Imam Tafsir Gaye of Banjul has strongly condemned the recently-made US anti-Islam video against the holy Prophet of Islam Muhammed (SAW) which attracted worldwide condemnation and resulted in deaths and injury to many of the protestors.
The prominent Gambian Islamic scholar and imam, in an opinion piece sent to The Point yesterday, stressed that Islam is a religion of peace.
According to Imam Gaye, caricaturing the prophet is not a new thing as it has been going on for a long time now.
“This has been going on since time immemorial, and the anti -Islam people always wake up to attack or utter bad words and insults on the Prophet of Islam, and even going to an extent of caricaturing him,” he said.
Imam Gaye said that the writers and preachers should not defend the bad deeds of those behind the film and those against the Prophet and Islam.
He cited a verse from the holy Quran which stated that “whosoever of you sees an evil action, let him change it with his hand; and if he is not able to do so, then with his tongue; and if he is not able to do so, then use your heart to do so, adding that “anyone among you who cannot do all these has the weakest of faith”.
Imam Gaye acknowledged that everyone is entitle to freedom of speech, but such freedom should have a limitation.
“The world should stop those people who are creating problems in the world before it escalates,” he said.
He further noted that Islam has not forced anybody to become a Muslim, and that verse 256 of Surat-AL-Baqarah has stated that let there be no compulsion in religion.
Imam Gaye pointed out that Islam has called for unity and support for each other.
He cited a verse in the holy Quran which reads: “Oh, Mankind I created you from a single pair of a male and female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other, not that ye may despise each other verily.”
According to him, there is no Ummah which came on this universe without God sending them a prophet, and all the prophets must be respected.
He said all the prophets of Allah were caricatured, and some of them were killed and some were beaten by their own people, which led to some of them leaving their own countries to settle in another place.
The Banjul-based imam called for world peace, while stressing the need for people to avoid doing anything that could undermine global peace.
