I think I tend to agree with brother Omar Joof when it comes to Imam Fatty
and Jammeh. Imam Fatty is an Imam who wants to let muslims in the Gambia know
what the Qur'anic rulings regarding our everyday life is, and the need to adhere
to the rules as set forth by the Qur'an and Jammeh was using the occasion as
a political tool to woo the muslim majority and leadership to his camp.
Now weather the Imam saw this or not is debatable, however, Shariah law
explicitly emphasizes the protection of the rights of non muslims at all cost, and
therefore, Imam Fatty as an Islamic scholar should have known that his only
role as an Imam should have been to direct his advice and chastisement at the
muslims,urging them to know the Sunna of the Prophet and to apply that knowledge
to their everyday lives and actions, and should not have gotten involved in
delegating the wishes of the Jammeh regime in threatening to lay down laws
that are Qur'anic directives for muslims to apply to the population at large when
that population is comprised of muslims as well as Christians and other
religions.
if Jammeh was such a devout muslim who was interested in promoting awareness
and knowledge of our religion to his fellow muslims, he could have done this
by privately encouraging the imams to use their various mosques to teach the
Sunna to their various congregations, and not make the issue a state affair.
I think that building a mosque at state house and making him the Imam there
would not have been a big deal if Jammeh's only reason for building the mosque
was to accord him and those members of the staff who are muslims a secure
place to go and do their 5 daily prayers without the pomp and ceremony of a
presidential escort to go to the mosque 5 times in the day( The Qur'an says that
prayers performed at congregation are much more superior that those performed
individually, ,and that men should go to the Masjid to perform the 5 daily
prayers). However, I think it has become amply clear that Jammeh is not such a
devout muslim because of the many things he has done that are clearly against the
teachings of the Qur'an and which any conscientious muslim whould never do. So
his motives for building the mosque at state house were not honourable and
was most likely something he saw as beneficial in his attempts to garner good
relations with the muslim states, in other words, his "Allah's World Bank" guys.
I think Imama Fatty made a mistake by not adhering to the teachings of the
Qur'an which are never intolerant and always fair and just to all, and which
would have guided him as to how to act in all of the situations that came up in
the past, but instead, he bowed to Jammeh's wishes and intermingled the
teachings of the Qur'an with the desires of the president to propagandize the whole
affair, and the end result is that Jammeh got used to having the Imam not
tell him the real rulings of the Qur'an and refusing to politicize them.
I also do not agree that building a mosque at State house precludes a
Christian head of State if the purpose was as mentioned above, and in the case that
we have a Christian head of State, those members of his staff who are muslims
can use the premises. The presence of the mosque does not preclude anyone of
another faith being there. This in my view will be one of the real indications
that we are indeed a seculiar society where one religion does not attempt to
force their rules on another.
I think that given the history of Muslims, Christians and animists getting
along very well in our country, these matters would not have been an issue had
it not been for Jammeh's attempts to use religion as his own personal tool.
I think we have to be careful that in our attempts to seem fair, we do not
swing over too far and end up adopting the values of one religion over another,
and that we make sure that we do not try to interfere with our various
religious leaders trying to guide their congregations accordign to the Qur'an or the
Bible or whatever religious text they deem relevant to their religious
practice.
In Islam, we are told that there is no compulsion in religion and that
everyone has a right to decide what they watn to worship and that Allah is the final
judge. Our only obligation is to relay what the Qur'an tells us.
There are strict rulings in the Qur'an regarding all matters in the life of a
muslim, and it si incumbent upon our Imams to relay these guidelines to the
people, indeed, ,the Qur'an says the ywill be judged if they fail to do this.
I think the true test as to whether we are a real secular society rests on
our ability to let each religious group adhere to the rulings of, and practice
their religion without obeliterating either one to palcate the others and
thinking that that is secularism.
We must not impose our religion on anyone, but we cannot also let others
force us not to adhere to the rules of our religion. This should have been the
simple response and solution to this veil affair.
Jabou Joh
In a message dated 8/10/03 6:10:14 AM Central Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:>
>
> Dr. Ebrima Sall,
>
> I agree entirely with your position on the current line of debate. I am
> however uneasy about your including Imam Fatty's name in that list of honourable
> Gambians, who in so many different ways stand out in the struggle for true
> democracy, Human Rights, the right to free expression and association, and
> religious tolerance.
>
> All Imam Fatty did was to express his right to free speech by taking his
> Boss to task on a matter close to his heart. But throughtout the past, the
> reputable Imam has championed nothing except to chorus the opportunistic forays
> of President Jammeh in destroying the 100-year old peaceful calm between
> Muslims and other Faiths in Gambia since the end of the Marabout -Soninke wars at
> the end of the 19th century.
>
> (In a recent editorial run on the Independent D. A Jawo claimed that Muslims
> and Christians lived peacefully for four hundred years in Gambia. This view
> was echoed by someone else subsequently. I do not know why 50 years of
> fighting between the Soninke and Marabouts that began around 1849 seemed to have
> escaped from memory. This period in Gambia history was one of religious
> bloodletting fanned by political incentives.)
