RNA - The Shia Muslim community in Liberia over the weekend dedicated a mosque and school building in the Brewerville community of Jah Tondo outside Monrovia. The mosque and school--Ahlul-Bayte (AS) Mosque and School or "Family of the Holy Prophet Mohammed Mosque and School"--is dedicated to unity among all faiths, as well as Liberians in general.
As the local news outlet "All Africa" reports, the mosque and school projects were sponsored by a Muslim foundation dedicated to the Shia doctrine, the World Assembly of Ahlul-Bayte in London, led by a British Muslim, Seyeed Mohammed Musawi. An American firm, Comfort Aid International, also contributed immensely to the project. The project cost more than US$400,000.
Speaking at a dedicatory prayer service on Saturday, the head of the Ahlul-Bayte (AS) Foundation, Sheikh Askary Kromah said the sponsors of the project were willing to initiate similar projects across the country but only if Muslims held together. Sheikh Kromah said, though the mosque and school were built to promote Islamic education in Liberia, such objective could not be obtained amid disunity.
"We have to stop pointing fingers to one another. That cannot make us to forge ahead. We need to come together to move ahead," Sheikh Kromah stressed. "Let all of us do what he or she wants to do, but we should do that with the understanding that we are all one people," he said.
Sheikh Kromah said that the school would be open to all, including non-Muslims, adding that it will begin as an elementary school with the hope of becoming a senior high school in the future. He said sponsors of the project had committed themselves to providing scholarship program that will be open to everyone, regardless of their religion and tribe.
Mr. Zein Jaffal, CEO of KNZ Construction Company
Construction work was done by the KNZ Construction Firm, with its Chief Executive Officer Zein Jaffal underwriting a significant portion of the construction himself. There were also contributions from the Nyomah Construction Company, a contractor dealing in tiles and a local wood dealer, Abuboakai Kromah.
Mr. Jaffal of KNZ said his construction firm had decided to come in when he noticed that the then proposed project was being done in good faith and sincerity. "The budget for the school was small and could not complete the entire project, so we said we will add what will be short in the budget.
"As we were talking to Sheikh Askary [Kromah] we saw that he had a good vision for the area because he wanted to promote Islam and Liberia in general," Mr. Jaffal said while on a tour of the school facility. Mr. Jaffal added that his firm was willing to assist in the setting up of the school and scholarship to children whose parents would not afford. The new mosque is the first Shia mosque in Liberia.
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