Officers to revoke new names of mosques

By PATRICK BEJA

Mombasa, Kenya: Police in Mombasa have announced plans to revert control of two controversial mosques to committees which were ejected by radical Muslim youths.

This move could spark confrontation between radical youths who have controlled these mosques since last October and who were planning to appoint an Imam yesterday.

New names given to Masjid Musa and Sakina Jamia Mosque by fundamentalist Muslim worshippers will also be erased and original ones restored, police announced yesterday.

Mombasa County criminal investigation officer Henry Ondiek said police removed a sign post at Sakina yesterday morning reading “Mujahidin mosque”  the new name of the mosque.

Friday, there was heavy presence of police around the two mosques as Muslims attended the Friday prayers. Mr Ondiek said police will remove the name “Masjid Shuhudaa”  and restore “Musa Mosque” because the youth who took over the mosque did not own it.

“The two mosques will revert to their original names and placed in the hands of the bona fide owners. Many Muslims including owners of the mosques have been barred from praying there and this will not be allowed,” he said.

Radical youths associated with slain extremist Sheikh Abubakar Shariff alias Makaburi changed the name of Masjid Musa after a confrontation with police on February 2 to stop an alleged jihadist conference.

Earlier radical youths wrested Sakina Mosque from moderate Imams linked to the Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya (CIPK). However, they failed to take control of Umar Bin Khattab. Masjid Musa was associated with slain controversial Imam Aboud Rogo and Makaburi.

A group of youth later took over the nearby Sakina Jamia mosque after chasing away long serving Imam and CIPK national chairman Sheikh Mohamed Idris and organising secretary Sheikh Mohamed Khalifa.

The CID boss said it was illegal for the youth to rename mosques without the authority of the owners and said the trend will not be tolerated.

Addressing the Press in his office yesterday, Ondiek said the two committees chased out of the controversial mosques have sought help from the government to repossess their houses of worship.

And Sheikh Mohamed Idriss who was ousted last October from Sakina mosque said that the decision to change the name of a mosque should be done by a committee and “if the (Sakina) mosque committee did not come up with the idea it would be wrong for whoever changed the name to do so.”

The Standard on Saturday was unable to get a comment from the two committees as their calls went unanswered.