:: Dhivehi Observer :: Peoples Press ::

All ears to him — Fareed's popularity rises as religious preacher and leader of Friday prayer

by Moosa Latheef - Huvaas 26 December 2001
translated and edited by Maldives Culture

Every morning at 5.30 am when the Voice of Maldives began to broadcast Koran he was sitting beside the radio in his house. On the radio was Qari Mahamood Khaleelu Husri singing the Koran. By the age of ten, the boy has been listening regularly to the half hour broadcasts, and he is deeply impressed by the Qari's reading.

Ibrahim Fareed Ahmed learned his first lesson in reciting Koran by listening to the radio on his home island, Kuda Huvadhoo island, Dhaalu atoll. Twenty years later Fareed is among the most popular leaders of the Friday prayer in Maldives. Many people like the way he delivers the Friday Prayer sermon and his recitation of the Koran.

Sometimes people phone the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs office enquiring about the mosque where Fareed, 29, will be leading Friday Prayer.

'A sizeable number of people phone us to find out where Fareed will be,' said a person working in Supreme Council. 'Not only for the Friday prayer, but also where he will be preaching. Most enquiries are about the mosques in which Farooq (Sheikh Ahmed Farooq) and Fareed will be preaching.'

As soon as he began to develop the noble and graceful habit of reciting Koran, Fareed made every effort to hone those skills. He won the Koran recitation competitions held in Dhaalu atoll at a very young age, including the Koran recitation competion held in 1980 to mark the beginning of the new Hijra century, where he won the first place.

'I began with the radio,' said Fareed. 'Mahamood Khaleelu Husri's recitation was very beautiful. Shortly after I began to listen to him I began to copy his style. Later on it became very easy.'

However, the public only recently began to hear Fareed's voice. That was when he completed a first degree in law and Sharia and returned to Maldives and began to lead Friday prayers. In his first appearance at the Islamic Centre leading a Friday prayer during the fasting month of the year 1421 (December 2000), he attracted the attention of many people.

'I can remember the Friday Prayer I led in the Islamic Centre. Many people phoned and congratulated me. I thanked everyone,' said Fareed.

Fareed delivers the sermon very loudly. He grabs the attention of the listeners. When he reads verses of Koran and Hadith in the sermon some people think he is an Arab. Many people really like his recitation style.

Fareed is said to belong to a Fua Mulaku family living in Dhaalu Kuda Huvadhoo. Ahmed Jamal Ali and Hajara Abdul Rahman have four children and Fareed is the eldest. But Fareed's father has four other children with another woman and hence Fareed is his father's fifth child.

Ibrahim Fareed Ahmed Fareed studied at Mauhad, a Government Islamic school in Malé, but before completing secondary education there, he received a three year secondary school education scholarship from Qatar. Soon after finishing the course, he was given the opportunity to study for his first degree in Qatar. After graduation he returned to Maldives in 1997.

Fareed attempts to make the utmost impact in the hearts of the people with the most important religious preaching, that is the Friday prayer sermon which is given only once a week.

'I try to deliver to the public the message of the Friday prayer sermon in the spirit that it requires, and provide an uplifting feeling to the hearts of the people. A sermon should not be read out as a lesson, or told like a story,' said Fareed.

Fareed now receives invitations from all over Maldives and he has visited many islands to deliver religious sermons. Fareed is satisfied with the work he has carried out in making the general public aware of religion.