He has a mission; a self imposed mission; a mission set to bridge a somewhat suspicious relation between the world’s two must popular religions: Islam and Christianity.

Seamus Flemings, now Ahmed Flemings, (Ahmed being a name he adopted to make an identity for himself for what he stands for) is a retired chaplain in St Micheal hospital in the United Kingdom. He is from Ireland, a country with over 80,000 Muslims.

He is avidly insistent on a belief he jealously nurture; a belief that Muslims are a great people to work with. This is a belief he tries to portray in all his writings and speeches, both at home and away.

He boasts of the fact that the biggest mosque in the whole of Europe is in Dublin, the capital of Ireland. A piece of letter published on the Daily Observer on our last Monday edition, which is in fact a reproduction of what he has had published in a British newspaper, explains this point quite clearly.

Father Flemings said he discovered the greatness of Muslims during his 50 years interaction with Muslims in his native  Ireland. Among the attributes of the people of the Islamic faith that attracts him most are that Muslims care much about the elderly, and also the fact that they are best known for helping one another. “Muslim brothers and sisters,” he said, “have a great family life.” “Let them keep up that hope,” he urged.

Father Flemings who runs school projects and oversee several other community works in most part of The Gambia was speaking to the Daily Observer during an interview with Profile, at Corinthia Atlantic Hotel in Banjul, last Monday, just a day before he was set to depart for Ireland.

He believes that family life is very important aspect of life, and this, among other things, is what leaves him quite impressed with Muslims. “I personally have seen teenagers in Muslim communities praying for themselves without pressure or being forced by their parents or elders. I also noticed that Muslims, despite their location, keenly follow their religion, I have travelled most part of Europe and have seen this.”  

Muslims and Christians, he maintained, believe in one God, the main difference being that Christians do believe in Jesus Christ and the Holy Sprit, something apparently confusing to Muslims.

As a retired chaplain in the UK, Father Fleming’s involvement with Muslim communities dated as far back as 50 years ago, in Ireland. At some point, he attended Arabic classes in mosques in Dublin, all in an effort to get close to a people he has yearned for so long to know more about.

He later went to Egypt to pursue some studies on Shariah (Islamic law), the Qur’an and some aspect of the religion itself. He spent ten weeks doing this, and all this while, he made it a point of routine to spend Tobaski in The Gambia with “my Muslim brothers and sisters.” He is grateful that this has accorded him the ability to communicate in Arabic.

He said that his work with the church in The Gambia had been based on educating the people. According to him, all he had been doing was to convince teenagers like drug addicts to do away with that kind of life style.

The Father’s views are particularly categorical in their condemnation of `the way young Muslims living in Europe are categorised as terrorists. He said of that, simply, “completely wrong.” He sounded totally apprehensive of the US-led invasion of “a Muslim country, in the Holy Month of Ramadan.”

And he appeared especially unforgiving and furious over the attack on Felluja in which a lot of Iraqi civilians were killed. Like many people who are opposed to the policies of the out-going US president George W Bush, he hopes that the in-coming American president, Barack Obama, will make changes, pointing at the policy of the US towards the Arab world, and other Muslim states.

“If Arabs and Muslims are treated fairly, he said, “they will support and help Obama.”