HELP US SERVE A NEW MUSLIM COMMUNITY

Please help us serve a brand new Muslim community in remote village in Malawi. The village was visited by the Naqshbandi dawah team in 2018. Alhamdulillah, most of the villagers recited shahada on that day. The village chief requested us to build a masjid for his new Muslim villagers and made land available for this purpose.

The new masjid complex will comprise:

1. A new 10 metre x 6 metre masjid

2. Imam’s house

3. Kitchen

4. Toilets (male & female)

5. Ablution facilities

6. Janaza (funeral) facilities

7. Solar electricity

8. Kitchen pots and utensils

9.  Madrassa uniforms

10. Qurans, books and kitabs

11. Black boards

12. Imam's salary for a year

13. Feeding scheme for a year

A Chief at the opening ceremony of a Naqshbandi masjid commented as follows: "I want to thank the Naqshbandi Muslims for coming to my village. I want to inform you that Muslims indeed they fulfill their promises, and now I witness what Naqshbandi Muslims done (new masjid). People they are learning Islam ..., I'm really proud of you Naqshbandi Muslims. I have given you this land for free. My intention was my people should practice the religion of Islam. I will not accept in my area people to come and insult Muslims here. I want to see in the future big Shaykhs coming from my village. I want to invite you to please come here again and spread the message of Islam..., the Naqshbandi Muslims should feel that northern Malawi is their second home. I was waiting for long time to have a masjid here. I beg from you Naqshbandi Muslims please look after the future of Muslim children so that we should have more educated Shaykhs in my village area. Each and every Friday I was here to see how they worship but now I do understand Islam. Thanks a lot to the Naqshbandi Muslims for your loving hearts. Peace be upon you all."

NAQSHBANDI SOUTH AFRICA: MALAWI DAWAH

The Prophet Muhammad (peach be upon him) said: “To be the means by which one person is GUIDED TO THE TRUTH is better for you than the whole world and what it contains.”

Dawah is one of the key elements of our work and has in the recent past extended beyond the borders of South Africa. Our primary task is to invite people to Islam. These dawah missions led to over 20,000 people embracing Islam in Malawi from 2016 to 2018, alhamdulillah.

We found people who had never heard about Islam before. But people’s hearts were open for Islam. Over 90% of the people who were invited to Islam accepted our invitation. We also identified a number of villages that require a masjid and/or borehole. Malawi is statistically the poorest country in the world. Yet the Malawian people are the friendliest, mild mannered and kindest people one can encounter. Christian missionaries have been active in Malawi for over 300 years and their impact have seen the Muslim population decrease from 40% to 25%. In the North we also found misinterpretation of Islam generally among people. It is believed that Christian missionaries played a major role in this regard. Many Malawians believe all Muslims are extremists and that Muslims worship Prophet Muhammad (peach be upon him). Some villagers refused to attend our dawah programmes as they believed we had come to kill them. In addition to the misinterpretations, numerous masjids were burned or looted especially in the North after a Muslim was elected to public office in 1999. Despite these misinterpretations we still found the vast majority of people accepting Islam at our dawah programmes. Alhamdulillah.

We have built or renovated 12 masjids in Malawi over the past four years.

METHODOLOGY: BUILDING OF MASJIDS IN MALAWI

Our methodology differs substantially from other organizations that constructed masjids in Malawi. In our experience, we found many masjids were built along the main M1 national road. Many of these masjids do not serve a specific Muslim community and we found many empty or poorly attended and rarely found any madrassa operating from the masjid premises. Many masjids were in a state of disrepair as no or little provision were made for repairs and maintenance.

Since 2016, dawah groups visited a large number of remote villages with few or no Muslims. Alhamdulillah, most villagers accepted Islam during these dawah programmes. This created brand new Muslim communities. It is in these villages that new masjid complexes are built by Naqshbandi Muhammadi South Africa. Masjids serve an existing Muslim community, most of whose members are new Muslims. Imams are appointed and madrassas are established. Feeding schemes for the madrassa learners and needy are also put in place. Our organization further facilitates the establishment of a masjid committee that is responsible for the managing of the masjid complex and its finances.

These masjids form more than buildings set aside for salat. They are centres of learning, feeding and community support. Many of the madrassa students are orphans due to the high prevalence of HIV/Aids in Malawi.

​The Prophet Muhammad (peach be upon him) said: “Whoever builds a masjid (mosque) in which the Name of Allah is mentioned, Allah will build a house for him in Paradise.”

“FAITH is a wonderful tree which the believer is called upon to plant where he can, in any suitable place, then tend to it to ensure it may have a chance to GROW” – Mawlana Shaykh Nazim Adil al-Haqqani (QS).
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: “The Believer’s shade on the day of Resurrection will be his charity.” [Tirmidhi]

THANK YOU

Please feel free to visit our website or Facebook page for more information:

https://naqshbandi.org.za/

https://www.facebook.com/NaqshbandiSouthAfrica/

We thank you for your generous support and wish you all the best for the month of Ramadan and every success for the future, ameen.

Yours in Islam,

Shaykh Shamiel da Costa

Naqshbandi Muhammadi Order of South Africa