“Muslims have been living with Christians and Jews since the early days of Islam.And Muslims nowadays should accept to live in a decent manner with other communities with whom they do not share the same religious beliefs, especially in the European context”
WAMA, in partnership with the African Women Welfare Group (AWWG, led by sister Kadijah) organised a conference on Thursday 7 October 2010 in Tottenham. The main purpose of this event was to highlight the Islamic view with regard to social practices such as peace, cohesion, harmony, discipline, etc. This could justify the topic of the conference: “Islam and the Islamic practices”, a conference delivered by the eminent cheick Abdoulaye N’diaye. The metropolitan police were also associated with the event, represented by PC Phivos Kavallares who has been working with communities in Haringey for years.
Scheduled to start at 18:30pm, the event actually commenced at7:10pm with the introductory speech given by Keita Abdoullah, in which he stated the reason of the event, briefly talked about WAMA before introducing the different speakers. After Mr Keita, the president of WAMA, El hadj Toure Sendou who in turn explained to the audience what association is was and what sort of actions they undertake for their communities. “WAMA is a Muslim association that works to promote Islamic and social values within our community. Our actions are focussed on teaching the children and the women who have a share in educating the kids” he said. According to Mr Toure the main objective of his charitable association is to maintain and prevent the children from falling into evil conducts such as theft, crime, drug addiction, etc, through working within the community. He was followed by the PC Mr Phivos who explained in few words the reason of taking part in this conference. According to him the Met Police has detached a Unit of PCs who work closely with communities and youths with the view to preventing all kinds of crimes involving the youngsters. “We approach the youths in communities, we communicate with them and dissuade them from bad conducts”, the PC said.
After the preliminary talks, the floor was given to Cheick Abdoullah to start his conference. For the speaker, a topic like “Islam and the practices of Islam” is well chosen, especially for the European society we are living in. So, as to begin with, the cheik informed the audience that the cohabitation between Muslims and Christans and Jews started in the early days of Islam. As to justify his saying, he mentioned the story of the prophet of Islam Muhammad (SAW), who sent a group of Muslims to Abissinya (Ethiopia) fleeing from the persecussion of the Arabs in Makkah. The then ruler of the kingdom, King Najjashi (Negus), who was a Christian, offered them shelter and protected them from the atrocity of the enemies. Talking about cohabitation, the speaker insisted that Muslims should accept to live in decent manners with other communities with whom they do not share the same religious beliefs, especially in the European context. In addition to that, the cheick highlighted good attitudes and conducts Muslims must adopt in their neighbourhood and in their day-to-day lives within their communities. Furthermore, this conference was actually the adequate plat-form for him to demonstrate some Islamic moral values in accordance with the Qur’an and Sunnah. Moreover, talking about conduct with other people in the society, the cheik said that Muslims should display moral qualities such as respect, patience, discipline and good characters. In other words, for the speaker Muslims must set good examples in terms of behaviour towards other people at all times. To support his saying, the Senegal-born-cheick quoted a passage from the holy Qur’an, which reads (God talking about the character of the prophet of Islam): “Certainly, you (Muhammad SAW) are of good and great character and morality” S68 V4. He further quoted: “Indeed you have a good example (to learn and follow) in the messenger of Allah, for anyone who seeks to meet God and the Hereafter, and remembers Allah much”. S33V21. Commenting these two quranic verses, Abdoulaye Ndiaye explained that the prophet of Islam (SAW) was an Excellency in terms of character, morality attitudes throughout all his lifetime. And he (SAW) used to show these high human qualities not only toward the Muslims but also towards the adepts of other religions and the non-believers. He then mentioned several stories, where the prophet of Islam showed the excellence of his character, when dealing with non-muslims. For the cheick these are the examples Muslims must follow in their everyday interactions within their communities and societies they are living in. That said, the Muslim scholar, therefore urged his muslim audience to adopt and display good moral qualities and conducts such as patience, concession, discipline, respect of others and the law, forgiveness, tolerance etc, in their societies, for these the key factors that bring about harmony and peace in the society. To conclude his communication, cheik N’diaye said that Islam is a civilisation, which takes into account all aspects of life.
On the whole, it was a very good talk, as it, on one hand helped convey the strong message to those, who still have a misconception about what ISLAM is really about. It was of great benefit for the handful of WAMA members and Somali brothers including the PC, who gave a very good impression of it afterwards.
The audience, after the conference (around 8:30), offered the Ishaa prayer before sharing the diner made by sister Kadijah.
By the vice SGof WAMA
