Speaking in his Friday homily at the State House Mosque, the Gunjur-born Saudi-trained cleric, Alhaji Momodou Lamin Touray, said: “The Prophet (peace be upon him) once told his disciples that he prayed that they would not come upon a country where commission of sin, adultery, dishonesty and association of partners with Allah are rife. Among the major sins that can provoke Allah’s anger is cheating in weights and measures. The prophet admonished that a people will never cheat on weights without suffering a reduction in the blessings of Allah. Allah further warned us not to condone fitna because the consequences will not necessarily be limited to those who commit it. That’s why the prophet urged Muslims to stop any unjust act with their hands, if not with their tongue and then their minds which he said constitutes the weakest of faith. In the Qur’an, Shu’aib told his people “Will you not fear Allah? Give just measure and give no loss to others by fraud. And withhold nothing justly due to one, nor do evil in the land, working mischief.” But they rejected him and the punishment of a day of overshadowing gloom hit them and theirs was the chastisement of a great day with a shower of ashes and cinders accompanying a volcanic eruption.
“The increase in fitna and the number of sins being committed and the proliferation of adultery and fornication in the land are all things that provoke the anger of Allah and bring torments like floods, droughts, Ebola and Aids. There is no better cure for these than increasing the worship of Allah and doing good. Allah enjoins us to do good deeds because it expunges bad ones. This country has to thank Allah for having a leadership that would not tolerate such colossal sins that will attract Allah’s anger of such nature and magnitude. We all have to maintain vigilance in ensuring piety and prayer in the land because prayer is instrumental in earning the pleasure of Allah and neutralising catastrophes that a life of iniquity would have precipitated.”
The imam continued: “Allah says in the Qur’an that if we thank Him for His blessings He shall increase us but if we turn against Him, His punishment is most severe. There was for the people of Saba, aforetime, a sign in their homeland with two gardens to the left and to the right. Allah said to them ‘eat of the sustenance provided by your Lord and be grateful to Him – a territory fair and happy and the Lord is oft-forgiving’. But they turned away from Allah and He sent against them the floods and converted their two gardens into gardens providing bitter fruit. That was the requital He gave them because they ungratefully rejected faith and never does Allah give such requital except to the ungrateful. May Allah sustain His Blessing on this land and give healthy and long life to our leader Sheikh Professor Alhaji, Doctor Yahya AJJ Jammeh Nasirudeen Babili-Mansa.”
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