By Amadou Jadama
The amir of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at in The Gambia advised students to focus on their education and refrain from drug abuse and anything that could destroy their lives.
Baba F Trawally made this remarks on Friday during the annual peace symposium organised by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Students Association (AMSA), Nusrat Chapter held at the school grounds in Bundung.
This year’s peace symposium is the eighth of its kind and was held under the theme “Unity in Diversity: Promoting Peace through Understanding”.
Addressing the students, the amir said peace is a commodity that every society should jealousy guard and sustain as in its absence no meaningful development can be achieved at family, societal or national level.
“You should all be peaceful and be ambassadors of peace, be law-abiding and respect those in authority. Be well-disciplined and well-mannered and stay away from harmful things like drugs and things that would not benefit you but ruin your lives,” he exhorted.
He further encouraged the students to take their education seriously, as together with discipline, it is the key to success and personal and professional development. He further implored the students to strive and become productive citizens who will be entrusted the responsibility to steer the affairs of the country in years to come.
”We all know The Gambia is a very peaceful country. Let us not take peace for granted. It is a gift from Allah but we need to nourish and nurture it for it to flourish. Let us help our teachers and our parents to help us. If someone wants to create disturbance anywhere, don’t be part of it, rather you should advise the miscreant to stay away from fomenting trouble,” he advised.
He added: “For that reason, we should see each other as one family, love each despite our differences. As young students, if you instill the spirit of tolerance and try to see each other as one, then indeed you will be laying the foundation of everlasting peace for the future and many generations to come.”
Amir Trawally said if we want to inculcate the sense of unity in diversity, we should embrace tolerance and open-mindedness. “In every society, people’s ways of thinking cannot be the same. Even when we look at our families, the way one person see a thing would be different from the way even his father, mother, brother, sister or other relatives see that same thing or those things, “he noted.
He reminded that even in our family set-ups, people belong to different political parties and different religions but they should remain united and love each other. The same spirit, he preached, should be translated to the wider society. “We should be very tolerant with each other and respect each other and know that since the time immemorial, people have been different. Our differences do not make us better than each. Allah Almighty beautifully mentioned this in the Holy Qur’an. All over the world, one thing that is common, is that there will always be diversity, be it religious, ethnic, or ways of thinking. Therefore, the most important thing is how we come together and build upon that understanding despite our differences and diversity, to promote peace,” Amir Trawally concluded.
