Bilal Muslim Mission
The Bilal Muslim Mission is an international Shi'a twelver organization, established in East Africa on December 25, 1964[1] through the efforts of Sayyid Saeed Akhtar Rizvi, Hussein Nasser Walji and other dedicated volunteers..[2] The organization is named after Bilal ibn Ribah, the famous African Sahabi.
History
When the organization was established, there were hardly any Shi'a communities of native African origin in the Sub-Saharan Africa. Now, there are several.
The website of their Tanzania branch writes:
| “ | When past Chairman Ebrahim Hussein Sheriff went to see Ayatullah Uzama Seyid Muhsin Al-Hakim A.M. in early Sixtys: Ayatullah asked Haji Ebrahim “How long are you people in East Africa?” to which Haji-Ebrahim replied “About a hundred years.” “How many Africans have accepted Mazhabe Haq?” Was the next question. To which the reply was “none”. Immediately Agha asked Haji Ebrahim that “Will these people not complain on Youmal Hashr that you knew the right path, yet you did not show them?”
It was therefore decided in the meeting of Supreme Council of the Federation of K.S.I Jamaats of Africa at Tanga to start the mission and ultimately BILAL MUSLIM MISSION was established in 1968 and a sister organization BILAL MUSLIM MISSION OF KENYA was incorporated in 1971 and Allamah Sayyid Saeed Akhtar Rizvi became Chief Missionary.[3] |
” |
They are now part of the World Federation of KSI Muslim Communities, an international umbrella organization[1] that was formed in the 1976, after 1500 Shi'a twelver families emigrated from East Africa to the United Kingdom and Canada.[4]
The carried out missionary efforts aimed at both non-Muslims and Sunni Muslims, and their efforts intensified after the Iranian Revolution.[5]
In the late 1970s, the Bilal Muslim Mission and World Organization for Islamic Services had sent many books to America, by July 1977, about 5,770 books and booklets had been mailed out.[6]
The Bilal Muslim Mission is recoqnized by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs.[7]
Member organizations
- Bilal Muslim Mission of Kenya – kenbilal.org
- Bilal Muslim Mission of Tanzania – bilaltz.org
- Bilal Muslim Mission Moshi Branch – bilalmoshi.com
- Bilal Muslim Mission of Americas – bilalmma.org
- Bilal Muslim Mission of Scandinavia – immi.se (Swedish)
Publications
Bi-monthly magazines:
- Sauti ya Bilal (The Voice of Bilal) to cater for the Swahili readers,[3] since 1965.[2]
- 'The light' which has global readership,[3] since March, 1963.[2] This magazines also spawned a book named “Muhammad is the Last Prophet”.[8]
Books: The Mission has more than 108 (57 English, 51 Swahili) books written on a wide range of Islamic topics.[3]
- Music and its Effects[9]
References
- 1 2 "World Federation of KSI Muslim Communities". Archived from the original on 2006-04-29.
- 1 2 3 "victorynewsmagazine.com".
- 1 2 3 4 darulmuslimeen.org
- ↑ Mapping Women, Making Politics: feminist perspectives on political geography By Linda J. Peake, read online on Google Books
- ↑ Islam and Politics in Kenya By Arye Oded, online on Google Books
- ↑ Larry Poston, Islamic Da’wah in the West, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992), 128-129. on du.edu
- ↑ moia.gov.in
- ↑ dartabligh.org: Global Bookstore
- ↑ Music and its Effects, read online on Google Books
External links
- power point presentation created by Sa'id Akhtar Rizvi on the World Federation of KSI Muslim Communities website.