Momodou Sabally has steered clear of a question about whether he’s suggesting Ahmadis are not Muslims after his comments he respects the rights of others to worship God as they see it fit.
“I love my Islam MashaAllah, I’m ready to do anything to defend my religion but I also respect the rights of other people to worship God as they see fit. I don’t have a problem with that,” Sabally told The Fatu Network in an exclusive interview while answering questions about his recent Ahmadi comments.
When asked if he’s suggesting Ahmadis aren’t Muslims, the former civil service boss said: “I’m not even going to comment on that. I have made my statement about what happened at the congress. I stop at that. I’m not an Islamic scholar. What happened was a mistake. That’s what I wanted to clarify and I clarified it, end of story. I’m not in a position of authority to make certain rulings.”
Sabally had earlier insisted the National People’s Party were peddling lies UDP elected an Ahmadi to pray at its congress because they gave the party money.
Sabally said: “It was a religious issue, the party came under attack by our detractors mainly. But those in the religious camps also were asking questions.
“I was there, at some point I felt it was necessary for me to come with my personal opinion. There are many Momodou Saballys. There is Momodou Sabally the youth worker, there is Momodou Sabally the politician and there is Momodou Sabally the talibeh.
“There, I’m speaking as a talibeh, as a religious person who in defending my religion. I came out to explain. Because some people deliberately… NPP tried to distort this. They even said… It’s a lie and I said it. That Ahmadiyans are giving UDP money to fund our congress because we didn’t have money. It’s a lie, it’s not true.
“So I came with my personal statement and I actually put emphasis on the personal because it is my statement. I was there sitting frontrow. When this happened, I know the moderate made an error and the moderator himself came back and tried to correct an error. So that’s what I clarified.
“It was not the UDP’s official position to have the Ahmadis lead prayers in a situation where most of the people there are mainstream Muslims because that would have been undemocratic and we’re a party that believes in democracy.”
