Tuesday 22nd October 2019 Issue
Greetings:
The
venerable Amir Baba Trawally, Head and Leader of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat in
The Gambia
Mr.
Karim Ahmad Khan QC, Assistant UN Secretary General and Keynote Speaker on this
auspicious occasion
Other
distinguished guests, all present here this afternoon
Assalamu’Alaikum!
1. I
am deeply honoured to be amongst distinguished colleagues and a distinguished
audience today on the occasion of this Conference – the second of its kind in
Africa – hosted this year by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at of The Gambia. I
thank Amir Trawally for his kindness and trust; I must also thank Mr. Musa
Kinteh whose persistence and determination gave me no room to spirit out of
today’s Conference.
2. The contributions of the Ahmadiyyat
Muslim Jama’at in The Gambia – ranging from the fields of education and health to
community development generally – is there for all to see. The Jama’at has been
relentless in its efforts to translate into tangible results the words of the
Holy Qur’an in advancing the course of national development and, indeed, your
kind and benevolent efforts are worthy to be emulated by all.
3. The theme of this Conference speaks to
a very important topic which, I have no doubt, the Jama’at’s Keynote Speaker
will speak to at length. It is essentially about Islam’s solution to peace and
security – I take that to be both at the national and global levels. We live
today in a troubled world, a world that has many scars, a world that needs
serious soul-searching, a world that needs to understand its purpose, a world
that is gradually and consistently losing not only its focus, but also turning
its back away from Allah (SWT) and the teachings of our Holy Prophet Muhammad
(SAW). We live in a world that is in competition with itself, and one wonders
with regard to what, a world where profit is put before soul, self-respect,
honesty, dignity and integrity and pitched against mankind, especially the most
downtrodden in society. We have a serious problem!
4. We live in a world where the
manufacturer of arms, the high end trader or trafficker in such arms and the retailer
of the weapons see only profit and not the consequence of their deeds. The goal
of manufacturing and trading in arms is only one: that is, to take away human
life. Is it not the Holy Qur’an wherein Allah (SWT) revealed that He hath
perfected our religion for us and divided us into nations so that we may live
with each other? Instead of accepting the beauty in the creation of Allah (SWT)
to nurture peace and tranquility amongst and between each other, we sow the
seed of discord through discrimination, dishonest conduct, envy and the
pinnacle of all evil, RACISM. In other words, we question God’s own beautiful
creation of mankind into different races so we all can live together in peace.
5. When we turn our backs against God, we
turn against ourselves and the peace we need to live together in harmony as one
human race. ISLAM is PEACE. It is not hatred or war; it is not about ideology
versus belief; it is not about taking or vilifying human life; it is not about
arrogating sainthood to oneself and condemning others – that is the preserve of
the Almighty High. ISLAM is about PEACE, and loving and protecting each other
along the path charted for us by Allah (SWT).
6. When we talk about Islamic solutions to
world peace, we must not confine ourselves to issues of war and conflict. Islam
and peace, in my considered view, is much more than that; it goes deeper. We
must not confine ourselves to the surface. The absence of war and conflict does
not necessarily translate into peace.
7. Social injustice is a cankerworm that
eats into the heart of peace; it destabilizes peace. When, for instance, a
person entrusted with a public office to perform duties for and on behalf of
the people sees in that entrustment an opportunity to be dishonest, and to
steal, compromise and cheat the public revenue or to, in any other way, make an
unlawful profit out of that entrustment, that person does a great de-service to
the people and turns his or her back against the teachings of Allah (SWT). As
Chairperson of the Constitutional Review Commission, I have had the opportunity
to visit practically every corner of this country and interact with people at
all community levels. I was disenchanted to see the hopelessness, bitterness
and anger in some of the faces I interacted with. I have seen their
circumstances and heard their horror stories (the details of which are for
another occasion). They are despondent. When persons entrusted with public
office and those in the private sector that deal with and spur them on, cheat
the public revenue, they take development out of our communities; they reduce
the life expectancy of our people. Monies properly and lawfully collected
without any unlawful deals will go a long way in addressing developmental
issues to the benefit of all and thus reduce boiling tension.
8. We may not realise fully that here in
The Gambia we have a growing youthful population. More and more youths are
graduating from college and university each year. A good many of them are
unemployed; the opportunities for them are minimal; they feel despondent and
neglected. That is a dangerous situation to have such a large demographic of
our country in. If not properly managed, they can become the source of
instability that destroys the peace we have been blessed with. If, individually
and collectively, we are able to stamp out greed and corruption, we would be
right along the path of nurturing and maintaining the peace that Islam truly
stands for. It is far easier to solve a problem at its infancy and remain in
peace than to work out a solution when the problem matures into open conflict.
9. On a final note (being conscious of the
limited time I have), I implore the Ahmadiyya Jamaat to continue their
benevolence to The Gambia and the international community. Whatever you do, you
are helping to entrench peace and stability. And we pray that, Insha’Allah,
someday soon we and our children and grandchildren and generations yet unborn
can live in a world free of conflict, war and social injustice. The rewards for
your kind efforts lie with Allah (SWT) and may He grant them in abundance.
10. I thank you.
