Back and Next - Back and NextBravo Professor Jah
Monday, February 23, 2009
Editor,
Kindly allow me space to extend my felicitation to professor Jah and to express my admiration for him. Professor Jah is indeed a seasoned academic, intellectual, erudite scholar and a prolific writer. I would like to comment on a few issues mentioned by the learned professor in his interview with Kebba Dibba in the exclusive, recently.
Like was stated by him, Islam has no problem but Muslims do. As adequately elucidated by the erudite scholar, Islam is a precise religion with set principles that leave no stone unturned. When it concerns human existence, Islam, through its holy book, the Quran and the sayings of the Holy Prophet Muhammed SAWS, provides all the guidelines for the peaceful co- existence of the human race.
But unfortunately mankind have decided to value earthly things more than what Allah has chosen for them. On the issue of Muslims being the problem and not Islam, I am in absolute agreement with Professor Jah. Mostly these problems are a result of little learning and knowledge of Islam and the Qu’ran, usually leading to the misinterpretation and distortion of the context of the Scripture by Islamic scholars and propagators who come in all varieties: Oustas, Imam, Sheikh, Marakas, and who are unable to place the teachings of the Holy Book and Hadiths in their proper contexts and perspective, and most of whom most of the time would just quote the Quran and the Hadith verbatim.
The other dimension is that like our laws are deliberately misinterpreted to suit the needs and serve the interest of some, so do some Muslims deliberately misinterpret Islam to suit their desires. Consequently, in the process they portray the wrong image of Islam; that Islam is unprogressive, ant-modern and so on.
Islam, like the learned professor put it, is a progressive religion whose norms and values include justice and human rights. So here it is clear that human rights is not the creation of man but Allah. Come to look at it closely, one can say that our secular laws are fundamentally derived from the Bible and the Quran and if mankind were to adhere to only the two of them the world would have been a safer and happier place to live in . These are:
1. Honor thy mother and thy father
2. love thy neighbour as thyself
In a recent privileged conversation I had with a friend on this issue of loving thy neighbour as thyself, my friend with the opinion that this is not possible. Here I see an implication for interpretation. What is meant by loving thy neighbour as thyself? This to me simply means treat your neighbor the same way as you would like him or her to treat you. This treatment should include justice and fair play, honesty and sincerity. With these virtues, peace is brought to the world, thus making it a better, safer and happier place for all to live.
There will be no more fear, no more hatred, or distrust which are fundamentally the recipes for all the troubles of the world today - the wars, and genocides. Finally let me comment on the issue of definition. Again I do agree with Professor Jah that in the absence of a clear definition of key words in issues we discuss, it could be difficult for our audience to take our points. It is therefore very crucial that we define clearly the key words in issues we discuss if we are to make the desired impact on our audience, that is, to succeed in persuading them to buy our ideas and share and support our views.
Let me in conclusion say that it is both educative and pleasant to listen to people who are au – fait with what they talk about. I want to tell Professor Jah that I leant a lot from his interview with Kebba Dibba, especially his analysis of globalization. Bravo, Professor Jah.
Kindly allow me space to extend my felicitation to professor Jah and to express my admiration for him. Professor Jah is indeed a seasoned academic, intellectual, erudite scholar and a prolific writer. I would like to comment on a few issues mentioned by the learned professor in his interview with Kebba Dibba in the exclusive, recently.
Like was stated by him, Islam has no problem but Muslims do. As adequately elucidated by the erudite scholar, Islam is a precise religion with set principles that leave no stone unturned. When it concerns human existence, Islam, through its holy book, the Quran and the sayings of the Holy Prophet Muhammed SAWS, provides all the guidelines for the peaceful co- existence of the human race.
But unfortunately mankind have decided to value earthly things more than what Allah has chosen for them. On the issue of Muslims being the problem and not Islam, I am in absolute agreement with Professor Jah. Mostly these problems are a result of little learning and knowledge of Islam and the Qu’ran, usually leading to the misinterpretation and distortion of the context of the Scripture by Islamic scholars and propagators who come in all varieties: Oustas, Imam, Sheikh, Marakas, and who are unable to place the teachings of the Holy Book and Hadiths in their proper contexts and perspective, and most of whom most of the time would just quote the Quran and the Hadith verbatim.
The other dimension is that like our laws are deliberately misinterpreted to suit the needs and serve the interest of some, so do some Muslims deliberately misinterpret Islam to suit their desires. Consequently, in the process they portray the wrong image of Islam; that Islam is unprogressive, ant-modern and so on.
Islam, like the learned professor put it, is a progressive religion whose norms and values include justice and human rights. So here it is clear that human rights is not the creation of man but Allah. Come to look at it closely, one can say that our secular laws are fundamentally derived from the Bible and the Quran and if mankind were to adhere to only the two of them the world would have been a safer and happier place to live in . These are:
1. Honor thy mother and thy father
2. love thy neighbour as thyself
In a recent privileged conversation I had with a friend on this issue of loving thy neighbour as thyself, my friend with the opinion that this is not possible. Here I see an implication for interpretation. What is meant by loving thy neighbour as thyself? This to me simply means treat your neighbor the same way as you would like him or her to treat you. This treatment should include justice and fair play, honesty and sincerity. With these virtues, peace is brought to the world, thus making it a better, safer and happier place for all to live.
There will be no more fear, no more hatred, or distrust which are fundamentally the recipes for all the troubles of the world today - the wars, and genocides. Finally let me comment on the issue of definition. Again I do agree with Professor Jah that in the absence of a clear definition of key words in issues we discuss, it could be difficult for our audience to take our points. It is therefore very crucial that we define clearly the key words in issues we discuss if we are to make the desired impact on our audience, that is, to succeed in persuading them to buy our ideas and share and support our views.
Let me in conclusion say that it is both educative and pleasant to listen to people who are au – fait with what they talk about. I want to tell Professor Jah that I leant a lot from his interview with Kebba Dibba, especially his analysis of globalization. Bravo, Professor Jah.
Author: By Salieu E.H. John
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