Our deen extol virtue of standing for your brother by giving him truthful and honest advise if he err, not to massage his whims.
Momodou Sabally could easily conduct himself in bashful manner and publicly ask the nation especially Mandinkas to forgive him for his meomorable, consequential diatribe against them and for the ugly part he played in solidifying Jammeh's misrule.
Rather, Sabally, with pump and glare was justifying his actions and glorifying Jammeh braveness and intelligence.
I wish he has audacity to swallow his pride and realise he is mortal like any of us..
All humans err becaus we are created fallible but we have an escape route, to admit error and ask for forgiveness.
Every human got to recognize hat he is limited physically and intellectually therefore must not exalt himself above ordinary folks.
A doctor need a carpenter for his carpentry needs, so does a laywer need a taylor to sew his wits and paraphernalia. Kings and presidents need many people to provide services to meet even their basic need to function effectively. Meaning no man is an island but an actor in a pyramid or network of interdependence.
Once an eminent scholar was sitting by the roadside and people were passing byx greeting and respecting him. One unassuming pauper pass by without giving noticex this infuriated the scholar and he deliberately accosted him and asked "don't tou recognise me, don't you know who I am. The simple man, gallantly replied, "I recognise you more than you recognise yourself.
He poetically put it..
Awwaluka nutfah
Wa alkiruka maitatah
Wa baina humma tahmilul ghaba izzah
Meaning
Your begining was dirty fluid
Your end, a dead carcass
And between the two(born-death) you were a vessel of filth, pooo and urine.
That is the truth of every human, we all nothing except for the mercy of Allah.
Another sheik reply to an arrogant richman, who condescendingly ask him
DOU YOU KNOW WHO I AM??
The Sheik replied
I recognise you for who you are poetically:
"Anta ibnun min abnaa'ae adama, wa adama min turaabi"
Meaning
You are a son among the sons of Adama (a.s) and Adama was from the earth."
How could you exalt yourself, by your mundane endowments??, meaning your properties and academic achievements.
La wallai, Material endowment is not adequate measure of a person's worth, rather I posit, it's the substance of a man's character, his beneficial utility to his fellow humans and his piety.
People with shallow intellect measure a person's value by his or her material accomplishments.
From spiritual perspective, man's worth is measured by his spiritual consciousness of the remit placed on him by his maker, ALLAH.
To put it in a quranic fashion his "taqwa", which many superficially translate as "righteousness" while taqwa encompasses much more vitues.
Chief among its tenets, is excellent character, control of tongue, resourcefulness, respect for others' rights, honesty and truthfulness.
You may notice, I deliberately omitted knowledge and excessive sallah.
This exegesis is not an academic presentation that will require evidence from quran and hadith.
Suffice to quote few evidences, the most famous of which is in Surah hujuraat..."the best among you is one with most taqwa God-consciouness.
And innaka alla khulukil azeem meaning "o you Muhammad have most excellent character"
In the realm of hadith, there are many hadith that extol good character..
"The heaviest thing on the meezan on the day of qiyama is good character".
"The closest of you on the day of judegment is one with best character"
I hope we all learn to ennoble ourselves with good character and bring ourselves down to the level of our fellow humans especially our neighbors even though apparently we may appear to have better quality life-comforts.
A sage said:
My son take note, those you meet going up the mountain will be the same people you will meet coming down the mountain.
Fahtabiru ya uulul abbsarr..be circumspect o' people of insight.
The Janneh commission lay bare the complicit nature of our technocrats in cementing the reign of tyrants. They help them to defraud our nation, perpetrated economic rape and unmitigated greed. Most lack conscience and have no respect for the laws of the land.
For half a millennia our technocrats assisted ignorant politicians, allow those intellectually inferior to them remote control them like toys.
Our parastatals and important government functionaries were misused as cashcows at the expense of our nation.
Our technocrats could have swayed our leaders to mimic other resourceful and productive leaders but no, they partake in the rat race wity the consequential underdevelopment and poverty.
Its disheartening that our government did not take decisive action as a form of deterrence and set a example for those would be ennablers to tyrants. We as citizens have to take the bull by the horn and stand up to our government to ensure they are accountable and take us seriously. If not, Never again will fruit into EVER AGAIN.
Lamin Darboe
Leicester
UK
14 Sep 2019
Editors note: Views expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of Gunjur News Online. Got an opinion article? send it to us at GunjurNewsOnline@gmail.com