Jungle, I was relaxing during an evening "ataya" session when i saw your article...it surely slapped my feelings. How on earth could that governor or whatever say that! in the name of Islam?.I for one totally disagree with him on certain points.We have been taught at the village "daarahs" that only two major sins are unforgivable by Allah ie:insulting and denying his existence without repenting.Or Killing a fellow humanbeing intentionally without a just cause eg:lawful means(a court of law) or for religious reasons via the codes of Shar'iah! What should come into one's mind is how,when and why does shari'ah apply such harsh punnishments. The how is based on the fact that;the individual has been caught committing adultery,thus the act to be testified by four principal witnesses who should be elderly, pious and renowned for being good and God-fearing individuals within that given community. The when comes immidiately after all four witnesses have testified that they stood and saw the two accused persons in action (live and direct) excuse me but i am trying to simplify the interpretations in one of the books of shar'ah known as the "lagh dariyou"...in that particular book the references are based on biological descriptions in order to give an exact interpretation of what was revealed to the messenger of Islam.Such testimony should be accompanied with swearing by holding the qur'an on the right hand and then testify. Those WITNESSES should bear in mind that if they are lying or conspiring against the accused worse punnihments will be imposed on them in hell fire whenever they die!!! Now faith plays a lot on the latter. The why comes for social reasons.The teachings of Islam or any religion that prohibits adultery are simply based on the following facts.Eg:maintaining peace and stability amongst neighbours or those who live together within a given society.It is also intended for those who aren't faithful towards God to bear in mind that once caught the faithful should be satisfied, by them the offenders being punnished. Actually,it also matters for us to put into consideration,the way faith is measured in Islam for that matter! Allah and Muhammad(SAWS)His prophet do not know slaves,serfs, etc!etc! the more faithful and pious a believer is,the closer he or she is to his or her creator.Basically it comes back to the fact that its only via one's soul that faith can be nourished. I believe Allah said lets know him before we worship HIM! So the woman in Nigeria might have been ignorant of the teachings of Islam in the first place! The other end makes me feel sorry for the poor woman because truely speaking there is no female that commits adultery without a male partner! What will then happen to the partner in this case?! That is a big question i and others have in their heads! You see the fact of the matter is that;some muslims make others hate our religion! Some of us find that hard to believe and accept! The categories of highly rated sins,are well known to all those who read the good books of the religion. Shari'ah isn't applicable on people who have not mastered and understood the texts as they are coded.Infact those affected should be muslims that understand the inns and outs of the texts. A non believer who understands the texts shouldn't be concerned unless he or she shows total disrespect to the authorities of a particular islamic set up. Please brothers even in the holy book of Allah and his messengers it has been clearly stated in Suratul Quaafiroon that none is forced to either follow or reject the teachings of this religion! NO ONE SHOULD BE FORCED TO BELIEVE OR PRACTICE ISLAM NEITHER SHOULD MUSLIMS ACCEPT TO BE FORCED INTO ANY OTHER RELIGIOUS SET UP FOR THAT MATTER! So please i do not share the idea of forcing people to believe or disbelieve!During the early days of islam it was the king of Abyssynia who gave refuge to some muslims who ran away from being persecuted.History has taught us that;the Abyssinain king was African-that shows us a non racist religion! In the holy book Muhammad(SAWS)stood side by side with the jews to condemn the way Fir awn(pharaon)treated Mousa or Moses! Firawn is believed to have been African! See the egyptology of Cheikh Anta Diop. Prophet Yusuph or Joseph was from Egypt,some do say he was African! Prophet Muhammad's own Grandfather Ismail we are told originated from a black slave!DUring the time of Prophet Abraham.Now haven't we seen a religion that is teaching cordination and peace between all races?! So where does the problem lie? Ofcourse!on those who interprete the texts! Alhaji Malick Sey was once approached by a talibé with the undermentioned questions ie:Yaa Sheikh what is your lesson to us today? Malick replied and said:"JA JOU BAH" The talibé asked the meaning and Malick replied again JANGA JOULY BAI-meaning in wollof language READING(search for knowledge),PRAYING-meaning in wollof language( praying to your lord),BAI-meaning in wollof language(farming).Alhaji Malick was teaching his talibés to be aware,work hard and pray(be disciplined). The second question was:Yaa Sheikh what should we start with when searching for knowledge? Malick replied and said:"GEUMAL TEH BUL GEUM"-meaning in wollof language:Believe and do not be blind! Indeed being blind is following the direction of your cane whether wrong or right! So the misinterpretation of all theologies stems from ignorance or fanatical approaches.A learned sholar can hardly be a fanatic! So please lets teach the real texts of love and hide the real texts of hypocisy and hatred! Yeropulloh! >From: Jungle Sunrise <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list ><[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: A Sadist? >Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2002 13:08:12 +0000 >MIME-Version: 1.0 >X-Originating-IP: [212.60.66.16] >Received: from [149.68.45.24] by hotmail.com (3.2) with ESMTP id >MHotMailBE23DDC100144136E81295442D18134D21; Fri, 01 Feb 2002 05:12:29 -0800 >Received: from maelstrom.stjohns.edu (149.68.45.24) by >maelstrom.stjohns.edu (LSMTP for OpenVMS v1.1a) with SMTP id ><[log in to unmask]>; Fri, 1 Feb 2002 8:08:33 -0500 >Received: from MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU by MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU >(LISTSERV-TCP/IP release 1.8d) with spool id 1229540 for >[log in to unmask]; Fri, 1 Feb 2002 08:08:32 -0500 >Received: from hotmail.com (64.4.21.110) by maelstrom.stjohns.edu (LSMTP >for OpenVMS v1.1a) with SMTP id ><[log in to unmask]>; Fri, 1 Feb 2002 8:08:23 -0500 >Received: from mail pickup service by hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC; >Fri, 1 Feb 2002 05:08:12 -0800 >Received: from 212.60.66.16 by lw14fd.law14.hotmail.msn.com with HTTP; Fri, >01 Feb 2002 13:08:12 GMT >From [log in to unmask] Fri, 01 Feb 2002 05:13:19 -0800 >X-OriginalArrivalTime: 01 Feb 2002 13:08:12.0753 (UTC) > FILETIME=[80E02C10:01C1AB21] >Message-ID: <[log in to unmask]> >Sender: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list ><[log in to unmask]> > "YEROMAMA PULORI GALO HAAWA BAROGEL N'DIMOU" "Speak the speeches and let the speeches not spit you." _________________________________________________________________ Join the world’s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com <<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>> To view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] <<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>