Updated Sunday, September 29th 2013 at 09:34 GMT +3
By ISAAC MESO
KENYA: The Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims will hold national prayers at the KICC in commemoration of those who lost their lives at the Westgate attack
Speaking at their offices, Shariff Hussein Omar, the council’s organising secretary, said they are organising prayers on October 2 to pray for the country and families of those who lost their lives.
Omar asked Muslims to come out in large numbers to show their support at this time when the country was reeling from the terror attack .
“We ask our brothers and sisters to attend a National Prayer Day we have slated for October 2. We want to assure our fellow Kenyans that we are with them at this time of grief and we condemn the attacks that took place at Westgate since it is inhuman our religion does not support taking of another person’s life with such cruelty” he said
Mr Omar also took issue on how the government handled the Westgate attack.
Peaceful religion
He said Kenyans should be told what really transpired at Westgate “as the government isn’t being honest enough with the issue since no news had been relayed about the missing persons and whether the terrorist escaped or not”.
“We need to know what really happened. All we have are speculations from different sources and the government has been really defensive on the number of missing persons after the rescue operations,” he said.
The Muslim leader also denounced claims that the terrorists were acting on behalf of Muslim faithful and that the attack was religious.
He described Islam as a peaceful religion and that the terrorists were Muslim extremists who were using the religion to serve their own interest.
Meanwhile, Mr Omar has called on Muslim faithful interested in visting Mecca for prayers to apply for their visas early.
The Kenya Hajj Commissioner has this year organised 4,500 visas for Muslims wishing to visit Mecca for their pilgrimage.
This has been made possible through collaboration between SUPKEM and Dr Bandar Mohammud, the Saudi Minister for Hajj.
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