Fight erupts in Mangochi mosque
Quadria and Sukut Muslim members on Monday fought in a mosque in Masuku Village in Traditional Authority (T/A) Bwananyambi over gifts provided by Bilal Trust.
Mangochi Police Station spokesperson Rodrick Maida said in an interview yesterday that following the incident, they have arrested Maulana Gibson, 28, Osman Kapungu, 23 and Nervous Yusuf, 35.
The mosque at Masuku has been a centre of contention between Quadria and Sukut Muslims
He said some members smashed other people’s houses, including that of group village head Masuku.
Masuku confirmed in an interview that his house was stoned.
But in a separate interview, Muslim Association of Malawi (MAM) chairperson in Mangochi Sheikh Fahd Kamsuli said the Bilal Trust donation was meant for the trust’s staff and not the community members who fought.
He also said the two sects have not been seeing eye to eye for a long time, especially after Bilal Trust built the mosque.
Kamsuli said the contention’s genesis were petty differences in some tenets of Islam.
He said: “Such small differences compelled the Sukut sect to force their counterparts out of the mosque, such that the sect claimed rightful ownership of the temple.
“But on this particular day, it was the Quadria group which invaded the mosque, thinking the trust had brought gifts for the Sukut group. That was when the fight started and the Quadria group even blocked the trust from handing over the gifts.”
The sheikh said MAM has since resolved to mobilise resources to build another mosque for the Quadria sect to maintain peace between the two groups.
