Uganda: Mufti Calls for Girls' Education

(Kampala)
March 22, 2006Posted to the web March 22, 2006
Nathan EtenguKampala
The Uganda Muslim supreme Council (UMSC) is to support the education of Muslim girls destabilised by the insurgency in northern Uganda and insecurity in Karamoja.
The Mufti, Sheikh Shaban Ramathan Mubajje, said on Saturday that the UMSC executive had asked its education department to identify Muslim girls and support their education.
He said some had dropped out due to lack of school fees.
Mubajje said UMSC would liaise with the district khadis to identify and recommend the girls for sponsorship.
He said Islam supported the education of girls and that the first verse in the Koran (read in the name of the Lord) was the first revelation that prophet Mohammed received, which made it obligatory for all Muslims to seek knowledge even if it was somewhere in China.
"Any nation that cannot educate its people cannot claim to be an advanced nation. Contrary to the myth and colonial legacy that Islam did not support the education of girls, in Islam seeking knowledge is obligatory," he said.

Mubaje was on Saturday addressing students, staff and parents of Hamdan Girls High School, Mbale, during a thanksgiving ceremony to celebrate the school's performance during the 2005 O'level and A'level examinations.
He said the success of the school was one of the fruits of his leadership that united all the Muslims in the country and enabled them to identify and focus on education as the cornerstone for development.
He said the unity of the Muslims in the country had also enabled the Islamic University in Uganda (IUIU) to advance to higher levels.