National Assembly Majority leader Aden Duale on Saturday declared that he would lead the national assembly to petition against the Chief Kadhi Ahmed Muhdha over the Idd ul-Adha holiday date.
Taking to his social media, the Jubilee legislator added that the religious leader was out of order on his stance against Interior CS Fred Matiang'i's decision to declare Tuesday a holiday.
"Chief Khadhi is out of order and should not fault Cabinet Secretary on Idd ul-Adha holiday date. This will divide Muslims.
"We shall send a petition to the Judicial Service Commission to discuss the conduct of the Chief Khadhi for an abuse of office in the discharge of his duties as provided in article 170 of the constitution of Kenya 2010," he tweeted on Saturday.
[caption caption="Chief Kadhi Ahmed Muhdhar addressing the press during a past Eid Ul Fitr celebrations"]
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Duale added that the Constitution of Kenya provides for Kadhi's courts to decide disputes of personal law among Muslims - marriage, divorce and inheritance.
"The 2018 Hajj will take place from August the 19th - 24th. The second day of the pilgrimage is known as the “Day of Arafat” and it comes before "Eid Ul Adha". The second Eid celebrations in Islamic calendar thus Monday is "Yammul Arafat" and Tuesday is "Eid ul Adha" he explained.
Duale's remarks come after Mudhar announced that the CS went against his advice that the celebrations be marked on Wednesday, August 22 in line with the Muslim calendar.
“I wrote to him before the announcement indicating that Muslims would celebrate Idd on Wednesday but he went ahead to declare Tuesday as the public holiday.
"Those who will pray on Tuesday are following Saudi Arabia time, we are supposed however to follow local time and sightings,” Muhdhar was quoted by the Star.
At the same time, Muslim clerics appealed to lawmakers to enshrine the coming Idd-ul-Adha celebrations in the Constitution as a permanent holiday.
Speaking on Saturday, the Council of Imams and Preachers organising secretary Sheikh Mohammed Khalifa noted that the move would create religious harmony.
Sheikh Khalifa stated: “We hope the government will heed to our call and make this holiday a consistent one. It will go a long way in uniting Kenyans on religious grounds.”
[caption caption="Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya (CIPK) organizing secretary Sheikh Khalifa Mohammed and Mombasa county vice secretary Omar Juma during a media briefing in Mombasa"]
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