Trip of ABWA’s delegation to East Africa/ Africans’ devotion to Islam, Islamic Revolution

News Africa and Arab countries

Saturday, 25 November 2023

The director general of the office of the Arab African countries of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly presented a report on the October visit of Ayatollah Reza Ramazani, the General Secretary of the Assembly, and his accompanying delegation to three African countries, and attendance at five regional Shiite conferences.

ABWA Official Website – The director general of the office of the Arab African countries of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly presented a report on the October visit of Ayatollah Reza Ramazani, the General Secretary of the Assembly, and his accompanying delegation to three African countries, and attendance at five regional Shiite conferences.

In mid-October, a report on the trip of the Secretary General of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly and his accompanying delegation to three African countries with the title “What is today’s message of the Prophet to the people of Africa?” was published in IRNA News Agency.

On this trip, for the first time, a regional summit of the Eastern African Shiites was held by the efforts of the Shiites of the region, with the cooperation of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly, which according to experts will have an important effect on the cultural and social issues of the Shiites of East Africa.

On this occasion, an interview was conducted with Mohammad Mahdi Shariatmadar, the director general of the office of the Arab African countries of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly, the advisor to the Secretary General of the Assembly, the former secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council, the former Cultural Attache of the Islamic Republic to Lebanon, and the former Deputy Secretary General of Islamic Radio and Television Union.

Explaining the reason for the establishment of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly, Shariatmadar explained the activities of the assembly since its establishment in 1990 and its plans. An expert on West Asian affairs, he mentioned the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly is an international institution whose main task is to support Shiites around the world. The Assembly is active in more than 130 countries, and 3,200 missionaries in different parts of the world are engaged in propagating the AhlulBayt (a.s.) teachings. In other words, it can be said that these missionaries cooperate with the AhlulBayt (a.s.) Assembly through mosques, centers, and Islamic schools in the countries of five continents.

In a report on the visit of Ayatollah Reza Ramazani, Secretary General of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly to three East African countries and attending five regional meetings of Shiites, the adviser to the Secretary-General explained the details of this 15-day trip and said that the next Shiite summit is going to be held in Latin America. Shariatmadar promised that a detailed report of this trip would be published. Ayatollah Ramazani had also visited India, Pakistan, and Georgia in the past year. The details of the interview with Shariatmadar, the director general of the office of the Arab African countries of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly are as follows:

The activities of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly will be localized

The AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly is an international institution whose special and main task is to address the affairs of Shiites in the world. Although the secretariat and headquarters of this organization are located in Tehran, it has members in more than 130 countries and local assemblies are active in these countries. Also, 3,200 missionaries are working in different parts of the world in connection with the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly. Officials of mosques, centers, and Islamic schools act as associates of the Assembly.

The General Assembly of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly is held quadrennially with the presence of all members. In this general assembly, the important issues of the Islamic world, such as the issues of the West Asian region, Palestine, and the Islamic resistance, are addressed with the presence of prominent figures of the region, and the issues of other regions and countries of the world are addressed less. So far, seven general assemblies of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly have been held, the last of which was last September. In each general assembly, decisions are made in its various commissions, which are approved in the final statement for implementation. General policies of the Assembly are adopted by the Supreme Council of the Assembly and general assemblies.

In recent years, the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly has adopted the policy of localization of activities as well as following the connections. Regional meetings are also held for the same purpose, so that the members of the Assembly from different regions of the world have more opportunity to raise their issues, and also the issues of each region are addressed by the people of the same region. The East African regional conference was the first action in this regard, during which five meetings were held with the participation of regional members and experts under the coordination and support of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly in three East African countries.

The first meeting titled “Muslim Youth, Faith, Science and Technology, and the Future of Africa” was held in Nairobi, Kenya with the participation of 123 youths from the East African region. This region has 13 countries and several islands in the Indian Ocean. These countries include Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Malawi, Burundi, Mozambique, Congo, and Madagascar, as well as the islands of Comoros, Seychelles, Mauritius, Mayotte, and Runyon, which are located in the Indian Ocean. From the mentioned countries in this region, about 10 countries participated in this meeting.

Of course, since the language of most of the population of Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Djibouti is Arabic, these countries are considered Arab Countries in the usual world classification. But because they are located in the Horn of Africa and in terms of culture and society, they are more similar to East Africa, we have included them in the division of East Africa.

The exact number of Shiites in the world is not known

Because no official census has been conducted, it is not possible to provide an accurate figure for the number of Shiites in Africa or the world. Of course, different numbers are announced because some governments may not accept the number that the Shiites say. On the other hand, because people’s religion, whether they are Shiite or non-Shiite, is not recorded anywhere, the statistics are based on the field reports that we have from these areas.

