Imam Abdoulie Fatty, the outspoken former State House Imam, has said that any day that President Adama Barrow prays in an Ahmadi mosque, he will lose his power as president of The Gambia.
President Barrow usually alternates mosques every Friday since his ascension to the presidency with many believing it is a strategy to unite Gambians but according to Imam Fatty, who has been a standout speaker against the Ahmadis for the past decade, they [Muslim leaders] will campaign against Barrow any day he prays with Ahmadis.
“Everyone in this government knows Ahmadis are not Muslims because they don’t pray with them. With all his prayers in mosques around the country, have you seen Barrow praying in an Ahmadi mosque?” Imam Fatty quizzed, “We are not politicians but if he decides to do that, we will join politics. We will form a political party and choose someone against him,” he vowed.
Imam Fatty was speaking on Wednesday at the Talinding Islamic Institute where hundreds of Muslims gathered for a major Islamic conference.
A few weeks ago, the Gambia Supreme Islamic Council wrote to the Public Utility Regulatory Authority to petition against the application made by Ahmadis for a TV licence. The Islamic body claimed that if the Jama’at is given licence, they will adulterate the minds of young Muslims since they have been “declared to be outside the pale of Islam”.
The petition was met with a wave criticism from both the Ahmadis and rights activists who argued that The Gambia is a secular state which gives everyone the right to follow any religion.
The Gambia Press Union was the first pressure group that publicly condemned the Islamic body, urging PURA to dismiss their petition.
Reacting to GPU’s statement, the blunt former State House Imam urged the Union to stay silent, while lambasting Gambian journalists for taking sides.
“The role of a journalist everywhere in the world is to report what is happening and not taking sides but that is not here. The GPU should stay quiet as they were when the Ahmadis caused trouble in Salikenni.
There are journalists who specialize on politics, economics etc., where are journalists who specialize on religion? We have none. So let the GPU be quiet and leave religion to those who know it,” he warned.
Other guests included Muhammed Lamin Touray, Imam Banding Drammeh, Omar Danso, Kemo Fatty, Sedia Ceesay among others on the topic ‘The Stand of Islam on Ahmadiyya’.
