The president of the High Islamic Council in Mali, West Africa, visited with leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Church sites in Utah this month.
The visit of Sheikh Chérif Ousmane Madani Haïdara — a leader of millions of Muslims in Mali and surrounding areas — is an example of the growing relationship between the Church and Islamic community in the Church’s Africa West Area.
On Tuesday, Nov. 14, Haïdara met with Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Elder Carlos A. Godoy of the Presidency of the Seventy and other Church leaders on Temple Square.
A news release from ChurchofJesusChrist.org said Elder Christofferson presented Haïdara with a French copy of the Book of Mormon during the meeting.
The Muslim leader was traveling with his family, advisors and Yeah Samaké — who is a Latter-day Saint native of Mali, graduate of Brigham Young University and a political figure in Mali.
During the visit to Utah, the delegation toured Welfare Square and the Humanitarian Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, Nov. 10. On Sunday, Nov. 12, the group attended Sunday’s broadcast of “Music & The Spoken Word” and toured the Conference Center. On Monday, they were able to tour the Orem Utah Temple during its open house and visited BYU campus in Provo.
Haïdara has sought to improve interfaith relations and peace building through religious influence in Mali and surrounding areas, said the report.
The Church was officially recognized in Mali in January 2019, and now there are 132 Church members in the country.
Muslim interfaith relations in West Africa
Throughout the countries in the Church’s Africa West Area, Latter-day Saints have joined with their Muslim neighbors to share their commonly held beliefs like faith in God, prophets, scriptures and holy places, reported the Church’s Africa Newsroom.
In April, the Takoradi Ghana Stake Center hosted this year’s Eid Mubarak Festival after the stake found out that Muslims in the area did not have a large enough facility to gather at the end of Ramadan.
More than 1,000 Muslims gathered at the stake center for the religious event. Then in June, the stake center again hosted over 1,500 Muslims celebrating Eid al-Adha,
Church leaders have met with Muslim leaders in West Africa, including a meeting in Accra, Ghana, in June between Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and Ghana’s National Chief Imam.
Leaders from the Church have visited mosques, with Elder Gong leading a group that visited the Grand Mosque in Accra and the Africa West Area presidency visiting the Grand Mosque in Abuja, Nigeria.
Muslim leaders have visited Church buildings, including the Africa West Area offices and Ghana Missionary Training Center. They have attended stake conferences and other meetings throughout the area.
They have also been involved in interfaith religious freedom conferences and summits in Benin and Ghana, a Strengthening Families Conference in Nigeria in June and the African Consortium for Law and Religious Studies held in the Ivory Coast in May.
The Church has participated in several humanitarian projects and efforts that have benefited Muslim communities in West Africa, including building boreholes in 18 villages in Gambia; donating to Islamic schools in Abuja, Nigeria, and Bandu and Accra, Ghana; and providing hundreds of cataract surgeries in Wa, Ghana.
