Hello Jabou,

I read you response yesterday morning but had to attend some pre-arranged gathering and did not get back home before late. I hope you'll excuse me for the late response. I hate to let people waiting.

You wrote:


> Amadou Kabir Njie.
> 
> I do not think I will take your ramblings point by point because clearly, you
> have lost sight of this discussion, and have now gone off the deep end as
> they say, resorting to name calling and unexplained hostility. However, it is
> also clear that you have wanted to attack me for what you call "wearing my
> religion on my sleeve". I do not hide my faith, but neither do I try to force
> anyone to join me in it. If that has made you cultivated some hostility
> towards me, and this is so apparent from all you have said in this last
> posting,then it is just too bad.
> 


Is it because you don't want to take my "ramblings point by point because clearly, you have lost sight of this discussion" or is it because of your knowledge that if you attempted such you would find yourself lacking? You posed concrete questions to me, which I addressed adequately and then posed you question of my own, like showing me where I have spoken against Islam, of which you have been dishonestly accusing me of persistently, but instead you resort to your well mastered art of spreading red herrings and again hiding behind the veil of Islam?

When I referred to Arab racism, you called me anti-Islamist and now you accuse me of "name calling and unexplained hostility". How can I take you seriously? How can you constantly wave piety in my face when you cannot even be honest and truthful, which are among the most basic tenets of Islam?

No you should not hide your faith. Nobody should have any reason to hide their faith, but the way you go about showing off yours and the hostility and intolerance of other faiths with which you go about it, is my point of contention with you. If that is what you call "cultivating some hostility towards you", then you are beginning to prove yourself that the accusation of dishonesty that I levelled against you is not unjustified after all. You are your own worse enemy. Just so that is made clear.


> You speak as if you know me personally, when the only place we have ever met
> is this forum. I find it very strange that you direct all these tirades of
> insults at me, but if that is the best  way you can express yourself, then I
> will leave you to it. Perhaps it accords you an outlet to vent.


You posed me the question:
 
>From what you have come to know of me in my contributions here on the L, >can you honestly say that i am someone who will defend racism or any form of >injustice? 

My response to you was based on what I have come to know of you from your contributions here. Religious bigotry is what comes foremost in my mind from what I've come to know of you from the L. You call that directing tirades and insults at you? Come on, you can definitely do better than this. You go on calling a fellow Muslim an anti-Islamist just because I dared call Arab racism exactly what is and you accuse me of name calling? Better go back and read who started calling who names. Or is this just one more sign of your dishonesty that I've been alluding to here?



> One thing that is certain is that you do not know me at all, so how would you
> know about my sincerity or lack there of, or call me a hypocrite, or do you
> think it will buy you some acceptance and popularity if you call me names?


You see my point? Called you a hypocrite? Where and when. Please show me.
Acceptance? From whom? I have said some of the most unpopular things here on the L and you know that and you also know that I have always spoken out against religious bigotry; and that is not just here on the L. People who know me privately know that I have ALWAYS spoken out against your type who persistently try to sow seeds of discord among Gambians by wearing your religion on your sleeve and showing utmost intolerance of other faiths. There is no place for such in our society. That is something I intend to keep on doing as long as I live.


> 
> Kabir, you are full of rhetoric and you are the kind of person who will say
> all the things that you think are in accordance with popular opinion.When
> people are like that, they cease to be real. I am not like that. I state my
> opinion regarding every situation according to  the facts, and I express my
> opinion accordingly.I do not do it because I think it will make me popular.
> You can bet that whatever opinion i expressed about Imam Fatty or anyone
> else, I based my comments on the circumstances of the situation, and in the
> case of religion, on what the teachings are on that particular issue, and
> there are no mad teachings in Islam, only mad people who use religion for
> their own purposes. You are not telling the truth when you imply that I have
> blindly supported Imam Fatty in the past and only now come back to criticize
> him with recent incidents.i do not give blind support because I am not a
> stupid person.


I know that anybody who knows me personally and read your this one about doing or saying whatever I think will make me popular will have their biggest laugh ever. I have always been a rebel at heart and have never had the "herd mentality". I say and do as I feel fit. Not to satisfy anybody. Unlike you who's so naive you even believe that you can deceive everybody, including Allah, by wearing your Islam on your sleeve.

Here, last year, yes you vehemently defended Imam Fatty's attack on the Ahmadiyya sect. You brushed aside every word of caution that I tried to convey to you about the dangerousness of such intolerance. The archives are there; they don't lie! Your hostility toward the sect was so great that even when I tried to show that they have contributed to national development in building educational and health institutions from which many Gambians have benefited and that they don't coerce any one into joining their faith and that they have always been peaceful, you responded by saying that we should then also respect the colonialists since they too had built the same institutions!

This I remember quite vividly without even having to re-read your posting because of its ridiculousness. However, today, when those sown seeds of discord, which you helped water and nourish by applauding Fatty come to germinate in the form of attacks on one of the most vulnerable sections of our society, you tried to beat every one else at being the first to condemn and distance yourself from your Islamic crusader of yesterday. So today you can say: "i do not give blind support because I am not a stupid person". You never cease to amaze me!



> 
> I repeat, despite all your denials, you seem to get bent out of shape anytime
> religion is mentioned, and you seem to look for any excuse to direct your
> venom at religion. You deny making religion the issue, but that is actually
> the basis of your attack on me, especially in this last response you have
> sent, so who are you trying to fool?


When are you planning on giving up the act? Who started mentioning religion here? I only referred to Arab racism against Blacks, which you translated into anti-Islamism! I asked you in my last posting where I had referred to Islam in a negative light and you never responded to that, but instead repeat the same dishonest accusation. For some one who claims piety you are doing very badly. I hope non-Muslims who have followed your postings on this issue don't come to believe that all Muslims are like you! This is just one of the reasons why I claimed that your ilk give a bad name to Islam.



> No amount of attacks from the likes of you will ever make me discuss religion
> just behind closed doors, and if that raises your ire, or that of anyone
> else, then it is just too bad.


I never even mentioned religion with one single word on this "debate" until you made Arab racism a religious issue. Now you've also crown yourself the Chief Vetter of who is and who is not a Muslim when you cannot even tell a Muslim from an Arab. You are doing just great.


> Please remember that each of us is entitled to their own opinions and
> beliefs, so expouse yours and leave me to mine. Please take this hostility
> and turn it into something more productive, especially since you seem to
> think that you have all the answers.That would be time better spent than
> directing personal atacks at me just because you have this bizarre idea that
> you can tell me what i should condemn or not condemn.


Jabou Joh! Now you see fit to cry victim. What happened to all your fundamentalist ammunition? The magazine suddenly gone empty? This is what I have been telling you since last year! That the Ahmadiyya are "entitled to their own opinions and beliefs..." So you suddenly, like Columbus, discovered that?
Does this mean that from now on you are going to practice the policy that all are "entitled to their own opinions and beliefs..."

Then at least you've learnt something quite new and very important in a multi-cultural and multi-religious society like ours in which cultures and religions cut right across family lines!


Regards,

Kabir.

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