Hi Suntou, good to speak with you once again. I recognize your frustration with the Ahmadiyya and I hope through this dialogue, we can both improve our understandings and resolve to exercise patience. "HARUNA,THIS IS NOT ABOUT RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE." Suntou. I did not think so. At least I hope it doesn't degenerate to that. I know you to be a tolerant fellow and I know you to be passionate about your Islam. I pray that a healthy co-existence of your two attributes can be realised each and every day. Let us therefore approach this with this disposition that we are not intolerant of the Ahmadiyya, Muslims, or Christians. "the Christan's have there council that over see the interest of the Gambian Christians" Suntou. Exactly. The Christians did not have to apply for a council. The council is the governing body of Christian life. If it has to be applied for, that is unfortunate. What religions apply for is their very constitution as a spiritual haven. "and the Muslims also have there own council." Suntou. Exactly. The muslims did not have to apply for a council. The council is the governing body of Islamic life. If they had to apply for a council, it will have been unfortunate. From the jam'ah muslimeen, it was recognized that a governing council was needed to coordinate their affairs. I trust they had obtained a charter to work in Gambia as missionaries like Christians and the Ahmadiyya. "the ahamadiya should apply for there own council to represent them in matters like this." Suntou. The Ahmadiyya have a council that governs the affairs of Ahmadiyya life. Why should they be required to apply for another council???? I am confident you will understand the dichotomies or trichotomies which breed the mirage of religious intolerance. Now as to the Ahmadiyya translating the Qur'an, I think it is a case of severe ill-judgement on the part of the Ahmadiyya. I encourage them to cease and desist and refrain from distributing these translations. This is because if the Ahmadiyya consider themselves a sect of Islam but not muslims, their own literature ought to make that distinction ample enough and they ought to be able to rely on such distinguishing literature for their missionary work. If they believe they are muslims, they must therefore abandon work on the religion's text that is the purview of the Jam'atul Islaamiyya. In effect, this is a crucial and epochal moment for the Ahmadiyya. The ambiguity in their position may have led to a "Supreme Islamic Council" to subsume the Ahmadiyya. Should the Ahmadiyya expressly and publicly assert they are an Islamic sect but not muslims, they then extricate themselves from the purview of the Islamic Council, and they must not rely on nor perform translation work on the Qur'an. They will however be free to review and offer opinion on the Qur'an just as the muslims should be free to review and offer opinion on Ahmadiyya literature, ditto Christians and the Bible. Should they so assert that they are NOT an Islamic sect and NOT muslim, they extricate themselves from the purview of the Islamic council, and they must not rely on nor perform translation work on the Qur'an. They will however be free to review and offer opinion on the Qur'an just as the muslims should be free to review and offer opinion on Ahmadiyya literature, ditto Christians and the Bible. As you may agree with me therefore, the Ahmadiyya may not rely on freedom of religion to translate the Qur'an or the Bible. The Muslims or Christians may not rely on such freedoms to translate the literatures of other religions. Therefore, the Ahmadiyya have trespassed. The raison d'etre of missionary work itself is to translate religious supplications and literature in such a manner as to afford spiritual salvation for the followers of the religion. The Ahmadiyya therefore, may not seek the counsel of the Islamic council on anything, and they must not be allowed to trespass or risk of losing their charter. Translating the Qur'an obviates the Ahmadiyya's constitutive charter. The government should not have any hand in the Supreme Islamic Council. Islam's governing council must not be appointed nor named by government, and its scope must not be defined by government. Those are the purview of the Islamic Council of governors. Should this matter come to an impasse and the Ahmadiyya refuse to withdraw and destroy their translations of the Qur'an, The aversed party/parties must take the matter to court and claim damages as well as the withdrawal of the Ahmadiyya charter. This matter ought not be litigated by citizens. The government department of religious affairs may intervene and bear on the Ahmadiyya Council for compliance. The arena of religious evangelism is replete with honour, cadence, and consideration of other faiths. It has been since time immemorial. Citizens must not be drawn to jaw-jaw or war-war over any religion. "but they don't wish to do that, they intend to operate like a green snake on a green grass." Suntou. This is untrue and I advise circumspect in language. "if they so wish to be under there own command the constitution allows them that privilege." Suntou. That is understood and provided for in their charter and indeed in the Gambia Constitution. "let them apply for there own authority" Suntou. NO. They must not be required to apply for a governing council. They already have it. "which will not inter-fare with the rest of the non-ahamadiya followers." Suntou. I agree with you here Suntou. They must be honourable and play a fair game of missionary. Haroun Masoud. MQDT. Darbo. Al Mu'Umin. as for Genny ,the usual accusation at sic is mostly wrong allegations.no one is perfect.if some members approve jammeh ,there are many who openly speak against him and his military machinery.lets not discredit our scholars for political point.in-fact ,during my stay in the Gambia recently ,a scholar was ask to refrain from mentioning politics but his answer was ''GOD DON'T CARE WHO THE RULER IS ,SINCE THAT RULER HIMSELF IS SUBJECT TO GOD'S RULE ''.he also made a great speech against the military .he advice them to stop harassing fellow citizens and any such maltreatment of human beings warrant god's wrath.so not all scholars are genuine but not all of us are genuine also.this man is called Bakawsu Fofana .his samon can be access on www.iladinolong.com . Haruna Darbo <[log in to unmask]> wrote: Ladies & Gentlemen, Colleagues, I have followed the discussion on the apparent disagreement between the Supreme Islamic Council and the Ahmadiyya for the latter's translation of the Qur'an into some of our local languages. I must say I was both disappointed and confounded in some of the submissions. In my opinion, The Ahmadiyya are a missionary group like the Islamic Council and the Christian council. They all vie for the spiritual life of Gambians. Since Gambia is not an Islamic republic, this matter seems to me a public policy conundrum than anything else. Citizens must not war over a public policy mistake. The policy makers ought to make the policy right and consider the debilitating effect of bad policy decisions on the citizenry. 1. The Islamic Council must not be given the title "The Supreme Islamic Council". 2. The Ahmadiyya, like the Christian Brotherhood, and their governing councils must never come under the purview of the Islamic Council without their acquiescence, and if I have any common sense at all, they will never, and rightfully so. 3. To foster religious fraternity and harmony, A "Council on Religion" ought to be created with equal representatives from all religions, even the religions founded or to be founded by Gambians. 4. Gambia is a nation of religious tolerance and freedom of religion. It is a bad idea to feign preference for Islam. I am a muslim and I prefer the Islamic Lifestyle. However, to be a true muslim, I must recognize the freedoms of people of other faiths. Someone accepted the Ahmadiyya and Christian brotherhoods as missionaries in Gambia. They have done a lot of selfless good. They do not force anyone to convert. The Islamic brotherhood must follow the example of these other religions and remain honest to the divine spirit. It is not decided that Islam is the best religion for anyone's salvation. If we give the Islamic Council free reign over our spiritual lives at the expense of other spiritual nourishment, we will live to regret it and die to proceed to hellfire. Laa Hawala walaa khuwwata, Illa Billaah, Li-Aliyyul Atheem. Haroun Masoud. MQDT Darbo. Al Mutawakkil. If Islam is the best religion for salvation, I would like Allah, subhaanahu wa-ta aala, to take my life before I awake in the morn. Thank you. Haroun Masoud **************************************Check out AOL's list of 2007's hottest products. (http://money.aol.com/special/hot-products-2007?NCID=aoltop00030000000001) いいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいい To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] いいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいい いいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいい To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] いいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいい **************************************Check out AOL's list of 2007's hottest products. 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