Africa-Press – Uganda. A section of Muslim faithful are rallying Ugandans to support the push for annual Dua prayers and a memorial lecture for the late former president Idi Amin.
The faithful say Amin holds a special place in areas of development, for both the Islamic faith and Uganda, which have been ignored for decades.
“It is unfortunate that we have been made to believe that there are people who only did bad things on earth and deserve no remembrance after death. For Muslims, the Holy scriptures demand that we remember the good things through the Dua (special) prayer,” Sheikh Bakhit Juma Cucu, the general secretary at the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council, said.
Among other things, he added, Amin build mosques and other national structures that need recognition.
“Death is a command from Allah (God) for all human beings but our former leader has a special place that we have to remember as Muslims and Ugandans. We have convened at one of Uganda’s largest mosques built by the former president Idi Amin in Bombo. Amin is also remembered for many other important milestones that are national,” Sheikh Bakhit, who led the Dua prayers at Bombo Masgid Noor in Luweero District on Friday, last week, said.
Don’t judge
He asked Ugandans to let God pass the judgement.
“Amin had his strengths and weaknesses but the world has been made to believe that he had only the weak side. This is wrong, we should allow Allah to judge the dead, not us,” he told the faithful.
The former director of Sharia at the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council, Mr Ibrahim Yusuf Kakungulu, who represented Mufti Shaban Mubajje, rallied the Muslim faithful not to deviate from the Islamic teachings that demand that the Dua is organised for deceased persons.
“It is unfortunate that many people have been blinded and made to believe that our former president Amin has no special place in the history of Uganda. If some of the Ugandans have been forced to forget the good deeds of Amin, we the Muslim faithful should not be party to such a big mistake. The headquarters of the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council at Old Kampala, and the Islamic University in Uganda in Mbale are among the many of his achievements,” he said.
First time
This is the first time that a section of Ugandans are coming up with the idea of holding a memorial lecture and an annual prayer in memory of Idi Amin.
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