By NATION Correspondent 

Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims (Supkem) Mombasa branch chairman Sheikh Juma Ngao (left), Changamwe MP Ramadhan Kajembe and Sheikh Munir Mazrui in talks during a HIV/Aids workshop for Islamic leaders at a Mombasa hotel yesterday. Photo by Laban Odhiambo

Muslims are still in the denial stage on the HIV/Aids pandemic. 

The chairman of the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims, Prof Abdulghafour El-Busaidy, said Muslims had a misplaced belief that the scourge was not an Islamic problem.

Contrary to the belief, he said, Aids was ravaging the worshippers and there was need to come up with strategies to fight it.

Prof El-Busaidy said it was unfortunate that their response had remained slow, limited, fragmented and uncoordinated while the problem was taking root in the community.

He was speaking during the opening of the Supkem National Muslim Leaders Consultative Conference on HIV/Aids at the Reef Hotel, Mombasa, yesterday. The five-day conference has been sponsored by Action Aid.

Prof El-Busaidy said lack of coordinated effort had made it difficult for Muslims to share experiences on the scourge.

"As you are all aware, Islam as a faith and a way of life has a very strong component of preventative health, destigmatisation and care of the sick and orphans in general situations as well as HIV/Aids," he said.

He said mosques, madrassas (Islamic classes), imams, teachers and other service organisations had not been fully tapped as potential media for communication to the Muslim community.

"This infrastructure can be used very effectively in the provision of home-based care and psycho-social and spiritual support for those infected and affected," he said.

Prof El-Busaidy said when Muslims deviated from the teachings of Quran and Sunnah in practising polygamy and divorce, they were exposed to the risk of HIV/Aids infection.

He said there was a rise in HIV/Aids infection in Coast, North Eastern and Upper Eastern provinces, which are mostly inhabited by Muslims, due to deviation from Islam.

The Chief Kadhi, Sheikh Hammad Kassim, called on Muslims to visit Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) centres to know their status.

He urged sheikhs, imams, preachers, school and madrassa teachers to improve their perception of HIV/Aids.

Dr Mohammed Abdalla, formerly of National Aids Control Council (NACC), urged Muslims to transform mosques into HIV/Aids resource centres for the community to be well equipped to fight the pandemic. 

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