Hi Everyone,
I'm not sure whether or not to respond to this posting. I accept that it is
possible that I lack 'common sense' and 'simple understanding'. I certainly
will not use these terms against Saiks because I believe he has them
aplenty.(no pun intended) But that is not the point.
I believe I have demonstrated on many occasions how proud I am of our
African heritage, both on the List and elsewhere. At a Commonwealth
Conference that I attended last year(10-12 July) on the theme, 'Values in
Commnonwealth Education', I was, to use their term 'grilled' by eminent
intellectuals and academics (all of them 'white') about my African heritage.
Questions were fired at me from different directions. I was even asked about
the 'Hassan' I have as my middle name. One African, Emmanuel, who works as a
Programmme Officer at the Secretariat(Sam Njie should him), was present.
People are free to ask him. I don't have one set of views for the L and
another for another audience. With me, people know exactly where I stand.
In his posting, Saiks says that I lack 'the simple understanding that we as
Africans have an experience with religion,whether this is Islam or
Christianity'. Let me just say that I have taught and written on the subject
for many years.
Also, Saiks mentions Christianity and Jesus's race. I am not going into what
the churches in Latin America should or should not do. I leave that to the
Liberation Theologists. Suffice to say that Jesus was a Jew. His pictures
and portraits are found in almost all churches. This is not the case in
Islam. There is not a single picture or portrait of the Prophet in any
mosque. and there is no suggestion, directly or otherwise, that he could be
God incarnate. So the question of seeing a 'black' face, a 'pink' face or a
'yellow' face all the time does not arise. This argument is therefore
irrelevant here. Saiks is entitled to his views about Farakhan. I posted his
website yesterday to ease the tension a bit. When I entered 'momodou' it
gave me names like 'hunky bear' and other similarly unsuitable ones. I hope
people did not think I was serious. But, like everyone else, including
Saiks, Farakhan is also entitled to his views. Like everyone else also, I
believe he is not perfect. I think these are the main points raised. If I
have not addressed any, please draw my attention to it.
In conclusion, I cannot remember saying what Saiks is suggesting I have
said, namely, 'This is why you can have people like Momodou Njie who will
tell you
>that you have to think first as a Muslim and then as a Gambian or that it
>is
>of no importance to have an Arabic name instead of a Gambian name.'
Where did I say this? Cheers.
Momodou
>From: saiks samateh <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: [Re: COLLECTING TYPICAL GAMBIN NAMES]
>Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1999 06:51:20 PDT
>
>Hamadi,
>I share some of your views points in relation to this topic.The problem
>with
>Momodu is that he lacks the simple understanding that we as Africans have
>an
>experience with religion,whether this is Islam or Christianity,and this is
>what must mould our understanding and relationship to them.When the Latin
>American priest understood there historic experience with Christianity they
>began to look at the whole issue from their own perspective,they made sure
>that Jesus thinks like an ordinary Latino.This is the same thing that
>Kurdish
>Islamic scholars are doing.And this is why Malcom was saying do not go to
>the
>church were you are told Jesus is white and Mary is White,go to that church
>were they preach black consciousness.There are so many things that we take
>to
>be Islamic culture which is an Arabic culture and does not have anything to
>do
>with religion.Take this name issue,you are right that being called Fatou
>does
>not make you a better muslim than Jabou or Tombong,why then make Arabic
>names
>so holy ?Arabic names that have existed long before Islam.Arabic Islamic
>scholars have brilliantly integrated their culture into the Islamic
>religion,in the interest of their culture and for reason of assimilation.In
>Gambia particularly,and Africa in general,our Islamic scholars become very
>much brain washed,instead of thinking African they think more Arabic than
>even
>the Arabs.This is why you can have people like Momodou Njie who will tell
>you
>that you have to think first as a Muslim and then as a Gambian or that it
>is
>of no importance to have an Arabic name instead of a Gambian name.
>One must think critically no matter what religion one belongs to,if not we
>will just be doing the dirty works of others.
>Lets take the issue of that racist Louis Frakan.He can say everything about
>the Jews and White Americans,but he travel to Sudan, shake hands with
>leaders
>of murderous regime,called them Brothers,received monies from them
>withouttelling them to stop the murdering of Black Africans .He can travel
>to
>Mauritania,shake hands with those slave trades,received money from them
>called
>them Brothers,without asking them to stop the enslavement of Black
>Africans.These are muslim states not so.Do you think Malcom will entertain
>such bullshitts,is it surprising that they have something to do with murder
>of
>the Brother.Malcom was a muslim but a very conscious one,he was relating to
>Islam first as an oppressed black man and from the concrete situation of
>his
>people.These are the types of scholars we need and not those who are proud
>of
>telling us how good they are in mastering Arabic cultures/history in
>relation
>to Islam and that this all history is about.We have had enough of this,it
>is
>time for new way of thinking.
>
>For Freedom
>
>Saiks
>
>
>
>
>
>The debate about using traditional African names in lieu of Western or Arab
>ones has for a long time now caught the attention of Africanists,
>intellectuals and politicians alike. If I'm not wrong the late Kwame
>Nkrumah preferred to go by his traditional rather than his christian
>baptissimal name, if he had one for that matter. The late Mobutu Sese Seko
>Kuku Wazabanga (whatever in the world that means) prohibited Zaireans the
>use of Western names.
>
>In The Gambia, as in most other African countries people have a tendency to
>use a Western or Arabic name to baptise their children. There is a general
>belief that African names have an echo of paganism tied to them and that
>they should always be superimposed by a "biblical"/Jewish, Greek or
>"Islamic"/Arabic name. Often it is from the latter category that a name is
>chosen for the new and it is this name that is recorded in the birth
>certificate of the child. Some christian denominations would even go so
>far
>as to add another name after confirmation.
>
>A philospher once said that a peoples' religion will always carry elements
>of the culture of the founders of that religion. In pre-islamic Arabia as
>in pre-christian Europe the names that we so commonly consider holy and
>sometimes sacriligious are the same names that were used by the
>idol-worshippers of those eras. I can bet that Abu Bakr = father of the
>cattle, Al-ahssan = the best or Peter and Paul do not bear more
>significance
>than Ngone, Samba and Demba in the eyes of God.
>
>Whatever the reason advanced for borrowing Arabic and Western names to
>baptise our children (when we have an endless list of our own names is it
>has just been proofed in this List), we cannot ignore the fact a peoples'
>culture is their best I.D. in the arena of nations.
>
>PS. For the sake of clarification I think that Almami, Alkali, Alpha,
>Asiatou, Boubacarr/Babucarr, Sana (Hassan), Sainey (Alhuseiny)and Yassin
>are Arabic and not traditional Gambian names. Our Islamic scholars and
>Arabophones will agree with me on this.
>
>
>
>
>_______________________________________________________________
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