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Wonder fish awes Kenyan Muslims

AFP, via The Borneo Bulletin, France
May 15, 2006
www.brunet.bn

ReligionNewsBlog.com • Monday May 15, 2006

MOMBASA, Kenya (AFP) – A tuna fish caught in the Indian Ocean this week has excited Kenyan Muslims who are flocking here by the hundreds to see a Quranic verse apparently embedded in its scales.

Dubbed the “wonder fish” by locals in this port city, the 2.5-kilo tuna has attracted so much attention it has been placed in the custody of the National Fisheries Department for safekeeping, officials said. The otherwise ordinary fish caught the attention of fishmonger Omar Mohammed Awadh who pulled it out of a catch when he noticed what seemed to be Arabic writing among the scales near its tail, they said.

Arabic scholars examined the fish and determined the writing was a Quranic verse meaning “God is the greatest of all providers,” said Hassan Mohamed Hassan, an education officer with the National Museums of Kenya in Mombasa.

“This has been confirmed as a verse from the Holy Quran,” said Sheikh Mombasa Dor, the secretary-general of the Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya.

“We believe that God brings these kinds of messages in many forms from time to time and that we should not only read the Holy Book, but practice what it says,” he said.

Mombasa district commissioner Mohamed Maalim agreed.

“It is so clearly spelt,” he said. “That is why we believe that Allah is sending a message to mankind.” Hundreds of Muslims and curiosity seekers flocked to Awadh’s Takaungu Fresh Fish Shop to see the tuna on Friday, prompting concerns for its safety and its removal to a refrigerated locker at the fisheries department.