By
Ibrahim Sillah
In
response to His Excellency, President Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma's call to the nation to stay
home for self-reflection and prayers against the deadly Ebola virus on Monday,
August 4th, 2014, Ambassador Alhaji Mohamed Sillah Kargbo, President
Koroma's envoy to Saudi Arabia, called upon his nationals in Riyadh to converge
at the Chancery.
The
Sierra Leone nationals responded in huge numbers, read the Holy Quran and
followed it up with fervent and heartfelt supplications to save Sierra Leone
and its affected neighbours, Guinea and Liberia and the entire sub-region from
the dangers of the Ebola carnage, which has been characterized to be a lot
worse than the rebel war and AIDS.
A
similar prayer session was held by Sierra Leoneans in the holy cities of Makkah
and Madinah, who, in their turn, offered prayers against the common enemy of
Sierra Leone, Ebola.
Prior
to the above prayer sessions, Ambassador M. S. Kargbo and Ambassador Mohamed
Fofanah of Iran and a number of Sierra Leone Embassy officials and Sierra
Leoneans spent the most sacred last ten days of the fasting month of Ramadan at
the Grand Mosque of Makkah during which they took the opportunity to offer most
needed supplications against the wild spread of the lethal Ebola virus in their
beloved country.
It
should be recalled that in an earlier publication, this writer informed that
Sierra Leoneans in Riyadh gathered at the Embassy of Sierra Leone on all the
four Fridays during the just concluded Ramadan and fervently prayed against
Ebola.
It is
worthy to note that, at the end of the recitation of the entire Holy Quran
Monday, the Vice Chairman of Dawa and Guidance , Sheikh Maroof Sesay,
admonished the people of Sierra Leone to be God fearing and obedient to His
commands by doing what He has ordained and by refraining from all that He has
forbidden.
The
learned Sheikh Sesay, however, strongly advised the nation to keep closer to
Allah the Almighty by collectively and individually offering prayers on a daily
basis, by advising one another to fear Allah in the open and in secret, by
totally desisting from fornication and adultery and by refraining from the use
of drugs and intoxicants.
Under
the circumstances and whenever such calamities befall nations, Sheikh Sesay
advised that people should offer charities and Muslims should keep saying
"ASTAGHFIRULLAH" meaning, Oh Allah, forgive my sins. This
supplication, he reiterated, should be on the tongue of every Muslim, man and
woman, at all times. By adhering to all the above instructions and by offering
prayers asking
Allah
for forgiveness, the learned Sheikh assured his compatriots that the Almighty
will soon redeem the nation from this deadly scourge, which has terribly begun
to take a toll on the lives of citizens of the sub-region. He stated that the
only way forward is to stick to the path that Allah ordained us to follow.
At
both the beginning and end of the Quranic session today, Ambassador Kargbo
thanked his nationals for answering his call at such a short notice.
He reiterated that he
was responding to the call of President Koroma, who asked the entire nation to
stay indoors and reflect and pray for ‘Mama
Salone.’
He unreservedly
commended his nationals for the vigour and enthusiasm they have demonstrated
and appealed to them to continually pray for the security, stability and
development of Sierra Leone. However, he said the most needed prayer of the
hour is to have an Ebola free nation.
On the
other hand, the president of the Sierra Leone Nationals' Union in Riyadh, Mr.
Uthman M. Kargbo, in his turn, thanked the general membership of the Union for
the patriotism and togetherness they have manifested in their spiritual fight
against Ebola.
For the nationals to
continue their collective prayers unabated, he humbly requested the good office
of the Ambassador to allow his nationals to converge at the premises of
Chancery every Friday in order to pray, among other things, against Ebola until
it is totally eradicated from Sierra Leone in particular and from Guinea,
Liberia and the entire African continent in general.
Responding,
Ambassador M. S. Kargbo appreciated the Union president's request and said it
is his responsibility to support any moves geared towards national interest and
concern. He said he would make the Chancery available as requested for the
purpose of spiritually fighting against Ebola.
No comments:
Post a Comment