Immorality, security, and cooperation: in focus as Sub-Saharan Africa Ahmadiyya leaders meet

Dar es Salaam. Leaders of the Ahmadiyya community in Sub-Saharan Africa have gathered here for a two-day seminar to discuss three key issues, including the growing immorality in their respective countries.

Other issues that will be discussed during the event that kicked off on Saturday, April 20, 2024, are the intimidating global insecurity and the need for regional and international collaboration.

Apart from Tanzania, other participants come from the UK, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, the Congo Republic, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Zambia.

Speaking to The Citizen, the Tanzanian president of Majlis Ansarullah Ahmadiyya, Dr Swaleh Pazi, said the seminar aims to remind participants of the key roles of serving people on the grounds of humanity.

“The world is now facing different challenges that require an immense contribution from clergymen to move forward,” he said.

“Several calamities are reported in different corners of the world, including war outbreaks causing a huge scare of insecurity, the growing erosion of ethics, and the disruption of diplomatic relations among the countries,” he added.

He said participants’ understanding will be strengthened to enable them to efficiently carry out their spiritual roles in serving humanity, as well as improve the world’s security and make the world a better place to live.

“There is no room to properly worship in the absence of peace. Ongoing disputes in the Middle East could be easily resolved if a table of negotiation could be opted for as a medium of resolution,” he said.

“We are here to establish and strengthen means of maintaining peace to enable us to conveniently preach our religions, provide education to our people, and adopt other programmes that will benefit humanity,” he added.

He said the seminar will come up with recommendations and implementation strategies for execution by various leaders for the community to achieve the intended goal.

“Issues of homosexuality, alcoholism, and the growing use of illicit drugs need a comprehensive discussion to rescue the youth. Emphasis will be put on strengthening parenting at the family level,” said Dr Pazi.

“We recognise President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s efforts to fight ethical erosion in the country, but clergymen have a great role to complement these efforts at the family level to build a better nation,” he added.

The community’s representative from its headquarters in the UK, Mr Abdul Talukdar, said the event aims at inviting the world community to focus on peace as they are called to do.

“We recently held a peace conference in London that highlighted the way forward. This is for whatever  religion because peace is preached by all faiths for the world to be secure,” he said.

A Kenyan participant, Mr Abdulaziz Gakuria, said they have identified challenges facing different parts of the world due to people’s choice to follow their own ways of life. “Consensus should be found to enable them to understand the presence of God. Technological advancement, especially the presence of social media, has prompted growing challenges in children's upbringing,” he said.

“They have led to the presence of same-sex marriages, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ), therefore calling on the elders to restore morality in our countries,” he added.

A Ugandan participant, Mr Abubakar Mugaya, said morality is lacking in every aspect of society's life, including politics, economy, and social welfare, leading to different vices including corruption and homosexuality, among others.

“We must therefore guide the young generation to prevent societal erosion. Through this workshop, we will come together and properly guide the youth in our respective countries,” he said.