Muslim factions endorse Mubajje

(L-R) Sheikhs Sulaimana Kakeeto, Ramadhan Mubajje, Abubakar Sengoba and Spidika Amir Mubarak Mugerwa celebrate with Muslim faithful in Kampala on Friday. PHOTO BY ABUBAKER LUBOWA

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Loyalty. Muslims under their respective faction leaders pledged allegiance to Sheikh Mubajje as the only Mufti with immediate effect

KAMPALA.

The Mufti of Uganda Sheikh Shaban Mubajje on Friday convened and presided over a reconciliation assembly for several rival Muslim factions, except the Kibuli group, after more than 20 years of wrangling.

Thousands of Muslims under their faction leaders congregated at Old Kampala, the official seat of Uganda Muslim Supreme Council (UMSC), where they pledged allegiance to Sheikh Mubajje as the only Mufti with immediate effect.

Sheikh Mubajje apologised to the Muslims for the wrongs that have happened during his reign.
“I request you to forgive me for what did not go well during the period of disunity in our community and I have also forgiven you,” said Sheikh Mubajje amidst Takbirs (loud chants in praise of God).
Sheikh Mubajje said though he is the supreme leader of Muslims in Uganda, he is human and therefore prone to error.

“I am not an angel that I don’t sin. I’m a mere servant before you. Welcome back home and this is the time for all of us to move as a solid group,” he appealed.

Flanked by leaders of several rival Muslim factions, Mr Mubajje said Friday’s convention would help Muslims have a common voice in the face of the current challenges.

Among the warring factions that had split from the UMSC are: Kibuli faction under Sheikh Zubair Kayongo, Nakasero and William Street faction under Sheikh Yunus Kamoga and the Spidika faction based in Kisenyi suburb.

The reunion at the former Gaddafi National Mosque follows a series of secret meetings between the detained Tabliq leader Sheikh Kamoga, former Tabliq leader Sheikh Sulaiman Kakeeto and Sheikh Mubajje himself.

“We have many headquarters in Uganda, which include Bukoto, Nateete, Kyadondo and Kibuli. But these headquarters are for individual families and lineages. The official headquarters for Muslims in Uganda is here (Old Kampala) and nobody can sell or inherit it,” said Sheikh Yahaya Mwanje, the acting Tabliq leader.

“Mubajje will die but UMSC will stay for other Muslims to take over. But that is not the case with the individual headquarters,” he said amidst applause.

Among other leaders who attended the historic convention were the Mufti of Burundi Sheikh Abubakar Sengora, Electoral Commission chairperson Badru Kiggundu, Sheikh Sulaiman Kakeeto and Sheikhs from Kibuli.

Sheikh Kakeeto warned detractors of Muslim unity about the futility of their schemes. He said Muslims have reconciled without probability of returning to old hostility and conflict.

“If the President of Uganda has been labouring to unite Muslims, so it has happened at this historic convention. Our brothers with dissenting voices to this unity, please have a heart for Islam and don’t let the enemies use you for their ill motives,” he said.