There is a plan to establish Muslim villages in Trinidad and Tobago.
By Phoolo Danny MaharajHosein, who was earlier this year accused by ASJA of promoting "terrorist-type" ideologies, gave the lecture on the establishment of The Muslim Village in Trinidad and Tobago during a public session at the San Fernando Technical Institute yesterday. The meeting was organised by the San Fernando Jama Masjid.ASJA,Anjuman Sunnat Ul Jamaat Association, the country's largest Muslim organisation , had said Hosein was a "strong security risk." After the charge was made he had a meeting with the police and said he came out the meeting with "profound respect for the Police Service."
At yesterday's function Hosein said the PNM's "black political and economic nationalism" had damaged the body politic through racial polarisation. "Unless we find a way out of the racial dilemma , the country will eventually capsize. "
He a said the Muslim village would transcend the politics of race to seek to establish and sustain healing the balm of a racial fraternity.
Hosein said the village should consist about" 200 or 300 families,"and should be outside the city and the majority of the residents will be Muslims, but non-Muslims will be welcome on condition that they are not hostile to Islam, and that they can conform with the norms of public conduct in the Muslim Village.
He said non-Muslims who visit the village will not be able to "walk with a bottle of beer or walk half-naked down the streets ." He said that "non-Muslims will be welcome to live with us in the village in the way they liven in the past."
He said there would be no mansions and since toilets were considered unclean places, buildings in the village will have no toilets. The village will have its own markets "and all stalls would be free of charge," but people from outside the village would be encouraged to come to the market to shop. The cemetery must be located within the residential area, so that people could visit as often as possible, he added.
The Village will establish its own primary school and combine to establish a secondary school, "but the Muslim schools would not accept any state funding, hence would not be subject to any state control," Hosein said. Education, he added, will be based entirely on a system established ed by To establish the village, Hosein spoke about three stages ,including a mass programme of public education , the establishment of week-end villages as a prelude to the permanent fixture.
