Thank you brother Momodou.  I align myself with what you've said in your
piece.  I consider Fatty an opportunist, a hypocrite of the highest order
who is quite selective on the issues he speaks out on.  Between Jammeh and
him, I wonder who will be rushed through the gates of hellfire as we are
told God does not like hypocrites or murderers.

Soffie

-----Original Message-----
From: Momodou S Sidibeh [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Sunday, August 10, 2003 6:10 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Fresh Standoff Over Veil, Imbroglio State House Imam
Confronts Jammeh


Sister Jabou Joh wrote:

"...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."

I naturally agree that it should have been that simple. But the issue of the
veil arose without doubt as a consequence of unprecendented direct
politicization of religion in Gambia since Jammeh's seizure of power. It is
also perhaps true that the President saw the construction of a mosque on
State House grounds as a simple practical affair. But then he and other
council members, as per Ebou Jallow's narrative, must have overlooked the
powerful symbolism inherent in that act. In a culture as oral as ours the
state itself is usually associated with the corporeal character of the head
of state. Being openly partisan in his thinking and practice it is very easy
for ordinary people to associate the mosque as an integral property of the
Gambian state, and Jammeh, as you mentioned,  used this very blurred
distinction between the state and his person to maximum effect. He was not
just appointed president by Allah, but he claimed effectively that he has
limitless access to credit at Allah's Department of the Treasury. His Samory
Touray regalia removed any lingering doubt that he was "mansa". Jammeh is
the state and the state is Jammeh, with the power to rule by decree (no
Nawetan for ruralists!), send opponents six feet deep, and other impossible
feats. His homilies and his actions all combined to encourage the
mushrooming of little mosque all over the country, the creation of Islamic
Brotherhood organizations, and the creeping ascendancy of a general
militiant Islamic outlook, all of this enhanced by homeless Arab money.

True, all this should be accepted as the inalienable right of muslims to
express their religious belief. But in a society where religious instruction
is still prone to misinterpretations and misrepresentations, and where
democratic ideals and individual freedoms are still to grow deeper roots, a
militant religious outlook may hold sway over constitutionally sanctioned
individual freedoms. (I am aware of two occasions when young ladies,
considered to have been inapropriately dressed, had their bodies sliced with
razor blades by a hysterical mob. The last instance was in Brikama.
A mulsim cleric from Gunjur (actually an uncle of mine) went on high gear
campaigning against the nomination by the APRC of Mendy who was manjago and
catholic on the grounds that the former was a non-muslim and so the people
of Kombo South should not vote for him. My uncle was unfortunately too vocal
in his rejection of the APRC nominee on religious grounds. So one bad night
he was visited by the NIA and disappered for a week. When he was eventually
released, he came home, turned mute, locked himself up from public view
until the 1996 elections were. Some folks from Gunjur still tease me with
questions about the treatment my uncle suffered at the hands of the NIA; a
treatment so severe the preacher turned silent. (My mom is baby sister to
the mother of Lamin Darboe, former chief). My uncle got the cue from
indirect presidential instigation. It was too late for him to learn that the
symbolism was more opportunistic than sincere).

Finally, I tend to think also that what we describe in passing as peaceful
coexistence with our christian neighbours is highly relative. While the
heated debate on Sharia was raging in Gambia, I could not help thinking that
Gambian christians and animists must be duely terrified by the prospect of
an Islamic state. But given their great numerical inferiority, what can they
do except watch and listen in fear? a fear which the rest of us muslims
hardly noticed.

I want to believe that muslims like oursselves need to practice our religion
fully and devoutly. But we must do that in such a way that those who are not
muslims FEEL that in spite of that practise they have an equal chance not
only of economic and political representation, but to security and social
justice. In that regard, Imam Fatty's exhortations, especially his fiendish
pronouncement to the effect that "..muslims mourn while christians laugh..."
is dangerous demagoguery.
I should still persuade my brother Ebrima Sall to remove Imam Fatty's name
from his list of those great Gambians. He should not share the same podium
with Halifa, or Sidia, or Sam.

With deepest respects,

Momodou S Sidibeh



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