Have too many Africans and Gambians in particular invested too much in their deen [Arabic word for religion], to the point that, we are blinded to facts and became intellectually dishonest?
This morning I opened the Daily Observer (The Gambia’s main newspaper), the headline by the Minister of Transport, Works, Infrastructure and National Assembly Matters, reads; “Western Powers will not dictate Gambia”. With the transformation of The Gambia into an Islamic State, can we to conclude that The Gambia is being dictated by Eastern Powers (Arabs)? Some of President Jammeh’s rhetorics are his claim of being a Pan-Africanist and Europe’s colonialisation of African for 400 hundred years. Less, he fails to inform Gambians that the Arabs enslaved Africans from the 8th through the 19th centuries. Today, we have rampant modern slavery in the Middle East, young African men and women are transported to gulf countries like Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar, to name a few, under the pretext of a temporary work program. On the contrary, these young Africans are forced into domestic slavery and prostitution.
Intellectual dishonesty does not surpass our leaders omitting a major part of history or using a few excerpts from scriptures to brainwash their people. Since 1994 Yahya Jammeh has been lambasting the Europeans for their wrongs in the past, but has given the Arabs a free pass for both past and present wrongs. Indeed, Europeans have been trying to correct their wrongs to Africa in the form of aid and education. On the other hand, Arabs efforts are mainly focused on injecting their culture and religious values in Africa to further enslave its people. In The Gambia’s case, recent economic aid from the Arabs are containers full of dates and hijabs. In education, they offer scholarship to young Gambians and radicalized them to become fanatics. When these young minds return home, they in turn indoctrinate the masses, and today, we have the Islamic Republic of The Gambia.
The idiom “Putting all eggs in one basket “, is a dangerous thing to do in all walks of life. Gambians have invested so much in religion to a point of no return. It is so bad that it does not matter what problem we are faced with, be it economical, psychological, medical, etc.; instead of going to an economist, psychiatrist or doctor to look for answers, we always call upon an Imam and ask, what does the deen say about it? When someone does something bad or evil, the immediate response by a majority of Gambians is, “he or she is not a Muslim”, or “a Muslim will not do that”. We are told not to say anything negative about our deen even when it’s true. If this is not brain washing, I do not know what it is.
Unless we become conscious people, Gambians will continue to be enslaved and ruled by dictators like Yahya Jammeh who disguised as Nasiruldeen [Helper of Religion]. THIS IS OUR PROBLEM!!!
Hallat
Ends
You hit the nail on the head . You have diagnosed and stated well our problem which is ” obsessive Islamic syndrome “. Majority Gambians are too ignorance about Islam and therefore their minds becomes too preoccupied with wrong beliefs about Islam . This has lead many to think that God is responsible for every problems , they fail to take personal responsibility and are quick to invoke God’s name in every problem they face ., jammeh understand this about Gambians early on in his life. Whatever atrocities , corruption and human rights abuses we have in the country , they wrongly attribute it to God and Islam . In the struggle , i have seen some who claimed to be fighting for democracy and rule of law ,they continue to act the same way as majority who are imitating Islam without having proper understanding of Islam , Arab culture and our national interest . The word Muslim or Islam becomes the most important thing to them . Sir Dawda also understood this about Gambians. So Gambians obsession with Islam started before jammeh came to power but jammeh has used it successfully to entrench himself in power . This is why he built statehouse mosque , organize monthly quranic competition , declared Friday as Muslim day off from work , declared Gambia as Islam state and now instructed all Muslims women to wear headscarves . All these were supported by ordinary Gambians and majority religious leaders. Even the witchcraft which he hates so much , is a common belief among majority of Gambians . Therefore jammeh is a true reflection of the population . Civilized societies has left such a backward thinking and their political leaderships are focus on issues that improves the lives of their citizens . Gambians invested so much in Islamic ideology that it has rendered the country ungovernable . We need to use our brains to think for ourselves so that we can improves our lives and face challenges of our country . No one is saying religion is not important in our personal lives , it is very important to those who believes in it but we should also know that our economic failures , human rights abuses , corruption and mismanagement are better dealt with when we use and recognize the laws which bounds us as one nation which is the constitution of The Gambia . We are better off if we follow the laws of the land while in our privates lives , we follow our religious beliefs. Ignorance of Islam is not an excuse but it becomes a problem when people are obsessed with ignorance beliefs .
Thanks Marx for highlighting these salients points, I fully agree with you.
Allah said in the Koran, those who do not believe and respect the three revealed religions is not a muslim. The punishment of such disbelieve is equal to the one imposed on someone who divides a family.
No religion possess Allah it is always the other round and Allah does anything he likes without consultations.
Finally we should not allow Jammeh divide us and dictate to us what we should talk about. We are in an election year and Jammeh will do everything to divert our attention from the daily hardships that people go through until election day.
I for one refuse to be dragged into stale discussions that have no bearing on our objective of campaigning to vote him out of office come December.
Have a nice weekend.
He is a foolish and irresponsible president. What a jackass?