Eid Mubarak...

“Islam is derived from the Arabic root "Salema": peace, purity, submission and obedience. In the religious sense, Islam means submission to the will of God and obedience to His law.

Everything and every phenomenon in the world other than man is administered totally by God-made laws, i.e. they are obedient to God and submissive to his laws, they are in the State of Islam. Man possesses the qualities of intelligence and choice, thus he is invited to submit to the good will of God and obey His law, i.e. become a Muslim.

Submission to the good will of God, together with obedience to His beneficial Law, i.e. becoming a Muslim, is the best safeguard for man's peace and harmony.” (read more)

While I still have a long way to go as far as “submission” goes, I can say that as Sierra Leoneans we are fortunate for the extent of religious tolerance among Muslims and Christians in our country of heritage.  Like me, many of my Sierra Leonean friends identify with the label “chrismus”-- a humorous reference to the fact that we celebrate and partake in both Christian and Muslim religious events and practices.  There are a lot of serious and entrenched problems in Sierra Leone, but religion is not one of those!! Personally, I am proud of my Muslim surname and ability to navigate easily between both Abrahamic traditions.  Although, now as a - eh hem - mature adult, I identify solidly and confidently with Christ, I feel certain that all of us who believe in, worship and submit to a single, Supreme Authority and Creator are practitioners of true Islam or “submission” to the One and Only.  Until the final coming of the Son…we can leave the rest to the world to argue out.    

---

Fuambai Sia Ahmadu, PhD