The National Muslims Council of Liberia (LNMC) has launched a national membership drive here to recruit about 600,000 Muslims.
The drive was formally launched over the weekend at the Council’s headquarters in Old Road, Monrovia.
The process is being overseen by the Council’s committee on recruitment, mobilization and membership with an initial target of 200,000 due-paying members.
Payment categories include individuals, US$12.00 yearly; institutions, US$300.00 yearly; county, US$500.00 annually; diaspora-based Muslims, US$20.00 yearly, and diaspora-based Muslim institutions, US$ 500.00 annually.
An official of the National Muslims Council of Liberia (LNMC) said the dream behind the reform process is to have a well-functional Council that is financially independent, competent and transparent in its daily operations.
Speaking at the occasion, the Political Leader of the All-Liberia Coalition Party (ALCOP) Lusinee Kamara, praised the leadership of the Council for the reform.
Mr. Kamara, who served as chief launcher, noted that “Moving forward in the reform process of our religion, we all mean well for Islam” and thanked organizers of the program for the farsightedness.
According to him, the membership of the Muslim Council is open to all individuals and professional organizations.
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Kamara stressed a need for every member of the Muslim faith to put their money into the transformation of the Council rather than just focusing on holiday for Ramanda celebration.
He stressed that the Muslim faith and Muslims’ activities towards mankind must be reflected thru their communities across the country, something which he said can only become reality through collective support of the Council.
During the event, two strong Muslim scholars Imam Mohammed Passaway and Zainab Assaf called for religious tolerance.
Imam Passaway said to have a strong nation, there must be strong people, stressing that unity and peace are key to moving a nation forward.
He said one of the major concerns of Muslims should be how they can reach out to the larger society with the message of Islam.
Passaway added that when the people of a nation lack trust in themselves, they cannot do anything, indicating that it is through tolerance Liberians would live together as one people.
For her part, the Principal of Muslim Congress school Zainab Assaf said, the only way Liberia can be stable is through religious tolerance.
“We have to be tolerant, without tolerance sometimes causes conflict”, she said.
Madam Assaf told the gathering that request for a holiday does not call for frightening but through peaceful means, noting that Muslims should understand that they are not alone in this campaign.
She stressed a need for the Liberian government to include religious tolerance in the school curriculum, saying with this, students will get to know that there are people who are of different religions hence, the need to respect religious diversity through education.
She urged fellow Muslims to teach faith by telling people the value of Islam to help change negative perceptions about the Muslim faith.
Giving the objective of the program, Co-head Kabah Trawally, said the event was intended to raise funds for the Council, indicating that basically, no institution can survive without funding.
“We do not have to go to the rich people all the time; we have the population that we can get money from to undertake major projects like schools, hospitals”, he said. Editing by Jonathan Browne
