Alaikum salaam Modou, Hope you are having a good visit with the family. Inshallah, in these exchanges, we learn and we teach by example the very little that we know, and hopefully, all of us will benefit, as well as the society at large. Thank you for this inspiring post, and May Allah reward you for the valuable reminder. Jabou In a message dated 2/2/00 3:45:26 AM Central Standard Time, [log in to unmask] writes: Assalaamu alaikum Jabou and Dr. Saine, Alhamdulillah and I am in Gambia right now. I personally talked to a whole bunch of silent Lers and even visited foroyaa's bureau yesterday. People are really fed up with this personal attack business and numerous returnees from further studies abroad have indicatetd this as their reason for pulling out of the L. However, Sheickh at Foroyaa made a good point by indicating that the L mirrors the larger society (the good and the bad) and we should therefore put up with the ugly side and keep tempering it with good mutual admonition. In that regard, Jabou, Imaam Shafi'i said although Suratul Asr is a short sura but very comprehensive and I think the last ayah sums up our G-L situation. Allah said at the end of the aforementioned sura 'Wata wa saw bil haqq, wata wa saw bi sabr ( Enjoin each other in truth and patience). The scholars said this is because the one who enjoins truth must contend with the fact that it will not be easily adopted; and can even invite 'personal attacks'. Let no one allow degenerating to the level of the unnecessary attacker. Let us forgive even those who insult us and we will eventually be friends with them as Allah adviced in suratul ghaafir. May ALLAH MAKE IT EASY AND BLESS ALL OUR NOBLE EFFORTS. Allahumm salli wasllim ala Nabiyyina Muhammad. Wasalaam. Modou Mbye >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------