Moctar Ndiaye, Imam of the Liberté

Like our sick hospitals, our mosques too are not in perfect health. Imam Moctar Ndiaye persists and signs that as long as these places of worship are left to ignorant people, often retired, they will continue to harbor conflicts, even to be the scene of acts of barbarism.

The cleverly orchestrated assassination of the muezzin Bassirou Mbaye of the village Ndieye in the commune of Pire is only the tip of the iceberg to describe what is happening in the Senegalese mosques “which were once, according to Moctar Ndiaye, imam of the mosque of Liberty 5, places of meditation, devotion and spiritual retreat. “Alas, they have now become the scene of conflicts and fights which often end in drama.” If mosques are known to be residences of Allah, Imam Moctar Ndiaye regrets that they are no longer these sacred places that we must honor and keep away from any conflict, fight and other obscene remarks: “We must dare to say it , our mosques are all infected, not to say sick. They are very different from the days of our old scholars when they were embellished!”

“Our mosques are infected because they are now run by retired people. the whole through opaque and nebulous management. The worst thing is that they never hold a general meeting”

How did we get to this stage? Imam Moctar Ndiaye replied: “It’s because our mosques are now administered by retired people who have never attended a mosque. By people of often dubious morals who are concerned only with their own interests. All through opaque and nebulous management. The worst is that they never hold a general assembly and they completely ignore the texts of Islam that govern the functioning of a mosque.

Very lively, he continues: “It is a problem to see in our mosques today the establishment of clans which tear each other apart day and night and which nevertheless share the same ranks during the five daily prayers. What hypocrisy! And it is these kinds of attitudes that degenerate and often give rise to acts of barbarism. The Imam evokes a very regrettable problem, namely the stigmatization of our mosques which could take on a scale at the antipodes of Islam. “We see that there are Wolof, Toucouleur, Mouride mosques, etc. “, indicates the Imam before emphasizing: “We must stop giving our mosques names of ethnic or brotherly character. This stigma is an obstacle for Islam and only leads to division among Muslims and weakens the Islamic Umma. Our mosques must be sacred places reserved exclusively for Allah (SWT)! »

“Imams are named now because they are sons of or grandsons of … if they are not named for their ethnicity, tribe, or social class”

What about the appointment of Imams and Muezzins? The Imam of the Mosque of Liberty 5 will say: “We often appoint our imams according to criteria contrary to those of Islam. Imams are appointed now because they are sons of or grandsons of … if they are not appointed for their ethnicity, tribe, or social class, without taking into account the criteria established by Islamic legislation.” Recalling, in the process, that the function of Imam is not hereditary, Imam Ndiaye underlines that it is rather a function of merit, competence and morality. “As long as we continue to appoint our Imams on the basis of such criteria, the conflicts will persist”, he warns, before adding a layer: “It is only here in Senegal that a muezzin allows himself to pronounce badly the terms of the call to prayer, not mastering anything at all, nor the hour of prayer. The day you allow yourself to correct them, they take you for an enemy…”

Amadou Dia (Actusen.sn)

Moctar Ndiaye, Imam of the Liberté-5 mosque dissects conflicts in mosques: the knife in the wound – ACTUSEN