>
> Since President Jammeh came to power, he deliberately tried to desecularise
> the Gambian State first creating a ministerial portfolio of seceretary of
> religious affairs, constructed a mosque on State House grounds and appointed
> Fatty as its Imam, an action which itself precludes the probability of a
> Christian Head of State in Gambia. This was not just a clear violation of the
> Constitution, but by subsequently harrying the Ahmaddiya out of the country through
> sectarian instigation, and toying with the idea of introducing Sharia in
> Gambia, Jammeh managed to tear up the congenial mutual tolerance that obtained
> for a hundred years between various Gambian Faiths.
> Gambian society has seen a clear tendency towards Islamization with
> increased intolerance towards catholics and animists; and all the while this Imam was
> behind the President, prodding him in his anarchic religious adventures.
> Imam Fatty infact was once advocating a ban on contraception for Gambia women, a
> truely medieval cast of opinion only made tolerable because of being veiled
> by heavy layers of muslim kaftans.
> The Imam may be a true muslim, but he clearly reeks of intolerance and
> reaction. He does not belong in a line of Gambian heroes.
>
> Cheers,
> Momodou S Sidibeh.
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Ebrima Sall" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Saturday, August 09, 2003 2:49 PM
> Subject: Re: Fresh Standoff Over Veil, Imbroglio State House Imam Confronts
> Jammeh
>
>
> > Dear friends,
> >
> > I don't often join debates on the L, but I would like to share my feelings
> about this issue, which I think is fundamental.
> >
> > I find the tone of the message below from Mr Jallow very disturbing. For
> our own good, we MUST have people in Gambian society who have the courage and
> moral authority to voice out the truth, whatever it takes. It would be very
> foolish for anybody to to think that intimidation or terror-physical or
> verbal-tactics will prevent people from thinking, or saying what they think. We
> should be proud that we have people in our society who have the courage,
> integrity and commitment to truth and to our national interest of a Honourable
> Halifa Sallah, D.A. Jawo, Imam Fatty, Baboucarr Gaye, George Christensen, Sidia
> Jatta, Sam Sarr, Bishop Tilewa Johnson, Dr Lenrie Peters, Amie Sillah, and MANY
> OTHERS, like we have had the Dickson Colleys and the Edward Smalls, and
> many, many others .
> >
> > The worst thing that could ever happen to our country would be for only
> people singing praises to the president being allowed to preach in churches and
> in mosques, or speak on radio and TV, or write in newspapers, or make other
> forms of intervention in the public sphere. In this particular, case, I see
> nothing in the Imam's sermon that warrants threats such as this one in Mr
> Jallow's message:
> >
> > "...Jammeh will soon put such characters to check with alacrity".
> >
> > The sermon seems to me to be very carefully worded, and very respectful.
> After all, he is just being true to himself, and to the teachings of a
> religion that most Gambians claim to live by.
> >
> > Mosques, churches, and newspapers are all part of civil society, and it is
> quite amazing for someone living in America, seeing how strongly people feel
> about their freedoms, to think that our standards should or could be lower
> in hat regard. The good thing about the 'liberal democracy' that Mr Jallow is
> refering to is that it leaves space for different views to be expressed. What
> makes a public sphere liberal is the fact that it is a sphere in which
> critical public discussion of matters of general interest is institutionally
> guaranteed.
> >
> > What anybody who feels offended by the sermon, or other public statements
> made by people in politics or in civil society should do is to consult a
> lawyer and see whether there is a case for defamation/libel or whatever they
> think they ought to seek redress for. That too would be a way of respecting our
> own institutions.
> >
> > I think President Jammeh is much more intelligent and much more
> magnanimous than most people would like to think, and I hope that he will ignore the
> hawks and protect, and further nurture the growth of our democracy, by letting
> the public discussions on this and other issues go on as long as is
> necessary.
> >
> > I wrote this contribution to the debate simply as a concerned, very
> ordinary Gambian citizen, with no desire to lecture anybody.
> >
> > Have a pleasant weekend!
> >
> > Ebrima Sall
> >
> >
> >
> > Ebou Jallow <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> > Jabou,
> >
> > This is one classical case that supports the argument for the
> > separation of church and state in a liberal society. It is wrong for
> > the clergy to engage in politics by preaching from the pulpit. In any
> > case Jammeh will soon put such characters to check with alacrity.
> >
> > The real Imam Fatty is a demagogue and a closet fundamentalist
> > terrorist cum Bin Ladin.
> >
> > Ebou
> >
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> > To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to:
> http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l
> > To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
> > [log in to unmask]
> >
> > To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
> Web interface
> > at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
> >
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >
> >
> >
> > ---------------------------------
> > Do you Yahoo!?
> > Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software
> >
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> > To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to:
> http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l
> > To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
> > [log in to unmask]
> >
> > To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
> Web interface
> > at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
> >
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to:
> http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l
> To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
> [log in to unmask]
>
> To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
> Web interface
> at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
