By John Njenga
Around this time five years ago, Amir Omar 35, was a member of a youthful squad of young boys that bullied residents of Mombasa’s sprawling estate of Majengo. Although, he had been brought up in a strict religious setting, Amir still went wayward when he completed his O levels in 1999.
The young man would today have graduated into one very hard-core criminal but something changed his life early 2008 just when Kenya was experiencing the infamous post election violence.
“I had tuned my small radio to one of the music and entertainment stations but all they were playing were patriotic songs urging Kenyans to put down arms so that the turmoil being experienced in the country could come to an end. I fumbled with the radio trying to tune it to other stations and I ended up at Radio Salaam FM, then a new Islamic radio station,” he told The PLU early this week.
He encountered a religious teachings programme that evoked passionate memories of the many Islamic lessons he had received in the Madrassa years back. He says the programme forced him to re-look his life afresh.
“I realized I had gone astray. I felt like the cleric speaking in the programme was personally speaking to me. I cried that day looking back at the many days I had wasted. I decided to reform and go back to my parents and to my religion,” Amir recalls. Today, he is a reformed man who never misses his prayers in the mosque and who is a real inspiration to thousands of young men still mired in the web of crime looking for escape routes.
But what is important in Amir’s remarkable story is the fact that he got redemption after listening to an Islamic station. As Ibrahim Mahmud, the Programmes Controller at Radio Salaam FM explains, this is just one of the many case studies of people whose lives have been transformed by the radio stations.
“We do our best to bring back to the fold those who have lost direction. While it is not easy, we have recorded many success stories,” says Mahmud who has been at the station since its inception in 2006.
Sheikh Mahmud says the station broadcasts in Swahili 24 hours a day, featuring news and information that is aimed at enlightening both Muslims and non-Muslims. The station also hosts various Muslim teachers, preachers and scholars in daily programmes that are very popular among the Muslim community in the Coast, North-Eastern and Nairobi regions where it broadcasts.
“What encourages us is that Muslim preachers and scholars are always ready to come to the station to guide and teach the Ummah on Islamic teachings. They have never failed us and they are part of our success in helping transforming the lives of so many,” he avers.
But like other similar stations, Radio Salaam has also been experiencing financial problems that have made it difficult to fulfill its mission effectively. Companies including those owned by Muslims shy away from supporting the station through advertisements which is the only way a radio station can generate income.
“It is ironical that everybody seems to enjoy the role we play but no one is willing to support us financially. All the funds to sustain the station come from the owner who may eventually get weary. We must pay rent, pay staff among other expenses,” Sheikh Mahmud explains adding that in spite of these challenges the station has still been able to support noble causes like the building of Mosques, schools and other Islamic institutions besides organizing events such as Iftars during the Ramadan fast.
Apart from Radio Salaam, there is Radio Rahma also based in Mombasa and Nairobi’s Iqra FM, both of which have dedicated their channels to Kenya Muslims.
And of course there is the recently launched Horizon TV, the first full spectrum Islamic TV which is broadcasting on digital platforms. The station is owned by Nairobi’s Jamia Mosque.
During its launch, Jamia Mosque Committee Chairman Sheikh Osman Warfa said the channel’s content aims to correct misconceptions about Islam and Muslims and nurture constructive dialogue, tolerance and cooperation among all Kenyans.
With such new initiatives coming up, it is becoming increasingly clear that Muslims across the country will no longer lament about being left out in media representation as has been the case for many years.