There are even some people who have converted to Shiism, but maybe they still do not have the jurisprudential and practical commitment to the Shiite rules. In fact, we are facing different degrees of following Shiism. Institutions even in the West work in the field of statistics of followers of different religions, which usually provide different statistics. The statistics of Muslims and Shiites in the world need more work.

History of Shiites in Africa

Shiites in East Africa have a long and ancient Islamic history, which started from the time of the migration of Muslims to Abyssinia (today’s Ethiopia) and continued to the contacts that some Africans had with the Islamic community in Madinah and Mecca in different periods during the time of the Imams (a.s.). Three waves of Shiism in Africa can be mentioned: First, the presence of the Shirazis in the East African region, especially in Zanzibar and Tanzania. The second is the presence of the Khojahs, which I will further explain that they played a significant role in the expansion of Shiism and the establishment of mosques and cultural centers less than a century and a half ago.

The third wave of Shiism began with the victory of the Islamic Revolution, during which a large number of non-Muslims or Muslims following other Islamic schools were converted to Shiism. Of course, these cases were not due to the efforts of the Islamic Republic of Iran to invite people to Shiism, but rather due to the cultural and intellectual effects of the Islamic Revolution of Iran. Such as the actions taken by Sheikh Zakzaky in Nigeria, which led to the Shiite conversion of a significant number of the country’s population.

The meeting of Muslim youth was held for the first time in history after the Islamic Revolution of Iran in Kenya, which resulted in the movement of Shiite youth in East Africa. In fact, by holding this conference, good discussions about the Shiite youth participation in cultural, social, higher education, education in information technology issues, and even entrepreneurship, empowerment, and social justice issues in the region could be raised, and the youth of the region did well in this task. One of the features of this conference was holding an interactive workshop, consisting of several working groups. The result of holding these working groups was announced in the closing session and using it, the final statement of the conference was compiled. The secretary of this meeting was Sheikh Ali Saeed Samoja, one of the famous Kenyan clerics.

The second meeting of this conference was held with the presence of 60% of the members of the General Assembly of AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly from the East African region, in which, in addition to the current developments of the world, the issue of revising members, inviting younger members, and establishing local AhlulBayt (a.s.) assemblies was raised in the countries.

From Wahhabism to AI

The third meeting was for the missionaries of the East African region. There are hundreds of missionaries working in the region who are affiliated with various institutions and organizations such as Qom Seminary, Najaf Seminary, and even the Syrian Seminary located in Zainabiyah, Damascus. Some of these missionaries studied in the mentioned seminaries and today they are propagating the AhlulBayt (a.s.) teachings in the region. In this meeting, which was attended by about 180 missionaries, the participants proposed and expressed their opinions and suggestions on issues such as information technology and the necessity of using virtual space and facilities in this field for propagation.

In this meeting, conditions were provided in the field of employment and business, and the participants expressed their opinions on changing the methods of work activity and propagation. Also, one of the missionaries presented a report on the situation of the Shiites, their activities, and problems. Along with these programs, an educational workshop was held. Many missionaries in this region, who are graduates of schools, seminaries, and universities, are facing a lack of scientific and study resources, and need to be retrained and updated. Therefore, educational workshops were held for missionaries in the fields of Wahhabism, Takfir, artificial intelligence, and information technology.

Also, in this meeting, it was decided to hold a one-year retraining program for missionaries through webinars. Part of the approvals of this meeting was to create a scientific council for the East African region consisting of prominent scholars and to create think tanks and missionary councils in each country so that the issues of the missionaries of those countries are addressed by themselves. The meeting was held in Kampala, the capital of Uganda.

East African Shiite Women’s Association was revived

The second meeting titled Women’s Conference was held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania with the participation of 70 active Shiite women from 9 countries of the East African region. One of the important results of this meeting was the establishment of the East African Shiite Women’s Association. Such an action was taken about 20 years ago, but it was not followed up, and in fact that closed association was revived in the meeting. In this meeting, a statute for the women’s association was drawn up, and the one-year program of the association was considered. Also, a five-member group was elected as the board of directors, and Mrs. Mamatike, one of the prominent and old activists of Tanzania, was selected as the temporary president of the association.

Also, it was decided to create a network for active women in the region so that the activities of Shiite women could be coordinated with the members of the network. This action is actually a kind of group work in the field of women’s activities. Of course, Shiite women have good activities in some countries. For example, Mrs. Nazanin Karim in Kenya has established an institution called Network of Sister Followers of AhlulBayt (a.s.), which is engaged in service and treatment activities and has even established a Shiite library. The importance of this library is that there are very few books about Shiite teachings in the Swahili language. Of course, there are good schools in this area where Shiite women work. The women members of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly delegation to Eastern Africa visited some schools, orphanages, seminaries of sisters, and some other centers of Dar es Salaam.

