Imam Chebbo Cham has told critics he won’t be silenced over his religious views, promising to continue to guide and speak truth to Gambians.

Imam Cham was speaking in the wake of a row involving the Ahmadiyya Muslim sect in The Gambia. 

Over the weekend, Imam Cham and other religious leaders condemned the Ahmadiyya Muslim sect, describing them as “non-Muslims”. 

The fiery statements made at a religious gathering at Talliding Islamic school have been criticised. 

Dozens of Gambians including civil rights activists have criticised the imam’s speech and said it has no place in The Gambia, a secular state where everyone has the right to practice their religion of choice. 

However, Imam Chebbo Cham has fought back saying that “we will not stop telling and guiding Gambians on the right path.”

“No one has heard us fighting and we will not fight anyone unless we are attacked like how the Ahmadiyya people do. They are strangers and when they came they refused to pray with the mainstream Muslims,” he said.

“Some Gambians want us to keep quite and allow the Ahmadiyya [sect] to continue doing what they want to do and we will not do that,” he added.

According to him, some Gambians who converted to the Ahmadiyya faith refused to pray for their deceased parents and relatives because “they belief those people are not Muslims.”

“Gambians should not allow someone to come from somewhere and want to alter our religion, because if it’s social support MRC offers far better social support to Gambians than the Ahmadiyya,” he said.

Reporting by Adama Makasuba