SIC v.p. reacts to Bishop Cleary Alhaji Ousman Jah, first vice president,Supreme Islamic Council, has urged leaders of religious denominations not to blow the shariah issue out of proportion. He made this statement in reaction to our yesterday's page 1 story, "Bishop Cleary on Shariah" and Bijou Peters' letter, "Sober thoughts on Shariah". Oustass Jah said, "The concerns raised by Bishop Cleary and Bijou Peters are misinformed and demonstrate they do not understand the whole concept of shariah." "The assertion that Muslim personal laws guiding inheritance, marriage and divorce, are governed by the shariah and that the introduction of shariah will bring chaos in The Gambia lacks merit. This is because shariah is a way of life for every Muslim which enjoins peaceful co-existence and harmony. "I am perturbed by this distorted view of shariah which can raised a lot of contentions. The Supreme Islamic Council is fully aware that Muslims and Christians have long been living together in peace and harmony. We wish to reaffirm that the council has never coerce anybody to accept the Islamic faith nor has it advocated the imposition of shariah against the will of the people, even though as an Islamic body, it wishes that Muslims would be governed by their own shariah law." Oustass Jah, a multi-media preacher concluded, "I wish to implore Bishop Cleary, Bijou Peters and others to refrain from contentious utterances on shariah." _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask] if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------