Side
By Side Organisation yesterday held its fourth annual international inter-faith
dialogue on the theme ‘Strengthening relationship inter-faith dialogue’.
Held
at TANGO conference hall in Fajara, the forum witnessed presentation on ‘Muslim
perspective on strengthening interfaith relations’ by deputy vice chancellor of
the University of The Gambia, Dr Omar Jah Jr.
On the other hand, Father David Jimoh Jarju, head of the Catholics in
The Gambia, spoke on ‘Christian perspective on strengthening interfaith
relations’.
In
his presentation, Dr Jah said Islam, in its root, means peace. The word Islam, he said, is derived from the
word Salam which means peace.
“Islam
is a universal mercy, universal peace and universal reason. Islam epitomises a state of the highest form
of human rationale and it is because of this nature that it is inherently
against anything that lead to disturbance insecurity, anarchy or chaos,” he
said, adding that Prophet Muhammed is reported to have said ‘Al-fitnah’ (social
unrest) is sleeping and Allah curses whoever wakes it up.
For
his part, Father Jarju said one needs not to read books to see that “there is
inherent interfaith dialogue of life in The Gambia”.
“Christians
and Muslims intermarry; during celebrations of landmark events in life and
feasts, hardly can one differentiate between Christians and Muslims, and social
areas like schools and political parties include both faiths,” he said.
SBSO
National Coordinator Hatab Fadera said the organisation is committed to the
promotion of peace and harmony among people of different faith, background,
race and ethnicity.
He
said the inter-faith dialogue forum was a key element of the three-week
international summer of service organised by the Gambia Project in partnership
with SBSO.
He
said the international summer of service is an annual undertaking by volunteers
from the USA and The Gambia who dedicate three weeks of volunteering services
to all sectors of The Gambia.
Mr
Fadera explained that during the summer of service, volunteers engage in
different activities such as environmental sanitation, sustainable skills
development, community services, among other things.