In some East African countries, missionary women are active. For example, Mrs. Rahima in Madagascar, in addition to propagating Islam, manages the Al-Zahra Center, has created a seminary for girls, and is working on the Dar Al-Quran project for women. There are active women in this region who, if make a network, and hold an annual conference to share their experiences, can influence other social sectors. One of the measures that was carried out in the women’s conference was honoring and commemorating elderly and top missionaries.

A unique Sharia maturity celebration

At the same time as the women’s conference, two Sharia maturity celebrations were held with the participation of Shiite and Sunni girls in Dar es Salaam, in the Fayujee region. Sunni girls were between 9 and 13 years old in this celebration. Because Sunnis do not consider 9 years of age as a condition of maturity, and consider 13 years of age. Two important events happened in this program. One was to promote the tradition of Sharia maturity celebration for girls in the East African region, which was for the first time. In Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon, such celebrations are held, but it was the first time in Africa. After this program in Tanzania, we received a request in Burundi to hold a Sharia maturity celebration for 100 girls there. This request shows that the Sharia maturity celebration will become a tradition over time.

The second point is that the Sharia maturity celebration with the presence of Sunni and Shiite girls was held simultaneously and in the same place. I don’t think such a program has been held in Iran, Lebanon, and other countries. In one of these Sharia maturity celebrations, 700 girls attended with chador, and after that, they will be with hijab.

A database of Shiite traders in the region will be established

The third meeting was called the East African Shiite Businessmen’s Meeting, in which about 30 businessmen from the region participated. Of course, we expected the participation of more businessmen, but since most of the businessmen in that area are Khojas and at the same time as this meeting, the African Khojas Summit was held in Kampala, they could not come to Tanzania. One of the resolutions of this meeting was the creation of a database and a network of Shiite businessmen in the region. In this meeting, information about the economic and commercial capacities of the countries in the region and the necessity of communication, cooperation, and exchange between Shiite businessmen were emphasized.

An overview of the plans of the Secretary General of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly during his visit to East African countries

During the visit of Ayatollah Ramazani, Secretary General of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly and his delegation to East Africa, dozens of programs were held in Malawi, Burundi, Madagascar, and Runyon Island in the Indian Ocean. During this 19-day trip (of which 4 days were spent on the round trip), the Secretary-General gave more than 30 speeches. The trip from Madagascar to Tehran takes about 22 hours, but the trip of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly delegation, lasted 30 hours, and it was actually a 15-day trip.

Since the trip to Africa coincided with the birth anniversary of the Prophet (p.b.u.h), one of the important plans of the trip was to attend and participate in the 10 celebrations as well as the Islamic Unity Conference. Although the ceremonies were organized by Shiites, unity was emphasized, and the Secretary General of the Assembly seriously initiated interfaith dialogue in these programs. A meeting was held with the Interfaith Council of Kenya, which consists of Christians, Hindus, Sunnis, Shiites, Bohras, and Aghakhanis. This combination was unique and was considered a useful experience.

In Malawi, Ayatollah Ramazani had a meeting with Christian priests, and in addition to meeting with the Vatican ambassador to Madagascar, he had a meeting with Ismaili Bohras and Sunni scholars. Also, a meeting was held with Christian priests and Sunni scholars in Tanzania. Overall, in this trip, good actions were taken in the field of Islamic unity, Shiite dialogue, and communication with other Shiite sects, such as the Bohras, and also in dialogue with other religions.

During this trip, congregational prayers were held in almost all countries, especially with the presence of Khojas. The Khojas are Twelver Shiites, who were Hindus at first, then they were inclined to the Bohra religion, i.e., Ismailia, and at last, they converted to Twelver Shiism. Because they were pressured by the Hindus in India, they had to migrate, and now most of them live in East Africa and have a lot of influence there. They are traditional Shiites who do not interfere in politics, and most of their connections are with the Najaf seminary. Most Khojas are businessmen, and in fact, the economy and trade in African countries are usually in their hands.

Today’s Karbala is Gaza

We are witnessing serious changes in Khojas. In the discussion of Gaza, we saw tweets from them, for example, the head of the Khoja Jamaat of Nairobi, Kenya, tweeted: “Today’s Karbala is Gaza”, which is considered a development among them. Also, the World Confederation of Khojas supported Gaza and denounced the crimes of the Zionist regime, which is commendable.

Participation of women in Khoja mosques

One of the blessings of congregational prayers under the leadership of Ayatollah Ramazani in these countries, especially in Burundi, was the presence of women in congregational prayers. According to the traditional view of the Khojas, the presence of women in congregational prayers and mosques, as well as in public and social activities, is very little or not at all. When the congregational prayer was held in the Khoja mosques in Burundi, we saw that women were not present. Ayatollah Ramazani mentioned to the officials and imam of the mosque that the presence of women in congregational and Friday prayers is necessary. After our trip, we found out that it was agreed on the presence of women in the mosque. Maybe this action is considered trivial, but considering the culture it creates, and with the increase in the presence of women in various fields, the transformation in the traditional view of Islam, and the social presence of women, it is of great importance.

