Presentation by Imam Baba Leigh – Thursday, 12th September 2013

Very rarely in one’s life do we get the opportunity to meet legitimately courageous people, and usually when we do, the first sense we get is of a deep honesty and humility and clarity of purpose. I was fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to listen to the wise words of Imam Baba Leigh, a Muslim cleric from Gambia. Convened by the NGO Committee on Freedom of Religion and Belief in conjunction with the NGO Committee on Human Rights (and organised by the Bahai’i), the event was designed to be a conversation with the Imam on the freedom of religion. In certain countries, often the government writes the sermons for the majority religious organisations; it allows the government to keep control of the people.

However, there are people like Imam Baba who have been studying Islam their whole lives see the need to explain the word of God in a way that goes for nonviolence, independent thought and genuine thought and effort into living a particular lifestyle. Unfortunately, he faces prosecution for going against the government.

I say that Imam Baba is an example of courage. I say he is so because courage does not simply mean ignoring your fears and doubts, but in spite of the things that may scare you and threaten, you choose to do what is right simply because it is the right thing to do. Nowadays, we can hardly muster up the courage to choose a walk in the park over sitting at home in front of our computer for hours on end despite us knowing that the walk is better! Consider the will it takes to do something with such resolution. We can all draw inspiration from Imam Baba’s example; inspiration to do something about anything we care about. It will not only bring us so much satisfaction, but all the people around us as well. I can’t wait to get started!