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The Bilal Muslim Mission is an international Shi'a twelver organization, established in East Africa on December 25, 1964 [1] through the efforts of Sayyid Saeed Akhtar Rizvi, Hussein Nasser Walji and other dedicated volunteers. [2] The organization is named after Bilal ibn Ribah, the famous Ethiopian Sahabi.
When the organization was established, there were hardly any Shi'a communities of native African origin in the Sub-Saharan Africa. Now, there are several.
The website of their Tanzania branch writes:
When past Chairman Ebrahim Hussein Sheriff went to see Ayatullah Uzama Seyid Muhsin Al-Hakim A.M. in early Sixtys: Ayatullah asked Haji Ebrahim “How long are you people in East Africa?” to which Haji-Ebrahim replied “About a hundred years.” “How many Africans have accepted Mazhabe Haq?” Was the next question. To which the reply was “none”. Immediately Agha asked Haji Ebrahim that “Will these people not complain on Youmal Hashr that you knew the right path, yet you did not show them?” Allamah Sayyid Saeed Akhtar Rizvi conceived a plan in 1962, for propagating Islam. [3] His plan was proposed and approved at the triennial Conference of the Supreme Council of Africa Federation of K.S.I Jamaats of Africa in Tanga in 1964. [3] and became the Bilal Muslim Mission. [3] BILAL MUSLIM MISSION OF TANZANIA was established in 1968 and a sister organization BILAL MUSLIM MISSION OF KENYA was incorporated in 1971 and Allamah Sayyid Saeed Akhtar Rizvi became Chief Missionary. [4]
They are now part of the World Federation of KSI Muslim Communities, an international umbrella organization [1] that was formed in the 1976, after 1500 Shi'a twelver families emigrated from East Africa to the United Kingdom and Canada. [5]
The carried out missionary efforts aimed at both non-Muslims and Sunni Muslims, and their efforts intensified after the Iranian Revolution. [6]
In the late 1970s, the Bilal Muslim Mission and World Organization for Islamic Services had sent many books to America, by July 1977, about 5,770 books and booklets had been mailed out. [7]
The Bilal Muslim Mission had been able to accomplished at lot in its objective of spreading the true teaching of Islam, through the hard work of its dedicated founders. This was achieved with very limited means and resources. Main source of spreading the true faith was person to person or through correspondence and publication of books and its dissemination. People from Guyana in South America to Poland in Europe and from Malaysia to West Africa benefitted and embraced the true Islam. [8]
At present, 2017, the Bilal Muslim Mission of Tanzania a still trying to get its rhythm since the void left by the death of Allama Sayyid Saeed Aktar Rizvi.
The Bilal Muslim Mission is recognized by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs. [9]
Bi-monthly magazines:
Books: The Mission has more than 108 (57 English, 51 Swahili) books written on a wide range of Islamic topics. [4]
Al-Mizan fi Tafsir al-Qur'an, more commonly known as Tafsir al-Mizan or simply Al-Mizan (الميزان), is a tafsir written by the Shia Muslim scholar and philosopher Allamah Sayyid Muhammad Husayn Tabataba'i (1892–1981).
The Four Companions, also called the Four Pillars of the Sahaba, is a Shia term for the four Companions of the Islamic prophet Muhammad who are supposed to have stayed most loyal to Ali ibn Abi Talib after Muhammad's death in 632:
Abu 'Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Nu'man al-'Ukbari al-Baghdadi, known as al-Shaykh al-Mufid and Ibn al-Mu'allim, was a prominent Twelver Shia theologian. His father was a teacher (mu'allim), hence the name Ibn al-Mu'allim. The title "al-Mufid" was given to him either by Muhammad al-Mahdi, the twelfth Shia Imam, or by al-Rummani, a Sunni scholar, after a conversation with him. The leader of the Shia community, he was a mutakallim, theologian, and Shia jurist.
Madrasatul Waizeen or Madrasatul Waezeen or Madrasat al-Wa'izin, founded in 1919, is an old centre of Twelver Shia education in the city of Lucknow, India. Many of the clerics attend this school after they finish their graduate educations in other Shia seminaries to strengthen their oratory and preaching skills. It is well-known for the valuable manuscripts in its library.
Najm al-Ḥasan, also known as Najmul Millat or Najmul Ulama, was an Islamic jurist and the founder of Jamia Nazmia, the oldest Shia religious institution of India.
