The Chief Imam of Liberia Imam Ali Krayee Speaking at the Benson Street Mosque during a program marking the end of Ramadan Sunday, May 24, 2020 said Muslims in the country do not just want food but Islamic public holiday like Christians.
According to Sheik Ali Krayee, Liberia as a country is treading on the wrong path if the basic social rights, like an Islamic holiday and other political rights are not given to Muslims in Liberia.
“We are not threatening anything but our people, the masses of the Muslims people are growing impatient. After this Coronavirus, next year, we will not receive any offer from government until we have our holiday.
We will tell our people, and we want to be very clear, keep your bags of rice if you cannot give us our holiday.”
On several occasions Muslim in the country have frowned on the government of Liberia for failing to granting any Islamic public holiday like their Christian counterpart.
“Our people continue to wonder why is it that Christians are not giving bags of rice during Easter and Christmas, but Muslims are giving bags of rice during Ramadan. No, we (Muslims) don’t want bags of rice, we want holiday,” Iman Krayee adds.
Liberia, a secular state
The Liberian constitution of 1986 states that the country is a secular state- no region has more rights than the other.
Article 14 of the constitution states that “all person shall be entitled to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion”.
According to the 2008 National Census, 85.5% of Liberia’s population practices Christianity. Muslims comprise 12.2% of the population, largely coming from the Mandingo and Vai ethnic groups.
The vast majority of Muslims are Malikite Sunni, with sizeable Shia and Ahmadiyya minorities.
