Sheikh rejects Diamond’s Kigoma mosque calling it ‘haram’

Dar es Salaam. One of Tanzania’s top respected Muslims Sheikh Ponda Issa Ponda has faulted fellow Muslim leaders in Kigoma for accepting a mosque built by Bongo Flava artiste  Diamond Platinumz.

The controversial cleric, who is the Secretary General of Tanzania Institute of Islamic Community, termed the Mosque Masjidi Al Aziz built by Diamond as haram.

Sheikh Ponda Issa argues that his peers went against the teachings of Islam by accepting the mosque because it was built from proceeds of the secular world considering what Diamond does for a living.

Ponda also blasted his peers for holding a special prayer session for Diamond following the gesture so that he may receive more blessings.

In Sheikh Ponda’s view, that will never happen because the funds used to build Masjidi Al Aziz were not pure and sourced as per Islamic teachings and laws, he told a local news paper yesterday Friday, January 11, 2020.

Diamond officially handed the mosque to the Kigoma Islamic clerics on the December 31, 2019 to mark 10 years in the music industry which was also commemorated with a train journey from Dar es Salaam to Kigoma.