On Tuesday December 9 2008, The Gambia joined the rest of the Muslim Ummah to observe the feast of Edul Adha, commonly called Tobaski.

Like in other parts of the world, prayers were held across the length and breadth of the country. And in Banjul, thousands of Gambians converged on King Fahad Mosque, and among them was the Gambian Leader, Professor Alhaji Yahya Jammeh, who was joined by some high profile members of his government.

In a message earlier delivered to Gambians, the president called for peace and unity among the Muslim Ummah.

We reproduce, overleaf, the full text of the message.

Bismilahi Rahmani Raheem

Fellow Gambians

As The Gambia joins Muslim nations the world over to celebrate another Eid-ul-Adha locally known as “Tobaski”, I wish to extend to you on behalf of my Government, my family and indeed on my own behalf, warmest Eid greetings, best wishes and hearty congratulations.

Eid-ul-Adha is celebrated throughout the Muslim world through acts of kindness and charity to the less fortunate in society in commemoration of Prophet Ibrahim and Ismael’s willingness to sacrifice everything for the sake of Allah the Almighty.

As we celebrate this joyous and sacred occasion with friends, family and loved ones, let us reflect on the significance of this day.  Let us remember that the Holy Prophet Ibrahim was willing to sacrifice his only son Ismael in sincere devotion and faith and, his son Ismael was also willing to give up his life dutifully in devotion to Allah Subhana wattallah and respect for his parent.  

We, as Muslims in general and Gambians in particular must also learn to have faith in our creator and cultivate strong devotion to our religion.  We must also inculcate the spirit of caring, love and sacrifice in ourselves, our families as well as respect for our parents and elders.  
Let us learn to be compassionate and care for one another irrespective of our race, tribe, gender, religion, or social status.  Those more endowed should learn to be more generous, tolerant and extend a helping hand to the less priviledged as caring and sharing are divine duties for all true believers.

Let us remind ourselves that beyond our religious and ethnic differences, we share a common denominator (humanity) that should inspire us to work together as one people for the good of this country and humankind.  We all are created by the One and Only God Allah subhana Wattallah.  

We should therefore let the values of love, sacrifice and compassion influence our everyday interactions with one another.  If each and everyone of us should protect and care for his/her neighbours as we do for ourselves, what a great country this would be! We should seriously reflect on our lives individually, our communities as well as our nation, to find out as to whether we have all performed to the spiritual and moral standards set by our religion, our culture and our society.  

Our belief in Allah (SWT) should inspire us to live together peacefully as brothers and sisters in diversity.

On this joyous occasion, let us demonstrate our faith by showing compassion and magnanimity towards one another by extending a helping hand to those in need so that they can also enjoy this blessed feast with their families; but it must not stop there but continue beyond Tobaski.  Let us also pray for the less endowed, the sick and the infirm, that Allah (SWT) will remove their afflictions and enable them to partake of this day and many more to come.  

We should as an Ummah collectively pray that Allah provides the means for the triumph of His religion, that he may grant ascendancy to all the true followers of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) and free them of their anxieties, that He removes all difficulties besetting the Muslim Ummah and guides us to the peaceful resolution of our problems.

As Muslims we are duty-bound to fight against those who defame and desecrate our religion by carrying out heinous and barbaric crimes against humanity such as bombings of mosques, religious congregations, and social gatherings of innocent people women and children in the name of Islam.

Those who commit such heinous crimes of killing Muslims in the name of Islam, creating division in the Muslim ranks are nothing but sadistic devils that must be wiped out from the face of the earth by all true Muslims and Believers.  

All true Muslims respect the sanctity of life, of places of worship; and; for so-called Muslims to place bombs in mosques and other houses of worship to kill believers that gather there to worship Allah is the highest manifestation of the worst form of evil and infidelity.

These satanic lunatics disguised as Muslims must be eradicated from our Muslim Ummah as they are an insult to our Noble Religion and a disgrace to all what we true Muslims stand for.  We should fight them by every means possible, including through prayers.  Victory is ours as Allah is always on the side of the righteous.  