Rizvi or Rizavi or رضوی is the Urdu form of the Arabic surname Radawi/Radhawi and the Persian surname Razavi. It is a surname commonly associated with Muslims, who claim descent from the Imam Ali al-Ridha, a descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his grandson Husayn ibn Ali. Since the Rizvi clan trace their lineage to Fatimah, many of them often use the prefix Sayyid in front of their name.
Sayyid Sa‘eed Akhtar Rizvi (1927–2002) was an Indian born, Twelver Shī‘ah scholar, who promoted Islam in East Africa. He was given authorizations by fourteen Grand Ayatullahs for riwayah, Qazawah, and Umur-e-Hasbiyah.
The Fourteen Infallibles in Twelver Shia Islam are the Islamic prophet Muhammad, his daughter Fatima Zahra, and the Twelve Imams. All are considered to be infallible under the theological concept of Ismah. Accordingly, they have the power to commit sin but by their nature are able to avoid doing so, which is regarded as a miraculous gift from God. The Infallibles are believed to follow only God's desire in their actions because of their supreme righteousness, consciousness, and love for God. They are also regarded as being immune to error in practical matters, in calling people to religion, and in the perception of divine knowledge. Some Twelver Shia believe the Fourteen Infallibles are superior to the rest of creation and to the other major prophets.
Shaykh Tusi, full name Abu Jafar Muhammad Ibn Hassan Tusi, known as Shaykh al-Taʾifah was a prominent Persian scholar of the Twelver school of Shia Islam. He was known as the "sheikh of the sect ", author of two of the four main Shi'i books of hadith, Tahdhib al-Ahkam and al-Istibsar, and is believed to have founded the hawza. He is also the founder of Shia jurisprudence.
Jamiul Uloom Jawadia, also known as Jawadia Arabic College, is a Deeni Madarasa of Shia Muslims in Banaras (Varanasi) India. Major course of studies include Jurisprudence, Theology and Islamic Literature.
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Quranic createdness refers to the doctrinal position that the Quran was created, rather than having always existed and thus being "uncreated". In the Muslim world the opposite point of view — that the Quran is uncreated — is the accepted stance among the majority Muslims. Shia Muslims on the other hand argue for the createdness of the Quran.
Syed Ali Akhtar Rizvi, widely known as Adeeb-e-Asr and Allamah Shaoor, was an Indian Twelver Shī'ah scholar, public speaker, translator, and historian as well as an author and poet. He authored and translated many Islamic books and also wrote many articles and poems.
Hadith of Jesus Praying Behind Mahdi refers to a collection of hadith related to the prophecy that after Jesus (Isa) descends from heaven to join the Mahdi and his followers in the final days before the destruction of Earth, Jesus will decline the offer of the Mahdi to lead the Mahdi and company in salat telling the Mahdi to lead. The Mahdi is an Islamic figure in Islamic eschatology, and salat is the Islamic practice of worship of God. The prophecy is narrated in numerous hadith collections. A total of 29 Hadiths relate the return of Jesus, and his prayer with Mahdi's lead. The story is sometimes said to establish the importance the acknowledgement of this by a prophet, namely Jesus.
Hujjat al-Islam Professor Khwaja Muhammad Latif Ansari (1887-1979), alternatively spelled Muḥammad Latīf Anṣārī, was a 20th-century Shia Muslim scholar, poet, historian, and cleric from Pakistan.
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The Verse of Wilāya refers to verse 5:55 of the Quran, the central religious text of Islam. This verse specifies three authorities as the only sources of wilaya for believers. In Sunni Islam, wilaya in this verse means friendship and support, whereas Shia Muslims interpret it as spiritual authority because of its exclusivity.
Al-Nafs al-Zakiyyah, according to Shia Islamic eschatology, is one of the apocalyptic characters that Mahdi will send as his envoy to Mecca before his reappearance which will end the Major Occultation. He will be killed in Mecca and his death is one of the signs of the Mahdi in Shia Islam.
This article deals with verses from the Quran that are said to have been revealed about Ali ibn Abi Talib. In a hadith attributed to Ibn Abbas, he knows more than 300 verses of the Quran about Ali.
Abdilahi Nassir was a Kenyan Shia cleric based in Mombasa. Though raised a Sunni, Nassir converted to Shiism, and in the wake of Iran's Islamic revolution publicly identified himself as Twelver Shia.