Accra, July 11, GNA – Hajia Fatima Abubakar, Deputy Minister of Information has advised the Muslim community to embrace secular and modern trends of education that can catapult them to higher heights.
She said: Education breaks barriers. And education is the birth-right of Muslims. We are told that the first set of Qur’anic verses to be revealed commanded us to read. So, Islam was established on a tradition of learning. Many people, including some Muslims, do not know that many of the modern-day disciplines, like optometry, algebra, geometry and astrology, were established by Muslim scholars”.
Speaking at three-day seminar on developing Islamic Studies curricula for Muslim community in Ghana, the Deputy Minister said many people, including some Muslims did not know that it was Muslim philosophers like Ibn Sina and Al-Farabi who introduced Aristotle and Socrates to the western world.
The Seminar which was organised by T’alim Ghana, a Ghanaian Islamic Non-Governmental Organisation in collaboration The World Muslim Community Council, from Abu Dhabi, United Arabs Emirates and Education without Borders attracted 30 participants.
Themed: “Islamic Teaching and Learning; Training for Specialists and developing Islamic Curricula”, the Seminar among other issues brought out challenges of Islamic education, what they can do to equal other students in the secular realms and way forward to fast-track educational progress among Muslim students.
The Deputy Information Minister said it was strange that some Muslims classified those disciplines as ‘boko’ and proceed to label them as haram.
She called on the Islamic and Arabic to change their methods of teaching in tune with modern methods. “Fortunately for us in Ghana, we do not suffer such extremist teachings. Even so, we ought to re-examine our methods of teaching, both in our English and Arabic schools and in our Makaranta schools. We need to reform our teaching methods and bring them in tune with modern methods of teaching, if we are to churn out products who will fit into the modern system of work and commerce”.
She said government recognized Muslims and their contributions in the world and it was therefore the duty of Muslims themselves to unite irrespective of their religious sects, to enhance the duties and responsibilities of Islam in the country.
“As Deputy Minister for Information, and a government representative, I am interested in the peace of our country, so that government can proceed with its agenda of development for the nation. As far as government is concerned, we know of a Muslim community in Ghana. Government is not interested in the theological divisions of the ummah”.
She called on them to forge a unity in diversity for the purposes of leveraging government programmes for the ummah.
“My understanding is that all the Islamic denominations in Ghana are represented here- Ahl-Sunna, Tijaniyya, Shia, Ahmadiyya and Ibadiyya. While this is not novel, it is rare. I remember that the last time such a meeting took place, aside the yearly Hilal Committee meetings was in 2019, when as Minister for
Inner City and Zongo Development, Dr. Mustapha Abdul-Hamid called such a meeting to try to forge a dialogue between the various Islamic denominations in Ghana”.
She commended Dr Abdul-Hamid, Chief Executive Officer of National Petroleum Authority for the initiative to bring Muslims of all sects under one umbrella to educate themselves and take actions that would enhance their performance.
“I am happy to note that Dr. Abdul-Hamid is forging a long-lasting partnership with the WMCC, and using that partnership to the benefit of the Muslim Ummah in Ghana. To Dr. Abdul-Hamid, we say “jazakallahu khairan.”
She said for an internationally reputable organization like TWMCC to be interested in dialogue among Muslim denominations, was a testimony that Ghanaian Muslims, could not continue to wallow in sectarian differences and expect to be taken seriously by the rest of the population.
“Indeed, there is a saying attributed to the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) that, “differences of opinion in my ummah are a blessing.” I guess by this, the Prophet means that there can be unity in diversity. Indeed, the fact that we have five schools of law in Islam- Maliki, Hanbali, Shafi’i, Hanafi and Jafari and which all have canonical validity, should tell us that, we are all bound for the same destination, even if we differ as to how to get there”.
She said although it was impossible for there to be unity of thought in any religious tradition, either in Christianity, Islam or Buddhism, other religions hardly attacked themselves like in Islam.
“Dr. Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, has often said, “there is no objective interpretation anywhere; every interpreter comes to a text with his or her own subjectivity.” He has also used an analogy which I love, which says that some people approach their deity with their hats on as a sign of respect to their deity. Others also approach their deity with their hats off as the same sign of respect to the deity. Who are we to challenge what each of these have done? After all, as the prophet Muhammad (SAW) says, “actions are according to intentions and every man or woman shall be judged according to what they intended.”
The Seminar also attracted resource persons from the Islamic Religious and Academic Scholars from Ghana, Nigeria and Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates.
GNA