As true believers we must come together irrespective of our sects and stand shoulder to shoulder to fight and defeat these satanic forces disguised as Muslims and are on the rampage.  These are barbaric acts of infamy against humanity in the name of Islam and are mostly directed against true Muslims.

As we celebrate, let us remember our Muslim brothers and sisters in Palestine who are forced to live in Hell on Earth by Israel.  For them Eid-ul-Adha is a feast they cannot celebrate peacefully as they are compelled to live in a Nazi-style concentration camp.  Their crime! Because they are Muslims and are standing up in defense of their rights, their land and their humanity; and, unfortunately, the rest of us as Muslims have let them down.

The OIC, the UN and the International community have betrayed them.  That even Food Aid is prevented from entering into Palestinian Territories by Israel is a crime against humanity that must be strongly condemned by all Muslims and non-Muslims alike.  

That such inhuman and degrading treatment could take place in the twenty-first century with impunity is really unbelievable (depriving the Palestinians of their land, their means of livelihood, their sources of income and survival i.e. the destruction of their crops and their human dignity; constantly subjecting them to wanton killings, arrests and intimidation for nothing other than resisting the illegal and degrading occupation) Iarael Daily Modus Operandum, the UN, the Wests and the OIC bear responsibility for the plight of our Palestinian brothers and sisters.  

They were promised an independent Palestinian state by the year 2005 by the most powerful country on earth, a major player in the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948! Avowed defender of Israel today!  Little did they know that the promised Independent Palestinian state would be a divided and weakened Palestine with the majority of them living in the worst Hell on Earth in living memory.

We keep quiet and some of us even condone it because the West calls them Terrorist.  In the West, Caucasian, racists, hatemonger or white terrorists are legal and they cannot even be called Terrorists but “the Far Right”, Neo Nazis, skinheads and White Supremacists, who espouse their decadent and sub-human ideology openly, kill non whites blatantly and have never been banned, prosecuted or even taken to task for their heinous crimes against humanity.  

As long as they continue to lynch, kill and intimidate nonwhites especially immigrants in the West, they would always retain the licence to hate and kill Blacks and Asians with impunity and the titles of Far Rights, Neo Nazi etc.  Even the western media that would have been quick to label them as terrorists outright had it been that they are not whites; Fondly calls them Nationalists or the Far Right! Instead of Criminals and Terrorists.

We should wake up as Muslims and take a stand to defend our religion at any cost whatever it takes.  Now is the time to stand up in defense of our Muslim brothers and sisters the world over.  Unfortunately, instead of standing up to the enemies of Islam, we Muslims are busy killing each other in the name of Islam and worst still in the Name of Allah - what a blaspheme!

I pray for Allah’s Divine intervention so that we can muster the courage to stand up for our religion, our people and for the sake of Allah The Almighty - victory is ours.

For we the Africans in particular, we should place our faith and destiny in the hands of the Almighty Allah, stand up and work hard to liberate ourselves from abject poverty and destitution than sit down, worship the West and expect to develop our countries with their handouts.  We are blessed with abundance of minerals and natural resources that can be used to make Africa the richest continent on earth, but unfortunately, these natural resources become the reasons for colonialism, slavery, exploitation and proxy wars up till today.

Africa today is more divided than ever before and that is why we are also the poorest of the poor. This situation can only be reversed when we as Africans unite, look inwards, stop killing each other and work for the development of Mother Africa using the abundant natural resources that Allah has so generously given to our continent.  We should also worship the Almighty Allah only.

Worshipping anybody other than Allah would only deepen our backwardness, abject poverty, destitution and hopelessness.  We should have self-respect and confidence in ourselves as leaders.  If we African leaders do not respect ourselves; our citizens would not be respected by others.

May Allah the Almighty accept our sacrifices and prayers and reward us abundantly in this world and in the hereafter.  May He also shower His blessings upon our great nation, The Gambia with greater peace, prosperity and rapid socio-economic development.

I wish you a very glorious, happy and rewarding “Tobaski”. Ndewenati.