Kid Sheikh Dazzles Muslim World

Kid Sheikh Dazzles Muslim World

Daily Observer; Tuesday March 9, 1999; Banjul, The Gambia

For many months the strange story of a wonderkid from Arusha, Tanzania has been circulating in the grapevine. When we received a write-up on him three weeks ago, we censored it in the beliefe that it appeared too spurious to be true. But the story of the four-year old Sheikh Sherifdeen Khalifa is proving to be an enduring enigma, as spun in this story culled from a recent edition of the Nigerian weekly, Tempo.

His story belongs to one of the dozen wonders (or is it seven?) of the ancient world. It's almost implausible: a two year old (now four) preacher, spreads Islamic gospel and sermonises like a knowledgeable adult!

Sheikh Khalifa Sherifdeen's world is, however, neither medieval, nor ancient. He lives in the present. He never went to school yet he reads the Qur'an and Bible. He stopped breast-feeding at two months.

At Itakete, in Benin Republic, the kid-preacher sermonised about the death inevitability of death, the totality of God's power over all; that all, except Allah, (Almighty God) are going to die, questioning where will the rich and kings be on the day of Qiyama (resurrection). He listed five questions which Allah (God) will ask every soul on the day of ressurection. They are: How did you spend your time on earth? How did you spend your youth? How did you take care of the poor?; Did you use the knowledge given to you properly?

He enjoined believers to confess their sins and refuse to go back to it.

He sermonised over God's abhorrence of sundry vices: drinking, adultery excessive thirst for lucre, etc. All those he capped with a long prayer in Arabic.

Most times while he spoke, he still exhibited infant traits. Very often, while sitting, he is either swinging his multi-colored, white-dominated white canvass or fiddling with tip a of the table cloth. At a stage, the kid preacher was caught sucking his right thumb, while he asked the audience to be less noisy, covering his mouth with his palm in gesticulation.

When a middle-aged Christian asked if Jesus Christ wa coming back, Khalifa Sherifdeen answered in the affirmative. One of the signs of Jesus' return, says Khalifa is the appearance of strange, small children like him talking like adults. While another person asked him how many years he was going to spend on earth as the town (Itakete) was awash with rumours that he will be only 10. His response was that life belongs to the Almighty alone.

Another Christian woman asked him whether everybody should become a Muslim or remain as Christians following the teachings of Jesus and whether he (Sherifdeen Khalifa) was a Prophet of God? He responded in the negative to the last question, saying he was a creature of God- the same God that created Jesus.

He riled not a few Christians in the audience when he said Jesus was a creature of God. The youthful innocence and upperturbed mien of the kid preacher was however noticeable. He carried on as if nothing was amiss.

Now four years old, Khalifa Sherifdeen is creating waves across the Muslim world, traversing international borders at will. He has been to Cameroon, Kenya, Congo, Malta, Chad, and Benin Republic, where he met and preached to Beninoise president Mathieu Kerekou.

Muslims also claim he had converted thousands of non-Muslimsto the Muslim faith. In Nigeria, he is the rave of the moment in Muslim homes, as video cassettes of his sermons, pictures, almanacs and stickers, become progressively popularised. And as zealots of all faiths are wont to do, Muslim faithful are crashing in on the Khalifa miracle to call the Non-Muslims to embrace their faith. Says Chief Imam of Horin Mallam Mohammed Abashir, "Khalifa Sherifdeen is a miracle from our God, Allah. It is a divine testimony from Him about the authenticity and truth of the Islamic faith.

Born four years ago in Arusha, Tanzania, to Christian parents of the Catholic tradition Kahlifa, reports say, converted his mother Domisia kimaro and father Francis Fundinkira to Islam before he began his transborder evangelism-all with his unusually oversized head.

A ringing minus however dot Khalifa's sermons, translators are too many while sermon arrangements could be somewhat rowdy.