11/04/2024
IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, THE MOST GRACIOUS, THE MOST MERCIFUL
May His peace and tranquility be upon our noble prophet Muhammad ﷺ , his comrades and household and anyone that will emulate them in piety until the last day.
As to what follows, Allah has commanded all believers to strive (for the triumph) on his path. In light of this divine command, the leadership of Cave Foundation embarked on a two-day trip to Gbutu’u and its neighboring communities in the Kariga district. This took place between 1st – 3rd April 2024.
On the 1st of April, four members of the leadership of Cave Foundation set off from Tamale at about 2:30pm. Within two hours, the team arrived at Sung and picked up a brother who is a native of the area and together we went through the journey smoothly with the mercy of Allah. By 6pm, we arrived at our destination and the necessary community entry protocols were observed. We met the community imam who led us to the chief for us to reveal our purpose of visit. We were received with a warm ambience. By the end of the entry protocols, it was time for iftar. The brothers returned to the masjid which was our place of lodge to break our fast with the community members. We observed Magrib and subsequently Isha and Taraweeh with the people of the community.
We started our activities in our first night in the community. The team had a da’wah session, this session was witnessed by people from at least five communities. The topic for this session was centered on the concept of Islam, Iman and their respective pillars. This topic was chosen by carefully considering the nature of the people and their geographical location. The session was duly introduced to the audience by Imam Abdulai Iddrisu Alhassan and the discussion was carried out by Imam Fadlan and Imam Shuaib. It was an interesting session; the team noticed the peoples’ unquenching interest in the topic that was being handled. No matter how long the discussion would have lasted the people were willing to listen, the team had to use a tactical approach to bring the session to a completion. The session ended at about 11:30pm and all the team retired to rest. We spent the night with some other people who came from very far communities to witness the session and could not return to their homes due to how deep the night had gone.
Alhamdulillah, everyone woke up healthy the next morning. We had our dawn meal with the Imam of the community and some other brothers who were yet to return to their various communities. Another session was held after Fajr in the masjid, this session was handled by Imam Abdul-Khaliq. The discussion was on the virtues of the last ten days of Ramadan and the need to intensify our efforts in these days.
By 6:00am on the same day, the team visited another community named ‘Sadugu’. By 8:00am, we started another session with the inhabitants of the community. This session was held in their masjid, a masjid that needs immediate intervention. The session was handled by Imam Fadlan and Imam Shuaib. The topic was also on Islam, Iman and their respective pillars. This was also an extremely interesting session. It was completed by 11:30pm, the team returned to Gbutu’u and observed Zuhr and rested.
After Asr, another session was staged on the topic of purification in Islam. The topic of ablution, gusul and tayammum was thoroughly discussed by Imam Fadlan and Imam Shuaib. This session was so interesting that we could not discuss the topic of salat which was initially part of the plan. The entire time was therefore dedicated to the topic of purification, performing ablution was practically demonstrated to the people. This was an eye opener, this practical demonstration left some of the audience making remarks like “we have been playing all these years thinking we were performing ablution”. This is to say that this session had a massive impact on the people. The session ended just before iftar. We broke our fast, took some rest and prayed Isha and Taraweeh.
After Isha of our first day, we had to visit another community called ‘Yiling’ which was not originally part of our schedule. The people of this community pleaded that we visit them. At about 8:30pm we started a session with the people of ‘Yiling’. The topic was on salat which was handled by Imam Fadlan and Imam Shuaib. This session was also graced with the practical demonstration of how the prophet observed salat. This session got so interesting and interactive such that we had to strategically bring it to a halt. We were approached by another community that expressed their interest in having us at their community the next day, unfortunately we could not meet their request due to our tight schedules. We promised to visit them soon. The team returned to Gbutu’u by 12am and had their night rest.
Alhamdulillah, we all woke up healthy on the second day and had our sahur and observed Fajr. We had a short session with the people and commenced our exit protocols. We handed over the items of donation we had to the chief and imam of the community to handle the distribution. By 6:30am, the team set off and arrived at Tamale at about 10:30am.
Observations and recommendations
The masjid at Gbutu’u is in a substandard state, it can barely accommodate the Muslim population of Gbutu’u, but it serves as the masjid of jumu’a for not less than five communities. Hence, we thought it wise to take it up and get them a befitting masjid that can handle the Muslim population of Gbutu’u and its surrounding communities for the next decade.
Another incidence of a masjid that is in dire need of immediate intervention was observed in ‘Sadugu’. The masjid was constructed by the collective efforts of the inhabitant of the community. This particular masjid has not been floored nor plastered and it stands the risk of complete destruction if the rains come, and the plastering is not done. Our interaction with them revealed that at least 30 bags of cement could salvage the situation. We also observed that we may need mats in this masjid. Therefore, we are calling on brethren to contribute in salvaging the situation, you can do so by giving at least a bag of cement; leaders of Cave Foundation have taken the lead in course, some have already pledged bags of cement.
It was also observed that the females in all the communities we visited were not properly dressed when they came to observe salat. As such we wish to launch a ‘one hijab, one veil’ project. We wish to get a good number of hijabs and veils which will be donated to our sisters in faith on our next visit.
