their community members without any interview or training on what they are going to deliver,” he said.
Sheikh Kasule added that the Association embarked on training imams across the country annually and that the number keeps increasing. This year, he said, the number almost doubled compared to last year with 58 being trained in 2022/2023 edition and 110 this year. “We have realised that our fellow Muslims are misled by their leaders who are not trained and they cannot complain because the leader is the only person of reference they have in the community,” he said.
Mr Hassan Mugarura from Kyanamukaka in Masaka District, one of the trainees, said they have been equipped with information and manuals about the Islamic teaching and how they can implement them without misleading their followers.
“Our colleagues from hard-to-reach areas have confessed that some imams have all the responsibilities to lead the Muslim functions. If they are not well-trained, they end up doing forgery,” he said.
He also revealed that some imams converted to Islam and being the only person who is well-off in the community, they appoint them to be imams without prior training, some that the concluded training aims to solve.
The imams were trained in difference disciplines which include preparing the dead body for the burial, preaching and leading Jumah prayers, giving first aid to the community and conducting marriage process under Islamic teaching (Nikkah).
