A Nigerian based Islamic non-governmental organization, Rafeeqee Foundation has revealed that the Central Mosques in Nigeria are broke and cash strapped and that their Chief Imams could barely carry out their responsibilities in line with the Islamic faith.
Founder of the Islamic Organisation, Modinat Lawal-Famuditimi in a statement to DAILY POST in Abuja on Tuesday said, the traditional role of Central Mosques was building the people spiritually and financially, while decrying that such was no more in Nigerian Mosques.
She said, it was a spiritual responsibility of Central Mosques through their Chief Imams to identify the less privileged people in their communities for assistance, noting that these days, mosques barely meet up with their financial obligations.
She called on Muslims to offer helping hands to the less privileged people in the society, stressing that such was in consonance with the quoranic faith.
The statement said, “the Rafeeqee Foundation fed over 1000 poor and vulnerable Muslims across Nigeria in 2019” adding that government alone could not cater for the society.
According to her, the foundation which engages in numerous Sadaqa projects, partnered with local mosques in the region to feed the poor during the year and hopes to do more in the coming year.
“One of our major projects is the Ramadan Feed the Poor Programme.
“The foundation partnered with several Chief Imams of Central Mosques and suburban Masjids that in turn worked with Masjids within their community to identify poor people that meet the requirements of getting Ramadan Food.
“The Foundation also aims at helping struggling Muslims to be better by implementing the Quran, Hadiths, and Sunnah in their day to day lives.
“Muslims should be more engaged in their places of worship even as the traditional role of a Central Mosque is to help in building the community to maintain its Islamic, spiritual, financial and educational values.
“The masjid should be more than a place where they offer Salaat. They also read the Qur’aan, share and provide Zakat, Sadaqa, tend to community events and affairs amongst others”.
“If you go from one Central Mosque in Nigeria, they are cash starved and can barely carry out their financial obligations to run the Masjid. As it’s tough for them to run the Central mosque, it’s even tougher to tend to the needs of the community at large.
“With the current economic situation in Nigeria, Central mosques ought to be the place to go for financial support in regards to sadaqa, zakaatul Maul and Fitri, but most Central masjids are lacking in providing services that they were originally intended to serve.
“The work of empowering Central Mosques in Nigeria as a whole falls on every Muslims home and abroad”, the statement added.
