CONSTRUCTION OF BILAL COMMUNITY CENTRES
The Bilal Muslim Mission of Tanzania (BMMT) was established in 1968 for the purpose of undertaking Tabligh activities, spreading out the message of Islam as brought to us by Ahlul Bayt (‘A). The Mission has to date over 150 centres in various regions of Tanzania. Some of these centres have only mosques, others have madrassa and nursery school and tuition centres too, while other centres do not have any such facilities.
The Mission also assists in microfinance projects by giving interest free loans to its community members as well as assist in higher education grants and loans to eligible students in Bilal Muslim Mission.
Importance of Mosque/Centres in Islam
The first act of the Holy Prophet of Islam (SAWW), upon arrival in Quba, was to build a mosque, even though he was on travel and stayed in the village for 14 days only before moving to Yathrib, and later in Madina tun Nabi. Similarly, upon arrival in Medina he bought the land and ordered construction of the Mosque, the famous Masjidun Nabi.
Mosques played a very central role during the time of the Holy Prophet (SAWW), as he did not have a palace nor conference or banquet halls. All gathering, prayers, defense planning etc. were held at the mosque. This has been the trend for the last 1400 years, where mosques have always played a central pivotal role in the development of Muslim community.
Importance of Education, Religious and Secular
Muslim do not need a reminder on the importance of education, be it religious or secular due to numerous traditions, ahadeeth, from the Holy Prophet (SAWW) and Aimmah (‘A) on its importance. Education in literally everything. Suffice to say without education the community is as good as dead.
Current State of Affairs
Tanzania is a poor developing country with GDP of $1076 per capita, (about $90 per month) with 27% of the population below the poverty line of $21 per month. The poverty is compounded by illiteracy, both in secular and in religious education, hence the dire need to assist these communities in both: helping in education, providing spiritual guidance and microfinance to remove or at least reduce poverty within our available resources.
Some of the communities have realized the importance of education or need of religion and have on their own initiative build places of worship as you can see below:
Needs
Through the above pictures, these villages are “blessed” or “lucky” to have a Makuti, thatched mosque! There are many villages which do not have a land to pray or hold functions. Our staff have visited some villages that do not have any place of worship: no church, nor mosque of ANY madhhab. Development wise they are very backward as they lack even a primary school! Currently there are 36 Bilal centres that need mosques or madrasas to be built in the coming few years.
Drive to Provide Community Centres for Bilal Members in Rural Areas
Bilal therefore needs assistance to provide a basic hall for prayers, which can also be utilized as Husseiniya for holding programs like majalises and duas. We also intend to build nursery schools for the communities in these areas, which also facilitates as madrassa classes in the afternoon.
Most of these area do not have water, so a well will be dug and if no electricity is there in the neighborhood then solar cells will be installed for lighting and for energizing water pumps.
- Water well, and Tower Tank for storage
- Prayer Hall for about 200 people
- Nursery school – 3 classrooms and 2 small offices
- Washroom block for the above
- Small house for the Resident Sheikh/nursery school teacher (to reduce rental expenditure)
Costs
The construction of the buildings will be undertaken under our supervision/engineer without involving commercial contractors thereby saving almost 20-25% of the potential costs.
Construction usually takes 3-6 months depending on how remote the area is. These are indicative costs; some area requires deep water wells while in other areas the water source is near. In some very remote area cost of material goes up due to transportation.
Appeal Donors may donate through Africa Federation towards the whole project or partly finance a particular building. This may be done towards attaining the pleasure of Allah (SWT) or for the Ithale Thawab of marhumeen.
These projects are Thawabe Jariya and will keep Thawab flowing as long as the building exists and people benefit from them. We currently have 12 centres that urgently to be upgraded.
For more information and details you may Email the Bilal Muslim Mission of Tanzania on admin.bilaltz@africafederation.org
Donations can be sent to Africa Federation for Bilal Muslim Mission: secretariat@africafederation.org
Secretariat
Bilal Muslim Mission of Tanzania
13th December 2021