Montserrado County District #6 Representative Edwin Melvin Snowe has announced support for the Bill calling for two Islamic Holidays, the Feasts of Abraham (Tabaski) and Ramadan.
Representative Snowe in a radio talk show yesterday said he was specifically referring to the Feast of Abraham, which he said is highly respected in the Quran and Bible.
Snowe observed that Liberia’s neighboring countries observed yesterday as a national holiday in reverence to someone believers in the two books consider as the father of their faiths.
“Instead of calling for a Christian or Islamic nation, believers of the two religions must now start paying serious attention to setting a day aside to honor our father of faith, instead of proposing legislations that may further divide us,” Rep Snowe warned.
Snowe is one of several lawmakers from both the House of Representatives and Senate currently representing Liberia at the ECOWAS Parliament. He made the statement yesterday as thousands of Muslims in Liberia joined their fellow believers the world over to offer prayers in observance of the event when Abraham agreed to the command of God to offer his son Ishmael, (according to the Quran, though the Bible says it was Isaac, the promised seed) as sacrifice. Because of his faith, God sent a lamb, which Abraham used to fulfill his sacrificial obligation.
It may be recalled few weeks ago, Nimba County Senator Prince Yormie Johnson, who is also one of two Senators representing that body at the ECOWAS Parliament, presented a Bill to the Senate requesting that the end of Ramadan and the Feast of Abraham be declared as national holidays.
Meanwhile, our reporter who visited central Monrovia and the Waterside business districts observed that most stores and shops were closed in observance of yesterday’s feast.
“We’re still waiting for the store owners to come back and open their warehouses so we can take out our goods. The government was supposed to declare today a holiday, because even if we sell now, many people will not come to buy,” disappointed sellers noted.
The situation was the same on Gurley, Benson, Carey, Newport and Mechlin Streets.
