Mankessim (C/R)-Ghana, June 18, GNA – Maulvi Noor Alhaj Muhammad Bin Salih, Ameer and Missionary of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission Ghana, has implored the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs to address religious discrimination against Muslims in some public schools.
He cautioned that the nagging issue could potentially destroy the enviable religious peaceful coexistence in the country if allowed to fester without a lasting solution.
He, therefore, appealed to the Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs Ministry to collaborate with the Education Ministry to introduce a policy and guidelines in furtherance of the Freedom of Worship to permanently resolve the matter.
“Unless and until we do that, we may continue to have problems and the cooperation and brotherliness we have been able to achieve between Christians and Muslims will suffer,” he stressed.
Alhaj Salih, a board member of the National Peace Council, made the call at the 2023 convocation of the Jamia Ahmadiyya International, Ghana, a theological university, in Mankessim.
The school graduated 17 newly trained missionaries from nine countries including Kazakhstan, Jordan, and Ghana and awarded them with Shahid degrees after a seven-year holistic training in Theological and Scholastic sciences.
The colourful and well-attended event was graced by persons of various religious and political persuasions, as well as traditional leaders including Nana Ama Amissah III, the paramount Queen Mother of the Mankessim Traditional Area.
It may be recalled that recently, there were reports from various Senior High Schools of Muslims being frustrated by school authorities on the back of various school regulations.
While some were not allowed to wear their veils, others were prevented from fasting, sparking a hue and cry particularly from the Islamic community.
But Alhaj Salih maintained that any Ghanaian who found themselves in any Islamic school in Ghana should be allowed to freely worship as provided by the Constitution, stressing that “the Ministry should do their best to ensure that we do not run into challenges.”
The National Peace Council board member further urged citizens to eschew political rivalry and never allow their difference to divide the country.
Instead, he said Ghanaians, and political parties in particular, must come together and support one another to expedite development.
Alhaj Salih also charged citizens to hold political leaders accountable to ensure they delivered the needed development as Ghana was blessed with countless rich resources.
For the graduands who are going to propagate the Islamic faith, he urged them to live exemplary lives of humility, trustworthiness, respect, and modesty to win more souls for Allah.
He further warned them against chasing material things because it could destruct them from their primary purpose mission.
“It is important to know that whatever you have learnt here is only a foundation. The real learning will start from here and so stick to books, both religious and secular,” he added.
For his Mr part, Stephen Asamoah Boateng, the Minister for Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, in a speech read on his behalf, said the ministry was working to enhance peace and religious tolerance in Ghana.
“We are working on a religious policy which seeks to chart a path for the practice of religion in conformity with the legal framework, but more crucially, the parameters for consensus and deepening collaborations between government and religious bodies to bring socio-economic development to the people,” he added.
