Have too many Africans and Gambians in particular invested too much in their deen, to the point that, we are blinded to facts and became intellectually dishonest?

Last week I opened the Daily Observer (The Gambia’s main newspaper), the headline by the Min. of Transport, Works, Infrastructure and National Assembly Matters, read; “Western Powers will not dictate Gambia”. With the transformation of The Gambia into an Islamic State, can we to conclude that The Gambia is being dictated by Eastern Powers (Arabs)?

Some of President Jammeh’s rhetorics are his claim of being a Pan-Africanist and Europe’s colonialization of African for 400 hundred years. Less, he fails to inform Gambians that the Arabs enslaved Africans from the 8^th to through the 19^th centuries.

Today, we have rampant modern slavery in the Middle East, young African men and women are transported to gulf countries like Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar, to name a few, under the pretext  of a temporary work program.  On the contrary, these young Africans are forced into domestic slavery and prostitution.

Intellectual dishonest does not surpass, our leaders omitting a major part of history or using a few excerpts from scriptures to brainwash their people. Since 1994 Yahya Jammeh has been lambasting the Europeans for their wrongs in the past, but has given the Arabs a free pass for both past and present wrongs. Indeed, Europeans have been trying to correct their wrong to Africa in the form of aid and education. On the other hand, Arabs efforts are mainly focused on injecting their culture and religion values on Africa to further enslave its people.  In Gambia’s case, recent economic aid from the Arabs are containers full of dates and hijabs. In education, they offer scholarship to young Gambians and radicalized them to become fanatics.  When these young minds return home, they in turn indoctrinate the masses, and today, we have the Islamic Republic of The Gambia.

The idiom “Putting all eggs in one basket “, is a dangerous thing to do in all works of life. Gambians have invested so much in religion to a point of no return. It is so bad that, it does not matter what problem we are faced with, be it economical, psychological, medical, etc.; we always call upon an Imam and ask, what does the deen say about it?, Instead of going to an economist, psychiatrist or doctor to look for answers. When someone does something bad or evil, the immediate response by a majority of Gambians is, “he or she is not a Muslim”, or “a Muslim will not do that”. We are told not to say anything negative about our deen even when it’s true. If this is not brain washing, I do not know what is.

Unless we become conscious people, Gambians will continue to be enslaved and ruled by dictators like Yahya Jammeh who disguised as Nasiruldeen. THIS IS OUR PROBLEM!!!