Another effect of attending mosques in these areas was the increase in communication with natives and Africans. It was sometimes said that Iranians pay less attention to the natives of the region and usually communicate with Iranian institutions. Ayatollah Ramazani attended and gave speeches in many mosques of natives. At the same time, we should note that most of the missionaries are native Africans.

Among the other programs of Ayatollah Ramazani on this trip was to visit dozens of Islamic centers, schools, seminaries, mosques, and some medical centers and services such as the Red Crescent Medical Center in Nairobi and orphanages. The General Secretary of the Assembly also met with the leader of the Khojas of Burundi and the former head of the Khoja Jamaat. They have a very serious organization. In fact, the Khojas in every country have Jamaat, elections, and leaders, and each leader has a cabinet. They even have an African Federation and a World Federation.

The local AhlulBayt (a.s.) Assembly of Kenya was revived

The AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly does not use the budget of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and all the programs mentioned are financed by non-Iranian benefactors. Even some of these benefactors implement projects in Iran. Taking care of deprived areas is a humanitarian issue thing everywhere in the world. Of course, if Iranian institutions operate, the priority is with Iranians and the inside of Iran. The international institutions also distribute these facilities in different centers and wherever there is a greater need.

In many countries, the Assembly has plans for the Shiites, such as building mosques, schools, and helping special cases, and managing the affairs of missionaries. In some countries, local AhlulBayt (a.s.) Assemblies have been established. In Kenya, there was a local assembly that had been closed for a long time, and even its documents were missing. But this local assembly was revived in the recent trip and its re-establishment was announced in Kenya.

Many actions were taken during this trip. For example, some projects were started and one or two benefactors of the region who were present on this trip agreed to pay part of the costs. In Uganda, more than 150 Shiite mosques were to be restored and renovated. During this trip, Imam Reza (a.s.) Mosque was opened in Kampala. The construction of a dormitory for girls, the construction of the Abu Dhar Ghaffari Mosque in Dar es Salaam, the opening of the Amir al-Momineen (a.s.) school and a clinic were among the other projects that one of the benefactors announced online about their condition to other benefactors and one of them agreed to pay for the building the clinic.

In Malawi, a plot of land with an area of 17,000 square meters was allocated for the construction of a complex including a mosque, school, clinic, orphanage, and student dormitory. Since Shiites usually must come to school from far away areas and do not have travel expenses, building a dormitory next to educational complexes is necessary. Also, a meeting was held to empower the Shiites and to examine the possibilities and ways of entrepreneurship and empowering them. For example, the establishment of an online store and an online taxi were investigated. In Tanzania, the ways of financing Shiite complexes were also discussed.

In addition to the activities of the Secretary-General, some other officials of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly had activities. For example, Hojat al-Islam Mahdi Farmanian, Deputy for Cultural Affairs of the Assembly with a delegation went to Mombasa to honor the family of the late Abdullah Yaser, one of the Shiite figures of East Africa.

News coverage of the East African Regional Conference

The conference of the East African region was given news and media coverage. So far, dozens of news and reports have been published by ABNA specialized News Agency, affiliated with the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly. Also, Al-Thaqalayn Internet TV and ABNA News Agency, in cooperation with Tanzania’s Mahdi TV, published about 10,000 minutes of programs from this conference. Among the media programs of this trip were communication with Mahdi TV in Kenya, negotiations for the establishment of the Swahili regional office of ABNA News Agency - given that ABNA publishes news in more than 20 languages and Swahili is one of the languages that people in East Africa speak the most -, media cooperation to produce joint programs, the creation of a network of journalists in the region, and communication and contact with Shiite missionaries.

Regional conferences in Latin America and in South or West Africa

The strategy of holding regional conferences is in line with the transformation and localization policy of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly which has been adopted in recent years. Regional conferences are also held to compensate for some of the shortcomings of the General Assembly conferences and based on the approvals of the recent General Assembly, it was decided to hold regional conferences. From the beginning of this year, holding such conferences was planned, and the first one was implemented in October during the recent visit of the ABWA delegation to East Africa.

The next regional conference will be held in Latin America, which, due to the small number of missionaries in the region, will not be as extensive as the East African conference. This conference will be held in February or March next year by Shiite activists and with the support of the AhlulBayt (a.s.) World Assembly. Of course, next year, at least one regional conference will be held in West or South Africa. Also, a regional conference will probably be held in Asia and the Pacific region. Due to the recent events, there is also an Arab regional conference, which may have a different form.

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