Tahir Ahmad Machengo, Kenya Correspondent
10 October 2021 marked the inaugural ceremony of the third mosque in Kenya, funded by Lajna Imaillah Kenya.
The uniqueness of this mosque is that Lajna Imaillah Kenya constructed it with the intention of presenting it as a gift to Hazrat Khalifatul Masih Vaa in commemoration of the Lajna Imaillah Centenary – 1922-2022.
The mosque has been constructed in Majengo Jamaat, in Voi region. This Jamaat is situated in Nyika village stretching from a junction which is six kilometres from the main Mombasa-Nairobi highway at Maungu bus stop. This road extends to Buguta where there is a boundary that separates Kenya and Tanzania through some thick reserved forests.
The message of Islam Ahmadiyyat first reached this area in the year 2005 through our local missionary, Rashid Lomba Sahib. Through his efforts of door-to-door preaching, by 2007, he was blessed to convert a handful of members from the Shia sect, Christianity and other cultural religions, to the fold of Islam Ahmadiyyat.
This progress raised a need of having a permanent place for a mosque and continuous progress of other Jamaat activities to strengthen the new converts as well as inviting more community members to Islam Ahmadiyyat.
For this purpose, a meeting was organised and a village member, Rashid Ndeka temporarily gave out part of his land for a temporary mosque construction.
By 15 August 2008, the Jamaat had permanently started its activities on the given land.
On 8 October 2009, Rashid Ndeka wrote an official letter to the Jamaat allowing a temporary mosque to be built on his land until the Jamaat acquired permanent land.
In 2010, the first Ahmadiyya mosque was constructed on that land in Majengo village and religious activities began. Since the village was known as Majengo then, it was also called Majengo Jamaat.
On 3 April 2013, the Jamaat officially bought this land from Rashid Ndeka and due to the increase in the Jamaat members in the area, in 2014, Abdul Nasir Bakari Sahib, the current Zaeem Ansarullah reconstructed that mosque with his own sacrifices.
In 2014, when Lajna Imaillah Kenya received approval of a mosque construction from Hazrat Amirul Momineenaa, they decided to build the mosque in Voi region.
Since the land purchased earlier was some kilometres away from the roadside and the mosque constructed was also temporary, they decided to buy another piece of land on the roadside. Plans were made and they eventually acquired this prime-location land of 1.5 acres just at the roadside in Nyika village, six kilometres from the Mombasa-Nairobi highway.
Lajna Imaillah Kenya fully settled the payments of the land on 7October 2015. Due to the transfer of ownership and other governmental land protocols, they were able to receive the official ownership under the name of “Ahmadiyya Muslim Community” on 7 February 2020. Lajna Imaillah Kenya had been tirelessly contributing to the construction of this mosque since its approval in 2014.
Back in 2019, on completing the payments of the land they again requested for the approval of Huzooraa for the construction as well as his prayers for the project.
Yet after finishing all the protocols, waiting for the construction to begin, the Covid-19 pandemic arrived due to which the rules and regulations put in place by the government to curb the virus delayed the construction.
Later, in 2021, when the pandemic somewhat curbed, the foundation stone laying ceremony took place on 12 June 2021. Amir and Missionary-in-Charge Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Kenya, Tariq Mahmood Zafar Sahib laid the first brick followed by some missionaries, other office bearers, Sadr Lajna Imaillah Kenya, Khadija Juma Sahiba and some members of Lajna Imaillah Kenya.
The construction of this mosque moved successfully. However, some local non-Ahmadis smashed the walls of the newly built mosque for two nights consecutively. The issue was addressed to the village chairman and also strict night security was deployed at the construction area.
On 24 September 2021, Huzooraa officially named this beautiful mosque “Baitul Raheem”.
The construction took approximately four months and the size of the mosque accumulates a maximum number of 100 worshippers. The inauguration ceremony was held on 10 October 2021.
The mosque was inaugurated by Amir Jamaat Kenya, Tariq Mahmood Zafar Sahib. The event was also attended by naib amir Jamaat Kenya, regional missionary of Voi region, regional missionary of South Coast region (Mombasa), Sadr Lajna Imaillah Kenya, Khadija Juma Sahiba, Lajna Imaillah amila members and other regional amila members from various regions.