NAIROBI—Five Churches in Rangwe Constituency in Homabay County that were transformed into Mosques after their followers converted to Islam will next week open their doors for Muslim faithful.
According to the Chief Executive Of- ficer (CEO) of Greenfield Society, Omar Al Bashir Otieno, the opening ceremony of the 5 former churches converted into Mosques will be held on December 25 at Dago Jamia Mosque in Rangwe.
“We have lined up a series of programs starting with the official opening of the 5 mosques on the 25th, December,2020. Our team will also be traveling to Rarieda in Siaya county, Mbita and Bondo for Da’awah activities,’’ Al Bashir said.
The immediate churches under Bishop Joseph Mbori who would later become Yusuf Mbori closed their doors and their
followers numbering 153 embraced Islam in 2019.The churches were affiliated to the famous Roho Israel churches that had spread in Homa Bay County and had branches in Kodera,Kachar and Ndiru respectively.
It all started in September 2017 when the then Bishop of the God’s Call Church of East Africa, a church in the far flung village of Nyalgosi,Rangwe constituency in Homa Bay county ,Charles Okwany embraced Islam together with 23 other members of his church.and became Ismail Okwany after reading a Luo translation of the noble Qur’an authored by Sheikh Omar al Bashir Otieno.
The 65-year-old former Bishop made history, the first of its kind in the country after he converted his church into a Mosque. The mosque is the first Muslim place of
worship in Kagan Ward which has more than 200 churches.
On February 14, 2019, the quiet village of Nyalgosi was abuzz with activity after receiving visitors from near and far who trooped in to witness the official opening of the mosque.
The visitors included Sheikh Muhammad Swalihu, the Imam of Jamia mosque Nairobi, Sheikh Khalfan Khamis of Majlis Ulamaa Kenya, representatives from the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims (SUPKEM) and the Kisumu based Da’wa Development Group.
Also among the notable visitors were a delegation from Hayrat Foundation of Turkey.
The Foundation had earlier facilitated Ismail Okwany to travel to Turkey to study Human development.
